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 LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 ty of California. 
 
 C / R C ULA TING B R A N C //.. 
 
 Eetuin in *w 
 
 or a weak before the end of the 
 
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THE 
 
 WORLD DISPLAYED 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY ; 
 
 EMBRACING A 
 
 HISTORY OF THE WORLD, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 CREATION TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 WITH GENERAL VIEWS OF THE POLITICS, RELIGION, MILITARY AND NAVAL- 
 
 AFFAIRS, ARTS, LITERATURE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND SOCIETY, 
 
 OF ANCIENT AS WELL AS MODERN NATIONS. 
 
 BY REV. ROYAL ROBBINS. 
 
 \ % 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 AN OUTLINE OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. 
 
 VOL. 1. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 PUBLISHED BY H.. SAVAGE. 
 
 1839. 
 
3*-) 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, 
 
 By EDWARD HOPKINS, 
 In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Connecticut 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. 
 
 THE Volume here offered to the public, had its 
 origin in the belief, that a Historical and Geo- 
 graphical View of the World, united in one work, 
 and constructed on the plan here adopted, would 
 be an acceptable addition to the already multi- 
 plied stock of book for general reading. The 
 plan of the work is original, and is believed to 
 offer many advantages. It divides Ancient and 
 Modern History into twenty distinct periods, and 
 then gives a detail of the events during each of 
 them. At the end of every period is a detailed 
 biography of many eminent individuals who flou- 
 rished during the same, and a sketch is given of 
 the progress of the arts, of science, and of litera- 
 ture. Hence a clear delineation of the advance- 
 ment of human society, and its various revolutions, 
 is exhibited ; and the reader can easily trace not 
 only the particular history of each country and 
 people, but can keep in view, at the same time, 
 the grand movements of the nations, regarded as 
 one common family. 
 
 In order to perfect the plan originally contem- 
 plated by the author, the volume has been in- 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. 
 
 creased far beyond what was at first anticipated- 
 nearly one hundred pages have been added ; an 
 advance which, it is believed, will be gratifying 
 to the patrons of the work, and sufficiently attest 
 the wish of the publishers to make it in every 
 way satisfactory to them. 
 
 The System of Modern Geography is of course 
 a condensed one but it will be found fully ade 
 quate to the purposes for which it is attached to 
 the volume. 
 
 On the whole, as no expense has been spared, 
 and as the Author, whose reputation as a histori- 
 cal writer is of the first order, has bestowed un- 
 wearied pains upon the work, we commit the 
 volume to the public, with much confidence that 
 it will be received with favour. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Benefits to be expected from history, 
 Sources of history, . 
 
 Ten periods, . . 
 
 Antediluvian World, . 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Deluge, 
 
 History of Assyria, 
 
 China, . 
 
 Egypt, 
 Distinguistad Characters, 
 
 History of the Hebrews, 
 Canaanites, 
 Greece, 
 
 GENERAL DIVISION. 
 
 * 
 
 Period L 
 
 
 
 
 
 Period II 
 
 Period III. 
 
 Egypt, continued, 
 Chin 
 
 hina, continued, 
 Distinguished Character!, . 
 
 History of the Israelites, . 
 
 Canaanites, continued, 
 
 Phoenicians, 
 
 Greece, continued, 
 
 Egypt, continued, 
 
 Lydia, 
 
 Italy, 
 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 History of the Israelites, continued, 
 Greece, continued, 
 Macedon, 
 
 Assyria, continued, 
 Egypt, continued, 
 Phoinicians, continued, 
 Carthage, 
 Italy, continued, 
 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 History of the Romans, 
 
 Greece, continued, 
 
 Israelites, continued, 
 
 Jews, 
 
 Nineveh, 
 
 Babylon, 
 
 Medes, 
 
 Persia, 
 
 Lydians, continued, 
 
 Egypt, continued, 
 Distinguished Characters) 
 
 Period IV. 
 
 Period F. 
 
 Period VL 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 U 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 it 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 23 
 80 
 82 
 33 
 JW 
 
 
 
 
 
 * aej 
 
 89 
 
 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 
 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 62 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 63 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 65 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 d, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 ued, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 led, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 * 
 
 > ""3 
 
vf 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 History of Greece, continued, , 
 Romans, continued, 
 Egypt, continued, 
 Persia, continued, 
 Macedon, continued, 
 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 History of Greece, continued, 
 
 Rome, continued, 
 
 Sicily, 
 
 Syria, 
 
 Jews, continued, 
 
 Egypt, continued, 
 
 Parthia, 
 
 China, continued, 
 Distinguished Character's, 
 
 History of Rome, continued, 
 Syria, continued, 
 Jews, continued, 
 Egypt, continued, 
 Partnia, continued, 
 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 History of Rome, continued, 
 Judea, continued, 
 Egypt, continued, 
 Parthia, continued, 
 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Period VII. 
 
 Period VIH 
 
 Period IX. 
 
 Period X. 
 
 GENERAL, VIEWS. 
 
 Antediluvian World. Surface of the Earth, Seasons, Population and Longevity, 
 
 Religion, Arts and Sciences, Government, Commerce, : : : 
 
 Assyria, (including Bahylonia) Government and Laws, Religion, Customs, 
 
 Learning, Arts, : : : : : : : : 
 
 China. Geography, Government, Religion, Sciences and Arts, : : 
 
 Egypt. Situation, Name and Division, Cities, Monuments and Works of Art, 
 Government and Laws, Mythology, Education, Domestic Habits, Manners and 
 Customs, Literature and Arts, Trade, Language, : : : : 
 
 Hebrews. Remains of Ancient Works, Cities, Religion, Government, Manners 
 
 and Customs, Learning, Arts, Commerce, : : : : 
 
 Canaanites. Customs, Manners, Arts and Sciences. Religion, : : 
 
 Greece. Appearance and Face of the Country, Situation, Extent and Division, 
 Names, Interesting Localities, Cities, Government, Military Affairs, Naval 
 Affairs, Religion, Literature, Arts, Private and Domestic Life, : : 
 
 Phoenicians. Country, Cities and Remains, Navigation and Colonies, Sciences, 
 
 Aits and Manufactures, Religion, : : : : : 
 
 Lydiana. Country, Cities, Character, Customs, : : : : 
 
 Romans. Country, its Name, Situation and Division, Interesting Localities, 
 Capital of Italy, and Sect of the Roman Empire, Political State, Religion, 
 Military Affairs, Fleets, Agriculture, Amusements and Public Spectacles, 
 Education, Literature, Arts, Domestic Life and Manners, Foreign Commerce, 
 Syria. Situation and Cities, Character of the Ancient Syrians, Language, 
 Carthage. Extent, Government and Character, : : : 
 
 Parthia. Situation, &c. :::::. 
 
 Persia. Extent and Situation, Education, Punishments, Military Art, 
 Mythology of Ancient Nations, : : : : : 
 
 Discoveries. Inventions, and Improvements of Early Ages, 
 
 K! 
 89 
 89 
 90 
 91 
 
 94 
 
 100 
 109 
 109 
 111 
 112 
 113 
 113 
 114 
 
 117 
 124 
 125 
 126 
 126 
 127 
 
 128 
 147 
 147 
 149 
 149 
 
 154 
 
 157 
 160 
 
 162 
 
 167 
 170 
 
 171 
 
 193 
 194 
 
 195 
 216 
 217 
 217 
 217 
 219 
 223 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. The term History comprehends a record of all the remarkable 
 transactions which have taken place among the human family. It 
 is the collected result of individual experience in every age and na- 
 tion ; and is, consequently, a source of practical wisdom to legislators 
 and rulers, and of profitable reflection to private persons. 
 
 The benefits to be expected from history deserve a few remarks in detail. 
 When it is written with a proper spirit, and in strict agreement with facts, there 
 is scarcely any branch of letters so well calculated to furnish an agreeable re- 
 laxation to the student ; to improve his understanding- and enlarge his stores 
 of useful knowledge ; or, in general, to subserve the cause of morality and re- 
 ligion in human society. 
 
 From the infinite variety of aspects in which history presents the dealings 
 of Providence, and from the immense number of characters and incidents 
 which it brings into view, it becomes a source of perpetual interest and enjoy 
 mcnt. The novelist, with all the license he possesses to imagine such physi- 
 cal and moral combinations as he pleases, cannot clothe his subject with hall 
 the attractions which a reflecting mind attaches to true narrative. 
 
 The view of past ages fills the mind with a sublime and pleasing melancholy. 
 We dwell with deep and tender emotion on the actions, sufferings, and changes 
 of those who were " bone of our bones, and flesh of our flesh" we regret that 
 some of them should ever have lived to disorder the world with their crimes, 
 and that others should have died, to leave it without the benefit of their con- 
 tinued active labours. 
 
 History improves our understanding, and enlarges our stores of useful 
 knowledge, by bringing to our assistance the experience of others the expe- 
 i ienoe of all time ; by making us acquainted with human nature ; by delivering 
 the mind from bigotry and prejudice from narrow and sectional feelings ; by 
 opening to us the springs of human affairs, and the causes of the rise, great- 
 ness, decline, and fall of empires. 
 
 There is something in the picture of the generations before us, of their 
 achievements and projects ; of their manners, pursuits, and attainments ; of 
 their mode of thinking and acting; of their religion, government, and litera- 
 ture ; which, going beyond the gratification of curiosity, or storing the mind 
 with mere ideas, teaches us wisdom, by the comparison of their situation with 
 our own, and by a great variety of interesting reflections naturally suggested 
 to our thoughts. 
 
 From the whole that history presents us, we deduce conclusions that have 
 an important bearing on human happiness and virtue. This we consider as 
 the most signal benefit derivable from the record of past ages. It gives us, 
 in connexion with revelation, which furnishes a most interesting portion of 
 the world's history, a correct estimate of life and of human nature in all its va- 
 riety. It shows us how man has acted according to his own pleasure, whether 
 uprightly or wickedly, and, at the same time, how God has conducted the 
 train of events to bring about the purposes of His wisdom and grace. 
 
 Speaking in the way of aphorism, history is a record of what God has done, 
 and of what he has cither enabled or suffered man to do, on the stage of the 
 world. Even, therefore, without the direct comments of the writer, which 
 nevertheless are due, we can derive important instruction froirj it ; and can 
 hardly help being impressed with the grandeur or solemnity of the movements 
 {-f Providence, in the deatiny of nations. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In short, it is here that we are supplied with the most rational entertainment, 
 and our faculties of imagination, memory, reason, and judgment, are put to a 
 most agreeable and salutary exercise. It is here we learn political science and 
 philosophy; we ascertain the necessity of government, the blessings of civili- 
 zation, the progress of reason and society ; and especially it is here we see 
 
 " a God employed 
 In all the good and ill that chequer life," 
 
 and in all the events that have a bearing on the interests of true religion. 
 
 2. History is derived to us from various sources, differing in de- 
 grees of authenticity, but in general illustrating and confirming one 
 another. The principal sources are the narratives of writers, whose 
 knowledge of the events they describe may have been acquired by 
 personal observation; inspection of public documents ; poetic le- 
 gends; and oral tradition. In addition to these, there are several 
 other sources that are highly valuable, supplying the want of direct 
 and regular narrative, such as monuments, ruins, coins, &c. 
 
 Monuments on the surface of the ground, such as pillars and heaps of slone 
 or earth, since they are intended to perpetuate the knowledge of important 
 events, throw some light on the proper subjects of history. 
 
 Ruins indicate the existence of arts and wisdom in ancient times, which are 
 Btill astonishing to the civilized world. They afford a knowledge of antiquity, 
 which description, in many cases, could never supply. Such are the ruins thai 
 exitin Egypt, the Holy Land, Greece, and Italy, in their cities, temples, aque 
 ducts, columns, &c. 
 
 Coins and medals offer very valuable means of historical information. 
 They have often been examined and studied for that purpose, are abundant, 
 and some of them possess considerable antiquity. The oldest known, belong 
 o the 5th century B. C. 
 
 Inscriptions on marble may be mentioned as another source of history. 
 The Arundelian marbles, so called from the earl of Arundel, who brought 
 them from Greece into England, are the most celebrated collection of marbles 
 bearing inscriptions, and thus communicating knowledge of antiquity. The 
 Chronicle of Paros is the most important of these inscriptions, as it contain?) 
 the chronology of Athens, from the time of Cecrops 1582, commonly put 
 B. C, to 264 B. C. 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY, 
 
 GENERAL DIVISION. 
 
 HISTORY may be divided into two great parts, viz. An 
 cient and Modern. Ancient History includes a period of 
 4004 years, and extends from the Creation of the World to the 
 Nativity of Jesus Christ. Modern History includes a period 
 of 1829 years, and extends from the Nativity of Jesus Christ, 
 to the present time. 
 
 Observations. Ancient History, which is the subject of this vo- 
 lume, comprehending an account of the Creation, and the grand 
 events connected with it ; of the fall of man ; of the deluge ; of the 
 origin of nations ; and of the principles, achievements, manners, 
 habits, religion, learning, &c. of the early race of mortals, is equally 
 curious and instructive. 
 
 PERIOD I. will extend from the Creation of the World, 
 4004 years, B. C., to the Deluge, 2348 years B. C. This is 
 the Antediluvian Period. 
 
 PERIOD II. will extend from the Deluge, 2348 years B. C., 
 to the Calling of Abraham, 1921 years B. C. This is the 
 period of the Confusion of Languages. 
 
 PERIOD III. will extend from the Calling of Abraham, 
 1921 years B. C., to the Departure of the Israelites from 
 Egypt, 1491 years B. C. This is the period of Egyptian 
 Bondage. 
 
 PERIOD IV. will extend from the Departure of the Israel- 
 ites from Egypt, 1491 years B. C., to the Dedication of Solo- 
 mon's Temple, 1004 years B. C. This is the period of the 
 Trojan War. 
 
 PERIOD V. will extend from the Dedication of Solomon's 
 Temple, 4 004 years B. C., to the Founding of Rome, 752 
 years B. C. This is the period of Homer. 
 
 PERIOD VI. will extend from the Founding of Rome, 752 
 years B. C., to the Battle of Marathon, 490 years B. C. This 
 is the period of Roman Kings. 
 
 
10 GENERAL DIVISION. 
 
 
 
 PERIOD YIL will extend from the Battle cf Marathon, 490 
 years B. C., to the Birth of Alexander, 356 years B. C. This 
 is the period of Grecian Glory. 
 
 PERIOD VIII. will extend from the Birth of Alexander, 356 
 years B. C., to the Destruction of Carthage, 146 years B. C. 
 This is the period of Roman Military Renown. 
 
 PERIOD IX. will extend from the Destruction of Carthage, 
 146 years B. C., to the First Campaign of Julius Caesar, 8C 
 years B. C. This is the period of the Civil War hetween 
 Marius and Sylla. 
 
 PERIOD X. will extend from the First Campaign of Julius 
 Osesar, 80 years B. C., to the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and 
 the Commencement of the Christian Era. This is the pe- 
 riod of Roman Literature. 
 
 Observations. The characteristic, or title of each of these pe- 
 riods, is derived from some prominent event, or striking peculiarity 
 by which it is marked. Thus, for instance, during the last period 
 but one, Rome, which was beginning to be mistress of the world, 
 was for a long time disturbed by the contentions of rival chiefs. 
 The period, therefore, is denominated that of the Civil War be- 
 tween Marius and Sylla, as marking the most important event in 
 the history of the world during that time. Thus, also, during the 
 last, or 10th period, literature greatly flourished among the Romans, 
 under the auspices of Augustus. It is, therefore, designated as the 
 period of Roman literature, as being the most striking peculiarity 
 of that era, among the nations. In the same manner, also, the cka 
 racteristics of all the others are derived. 
 
PERIOD 1. 
 
 The Antediluvian Period, extending from the Creation 
 of the World) 4004 years B. C. to the deluge, 2348 
 years B. C. 
 
 THE Bible affords the only authentic history of the first ages of 
 the world. The events which it relates of those ages, are confirmed 
 by the appearances of nature, and by legendary tradition. 
 
 SECTION 1. All human records agree that men and em- 
 pires first appeared in the East. There, those demigods 
 and heroes, who are the subjects of heathen fable, are repre- 
 sented as having lived and acted. When, therefore, the 
 Bible points to that quarter of the globe, as the cradle of na- 
 tion^ and of the arts, and as the theatre of the most wonder 
 ful events, it only coincides with the general belief of man- 
 kind on this subject. 
 
 The account contained in that sacred book respecting the 
 creation of the world, or the beginning of time, is equally 
 worthy of credit. This, of course, is the first grand event 
 which history presents to us. The cosmogonies of nations, 
 that is, the schemes they have adopted respecting the forma- 
 tion of the world, vary very much from one another, and 
 most of them are manifestly absurd and incredible. That 
 of the Hebrews, which constitutes the scriptural account, is the 
 only one that deserves implicit belief. 
 
 2. According to this account, it appears that about 5829 
 years ago, God called the visible universe into being, by 
 the word of his power ; that a determinate length of time 
 was occupied in the work, the various portions of the world 
 being produced on six successive days ; that man was cre- 
 ated on the last day of those six, and constituted the head ol 
 all the animal tribes ; that his happiness and increase were 
 provided for by the institution of marriage, which was soon 
 announced ; that God saw that all his work was good ; and 
 that he rested on the seventh day, hallowing it, as a day to 
 be devoted to religious solemnities. 
 
12 ANCIENT HISTOftV PERIOD / 
 
 The earth, immediately subsequent to it> creation, was a fluid, 
 'lark, and shapeless mass of matter. The first thing done to bring 
 it into a perfect state, was the creation of light. Then the firrna 
 ment expanded, to divide the upper from the lower waters. 
 
 Succeeding this, the assembled waters^ retired to their destined 
 oed ; and, at length, the dry land was se'en, crowned with a rich 
 profusion of herbage, fruits, and flowers. These great occurrences 
 occupied the first three days. 
 
 The following day was devoted to an illumination of the earth. 
 The heavens were accordingly adorned with myriads of stars ; and 
 the greater luminaries were so disposed, as to distinguish between 
 day and night, and to divide the seasons of the year. 
 
 On the fifth and sixth days, the waters were replenished with fish, 
 the air was filled with birds, the meadows were stocked with cattle, 
 and every part of the earth's surface was inhabited by its appropriate 
 tribes. 
 
 The last work of the sixth day was the creation of man. This 
 was the crowning work of the whole. God formed him of the dust 
 of the ground, breathed into his body the breath of life, or immor- 
 tality, and hence man became a living soul. Woman was also 
 formed, out of the side of the man, who was cast into a deep sleep 
 for that purpose. 
 
 After the creation of this helper for man, she was given to the lat 
 ter, and the sacred institution of marriage was ordained by the Creatoi 
 himself. From this pair sprang all the various nations of mankind. 
 
 As a matter of curiosity, and forming a perfect contrast to the ra- 
 tional account of the Scriptures, we will mention a few theories oi 
 philosophers and others, on the formation of the universe. 
 
 It was the opinion of Zenophanes, Strabo, and others, that the 
 earth, and the whole system of the universe, was the Deity himself 
 Pythagoras inculcated the famous numerical system of the monad 
 dyad, and triad ; and, by means of his sacred quaternary, eluci- 
 dated the formation of the world, and the secrets of nature. 
 
 Other philosophers adhered to the mathematical system of squares 
 and triangles ; the cube, the pyramid, and the sphere, &c. While 
 others maintained the great elementary theory, which refers the 
 construction of our globe, and all it contains, to the combinations of 
 the four material elements, air, earth, fire, and water, with the as- 
 sistance of a fifth, an immaterial and vivifying principle. 
 
 It is recorded by the Brahmins, in the pages of their inspired 
 Shastah, that the angel Bistnoo, transforming himself into a great 
 boar, plunged into the watery abyss, and brought up the earth on 
 his tusks. Then issued from him a mighty tortoise and snake; and 
 Bistnoo placed the snake erect upon the back of the tortoise, and he 
 placed the earth upon the head of the .snake. 
 
 The negroes of Congo affirm that the world was made by the hands 
 of angels, excepting their own country, which the Supreme Being 
 constructed himself; that he took great pains \vith the inhabitants, 
 and made them very black and beautiful ; and when he had finished 
 th*> first. in:ui. he was well pleased with him. and smoothed him ove* 
 
40042348 u. c. IS 
 
 the face ; and hence his nose, and the noses of all his descendants, 
 Decame flat. 
 
 Buffon, a modern infidel philosopher, conjectures that this earth 
 was originally a globe of liquid fire, struck from the body of the? 
 sun, by means of a comet, as a spark is produced by the collision 
 of flint and steel ; that at first it was surrounded by gross vapory 
 which, cooling and condensing in process of time, constituted, ao 
 cording to their densities, earth, water, and air ; which gradually 
 arranged themselves according to their respective gravities, round 
 the burning mass that formed their centre. 
 
 Darwin, an infidel also, in accounting for the origin of the world. 
 supposes that the mass of chaos suddenly exploded, like a barrel of 
 gunpowder, and in that act exploded the sun, which, in its flight, by 
 a similar convulsion, exploded the earth, which in like manner ex- 
 ploded the moon ; and thus, by a chain of explosions, the whole so- 
 lar system was produced, and set in regular motion. 
 
 3. Adam and Eve. the names of the first human pair, 
 were placed by the Deity, immediately subsequent to their 
 creation, in the garden of Eden, with instructions to keep and 
 dress it. They were allowed the free use of all the fruit of 
 the garden, with a single reservation, which w r as designed as 
 a trial of their obedience. The penalty of death was threat- 
 ened if they should transgress the command of their Maker. 
 Created pure and innocent, and placed in a state of unalloyed 
 happiness, they had every inducement to do well. 
 
 Adam and Eve seem to have been created without the garden, 
 and immediately afterwards brought into it. It is evident that Eden 
 was east of Canaan, or of the wilderness where Moses wrote the sa- 
 cred history. But the precise spot cannot now be ascertained. 
 
 The most extravagant opinions have been entertained on this sub- 
 ject ; and not only the four quarters of the globe, but even the air 
 and the moon, have been conjectured to include this delightful 
 abode. Following the Bible as nearly as we are able, and judg- 
 ing from the well known names of the Hiddekel, or Tigris, and the 
 Euphrates, we may determine, with some probability, that the Gar- 
 den of Eden was situated in or near Mesopotamia, probably Diarbec, 
 a part of that country. 
 
 It is clear that Moses intended to give an intelligible description 
 of the situation of Eden to his countrymen, who might know it ex- 
 actly, though we cannot ; and it is clear, also, that, though the face 
 of the country may have been greatly changed by means of the de- 
 luge, the Tigris and Euphrates continued nearly the same course 
 after that event as before. 
 
 The tree, the fruit of which Adam was forbidden to eat, is called 
 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which intimates thai, 
 by abstaining from this fruit, the knowledge of good would be en 
 joyed, but, by eating it, the knowledge of evil would be fatally in- 
 troduced. 
 
14 ANCIENT HISTORY- -PERIOD J. 
 
 4. The innocence and felicity of the first pair were of very 
 short duration. They violated, with daring impiety, the sole 
 command of their Maker. The precise time of this transac- 
 tion cannot be determined ; but it was probably only a few 
 days after their creation. 
 
 The woman, being deceive^ by the subtlety of Satan, in 
 the form of a serpent, was the first in transgression ; and, by 
 her means, Adam also sinned. A sense of guilt and misery 
 unknown before, then pervaded their bosoms ; though they 
 were preserved from despair by the promise of a Saviour. 
 
 The greatness of the sin of our first parents is no less evident than 
 the subtlety of the Tempter. In their sm was involved almost every 
 crime ingratitude, sensuality, ambition, unbelief, distrust, malignity, 
 pride, insubordination. 
 
 The effect was decisive. The face ot creation was altered. " Na- 
 ture gave signs that all was lost." Death was introduced 
 
 into the system, and our first parents, from that moment, became 
 liable to dissolution, with all their posterity. The seeds of death 
 were then planted in fneir frame, and the moral qualities of their 
 souls became wholly corrupt and sinful. 
 
 The disclosure of their crime w r as in the highest degree distress- 
 ing to the guilty pair. God called them to account, and his awful 
 frown and displeasure, chilled and penetrated their souls. The 
 ground was cursed for their sakes, and a great variety of evils was 
 entailed upon them. 
 
 The serpent, who was the instrument of the crime, received his 
 doom, in connexion with the promise of a deliverer on the part oi 
 man, who had been so fatally beset and overcome. The seed of the 
 woman was eventually to bruise the Serpent's head a declaration 
 referable, in its full extent, only to Jesus Christ, the Saviour ol 
 mankind. The immediate expulsion of Adam and Eve from para- 
 dise, was the natural conclusion of this dreadful and calamitous 
 scene, after their Maker had first mercifully provided them with 
 coats of skin, to cover their nakedness. Cherubims, and a flaming 
 sword, which turned every way, placed at the east of the garden, 
 prevented all access to the once happy abode, particularly to the 
 tree of life. 
 
 5. In the first year of the world, 4004 years B. C. was 
 born Cain, the first begotten of the human family. The suc- 
 ceeding year. Abel was born. These brothers not only fol- 
 lowed different occupations, but possessed very different cha- 
 racters. The bitter fruits of the apostacy appeared at length 
 ii> *' >3 murder of the one by the other. 
 
 On an occasion of presenting an offering unto God, Cain, 
 who was a husbandman, brought of the fruit of the ground ; 
 Abel, who was a shepherd, brought of the firstlings of his 
 
40042348 B. c. 15 
 
 flock. The offerers, being dissimilar in character, and their 
 offerings having a dissimilar significancy, were not alike ac- 
 cepted of Jehovah. Cain and his offering were rejected. 
 This circumstance excited the indignation of Cain, who, 
 taking his opportunity when they were alone in the field, rose 
 up against his brother and slew him. 
 
 On account of his crime, Cain was forthwith punished by 
 Jehovah. He was called to a solemn reckoning, and, hear 
 ing with anguish his doom pronounced, " a fugitive and a 
 vagabond shall thou be in the earth," he went out from the 
 presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the 
 east of Eden. 
 
 He, however, built a city, at length, and his family and de- 
 scendants became famous as inventors of useful and ingenious 
 arts, though it does not appear that any of them were pious, 
 and enjoyed the divine favour. 
 
 The murder of Abel occarred, it is generally supposed, but a 
 short time before the birth of Seth, or about 130 years after the cre- 
 ation. As Adam and Eve, in the mean time, must have had other 
 children, the human family was no doubt considerably multiplied 
 during 130 years. Hence the events that are recorded by Moses, 
 in connexion with the murdproi Abel, are easily accounted for, with- 
 out supposing more than one numan pair, from whom all the inha* 
 bitants then on the earth were descended. 
 
 After the death of Abel, Adam and Eve had many other children , 
 the eldest of the sons was named Seth, and his descendants, from 
 their piety, were styled " the children of God," in opposition to the 
 descendants of Cain, who were styled "the children of men. 1 ' 
 These at length mingled together, and thus prepared the way for the 
 universal wickedness that afterwards prevailed. 
 
 6. After a short account of Cain and his family, the sa- 
 cred historian informs us respecting " the generations of 
 Adam;" and recording the births of Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, 
 and Jared, he presents us with a brief but interesting history 
 of Enoch. Being eminently pious, he is said to have walked 
 with God, for the space of 300 years, and at the expiration 
 of that time, to have been taken up to heaven, without pass- 
 ing through the scene of death. 
 
 The sacred genealogy is carried on to the time of Noah 
 and his sons, and the date of the life of each one of the pa- 
 triarchs is minutely given. 
 
 As Adam lived 930 years, he must have beheld a numerous pos- 
 terity, and been conversant with many who survived till near the 
 time of the deluge. Doubtless he must have been greatly affected, 
 
16 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD I. 
 
 in view of the wickedness which so soon began to spread over the 
 earth, and which he had been the instrument of introducing. 
 
 The place of his sepulchre is not mentioned in scripture ; yet va- 
 rious conjectures (and they are mere conjectures) have been formed 
 on the subject. St. Jerome stations his remains in the cave of Mach- 
 pelah ; and the generality of the primitive fathers suppose him to 
 have been buried on Mount Calvary, in the very spot whereon Christ, 
 f he second Adam, shed his blood for mankind. 
 
 The descendants of Seth, at first continuing pure and uncorrupted, 
 at length, by intermarriages with the family of Cain, became, witli 
 the rest of mankind, exceedingly degenerate. From these inter- 
 marriages sprang the giants of those times, men of extraordinary 
 strength and stature, and, perhaps, of more extraordinary wick- 
 edness. These became (; men of renown," heroes, conquerors, and 
 ohief tains. 
 
 7. The Deity, justly provoked by the enormous degeneracy 
 of his creatures, determined to destroy, by a universal deluge, 
 the race of man. together with the whole animal creation, ex- 
 cept a very small remnant who were to restock the earth af- 
 ter that catastrophe. 
 
 One hundred and twenty years, however, did he merci 
 fully afford to the children of men, as a space for repentance;, 
 during which time, Noah, " a preacher of righteousness," 
 endeavoured to reclaim them from their wickedness, and warn- 
 ed them of their doom. His zeal and labours seem to have 
 produced no effect. The earth became at length filled with 
 violence. 
 
 From the tremendous sentence which God had pronounced 
 Noah and his family were excepted, he having "found grace 
 la the eyes of the Lord." Connected with the intimatior. 
 which Noah had received concerning the approaching deluge 
 were several particular instructions, relative to his deliver- 
 ance. 
 
 This was to be accomplished by means of a large vessel 
 called the ark, which he built during the intervening period, 
 agreeably to the divine directions. 
 
 The ark was built of gopher wood, which some suppose to bft 
 the cypress tree. Its form was that of an oblong square, with a 
 flat bottom and a sloping roof, elevated one cubitf in the middle, 
 It consisted of three stories, each of which, excluding the thick- 
 ness of the floors, might be eighteen feet high, and was divided 
 into separate apartments. It was pitched within and without, to 
 Keep it tight, and lighted from the upper part. It was, probably, 
 well supplied with air ; and, though it had neither sails nor rudder 
 it was well contrived for lying steadily on the surface of the water 
 
40042348 B. c 17 
 
 With this means of safety, Noah awaited the destruction which 
 was fast coming upon the world. 
 
 Distinguished characters in Period I. 
 
 1. Adam, the first of the human race. 
 
 2. Eve, the first woman. 
 
 3. Cain, the earliest born of mankind, and first murderer. 
 
 4. Jubal, the first musician. 
 
 5. Tubal-cain, the earliest instructer in the mechanic arts 
 
 6. Enoch, translated to heaven on account of his piety. 
 
 7. Methuselah, the oldest man that has ever lived, being 
 969 years old when he died. 
 
 1. Adam was created by the Almighty from the dust of the earth, 
 on the 6th day of the creation. His Maker, it is said in Scripture, 
 " breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became 
 a living soul." He was thus endued with an immortal principle, 
 and being placed in a probationary state, not only his own cha- 
 racter, but the character of his posterity, was to be affected by his 
 conduct. 
 
 As he came from the hands of his Maker, he was pure, holy, and 
 happy ; and he had every motive to persuade him to continued rec- 
 titude of conduct. His outward circumstances also were favourable 
 for this end. He was placed in a delightful garden, the easy tillage 
 of which constituted his employment. God imposed upon him but 
 one test of obedience, and that was abstinence in regard to eating 
 the fruit of a certain tree in the garden. 
 
 Persuaded by Eve, who, having been tempted by Satan, had pre- 
 viously transgressed, he partook of the forbidden food, and thus 
 death entered into the world, and " all our wo." His conduct in- 
 volved the greatest impiety, and the consequences have been dread- 
 ful in time, and will be so throughout eternity, in regard to multi- 
 tudes of his offspring, who have imitated him in his disobedience, and 
 repented not. 
 
 It is highly probable that he, together with the woman, embraced 
 an offered Saviour, immediately made known, both having repented 
 of their sin. He lived many years afterwards, having begot sons 
 and daughters, and died at the advanced age of 930 years. For fur- 
 ther particulars, see Genesis, 2d, 3d, and 4th chapters. 
 
 2. Eve was created " an help meet" for Adam, having been 
 formed, by the Creator, from one of the ribs of Adam, which was 
 taken from him in a deep sleep. Thus she became " bone of his 
 bones, and flesh of his flesh," and was given to him as his wife. 
 
 She proved to be first " in the transgression." Satan, a fallen spi- 
 rit, assuming the form of a serpent, and, through the organs of that 
 animal, exerting the powers of speech, accosted her when alone, and 
 Interrogated her respecting the forbidden tree. Taking her by sur- 
 prise, and securing r^gr attention and good will, he at length persuaded 
 her to disobey the express command of God. 
 
 132 
 
18 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD !. 
 
 She partook of the fruit; "and gave also unto her husband with 
 her, and he did eat." This event, in regard to the first human pair, 
 is supposed to have taken place very soon, if not immediately after 
 they were placed in the garden. Eve, as a particular punishment to 
 be inflicted upon her, was doomed in sorrow to bring forth children, 
 and to be subject to her husband. 
 
 3. Cain rendered himself famous by his wickedness. In an unpro- 
 voked manner he murdered his brother Abel, and thus was the first 
 who committed a crime which has ever been considered as the most 
 atrocious that man commits. 
 
 God directly punished him by an awful malediction ; and b,y causing 
 him to become a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Going out 
 "from the presence of t>e Lord," he dwelt in the land of Nod, on the 
 east of Eden. He at length built a city, and called it Enoch, after 
 the name of his son. 
 
 Nothing is recorded of the time and manner of his death. He was 
 most probably a person of great energy and enterprise, as has often 
 been the fact with the wicked ones of the earth. 
 
 4. Jubal is spoken of in Scripture as " the father of all such BH 
 handle the harp and organ," as his brother Jabal is mentioned an 
 * the father of such as dwell in tents." From all accounts, both sa 
 cred and profane, music must have been early known among man 
 kind, and its performers must have been among the earliest civilizers 
 of the world. 
 
 5-^Tubal-Cain is called " an instructor of every artificer in brass 
 and iron." Probably he was so called from his having discovered 
 the art of working in these metals ; the most useful of the mechanic 
 arts, and lying at the foundation of all of them. 
 
 6. Enoch lived 65 years before he begat Methuselah. He " walk- 
 ed with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years, and begat sons and' 
 daughters. And all the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch 
 walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Such is the 
 simple and sublime record of scripture respecting a good man. It 
 is an infinitely more precious memorial than the splendid marble 
 monument, or the ever-during pyramid. 
 
 7. Methuselah is not known to have been remarkable for any 
 thing except his age. He must have lived to the very year of the 
 flood. The circumstance of the longevity of the antediluvians, was ex- 
 tremely favourable to the communication of knowledge, by tradition. 
 
 PERIOD II. 
 
 TJie Period of the Confusion of Languages, extending 
 from the Deluge, 2348 years B. C. to the calling of 
 Abraham, 1921 years B. C. 
 
 IT may be observed here, that this period, in profane history, and 
 even two or three others succeeding it, are what is termed fabulous. 
 The events recorded are to be admitted with a great degree of cau- 
 
23481921 a. c. 10 
 
 tiou, except so far as Scripture incidentally throws its light upon 
 them. And it is well known, also, that there is a portion of the 
 early history of almost every nation, which is but little entitled to 
 credit. We shall adduce the common accounts, and when neces- 
 sary, shall endeavour to distinguish between the probable and impro- 
 bable events. 
 
 SECTION 1. At the appointed time, God brought the wa- 
 ters of the flood upon aU the earth. For this purpose, he 
 oroke up the fountains of the great deep, and opened the win- 
 dows of heaven. During forty days and forty nights, with- 
 out intermission, the waters were thus poured upon the surface 
 of the globe. 
 
 As the ark was completed, Noah, being 600 years old, went 
 into it, together with his wife, his three sons, and their wives, 
 taking with him all kinds of beasts, birds, and reptiles, by pairs, 
 and by sevens, agreeably to the divine direction. 
 
 According to the antediluvian computation, Noah remained 
 in the ark one year and ten days ; and on coming out, he 
 built an altar, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord,, who blessed 
 Noah and his sons. They settled in the vicinity of mount 
 
 Ararat, in Armenia. 
 
 The waters increased gradually during the space of five months, 
 when they rose to the elevation of 27 feet above the summits of the 
 highest mountains. Men, beasts, birds, and reptiles, thus being de- 
 prived of the means of safety, all perished. 
 
 The purpose of God being effected, he caused a wind to pass over 
 the earth, in consequence of which the waters began to subside. The 
 ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, on the 17th day of the 7th 
 month, or the 6th of May. 
 
 The waters continuing several months afterwards, it was not 
 until the 27th of the 2cl month, or the 18th of December, that the 
 inmates of the ark came forth in pursuance of the divine com 
 mand. 
 
 2. The truth of the Bible respecting the deluge, is strikingly 
 confirmed by the general voice of mankind, and by the phy- 
 sical structure and appearance of the earth's surface. 
 
 The Chaldeans, Egyptians, Syrians, Indians, Chinese, Greeks, and 
 other nations, all had some traditions respecting the deluge. Not to 
 mention any that have been yet published, the author of this outline 
 would state a fact once delivered to him by an intelligent adventurer, 
 his countryman. 
 
 Residing some time among the natives of the North West Coast of 
 America, he fell into conversation with one of them around the fire 
 of his wigwam, on various topics. Among other things, the Indian 
 inquired of him, whether his people knew any thing concerning a 
 great flood that had once taken place. 
 
20 ANCIENT HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 The stranger resident affecting surprise, with a view to learn what 
 notion the natives had on the subject, asked his inquirer, how long 
 ago it happened. The Indian immediately scooping up a handful of 
 ashes that lay before him, promptly replied, "as many moons as 
 there are ashes here." 
 
 In agreement with the universal voice of tradition, the surface of 
 the earth, in various respects, indicates the occurrence of such a ca- 
 tastrophe. Its broken state, the disposition of its strata, and the re- 
 mains of marine productions on the tops of the highest mountains, 
 are no doubtful evidence on this subject. 
 
 3. After the deliverance of Noah and his family from the 
 flood, God established a gracious covenant with him, which is 
 recorded at length in the 9th chapter of Genesis. Among 
 other things, he made a grant of flesh as food for mankind, 
 and he engaged no more to destroy the earth with a flood, in 
 confirmation of which he set his bow in the cloud. 
 
 4. Not long after this period, Noah, who had engaged in 
 the pursuits of husbandry, having been intoxicated by the 
 juice of the grape, was discovered in this disgraceful situa- 
 tion by his youngest son Ham, who, with indecent levity, in- 
 formed his brethren of the circumstance. The latter, however, 
 treated their father with the highest degree of filial decorum. 
 
 This conduct procured for them the blessing of Noah, 
 while that of Ham subjected him, in his son Canaan, to a 
 dreadful curse. 
 
 Noah, we are informed by the sacred historian, lived 350 years aftei 
 the deluge, so that his entire age was 950 years. The Orientals have 
 a tradition that he was buried in Mesopotamia, where they show his 
 sepulchre, in a castle near Dair Abunah, or the " monastery of our 
 father." 
 
 5. The three sons of Noah were, of course, the first foun 
 ders of nations. They peopled the several quarters of the 
 globe, Shem, the east and south of Asia ; Ham, Syria, Ara- 
 bia, and Africa ; Japheth, the north and west of Asia, and 
 also Europe. 
 
 From the immediate descendants of Shem were derived the Ela- 
 mites or Persians ; the Assyrians, and the Lydians. By Joktan, the 
 fourth in descent from Shem, the uttermost parts of the east were 
 peopled, and perhaps America also, where, it is said, some traces of 
 his name yet remain. 
 
 Joktan had 13 sons, and scripture says that the dwelling of Jok- 
 tan's posterity " was from Mesha, as thou goest up to Sephar, a mount 
 in the East." 
 
 From the sons of Ham, who is supposed to be the Chronos of the 
 Greeks, were descended the Ethiopians, the Babylonians, the Egyp- 
 
23481921 B. c. 21 
 
 lians, the Coichians, the Philistines, the Lybians, the Canaanites, 
 Sidonians, and the Phoenicians. 
 
 From the sons of Japheth were descended the Cimbri, the Gauls, 
 the Germans, the Scythians, the Tartars, the Medes, the lonians, 
 the Iberians, the Muscovites, and the Thracians. From their sons 
 ^'ere derived other particular tribes, whose names need not here be 
 rehearsed. 
 
 6. During 101 years after the flood, i. e. till the year 2247 
 B. C. all the descendants of Noah spoke but one language 
 The occasion of a diversity of tongues in the world, and of 
 the origin of distinct communities, was the following. 
 
 At the time above referred to, the human family, in jour- 
 neying from the vicinity of mount Ararat, arrived at length 
 at a plain in the land of Shinar. On this spot they began to 
 erect a city and a tower, whose top might aspire to heaven, for 
 the purpose of avoiding the dispersion of their households, and 
 of acquiring a name. 
 
 Such a purpose, and perhaps others still Averse, being of- 
 fensive to the Deity, he confounded their language, and thus 
 the workmen, not being able to understand one another, de- 
 sisted from their undertaking. The consequence was the 
 dispersion of mankind into different nations. 
 
 The name given to the city was Babel, which signifies- 
 
 confusion. 
 
 In erecting the tower they made use of brick instead of stone, and 
 the want of mortar was supplied by slime, or bitumen, of which the 
 region afforded an abundance. The identical materials of this fa- 
 bric have been supposed, at different times, to have been discovered ; 
 but this is uncertain. 
 
 7. Mankind having become separated into different com- 
 munities or nations, their history must thenceforth be given 
 accordingly. We shall commence with the Assyrian nation, 
 and briefly trace the outline of its history, as also the history 
 of other sovereignties that existed during this period. 
 
 ASSYRIA. 
 
 8. ASSYRIA, considered as afterwards including Babylonia, 
 is the oldest of nations, and founded on the spot where the 
 tower of Babel was erected. We may date the commence- 
 ment of this empire not many years after the dispersion took 
 place, or about 2229 years B. C. Its founder was Ashur, the 
 son of Shem, who built Nineveh, its capital. It continued 
 alone about 120 years, and then being united to Babylonia, 
 became a mighty empire. 
 
22 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD II. 
 
 In the order of lime, there were two empires of the Assyrians. 
 The first is here spoken of, which lasted till the year 767 B. C. 
 
 It is supposed by some that Babylon, which was built by Nimrod; 
 the grandson of Ham, the Belus of profane history, was, from the 
 beginning, the capital of Assyria. But we rather follow those autho- 
 rities that suppose Babylonia and Assyria to have been originally 
 two distinct kingdoms, both founded about the same time, the former 
 by Nimrod, the latter by Ashur. 
 
 The Babylonians became, at length, tributary ; and Ninus, king of 
 Assyria, having deposed Nabonius, united the two states into one. 
 \fter his death, Semiramis, his widow, transferred the seat of govern- 
 nent from Nineveh to Babylon. 
 
 9. Under Semiramis the Assyrian empire was greatly en- 
 larged. She assumed the government during the nonage of 
 Ninias, son of her husband, Ninus. She signalized her name 
 by enlarging and embellishing Babylon, and by her nume- 
 rous military exploits. 
 
 It is said, that, in completing Babylon, she employed the labours 
 of 2,000,000 men. This woman, after having enlarged her dominions, 
 conquered a great part of Ethiopia, and invaded India, though with- 
 out success, was murdered, as is supposed, at the instigation of 
 Ninias. 
 
 10. Ninias, her successor, was a very insignificant sove 
 reign ; and the history of his successors, for more than 30 ge 
 herations, is unknown. They must have been an indolent 
 and effeminate race. 
 
 Ninias, unlike his predecessors, being wholly intent on his plea 
 sures, kept himself secluded in his palace, and seldom appeared 
 before his people. But, to retain them in their duty, he kept a cer- 
 tain number of regular troops, whom he renewed every year, com- 
 manded by an officer on whose fidelity he could depend. This 
 method he seems to have adopted, that the officers might have no 
 time to gain the affections of the soldiers, or to form conspiracies 
 ag.ainst him. 
 
 Not only are his successors unknown, as to their conduct or ex- 
 ploits, but even their names, till the time of Sardanapalus, the last of 
 them, (who will be noticed in the proper place,) are a matter of con- 
 troversy among historians. 
 
 During this unrecorded period of the Assyrian history, Sesostris, 
 King of Egypt, if his name may be here anticipated, who carried on 
 his conquests into the East, must have overrun Assyria ; but, as his 
 power was not supported by his successors, the Assyrians must have 
 soon regained their former state. 
 
 CHINA 
 
 11. CHINA, it is not to be doubted, is among the most 
 ancient empires of the world. Its records extend 10 more 
 than 2200 years B. C. According to the most current op 
 
23481921 B. c. 23 
 
 nion, it was founded by one of the colonies formed at the 
 dispersion of Noah's posterity, under the conduct of Yao, who 
 took for his colleague Chun, afterwards his successor. 
 
 Other accounts state Fo-hi to have been the founder of this 
 monarchy, and many writers consider Fo-hi to have been Noah 
 himself. The Chinese pretend a much higher antiquity than 
 is here assigned to them, but their pretensions are merely the 
 effect of national vanity. 
 
 The sovereigns of China, from Chun to the present time, are di- 
 vided into 22 dynasties, the first of which, that of Hia, began 2207 
 years B. C. Four, and a part of the fifth, of these dynasties, preceded 
 the Christian era. 
 
 The first dynasty was founded by Yu, surnamed Ta, or the Great, 
 whom Chun adopted in preference to his own children. It lasted 
 441 years, under 17 emperors. 
 
 Yu-ta was a great proficient in agriculture, astronomy, and the 
 kindred studies. On the subject of the first, he wrote an excellent 
 treatise. He died much regretted, after a reign of 17 years. 
 
 Kya, the last monarch of this dynasty, was greatly detested by his 
 subjects. He was driven from the throne, and died after an igno- 
 minious exile of three years. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 1 2. EGYPT claims, and certainly possesses, a high anti- 
 quity. Its early annals, however, are so obscure, that scarcely 
 any thing can be ascertained respecting its first kings, after 
 Menes.* 
 
 Menes is generally acknowledged as the founder of the 
 Egyptian empire, and is supposed to be the same as Misraim, 
 mentioned in scripture among Ham's sons, 2188 years B. C. 
 His children divided the land ; whence arose four kingdoms, 
 which subsisted separately during several centuries, and were 
 successively united under one yoke. 
 
 These four kingdoms are known by the names of Thebes, 
 Thin, Memphis, and Tanais. The people had attained to 
 considerable civilization, but a period of barbarism soon after- 
 
 * Some late writers, adopting- the Samaritan text of the Bible, which places 
 the dclug-c several hundred years beyond the common era, compute the reig-n 
 of Menes at about 2800 years B. C. With this they cause the other events ol 
 the early period of the world to correspond. We mention this circumstance, 
 because the computation which is thus made may possibly be correct, and it 
 seems to derive some little confirmation from the history of the Egyptians, 
 both as touched upon in the Bible, and as gathered from their hieroglyphic 
 records. Still, however, we incline to the common accounts. 
 
24 ANCIENT HISTORY -PERIOD II. 
 
 wards succeeded, supposed about 2084 years B. C., under the 
 shepherd kings,* which lasted more than two centuries. 
 
 In the time of Menes, the greatest part of the country was a rr>3- 
 rass, till he diverted the course of the Nile, and founded the city ot 
 Memphis within the ancient bed of that river. He instructed the 
 Egyptians in theology, introduced domestic luxury, and instituted 
 magnificent feasts. 
 
 It was under Timaus, one of his successors, that the government 
 was subverted, and the country subdued by a multitude of ignoble 
 persons, who came from the East, and treated in the most inhuman 
 manner the ancient inhabitants. 
 
 These invaders were called Hycsos, or shepherd kings, and, ac- 
 cording to Manetho, held all Lower Egypt 259 years. 
 
 In the kingdom of Thebes, a king by the name of Athothes I. is 
 said to have reigned at a very early period. He was the same as was 
 worshipped under the name of Mercury. After hrs death his two 
 sons divided the kingdom ; but nothing is known of their successors 
 for a long period. In the kingdom of Thin, Venephes is said to have 
 built some pyramids, and to have had his reign distinguished by a 
 great famine, as that also of one of his successors was distinguished 
 by a dreadful plague. 
 
 In the kingdom of Memphis, Tosorthros reigned, not long after 
 Menes. From the knowledge he had of physic, lie is styled Escula- 
 pius. He is said to have invented the arts of building and writing. 
 
 Of the last kingdom of Egypt, during this period, there seem to 
 be no records, or none worth naming. Indeed, in regard to those 
 of the others that have come down to us, there is extreme uncer- 
 tainty, 
 
 Distinguished characters in Period IT. 
 
 1. Noah, from whom the earth was a second time peopled. 
 
 2. Asliur, who built Nineveh. 
 
 3. Nimrod, a warrior, and supposed to be the first king. 
 
 4. Menes, first king of Egypt, and civilizer of the East. 
 
 5. Ninus, an Assyrian monarch, who conquered a large 
 portion of Asia. 
 
 (5. Semiramfe, a female conqueror, and able sovereign. 
 
 1. Noah is by some considered the Chronos of the Greeks, and is 
 properly the second father of mankind. Little needs to be said of 
 him, besides what has already appeared. His eminent piety pro- 
 cured for him and his family an honourable exemption from the aw- 
 fully destructive effects of the deluge. 
 
 * These kings, who were detested by the Egyptians, held the government 
 when Abraham visited it ; but were expelled before the time of Joseph. This 
 circumstance explains the remarkable fact, that Abraham, a shepherd, wag 
 very kindly entertained in Egypt ; while, in a subsequent age, Joseph's bre- 
 thren, because they were shepherds, were held in abhorrence by the inhabi- 
 tants. We have here a pleasing confirmation of the truth of the scriptural 
 uurrative. 
 
23481921 B. c. 25 
 
 Having built the ark agreeably to the divine direction, he entered it 
 at the age of 600 years, taking with him seven members of his family, 
 together with the animals that were intended to restock the earth. 
 Under the special care of God, he, and the various inmates of the 
 ark, survived the desolations of a world, and leaving the ark in safety, 
 at a little more than the expiration of a year, he built an altar, and 
 offered sacrifice unto the Lord. 
 
 Noah lived 350 years after the flood, was engaged in the tillage of 
 the earth, and saw his descendants increasing around him. For an 
 important incident in his life, which has already been mentioned, we 
 refer to Gen. ix. 2028. 
 
 2. Asliur was one of the sons of Shem, and supposed to be the 
 founder of the Assyrians. Scarcely any thing is recorded of him. 
 The scripture asserts that he went out of the land of Shinar, and 
 builded Nineveh, and the city of Rehoboth, and Calah. 
 
 3. Nimrod " seems at first to have exceedingly distinguished himself 
 by hunting, which was then not so much a diversion, as a useful 
 method of preventing the hurtful increase of wild beasts. This em- 
 ployment required great courage and address, and thus afforded a 
 field for ambition to aspire after pre-eminence, and gradually attached 
 a number of valiant men to one leader." 
 
 " From such a beginning, Nimrod began to claim authority, and 
 enforce subjection ; and, in fact, is the first king we read of in au- 
 thentic history ; and afterwards he took occasion to wage war, to 
 extend his conquests, and to enlarge his acquisitions by violence and 
 blood. Thus, casting off the fear of God, and acting in defiance of 
 the divine prohibition of shedding human blood, he rendered himself 
 notorious, and his name became a proverb." 
 
 " The beginning of his kingdom," says scripture, " was Babel, and 
 Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." 
 
 4. Menes, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy, was worshipped 
 as a god after death. He appears to have been deservedly popular, 
 by his abilities and wisdom. He built the town of Memphis, as is 
 generally supposed. If he was the same as Misraim, mentioned in 
 scriptuie, as some assert, he was one of the sons of Ham. He is said 
 to have reigned 62 year* over Upper Egypt, and 35 over Lower 
 Egypt. 
 
 5. Ninus was a son of Betas. He was very warlike, and extended 
 his conquests from Egypt to the extremities of India and Bao 
 triana. He became enamoured of Semiramis, the wife of one of his 
 officers, and married her, after her husband had destroyed himself 
 through fear of his powerful rival, or from jealousy. He reigned 52 
 years, and at his death, left his kingdom to the care of his wife, Se- 
 miramis. 
 
 6. Semiramis possessed exquisite beauty, and an heroic soul. It 
 was on these accounts that the Assyrian monarch fell in love with her. 
 In her infancy, it is fabulously said, she was exposed in a desert, but 
 her life was preserved by cloves one whole year. She was at length 
 found by one of the shepherds of Ninus, and brought up by him as 
 one of his own children. 
 
 c 
 
26 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD III. 
 
 Slie was so tenderly beloved by her husband, Menones, that he 
 could not survive his expected loss of her, and the knowledge that 
 she was demanded by his sovereign. After the death of Ninus, whom 
 she had married, assuming the reins of government in her hands, she 
 immortalized her name by enriching Babylon with new works and 
 embellishments. 
 
 Of these, the principal were the walls of the city, the quays and 
 the bridge; the lake, banks, and canals, made for draining the 
 river ; the palace, the hanging gardens, and the temple of Beltis 
 She also enlarged her dominions by the conquest of a large part ol 
 Ethiopia. 
 
 Her greatest and last expedition was directed against India. 
 She advanced towards the river Indus, and having prepared boats, 
 attempted to pass it with her army. The passage was for a long 
 time disputed, but, after a bloody battle, she put her enemies to 
 flight. Upon this she advanced directly into the country, leaving 
 60,000 men to guard the bridge of boats built over the river. 
 
 As soon as the Indian king thought her far enough advanced, he 
 faced about ; a second engagement ensued, more bloody than the 
 first. The Assyrians were routed, and Semiramis, after being twice 
 wounded, was obliged to fly, and return to her country with scarcely 
 one third of her army. 
 
 Some time after, discovering that her son was plotting against her, 
 she voluntarily abdicated the throne, put the government into his 
 hands, and withdrew from public life. She lived 62 years, of which 
 she reigned 42. Her character, in respect to those qualities that 
 adorn a woman, seems not to have been highly esteemed. 
 
 PERIOD III. 
 
 The Period of Egyptian Bondage, extending from the 
 calling of Abraham, 1921 years B. C. to the departure 
 of the Israelites from Egypt, 1491 years B. C. 
 
 HEBREWS. 
 
 SECTION 1. The HEBREWS or ISRAELITES, commonly 
 called the People of God, are derived from Abraham, the ninth 
 m lineal descent from Shem. His calling of God is a re- 
 markable event in history, and was designed for purposes al 
 together religious. This took place 1921 years B. C. 
 
 The nation of Avhich he was the founder, though neithei 
 powerful nor refined, is one of the most interesting that evei 
 existed. Their history instructs us in a way different from 
 that of all others, because it brings directly into view the Di- 
 vine dealings with them. 
 
9211491 B. c. 27 
 
 Abraham's family increased very slowly at first ; but Ja- 
 cob, his grandson, left a numerous offspring. Twelve sons 
 became the heads of as many separate tribes in the nation. 
 
 Abraham, according to the Lord's command, left the land of 
 the Chaldees, his native country, and dwelt with his father Terah, 
 in Haran. By the same command, after Terah's death, lie wem 
 into the land of Canaan, which God promised to his posterity. 
 They were at length to be included within the boundaries of that 
 country. 
 
 The divine design in thus setting apart one family from the rest 01 
 mankind, was to preserve the true religion in the world, and to pre- 
 pare the way for the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ. The 
 earth had now begun to be overrun with idolatry. 
 
 Abraham having acquired a name by his wealth and piety, and 
 having passed through various trials, died at an advanced age, leaving 
 behind him several sons, of whom only Isaac was the child of pro- 
 mise. Ishmael, by the maid of Abraham's wife, became the proge- 
 nitor of a distinct tribe or nation. 
 
 Two sons were the progeny of Isaac, viz. Esau and Jacob, the 
 former of whom sold his birthright to Jacob, who also by artifice 
 obtained his father's blessing. In the line of Jacob, whose name was 
 afterwards changed to Israel, were the Israelites descended. His 
 twelve sons gave the names to the several tribes of which the nation 
 was composed. 
 
 Esau was the father of the Edomites, or Idumeans. 
 
 2. Jacob closed an eventful life, 1689 years B. C., in mak> 
 ing a prophetic declaration of the future state of his descend- 
 ants, and the period of the coming of the Messiah. He had 
 previously been brought out of Canaan, into Egypt, by means 
 of his son Joseph, whom his brethren, through envy and ma- 
 lice, sold into that country. 
 
 The different occurrences by which Joseph became minis- 
 ter to the king of Egypt, speak the immediate interposition 
 of Divine Providence,, which was preparing for the accom- 
 plishment of the promises made to the patriarch Abraham. 
 
 The history of Joseph, as recorded in Scripture, is unparalleled in 
 beauty and interest. Some of the principal incidents are the fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 Joseph, who was much loved by his father and hated by his bre- 
 thren, upon a certain occasion which was presented, fell into the 
 power of the latter, who sought to slay him. This horrid design, 
 however, being providentially prevented, they availed themselves ol 
 the opportunity of selling him to some Ishmaelite slave merchants, 
 who carried him into Egypt, where he was bought by Potiphar, an 
 officer of the court. 
 
 Here, at length, he was wrongfully thrown into prison, by a false 
 accusation of Potiphar's wife , but, being proved to be an interpreter 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD III. 
 
 of dreams, he was introduced to the notice of Pharaoh, who, on a cer 
 tain occasion, wanted his services in this capacity. 
 
 His success in interpreting the king's dreams, and his subsequent 
 conduct, procured for him the highest distinction; and he became 
 the administrator of the government. During the famine, which he 
 predicted, and which reached the land of Canaan, all his brethren, ex- 
 cept Benjamin, came to him to buy corn. 
 
 Joseph knew them, although they did not know him ; and by an 
 innocent contrivance, having brought them into Egypt the second 
 time, with their brother Benjamin, he declared to them that he was 
 Joseph whom they had persecuted and sold. 
 
 Their surprise, mortification, and terror, were at first overwhelming ; 
 but their distressing apprehensions were at length alleviated by his 
 assurances of pardon and kindness ; and inviting his father and fa- 
 mily into Egypt, he allotted them a .portion of the territory. Here 
 they grew mxl multiplied exceedingly. 
 
 3. Joseph continued to rule over Egypt, after the death of 
 Jacob. His own decease, which occurred 1635 years B. C. 
 .left the Israelites without a protector. In less than 40 years 
 from this event, they found a cruel tyrant and oppressor in 
 another king, who knew not Joseph. 
 
 This king, whose name was Pharaoh,* seeing the He- 
 brews to be too numerous and mighty, resolved to enfeeble 
 them ; and, therefore, condemned them to slavery, and or- 
 dered his people to cast every new-bom son among them into 
 the river. 
 
 The object in view was defeated : for the people increased 
 in an unexampled manner. God was with them, and, in 
 the \vonderful preservation of Moses, and his education in the 
 court of Pharaoh, w r as preparing for them a deliverer from 
 their cruel bondage. 
 
 For the particulars of this persecution of God's people, we refer to 
 the beginning of the book of Exodus. 
 
 CANAANITES. 
 
 SECTION 4. The CANAANITES were an ancient people. 
 The country which they inhabited was called the land of 
 Canaan, the name of Ham's youngest son, who settled it im- 
 mediately after the dispersion at Babel. He divided it among 
 his eleven sons. The general denomination of Canaanites 
 included seven nations, which are frequently mentioned in 
 scripture. 
 
 The Canaanites seem to have laboured, in a particular manner, 
 under the evil influence of the curse denounced against their proge- 
 
 * A name common to the king's of Egypt, 
 
19211491 B. c. 
 
 rmoi'; being doomed, in the end, to subjection, expulsion, or extirpa- 
 tion, and being subdivided into so many little kingdoms. 
 
 The beginning of their history is extremely dark. They are sup- 
 posed, however, upon the increase of their families, to have possess- 
 ed themselves of the Arabian side of Egypt, and there to have erected 
 a kingdom coeval with that of Misraim. But they seem at length to 
 have been expelled from that region. . 
 
 5. The first authentic account of this people applies to the 
 inhabitants of the vale of Siddim, who. 1912 years B. C., were 
 invaded by Chedorlaomer. king of Elain, and obliged to pay 
 an annual tribute. When they afterwards revolted, they 
 were punished with great severity. 
 
 Fifteen years after this, a most terrific judgment was in- 
 flicted on the inhabitants of Siddim, in consequence of their 
 gross wickedness. Four cities in this delightful vale, Sodom, 
 Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, were at once destroyed by 
 fire from heaven. The whole tract of country in their vicinity 
 became a sea, called the Dead Sea. 
 
 The 18th and 19th chapters of Genesis contain an account of this 
 catastrophe, and of its causes ; to these we refer the reader. 
 
 At the present time, from the accounts of travellers, it appears that 
 the sea and adjacent region are marked by several peculiarities wor- 
 thy of notice. 
 
 In a journal of one of our American missionaries in Palestine, 
 of recent date, we find the following account. " The water looks 
 remarkably clear and pure ; but, on taking it into my mouth, I 
 found it nauseous and bitter, I think beyond any thing I ever 
 tasted. 
 
 " It has been said, that these waters are so heavy, that the most 
 impetuous winds can scarcely ruffle their surface. Nothing could 
 be more entirely without foundation. The waves ran so high, that 
 I found difficulty in filling some bottles with water. My clothes 
 were wet by the waves, and, as they dried, I found them covered 
 with salt." 
 
 Quantities of bitumen are gathered in the vicinity, which, in ap- 
 pearance, resembles pitch, but may be distinguished from it by its 
 sulphureous smell and taste. Pebbles are also found here which burn 
 when held in a blaze, producing a very disagreeable scent, but they 
 lose nothing of their size. 
 
 6. During this period, nothing more of much importance 
 is recorded concerning the Canaanites. The compact of the 
 Hittites with Abraham, respecting the cave of Machpelah, 
 the selling of a piece of ground to Jacob, by Hamor, king of 
 Shechem, and the massacre of his subjects by some of the 
 sons of Jacob, on account of an insult which the patriarch's 
 family had received, are the only events transmitted to us. 
 
30 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD III. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 7. The GREEKS are an ancient people, whose origin is 
 clouded with fable. All that we know, during the present or 
 preceding period, of the descendants of Japhet, who peopled 
 Europe, is comprised in the history of this nation. 
 
 We date the commencement of the Greeks, as a commu- 
 nity, from the founding of Argos by Inachus, who arrived in 
 Greece, from Phoenicia, 1856 years B. C. Sicyon is by some 
 thought to have been founded before ; but we incline to the 
 opinion that Egialtes, a son of Inachus, was the founder of 
 Sicyon. 
 
 As much has been written concerning the fabulous times in the 
 history of Greece, we will here present a very brief account of that 
 portion of its history. These fables, however, are supposed to be 
 founded on facts, and the greater part of the deities worshipped by 
 the Greeks, were princes by whom their progenitors had been go- 
 verned. 
 
 Uranus, afterwards worshipped as the heavens, appears to have 
 been one of the earliest of their princes. He married his sister Ti- 
 thea, and migrated from Asia into Greece, where he founded a king- 
 dom. He had many children, called Titans, who rebelled against 
 their father and dethroned him. 
 
 Saturn, or Chronos, succeeded his father Uranus, whom, with the 
 help of his brethren, he dethroned ; and dreading lest he should be 
 treated in the same manner by his own children, he ordered them to 
 be shut up, or put to death, immediately after their birth ; but Jupi- 
 ter was concealed by his mother, and sent to Crete, where he was 
 educated. 
 
 Jupiter began to reign in Thessaly, after having dethroned Saturn. 
 The Titans, jealous of him, declared war against him, but were van- 
 quished, and expelled Greece. He soon divided his dominions with 
 his two brothers. Pluto and Neptune. 
 
 The countries which he reserved to himself, he governed with great 
 wisdom ; he had his palace, and held his court, en Mount Olympus, 
 whence the poets gave this name to heaven, when Jupiter was wor- 
 shipped as a god. 
 
 8. The ancient inhabitants of Greece were extremely 
 rude and savage, scarcely one degree superior to brutes. 
 They lived on herbs and roots, and lay either in the open 
 fields, or, at best, sheltered themselves in dens, clefts, and hol- 
 IOAV trees. 
 
 An improvement of their condition occasionally took place ; 
 out Greece, for some ages, was in a continual state of fluctu- 
 ation. They were unacquainted with letters till the time of 
 Cadmus, who is hereafter to be mentioned. 
 
19211491 B. c. 31 
 
 The general names by which the natives of Greece were known 
 to old historians, were Graioi, Hellenists, Achaei, Pelasgi. But the 
 most ancient name of all applied to this country, is generally admitted 
 to be that of Ionia, which the Greeks derive from Ion; but Josephus 
 derives it from Javan, soil of Japheth. 
 
 9. The several states, except Argos and Sicyon, which at 
 length constituted Greece, had, at this time, no separate ex- 
 istence. They sprang up afterwards, during the latter part 
 of the present period, as there will now be occasion to men- 
 tion. 
 
 In Argos, the descendants of Inachus, having retained pos- 
 session of the throne for more than 300 years, were deposed, 
 1511 years B. C., by Danaus, an Egyptian fugitive, who be- 
 came the founder of a second dynasty, denominated Belidae. 
 from his father, Belus. 
 
 At a much later period, Perseus, a sovereign of Argos, having built 
 Mycenas, transferred the kingdom thither. It was at length conquer 
 ed by the Heraclidae, and united to Lacedaemon. 
 
 It may be here noticed, that only two of the Grecian states, viz. 
 Lacedaemon and Messenia, appear to have been founded by native 
 Greeks ; the rest were established by the various branches of the 
 Celtic family of Uranus, with the exception of Athens, which owed 
 its origin to an Egyptian. 
 
 Prior to these establishments, and even long after them, almost 
 every village had its petty tyrant, who bore the title of king. A name 
 has occasionally escaped oblivion. Laws we do not find among 
 them, before the times of the Athenian archons. 
 
 Until that period, all depended on the will of the sovereigns ; only 
 in perplexed cases, they consulted some oracle, of which the two 
 most celebrated, were that of Jupiter at Dodona, and that of Apollo 
 at Delphi. 
 
 10. Cecrops, a native of Egypt, is universally allowed to 
 have founded Athens, 1556 years B. C. At this time he 
 arrived in Attica, with a colony of his countrymen, and 
 built twelve small villages or cities, of which Athens was one. 
 
 He gave laws to the wild inhabitants, whom he divided 
 into twelve tribes, and instituted marriage among them. The 
 first altar in Greece was raised by him to Jupiter. 
 
 The history of Greece is carried on for a time in this event. 
 Athens became the most illustrious of the Grecian states. The 
 province of Attica having been destroyed by the deluge of Ogyges, 
 remained desolate for more than two centuries, previous to the time 
 of Cecrops. 
 
 Athens, from its founder, first received the name of Cecropia, but 
 afterwards that of Athenae, in honour of Minerva, its tutelary deity. 
 The Arundelian marbles, which were brought from Greece by the 
 
32 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD III. 
 
 Earl of Arundel, and are now kept in England, begin their chrono- 
 logy with the founding of Athens, but place that event 26 years 
 earlier, viz. 1582 B. C. 
 
 11. The successor of Cecrops was Cranaus. In his time 
 happened the famous deluge of Deucalion, in Thessaly. The 
 third king of Athens was Amphictyon, who founded the cele- 
 brated Amphictyonic council.* 
 
 The deluge of Deucalion owed much of its importance to the 
 imaginations of the poets. It was probably only a partial inun- 
 dation. 
 
 In the reign of Amphictyon, a famine occurred, during which 
 Ericthonius, said to be the son of Vulcan, arrived from Egypt 
 with a supply of corn, and taught the natives the art of Agri- 
 culture, for which he was raised to the throne in the room of Am- 
 phictyon. 
 
 12. Corinth, another of the Grecian states, was founded 
 1520 years B. C., but did not receive the name of Corinth till 
 it was rebuilt, 1410 years B. C. It originally formed a part 
 of the kingdom of Sicyon, and was afterwards included in 
 that of Argos, till Sysyphus, some time in the following period, 
 seized it for his possession. 
 
 13. Thebes, a state of Greece also, was founded by Cad- 
 mus. The city, though begun b,y him, was finished by 
 Amphion and Zethus. He introduced letters into Greece, 
 1519 years B. C. Thebes he built a few years afterwards. 
 
 Cadmus is supposed to have been of Phoenician extraction. To 
 him are ascribed 16 letters of the Greek alphabet. He thus essen- 
 tially contributed to the literary distinction which Greece afterwards 
 attained. 
 
 14. Lacedaemon, or Sparta, another distinguished state of 
 Greece, was founded by Lelex, 1516 years B. C., but received 
 its name from Lacedeemon, its fourth king. The govern- 
 ment continued in the family of Lelex till the return of the 
 Heraclidae to the Peloponnesus, an event to be noticed in 
 the coining period. 
 
 Sparta was called after the name of the wife of Lacedsemon, the 
 great grand-daughter of Lelex. Sparta properly belongs to the 
 metropolis Lacedsemon to the kingdom at large. The Pelopon- 
 nesus, in which Lacedamon was situated, was the southern part of 
 Greece. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 15. The events in EGYPTIAN history, during the present 
 epoch, refer chiefly to Nitocris and Sesostris, the one a fe- 
 
 * See General Views. 
 
19211491 B. c. 33 
 
 male, the other a male sovereign. Nitocris began to reign 
 over Egypt, 1678 years B. C., at Memphis. She afterwards 
 united some other sovereignties to her dominions. 
 
 The period when Sesostris hegan to reign cannot be easily 
 fixed ; some place it before that of Nitocris, but others place it 
 after her reign. 
 
 The names of a few other kings appear, but little is known 
 concerning their reigns. The successor of Sesostris is said to 
 have been Pheron. and some think that Rameses-Tubaete w r as 
 the king whose dreams Joseph interpreted. 
 
 Nitocris succeeded her brother, an Ethiopian, who was murdered 
 by the Egyptians, and meditating revenge for his untimely fate, 
 put many of her subjects to death privately, and afterwards con- 
 trived a building under ground whither she deluded the chief ob- 
 jects of her vengeance to a feast, and, in the midst of their mirth, 
 overwhelmed them with destruction, by turning a river upon them 
 through a secret passage. She then eluded the rage of the popu- 
 lace by taking refuge in a place well fortified with ashes. Her person 
 is said to have been extremely beautiful, but her disposition was cruel. 
 
 Sesostris was the most distinguished of all the Egyptian kings, 
 and almost the only conqueror among them. Historians relate that 
 his father was warned by Vulcan, in a dream, concerning the future 
 conquests of his son, and that, in consequence of this dream, he got 
 together all the males born in Egypt on the same day with the prince, 
 and had them nursed and brought up with him, upon the presumption 
 that, being the companions of his youth, they would prove the most 
 devoted warriors and faithful counsellors. 
 
 Sesostris forming the design of conquering the world, set out with 
 an army of 600,000 foot, 24,000 horse, and 27,000 armed chariots. 
 His conquests were extensive, and he returned home laden with the 
 spoils of various subjugated nations, and followed by a surprising 
 number of captives. He rendered his power highly advantageous to 
 his subjects, by enriching their country with useful works, and mag- 
 nificent edifices. 
 
 His behaviour, however, was grossly insolent to the kings and 
 chiefs of the conquered nations, v/ho waited upon him to present 
 their tribute. He is said to have caused those princes, four abreast, 
 to be harnessed to his car, instead of horses, that they might draw 
 him to the temple. 
 
 In his old age he lost his sight, and then was so weak and wicked 
 as to lay violent hands on himself. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 16. The second dynasty of the CHINESE emperors com- 
 menced during this period, 1766 years B. C. It lasted 656 
 vears, under 30 emperors. Like the first dynasty, it was ter- 
 minated by the vices of the last of them. 
 
34 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD III. 
 
 Ch ing-tang was the founder of this dynasty. He is said to have 
 had the most excellent qualities. His modesty was almost unparal- 
 leled : he was the only person in the empire who thought he was 
 unfit for so important a trust. He was often on the point of resign- 
 ing his crown, but his nobles would not consent to it. 
 
 Tayvre, one of his successors, being once terrified by a prodigy, 
 which made him apprehensive of a revolution, received the following 
 impressive lesson from his minister. " Virtue has the power of tri- 
 umphing over presages. If you govern your subjects with equity, 
 you will be beyond the reach of misfortune." 
 
 Vuthing, another prince of this dynasty, after having for three years 
 implored heaven to bless him with such virtues as were suitable to 
 his station, is said to have seen, in a dream, a man represented by 
 heaven to be his prime minister, whose features he well recollected 
 when he awoke. 
 
 Causing the man to be sought for, such a person was found in the 
 condition of an obscure mason, working in a village, whence he was 
 brought to court. Being questioned on a variety of points concern- 
 ing government, he returned answers marked with so much wisdom 
 as excited the highest surprise. 
 
 The king, addressing him in a very proper manner, immedi- 
 ately appointed him his prime minister, and received the great- 
 est benefit from his prudent and skilful administration of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Distinguished characters in Period III. 
 
 1 . Abraham, the immediate progenitor of the HebreAV na- 
 tion. 
 
 2. Melchisedec, king of Salem, and " priest of the Most 
 High God." 
 
 3. Sesostris, an Egyptian hero and conqueror. 
 
 4. Joseph, the chief ruler of Egypf under Pharaoh. 
 
 5. Cecrops, the founder of Athens. 
 
 6. Cadmus, a Phoenician, who built Thebes, and introduced 
 letters into Greece. 
 
 1. Abraham was the son of Terah, and born in Chaldea. He 
 was 75 years of age when his father died. After this event he was 
 commanded by God to enter upon the land of Canaan, which God 
 promised to give unto his posterity. In the year following, a fa- 
 mine in the land of Canaan forced Abraham with his family to go 
 into Egypt. 
 
 In the same year, Abraham, with his nephew Lot, returned unto 
 Canaan. They however parted at length, because the land was in- 
 sufficient for both of their flocks. Lot went to Sodom Abraham 
 removed to Hebron. God blessed Abraham, and the promise of a 
 posterity was confirmed to him again and again. 
 
 In the 100th year of his age, Isaac, his son, was born to him, after 
 expectation had been long delayed. Passing through various 
 
19211491 B. c. 35 
 
 scenes of life, lie was at length called to the severe trial of offering 
 up his son Isaac at the command of the Deity. All his lofty hopes 
 were reposed in that son, yet he hesitated not to execute the divine 
 behest. 
 
 Just at the moment, however, in which he stretched forth his hand, 
 to take the life of his son, God interposed, and satisfied with Abra- 
 ham's intention, accepted that in room of the deed, rescuing Isaac 
 and commending the faith of the patriarch. Abraham died at the 
 age of 175 years. 
 
 2. Little is known of Melchisedec. When Abraham was return- 
 ing from the destruction of Chedorlaomer and his confederates, 
 Melchisedec met and blessed him. The scriptural account is the 
 following: "And Melchisedec, king of Salem, brought forth bread 
 and wine ; and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he 
 blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, pos- 
 sessor of heaven and earth. And he (Abraham) gave him tithes 
 of all." 
 
 The apostle says, in his epistle to the Hebrews, " Now consider 
 how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham 
 gave the tenth of the spoils." 
 
 3. Sesostris was a king of Egypt. His age is so remote from every 
 authentic record, that many ha /e supposed that the actions and con- 
 quests ascribed to this monarch are wholly uncertain and fabulous, 
 The amount of what has come down respecting him, as has al- 
 ready appeared in part, is the following. When he ascended the 
 throne, he became ambitious of military fame, and accordingly, at 
 the head of a numerous army, he proceeded to make the conquest of 
 the world. 
 
 He subdued the most of Asia, and even invaded Europe, bringing 
 the Thracians into subjection ; and, that the fame of his conquests 
 might long survive him,he placed columns in the subjugated provinces; 
 and, many ages after, this pompous inscription was read in several 
 parts of Asia: "Sesostris, the king of kings, has conquered this terri- 
 tory by his arms." 
 
 At his return home, the monarch employed his time in encouraging 
 the fine arts, improving the revenues of his kingdom, erecting tem- 
 ples, building cities, and digging canals. He committed suicide when 
 he had become old and infirm, after reigning 44 years. His era was 
 1722 years B. C. 
 
 4. Joseph is celebrated in sacred history, and no one's life was 
 more eventful in itself, or has been described with greater felicity 
 than his has been, in scripture. It is unnecessary to say over 
 again what has been said respecting this eminent person, espe- 
 cially since the reference to scripture is so easy, and the reader who 
 once begins the story of Joseph, can seldom feel disposed to leave 
 it until it be finished. The triumph of innocence, and the suc- 
 cess of piety, in this instance, show the care of God over good men, 
 and may well lead them to put their confidence more and moie in 
 him. 
 
 5. Cecrops was a native of Egypt. He led a colony to At- 
 
36 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV 
 
 tica, and reigned over part of the country. He married the 
 daughter of a Grecian prince, and was deemed the first founder of 
 Athens. He taught his subjects to cultivate the olive, and was the 
 first who raised an altar to Jupiter, in Greece, and offered him sa- 
 crifices. 
 
 After a reign of 50 years, spent in regulating his newly formed 
 ilingdom, and in polishing the minds of his subjects, Cecrops died, and 
 was succeeded by Cranaus, a native of the country. 
 
 6. Cadmus was a Phoenician. He laid the foundation of Thebes. 
 This fact is very much invested with fable, which needs not to be de- 
 tailed. If Thebes, according to some, sprang up at the sound of 
 Amphion's lyre, i. e. by encouraging the workmen, still Cadmus 
 built a citadel which he called Cadmea, and thus formed the com 
 mencement of a city. 
 
 Cadmus was the first who introduced the use of letters into 
 Greece, though some maintain that the same alphabet was in ex- 
 istence among the native inhabitants. This alphabet consisted 
 only of 16 letters, to which 8 were afterwards added. The wor- 
 ship of several of the Egyptian and Phoenician deities was also 
 introduced by Cadmus. His era is reckoned to be 1519 years B. C. 
 
 PERIOD IV. 
 
 The Period of the Trojan War, extending from the de 
 parture of the Israelites from Egypt, 1491 years B. C. 
 to the dedication of Solomo?i > s temple, 1004 years B. C. 
 
 ISRAELITES. 
 
 SECTION 1. The history of the ISRAELITES at this era 
 assumes a very marked character. Oppressed by the Egyp- 
 tian monarch, they cried unto God for deliverance, and a di- 
 vine deliverance they experienced. 
 
 Moses, selected as the instrument of saving his countrymen, 
 was in due time called to his work ; and, after a series of mi- 
 racles, which he performed by the divine assistance, he led the 
 people out from before Pharaoh, into the borders of the pro- 
 mised land. 
 
 The consequence to many of the Egyptians was their de- 
 struction ; for Pharaoh and his arrr.y pursuing the Israelites 
 through the Red Sea, were overwhelmed with its waters. 
 
 After wandering in the wilderness 40 years, and frequently 
 rebelling against God, the Israelites were conducted by the 
 hand of Moses in sight of Canaan, when he died, without en- 
 tering it himself, 1447 years B. C 
 
14911004 E. c. 37 
 
 The story of Moses, and of his agency in delivering the Israelites, 
 is very interesting and instructive ; but we have no room for its par- 
 ticulars. We will, however, mention some incidents, subsequent to 
 the retreat of the Israelites from Egypt. 
 
 The Israelites were no sooner delivered from the Egyptians, than 
 they murmured against Moses, on account of the want of food j to 
 satisfy them, God sent first a great quantity of quails, and the next 
 morning manna, which fell regularly every day, except on sabbath ' 
 days, during the 40 years they remained in the wilderness. 
 
 Again the people murmured for water, and Moses, by the Lord's 
 command, made a supply to issue from a rock. At this junc- 
 ture, the Amalekites attacked Israel, and were defeated by Jo- 
 shua. The people soon after arriving at Mount Sinai, God gave 
 them his law. During, however, the absence of Moses in the mount, 
 they fell into idolatry, in consequence of which 3000 of them were 
 put to death. 
 
 In the course of the second year after the retreat from Egypt, 
 Moses numbered the children of Israel from 20 years old and up- 
 wards, and there were found 603,550 men able to go to war, besides 
 the Levites. 
 
 About this time, 12 men were sent to spy the land of Canaan, 
 who, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, reported unfavourably 
 which caused the people to murmur. Upon this offence, God con- 
 demned all those who were twenty years old and upwards when 
 they came out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness, except Joshua and 
 Caleb. 
 
 As a punishment for their murmurs, the Israelites began to trave. 
 in the wilderness 1489 years B. C. At this time Korah, Dathan, and 
 Abiram, revolting against Moses, were swallowed by the earth, with 
 250 of their associates. In 1452 years B. C., the Israelites began 
 their conquests, by the defeat of the kings of the Amorites, Bashan, 
 Moab, &c. 
 
 At the age of 120 years Moses died on Mount Nebo, in the land of 
 Moab, having first taken a view of the promised land. 
 
 2. The successor of Moses was Joshua, who conducted 
 the people into the promised land, having, by the divine' 
 command, mostly destroyed the wicked nations that inha- 
 bited it. 
 
 After this event, the Israelites, with some intermission, 
 were directed by leaders, called Judges, for the space of 356 
 years. They paid a high respect to these officers, and also 
 to the priests, but they acknowledged no other king than God. 
 
 As the people at length became weary with this state of 
 things, and desired a king, so as to be like the nations around 
 them, a king was, in the divine displeasure, granted to them. 
 
 Joshua having led the Israelites to the banks of the Jordan, whose 
 waters divided to afford them a passage, conducted them safely over 
 
 D 
 
38 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV. 
 
 it. He conquered 31 cities in the course of six years. He died 142C 
 years B. C. 
 
 The people were perpetually inclined to forsake the worship of 
 Jehovah, and to pollute themselves with the abominations of the hea- 
 then. For this they were repeatedly brought into bondage, and con- 
 sequent distress. Their Judges were the instruments of delivering 
 them on these occasions. 
 
 One occasion was as follows. The Israelites, being brought into 
 the power of the Midianites, after seven years of suffering, they cried 
 unto the Lord, who sent an angel to Gideon to announce to him that 
 he was chosen to deliver Israel from their oppressors. 
 
 By divine direction, Gideon retained of 32.000 men whom he had 
 collected, only 300 men, and with them, each carrying a lamp con- 
 cealed in an earthen vessel, to be broken at a proper opportunity, he 
 so terrified the Midianites, that they fled in confusion, and turned 
 their swords against one another. 
 
 Samson also, on another occasion, delivered his countrymen by a 
 series of extraordinary efforts of strength and courage which we 
 cannot particularly recount. It may be only mentioned, that, at the 
 conclusion of his course, having been betrayed by his wife, and 
 deprived of his strength upon its return, he pulled down, by a sin- 
 gle exertion of his muscular energy, the temple of Dagon on the 
 heads of his enemies, the Philistines, with whom he perished in the 
 general ruin. 
 
 Samuel, the last and most eminent of these leaders, and a prophet 
 also, rendered signal service to his countrymen, especially by the 
 moral influence which he exercised over them. When old, however, 
 he took for his assistants in the government, his two sons, whose 
 mismanagement occasioned murmurs among the people, and a de- 
 sire to have a king. 
 
 3. Saul, the son of Kish, was the first king of Israel. Hav- 
 ing been privately anointed by Samuel, he was afterwards 
 publicly proclaimed, 1079 years B. C. His reign was prospe- 
 rous at first, but at length was characterized by crime and ill 
 success. He perished miserably. 
 
 He was succeeded by David, who, though he erred in seve- 
 ral instances, was a man of distinguished talents, bravery, and 
 piety ; he raised his people to the highest pitch of national 
 prosperity and happiness. The wise and rich Solomon was 
 his son and successor. He laid the foundation of a magnifi- 
 cent temple, 1011 years B. C. 
 
 Saul, having spent an unhappy life, and being at war with the Phi- 
 listines, had his army routed, and three of his sons slain, and he him- 
 self, having received a wound, and fearing to fall into the hands of 
 his enemies, took a sword and fell upon it. 
 
 David had been previously anointed king, but he at first reigned 
 only over the tribe of Judah. But after the death of Ishbosheth, a 
 
14911004 B. c. 33 
 
 son of Saul, who had assumed the government of the tribes, he reign 
 ed over the whole of Israel. 
 
 He spent a very active and perilous life, and among the conquests 
 he made were the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and 
 the Syrians. He had at length some domestic troubles, and was. 
 in danger from an insurrection of his subjects, but he lived to see. 
 his enemies destroyed, and he left a rich and flourishing realm to hi? 
 son. 
 
 CANAANITES. 
 
 4. The history of the CANAANITES, and some of the neigh- 
 bouring nations or tribes, is involved in that of the Jews dur- 
 ing this period. They were mostly subdued by Joshua, but 
 seemed to revive at different times, to the great annoyance of 
 the Israelites. From the time of Solomon, they can scarcely 
 be said to have had a national existence. The remnants of 
 them, except the Canaanites, properly so called, who after- 
 wards went under the appellation of Phoenicians, were swal- 
 lowed up in the great monarchies that successively existed in 
 Asia. 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
 5. The PHOENICIANS are known in history principally as 
 a navigating and commercial people, among whom the arts 
 were early cultivated. Their country was divided into seve- 
 ral small kingdoms ; but the most considerable of their sove 
 reignties were the cities of Sidon and Tyre. We know no- 
 thing of the kings of Sidon till the present and succeeding pe- 
 riods. Hiram was king of Tyre, and contemporaneous with 
 David and Solomon. 
 
 Sidon, according to Josephus, was built by Sidon, the eldest son of 
 Canaan. Tyre was founded by the posterity of Sidon. Herodotus 
 gives to the older Tyre a great antiquity. The new city, reared op- 
 posite to the ancient, on an island, is said, by Josephus, to have been 
 built in the year B. C. 1255. 
 
 The Phoenicians are regarded as the earliest navigators, merchants, 
 and workmen, of the world. We learn from ancient records, that 
 they carried on trade, not only over all the coasts of the Medi- 
 terranean, but even over the ocean, as far as England, whence they 
 exported tin. 
 
 The early kings are not known, except those who had some com- 
 merce with the Jews. To Hiram, king of Tyre, both David and So- 
 lomon applied when proposing to build a temple to the Lord. He 
 helped them by furnishing, not only precious materials, but also a 
 great number of workmen. After a glorious reign, Baleazar, his son, 
 succeeded him. 
 
40 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 6. The history of GREECE during this period is pursued 
 first in a few details, respecting some of its different sovereign- 
 ties. 
 
 The kings already named, who had governed Athens, had 
 raised it to a considerable degree of civilization. But the king 
 who laid the principal foundation of Athenian greatness, was 
 Theseus. He united the 12 cities of Attica into one confede- 
 racy. 
 
 Theseus is said to have founded a more perfect equality among 
 the citizens, in consequence of which, the state rather resembled 
 a republic than a monarchy. Owing to the inconstancy of the 
 people, he was banished from the country, notwithstanding his many 
 virtues. 
 
 7. Codrus, the last Athenian king, devoted himself to the 
 good of his subjects. With him royalty was abolished, since 
 the people thought no man worthy of succeeding him. This 
 change occurred towards the close of the present period, viz. 
 1069 years B. C. 
 
 Codrus being engaged in a war with the Heraclidse, was told by 
 ;he oracle that the army would be victorious whose chief should 
 perish. He, therefore, with a chosen band, threw himself into the 
 hottest of the battle, and turned the fortune of the day in favour of his 
 countrymen, at the expense of his own life. 
 
 A dispute for the succession arose between two of his sons, and be- 
 fore they could accommodate their difference, the Athenians abolish- 
 ed royalty altogether, but placed Medon, one of the claimants, at the 
 head of the state, with the title of Archon. This office was for life 
 luring more than 3 centuries; afterwards it was reduced to 10 years, 
 and finally to one year. 
 
 8. Corinth, having been seized by Sysyphus, was governed 
 in his family 250 years. The last king of this race was de- 
 posed by the Heraclidee, 1099 years B. C. 
 
 9. The first great enterprise of the Greeks was the Argo- 
 nautic expedition, 1263 years B. C. It was led by Jason, and 
 is supposed to have been both a military and a mercantile ad- 
 venture. Its destination was to Colchis, the modern Mingre- 
 
 lia, in Asia Minor. 
 
 According to some, the object was to open the commerce of the 
 Euxine sea, and to secure some establishment on its coast. Ac- 
 cording to others, Jason wished to avenge the death of his luns-1 
 man Phryxus, and to recover his treasures, which had been seized 
 ..y the king of Colchis. Hence, in the language of fiction or 
 figure, it was the " Golden Fleece" that was the object to be re- 
 covered. 
 
14911004 B. c. 41 
 
 This expedition was thought to be of so much importance, that all 
 the heroes of the age were anxious to engage in it. Among the 54 
 renowned captains who were in the single ship of Argo alone, in 
 which Jason embarked, were Hercules, Theseus, Castor and Pollux, 
 E'irithous, Laertes, Peleus, Oileus, &c. 
 
 In the course of their voyage, they attempted to land for refresh- 
 ment in a part of Phrygia, but were prevented by Laomedon, king 
 of Troy, for which they took ample revenge on their return, by pil- 
 laging that city. 
 
 On their arrival in Colchis, Medea, the daughter of the king, fell 
 in love with Jason, and, through her assistance, the Argonauts ef- 
 fected the object of their voyage. On their arrival in Greece, Her- 
 cules celebrated or instituted the Olympic Games. 
 
 10. A dispute for the divided sovereignty of Thebes, be- 
 tween the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, gave rise to a war 
 that was terminated by single combat, in which both were 
 killed. This is called the war of the seven captains, and oc- 
 curred 1225 years B. C. 
 
 The sons of the commanders slain in this war renewed the 
 quarrel of their fathers, about ten years afterwards. This is 
 called the war of the Epigonoi, a subject celebrated by Homer 
 in a poem now lost. 
 
 11. But the most celebrated event of this period, in the an- 
 nals of Greece, is the Trojan war. It commenced 1193 
 years B. C., and terminated in ten years. Troy was taken 
 and burnt to the ground. This war was undertaken by the 
 princes of Greece to avenge the wrongs sustained by Mene- 
 lausjking of Lacedsemon, whose wife, Helen, had been seduced 
 away by Paris, a Trojan prince. The details of this war are 
 derived from Homer ; but he is reasonably supposed to have 
 related facts, for the most part. 
 
 Troy, the capital of Phrygia Minor, was founded 1546 years B. C. 
 by Scamander, who led thither a colony from Crete. Troas, the 
 fifth in succession from Scamander, either built a new city, or en- 
 larged the old one, and named it after himself, Troy. The Trojans 
 were a brave and warlike people. 
 
 The number of the Grecian warriors is supposed to have been 
 about 100,000. Nearly all Asia Minor was leagued with Priam, 
 king of Troy. The Greeks, on landing at Troas, were warmly op- 
 posed, and they spent the first 8 or 9 years in reducing such cities 
 and islands as favoured the cause of Troy. At length the siege of 
 that capital began, and the most heroic deeds were performed on both 
 sides. At this juncture, the camp of the Greeks was visited by a pes- 
 tilence, and a quarrel ensued between Agamemnon and Achilles, the 
 Grecian leaders. 
 
 The death of Patrocius, slain by Hector, impelled Achilles to 
 
 D2 
 
42 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV, 
 
 return into the Grecian camp. Hector was killed by Achilles, 
 and Achilles fell by the hand of Paris, who was himself slain by 
 an arrow At last the Greeks gained possession of the city by 
 stratagem, and utterly destroyed it. No vestige of its ruins now 
 remains. 
 
 Such of the Trojans as survived sought new settlements in distant 
 regions. Antenor established himself in Italy, where he founded 
 the nation of the Heneti. ^Eneas settled also in Italy, where he 
 founded the kingdom of Alba. 
 
 12. The war of the Heraclidse, among the Greeks, began 
 about 80 years after the destruction of Troy. Hercules, the 
 son of Amphitryon, sovereign of Mycenee, was banished from 
 his country, with all his family, while the crown was pos 
 sessed by an usurper. After a period of a century, his de- 
 scendants, called Heraclidse, returned to Peloponnesus, and 
 subduing all their enemies, took possession of the states of My 
 cense, Argos, and Lacedeemon. This return of the Heraclidse 
 is an event often spoken of in history. 
 
 13. A long period of civil war succeeded, and Greece, di- 
 vided among a number of petty tyrants, became a prey to op- 
 pression or anarchy. The difficulties of the times drove many 
 of the Greeks from home, who founded important colonies, as 
 we .shall hereafter learn. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 14. Concerning the EGYPTIANS, during this period, very 
 little is known with certainty. Apophis is thought to have 
 been the Pharaoh who, together with his army, was drowned 
 in the Red Sea. Amosis, Amenophis II., and one or two 
 others, were warriors and conquerors. 
 
 A few things may be subjoined respecting some of the Egyptian 
 kings during this period. Mceris caused the celebrated lake, called 
 by his name, to be dug, to receive the waters of the Nile, when the 
 inundation was too abundant, and to water the country when it 
 proved deficient. 
 
 Hermes Trismegistes is celebrated for his philosophical writings 
 He added 5 days to the year, which before consisted only of 360. 
 Amosis abolished the practice of human sacrifices, and conquered 
 Heliopolis, the ancient capital of Lower Egypt. 
 
 Actisanes, king of Ethiopia, united Egypt and Ethiopia under 
 his government. He bore his prosperity with great prudence, 
 and behaved himself in a most affectionate uflmner towards his new 
 subjects. 
 
 Having caused a general search to be made after the Egyptian 
 robbers who infested the country, he commanded their noses to be 
 eut off, and then banished them to the remotest part of the desert, 
 
1491 1004 B c 43 
 
 between Syria and Egypt, where he built them a town, which, from 
 the mutilation of its inhabitants, was called Rhinocolura. 
 
 A Memphite of ignoble extraction was exalted to the throne. The 
 priests characterised him as a magician, and pretended that he could 
 assume whatever form he pleased. His Egyptian name was Cetcs, 
 which the Greeks rendered Proteus. 
 
 It was during his reign, that Paris and Helen were driven on 
 the coasts of Egypt, in their passage to Troy, but when the Egyp- 
 tian monarch understood the shameful breach of hospitality which 
 the young stranger had committed, he ordered him to quit his do- 
 minions. 
 
 LYDIA. 
 
 15. The history of the kings of LYDIA is very obscure. 
 They were divided into three dynasties. 1. The Atyda3. 
 2. The Heraclidae. 3. The Mermnadse. The history of 
 Atydae is altogether fabulous. Argon was the first of the He- 
 raclidcc, and Candaules the last. Argon reigned about 1223 
 years B. C. The Lydians are celebrated as merchants and 
 
 traffickers. 
 
 Lydia is supposed to have been founded by Lud, son of Shem. It 
 was, however, called Lydia, from Lydus, one of its kings. It was 
 previously called Msconia, from Maeon, also one of its kings. It was 
 conquered at length by the descendants of Hercules. 
 
 Lydia Proper was, strictly speaking, at first only that part of 
 Mceonia which was seated on the /Egean Sea ; but when the Greeks 
 or lonians settled there, the ancient inhabitants were driven to the 
 interior. The invaders named the sea coasts where they settled 
 Ionia, after the country whence they had emigrated, or rather, 
 whence they had been driven by the Heraclidae ; while the Lydians 
 gave their name to the new countries in which they settled. 
 
 Long before the invasion of the lonians, the natives of Lydia were 
 devoted to commerce. The earliest instance on record of a gold and 
 silver coinage is found in their history. They were also the first 
 people who exhibited public sports. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 1 6. ITALY appears to have been inhabited at a remote 
 era. So early as 1289 years B. C. we read of a king named 
 Janus, who, having arrived from Thessaly, planted a colony 
 on the river Tiber. Four sovereigns succeeded him in La- 
 tium ; during the reign of the last of whom, viz. Latinus. 
 arrived ./Eneas, the Trojan prince, in Italy. ^Eneas married 
 Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, and succeeded him in the 
 sovereignty. After ./Eneas there was a succession of kings to 
 the time of Numitor, the grandfather of Romulus and Remu?, 
 the founders of Rome. 
 
44 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV 
 
 The history of these kings is, however, very obscure and 
 confused, and very little dependence can be placed upon it. 
 Of the numerous petty kingdoms of which Italy was com- 
 posed, those of Etruria and Latium alone deserve attention. 
 The Etruscans are thought to have been a very polished peo- 
 ple. The inhabitants of Latium were the immediate ances- 
 tors of the Romans. A considerable part of Italy was doubt- 
 less peopled by the Greeks. 
 
 Italy, afterwards the seat of the Roman power, was peopled at 
 an early era, though we cannot determine the particular point 01 
 time, with certainty as to the country- at large. The colony on the 
 Tiber, as we have seen, was settled nearly 13 centuries before Christ. 
 There is every reason to believe that a part of Italy was inhabited 
 by a refined and cultivated nation, many ages before the Roman 
 name was known. 
 
 The Etruscans are justly considered as such a nation ; a fact 
 which is indicated by the monuments in the fine arts which they 
 have left, and some of which exist to this day. Their alphabet, re- 
 sembling the Phoenician, disposes us to believe them to have been of 
 eastern origin. 
 
 Though many of the inhabitants of Italy originated from Greece 
 and the east, yet a portion of them, it is believed, must have origi- 
 nated from the Celtic or Gomerian tribes of the north, who entered 
 Italy from that quarter.* 
 
 The story of Latinus and ^Eneas is briefly as follows. At the 
 time of the arrival of the latter in Italy, Latinus was engaged in a 
 war with the Rutuli ; and, on hearing of this arrival, he ; mmedi- 
 ately marched towards the strangers, expecting to find an unprinci 
 pled banditti. 
 
 But ^Eneas, though commanding a body of hardy veterans, held 
 out the olive of peace. Latinus listened to his melancholy tale, and 
 pitying the misfortunes of the Trojan exiles, assigned them a portion 
 of land, on condition of their joining against the Rutuli. 
 
 ^neas eagerly embraced the offer, and performed such essential 
 service in the cause of the Latins, that this monarch bestowed on 
 him his only daughter, Lavinia, in marriage, with the right of suc- 
 cession to the crown. 
 
 Distinguished characters in Period IV. 
 
 1. Moses, the first Hebrew lawgiver and leader. 
 
 2. Joshua, a conqueror of Canaan, and pious military 
 chieftain. 
 
 3. Orpheus, the father of poetry. 
 
 4. Musseus, a Greek poet. 
 
 5. Samson, a judge of Israel, and endowed with extraor 
 dinary strength. 
 
 * See Edin. Rev. No. 80. Art. V. 
 
14911004 B. c. 45 
 
 6. Sanconiathon, a Phoenician, one of the earliest writers 
 of history. 
 
 7, David, a king of Israel, a warrior and poet. 
 
 1. Moses, when an infant, having been exposed on the brink of 
 the river Nile, in an ark of bulrushes, the daughter of Pharaoh found 
 the ark, saved the child, and had him educated as her own son. At 
 forty years of age, having renounced the honours of Pharaoh's court, 
 he endeavoured to join his oppressed countrymen, but they would 
 not receive him. After this, circumstances induced him to flee to 
 the land of Midian, where he married, and enjoyed a retirement of 
 40 years. 
 
 At the end of this period, God appeared to him in the mount of 
 Horeb, and ordered him to return to Egypt, with a commission to 
 Pharaoh, respecting his release of the Israelites from bondage. He 
 accomplished this object only after the infliction of ten severe and 
 awful plagues upon that monarch and his people. At length God 
 saw fit, through Moses, to destroy Pharaoh and the flower of his 
 military force in the Red Sea. 
 
 From this period, Moses was employed in receiving the moral 
 law from mount Sinai, in prescribing the form of the ceremonial 
 worship of the Hebrews, in regulating their civil polity, in con- 
 ducting their military operations, and in leading them through the 
 wilderness of Sinai, in which they were doomed to wander during 
 40 years. 
 
 At the age of 120 he died on mount Nebo, in the land of Moab, 
 having first taken a view of the promised land. This occurred 1451 
 years B. C. Moses was a man of eminent piety and wisdom. 
 
 2. Joshua was the successor of Moses, and led the Israelites into 
 the promised land, over the river Jordan, whose waters divided to 
 afford them a passage. The first city which he conquered was Jeri- 
 cho ; this was followed by the speedy reduction of 30 others. 
 
 Having divided the land of Canaan among the ten tribes, Joshua 
 died, aged 110, 1426 years B. C. 
 
 3. Orpheus was the son of (Eager, or, as some say, of Apollo, by 
 Calliope. The fictions of poetry have put into his hands a lyre, 
 whose entrancing sounds stayed the courses of rivers, moved moun- 
 tains, and subdued the ferocity of wild beasts. Doubtless the effects - 
 of his song, though not of such a nature, were considerable, in that 
 rude and early age, on the minds of untutored barbarians. 
 
 By the power of his music, as fiction reports, he regained his 
 wife, Eurydice, from the infernal regions, but lost her again in con- 
 sequence of failing to comply with a certain condition, on which 
 she was restored. The condition was, that he should not look be- 
 hind to see her till he had come to the extremest borders of hell. 
 Contrary to promise he did this, thfough the impatience of love, 
 or by reason of forgetfulness, and she vanished from before his eyes. 
 
 Orpheus, according to story, was one of the Argonauts ; of which 
 celebrated expedition he wrote a poetical account. This, however, 
 U doubted j and the poems that pass under his name, are, with rea* 
 
46 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV. 
 
 son, ascribed to other and later writers. There is little cause to 
 doubt that such a person as Orpheus existed, and that he was a 
 great poet and musician. The period assigned for him is 1284 
 years B. C. 
 
 4. Musaeus is supposed to have been a son or disciple of Linus or 
 Orpheus, and to have lived about 1253 years before the Christian era. 
 None of his poems remain. A Musaeus, who flourished in the 4th 
 century, according to the judgment of most critics, wrote " The loves 
 of Leander and Hero." 
 
 5. Samson was the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan. As he was 
 raised up to avenge the Israelites of their oppressors, he was endow- 
 ed with extraordinary strength. On one occasion, he slew 1000 Phi- 
 listines with the jaw-bone of an ass. At various other times, he se- 
 verely molested and distressed them. 
 
 At length he was, through stratagem, betrayed by Delilah, and de 
 prived of his strength. It, however, soon returned; and he pulled 
 down the temple of Dagon on the heads of his enemies, the Philistines, 
 with whom he perished in the general ruin. Some parts of his cha- 
 racter are very far from deserving imitation. His various exploits 
 and follies are recorded, Judges xiv. xv. xvi. 
 
 6. Sanconiathon was born at Berytus, or, according to others, at 
 Tyre. He flourished about 1040 years B. C. He wrote, in the lan- 
 guage of his country, a history, in 9 books, in which he amply treat- 
 ed of the theology and antiquities of Phoenicia and the neighbouring 
 places. 
 
 This history was translated into Greek by Philo, a native of Byb- 
 lus, who lived in the reign of the emperor Adrian. Some few frag- 
 ments of this Greek translation are extant. Some, however, suppose 
 them to be spurious, while others maintain their authenticity. 
 
 7. David was the son of Jesse, and anointed king of Israel, while 
 keeping his father's flocks, by Samuel, the prophet. He was a 
 raliant, prosperous, and warlike prince, and raised himself and 
 people to great eminence and renown. His name began to be 
 known and celebrated, from the time that he slew Goliath, the giant. 
 His military operations were planned with wisdom, and executed 
 with vigour. 
 
 He was distinguished as a sacred poet and writer of psalms ; no 
 one in this department has ever equalled him. These inspired pro- 
 ductions are marked by loftiness, vigour, and felicity of expression 
 abounding in the sublimest strains of drvotion, and conveying the 
 most important truths and instructions to the mind. 
 
 This pious prince was left to fall into scandalous sins, in a few in- 
 stances, particularly in the seduction of Bathsheba, and the murder 
 of Uriah, her husband ; but he bitterly repented of them, and was 
 restored to the divine favour. He died, 1015 years B. C., after a 
 reign of 40 years. 
 
1004752 B. c. 4i 
 
 PERIOD V. 
 
 The Period of Flomer, extending from the dedication of Solo- 
 mon's temple, 1004 years B. C., to the founding of Rome, 
 752 years B. C. 
 
 ISRAELITES. 
 
 SECTION 1. From the accession of Solomon to the throne 
 of the ISRAELITES, a period of profound peace and prosperity 
 was enjoyed by that people throughout his reign. The 
 most important undertaldng of this monarch, ^as the build- 
 ing and dedication of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. 
 
 This magnificent structure was completed in seven years. 
 The dedication was performed by the king, with the most 
 solemn religious rites, in presence of all the elders of Israel, 
 and the heads of the various tribes. 
 
 This _prince exceeded in wisdom all who went before him ; 
 but, in his old age, he took many wives and concubines out 
 of the idolatrous nations around him, who corrupted his 
 heart. The Lord therefore declared, by the prophet Abijah, 
 that he would divide the kingdom after his death, and give 
 ten tribes to Jeroboam ; which accordingly took place. 
 
 The temple at Jerusalem was a most sumptuous and costly edifice. 
 The value of the materials, and the perfection of the workmanship, 
 rank it among the most celebrated structures of antiquity. It was 
 not very large, being little more than 90 feet in length, 30 in breadth, 
 and 45 in height ; but was finely proportioned, and, together with a 
 grand porch, was splendidly ornamented. 
 
 Towards the close of his reign, as a punishment of his effeminacy 
 and idolatry, the Lord stirred up certain adversaries against him ; 
 and, though the principal evil threatened against Israel, was not to 
 occur during his day, yet he had the mortification of knowing that 
 it would be inflicted under the administration of his son ; and that 
 his own conduct would be the procuring cause. 
 
 We cannot help believing that he repented of his awful defection 
 from duty, though nothing in the Bible is recorded concerning this 
 point ; and all ought to be profited by the memorials which he has 
 left of his wisdom, and general piety. 
 
 2. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, began to reign over the 
 Israelites 975 years B. C. Having refused to lighten the 
 yoke his father had imposed on his subjects, ten tribes revolt- 
 ed, and followed Jeroboam, an enterprising domestic of the 
 king. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin alone remained 
 
48 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD V. 
 
 faithful to Rehoboam. From this time Judah and Israel are 
 separate kingdoms. 
 
 3. The kingdom of the Ten Tribes, or the Israelites, dur 
 ing this period, was governed by a succession of vicious and 
 idolatrous monarchs ; and wars and feuds, treachery and mur- 
 der, mark their history in a shocking manner. Jeroboam was 
 their first king. 
 
 A few incidents in the lives of these kings may be noticed. 
 Jeroboam, to prevent his subjects from going to Jerusalem to sacri 
 fice, made two golden calves, which the people worshipped ; for 
 which conduct, God declared that his whole house should be cut off. 
 
 Zimri, the fourth after Jeroboam, enjoyed the crown only seven 
 days. The city Tirzah, in which he was besieged by Ornri, being 
 taken, he burnt himself to death in his palace. 
 
 Ahab, the sixth after Jeroboam, was the most impious king who 
 reigned over Israel. He married Jezebel, a daughter of a king of 
 the Sidonians, who excited him to commit all manner of wickedness. 
 Among other things, he wantonly murdered Naboth, for refusing to 
 give up his vineyard to Ahab. 
 
 Jehu, a captain under Jehoram, was anointed king by the prophet 
 Elisha ; and, though a wicked man, was the instrument of executing 
 the Lord's vengeance upon his impious contemporaries. He killed 
 Jehoram, and the 70 sons of Ahab ; and after having slain all the 
 priests of Baal, he destroyed the images, and the house of their god. 
 
 Jehoash was successful as a warrior. He defeated Benhadad, 
 king of Syria, in three battles. In a war against Amaziah, king of 
 Judah, he took him prisoner, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and 
 plundered the temple and the king's palace. 
 
 Pekah, the last- king during' this period, made war against Judah, 
 with Rezin, king of Syria. Under his reign, part of the ten tribes 
 were carried captive to Assyria, by Tiglath Pileser. 
 
 4. Several of the kings of Judah. during the present peri- 
 od, were pious men, and adhered to the worship of God. 
 Others of them imitated the profligate kings of Israel. Tiie 
 people whom they governed, and who have survived to the 
 present time, are called Jews, in distinction from Israelites, 
 the name once applied to the whole twelve tribes. 
 
 We will notice some of the transactions of their reigns. During 
 the reign of Rehoboam, Sesac, king of Egypt, took Jerusalem, and 
 carried off the treasures of the temple, and of the palace. 
 
 Jehoshaphat carefully enforced the worship of God. The Mo- 
 abites and Ammonites declared war against him ; but the Lord threw 
 them into confusion in such a manner, that they destroyed one 
 another. 
 
 Ahaziah, directed by the councils of Athaliah, his mother, acted 
 wickedly. He went, with the vicious Jehoram, king of Israel, to 
 war against Hazael, king of Syria. When Jehu destroyed the 
 
1004752 B, c. 40 
 
 house of Ahab, lie sought Ahaziah, who was hid in Samaria, and 
 slew him. 
 
 Joash reigned with justice as long as Jehoiada, the high priest, lived. 
 After his death, having Mien into idolatry, Zechariah, the son of 
 Jehoiada, reproved him for this sin, and was stoned by the king's 
 order. God then raised against him the king of Syria, who plun- 
 dered Jerusalem. His own servants also conspired against him, 
 and stew him in his bed. 
 
 Uzziah made successful wars against the Philistines and Arabians 
 Intoxicated with prosperity, he went into the temple to burn incens 
 upon the altar, and the Lord struck him with leprosy for his pre- 
 sumption. 
 
 Jotham, a pious prince, fought and overcame the Ammonites, and 
 rendered them tributary. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 5. GREECE, at the commencement of the present period, 
 wus in an unsettled state. By the emigration of many of 
 Us inhabitants, colonies had been formed, particularly in Lesser 
 Asia. Afterwards colonies were sent to Italy and Sicily. 
 These, owing to the freedom of their governments, soon ri- 
 valled their parent states ; a circumstance which induced the 
 latter to put an end to despotism, and to adopt popular consti- 
 tutions. In this work of reformation, Lycurgus, the legislator 
 of Sparta, was distinguished. 
 
 6. It may be mentioned, in connexion with this subject 
 and previously to an account of the reformation of Sparta, 
 that the poems of Homer were introduced from Asia into 
 Greece by Lycurgus. He met with them in his travels in 
 that region, carefully preserved them, and brought them 
 home on his return, 886 years B. C. Their effect on the na- 
 tional spiritgmd literature of the Greeks, was at length highly 
 propitious. 
 
 Homer flourished about 900 years B. C. Me was a poor blind 
 man, and used to travel from place to place, singing his verses. 
 But his genius was transcend ant. All succeeding ages have bowed 
 U) it ; and his poems have been taken as the model of all epic pro- 
 ductions of any note written since his day. 
 
 The present form of his poems is supposed not to have been the 
 ancient form. They were probably produced in separate pieces and 
 uallads ; and were united into continuous poems, it is said, by cer- 
 tain learned men, under the direction of Pisistratus, king of Athens. 
 
 The era of Grecian splendour was several centuries after the time 
 of Homer ; but by the preservation of his poems, the progress of the 
 Greeks in arts and literature was effectually secured. 
 
 7. Lycurgus, by his peculiar institutions, raised Sparta 
 
 E 
 
50 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IV 
 
 from a weak and distracted state, to superiority in arms ovei 
 the other republics of Greece. Sparta became tiuly republican 
 in its government, though the form of royalty was retained. 
 Its kings we<e merely the first citizens in the state, and ac- 
 knowledged the superior authority of the Ephori and the 
 people, to whom they were accountable. Their privileges, 
 however, sufficiently distinguished them from the mass of the 
 citizens. 
 
 With many things in his institutions that were commend- 
 able, there was much that was pernicious. His sole object 
 seems to have been, to render the Spartans fit only for war. 
 The chronological date of the commencement of this refor- 
 mation, is 884 years B. C. 
 
 After the return of the Heraclidpe, Sparta was divided between 
 the two sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles, who reigned 
 jointly. The occasion of this was, that Aristodemus having been 
 killed while his children were infants, their mother was unable to 
 tell which of them was the first boTn, since they were twins. The 
 Spartans consequently agreed that they should be joint kings. 
 
 This double monarchy continued in the one line under 30 kings, 
 and in the other line under 27 kings, during a period of about 880 
 years. Polydectes and Lycurgus were the sons of one of these 
 kings. Upon the death of his brother, the crown devolved on Ly- 
 curgus ; but his sister-in-law being with child, he resigned it. 
 
 She however intimated to Lycurgus that if he would marry her, 
 the child should be destroyed immediately upon its birth. Lycur- 
 gus, with ( a view to save it, desired that she would send it to him, and 
 he would dispose of it. Accordingly, the boy, as soon as he was born, 
 was sent to his uncle. 
 
 Lycurgus was at supper with a large party when the royal infant 
 arrived, but he instantly took it into his arms, and holding it, to the 
 view of the company, exclaimed, " Spartans ! behold your king." 
 The people were delighted, and the boy was called Chanlaus. 
 
 Lycurgus, with a view to suppress the calumnies published against 
 him by the faction of the queen, determined upon a voluntary exile. 
 In his travels, he made it an object to acquire knowledge, and espe- 
 cially to ascertain the best means of government. It was during 
 this journey that he discovered the poems of Homer, as above men- 
 ion ed. 
 
 Upon his recall to Sparta, he found things in so bad a condition, 
 that he set about a reformation of the manners of the people. He be- 
 gan his labours by instituting a senate to make laws, and see that they 
 were executed ; this senate was composed of 30 members, the kings 
 being of the number 
 
 He next made an equal division of the lands, so that all the Spar- 
 tans shared it fairly between them. When he endeavoured to do the 
 same with the furniture, clothes, &c. he found the rich very averse to 
 
19211491 D. c. 51 
 
 his proposals. He therefore took another course. He substituted 
 iron for gold and silver, as the medium of exchange. 
 
 As this iron money was of no account among the neighbouring 
 countries, the Spartans could no longer indulge in luxury, by pur- 
 chasing foreign costly articles. The necessary arts of life he allowed 
 to be practised only by slaves. 
 
 He then commanded that all persons, even the Ivlngs themselves, 
 should eat at public tables, and that these tables should be served 
 only with plain food. This regulation, more than any other, offended 
 the rich citizens. They rose in a body and assaulted Lycurgus ; and 
 one of them, pursuing him to a sanctuary, struck out his eye with a 
 stick. 
 
 Lycurgus no otherwise punished this offender, than by making 
 him his page and attendant. In time, these dinners, at which they 
 served up a kind of soup, called black broth, came to be much re- 
 lished, and very pleasant discourse often enlivened them. 
 
 An admirable part of the ceremony at these public meals was the 
 following. When the company were assembled, the oldest man 
 present, pointing to the door, said, " Not one word spoken here, goes 
 out there." This wise rule produced mutual confidence, and prevent- 
 ed all scandal and misrepresentation. 
 
 The children were taught in large public schools, and were made 
 brave and hardy. All the people were accustomed to speak in short 
 pithy sentences, so that this style of speaking is even now called af- 
 ter them, laconic ; Laconia being one of the names of Lacedaemon. 
 
 When Lycurgus had firmly established his new laws, he ensured 
 their observance by the following contrivance. He left Sparta, after 
 having made the people swear, that they would abide by his laws, 
 until he should return. As he intended not to return at all, this was 
 to swear that they would keep his laws forever. 
 
 Lycurgus died in a foreign kind. By some it is asserted, that he 
 starved himself to death. His laws continued in force 500 years, 
 during which time the Spartans became a powerful and conquering 
 people. 
 
 The institutions of this legislator were impaired by many blemishes. 
 The manners of the Lacedemonian women were suffered to be 
 shamefully loose. The youth were taught to subdue the feelings of 
 humanity. The slaves were treated with the greatest barbarity. Even 
 theft was a part of Spartan education. 
 
 The object of this was to prepare their minds for the stratagems oil 
 war. Detection exposed them to punishment. Plutarch tells us of 
 a boy, who had stolen a fox and hidden it under his coat, and who 
 rather chose to let the animal tear out his bowels, than to discover 
 the theft. 
 
 SECT. 8. The first of the Olympiads, an era by which 
 the events in Grecian history are reckoned, occurred 776 
 vears B. C. The Olympic games were first instituted about 
 1 150 years B. C., but having fallen into disuse, were restored 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD V. 
 
 at different times, and from the period above mentioned, form 
 a certain epoch in history. 
 
 The nature of these games will be described under the " Gene- 
 ral Views," at the close of this work. 
 
 MACEDON. 
 
 SECT. 9. MACEDON, a kingdom in Gfeece, and sometimes 
 considered distinct from it in its history, was founded by Ca- 
 ranus, an Arrive and descendant of Hercules, about 795 
 years B. C. The government continued in his line 647 
 years, i. e. till the death of Alexander TEgus, the posthumous 
 soil of Alexander the Great. 
 
 The history of Macedon under its first kings is obscure, and pre- 
 sents only some wars with the Illyrians, Thracians, and other neigh- 
 bouring nations. It became, as we shall hereafter learn, very power- 
 ful, and under Philip overturned the liberties of the other states ol 
 Greece. 
 
 ASSYRIA. 
 
 SECT. 10. After a chasm of 800 years in the history oi 
 the first kingdom of ASSYRIA, we find a few particulars re- 
 specting one or two of its last sovereigns. Pul, who is men- 
 tirfned in scripture, subdued Israel in the rei^n of Menahem, 
 who became his tributary. This Pal is supposed to be the 
 king of Nineveh, who, with his people, repented at the preach- 
 ing of Jonah. If this be the fact, he flourished about 800 
 years B. C.* 
 
 The object of Jonah's preaching was to denounce the divine 
 judgements against this people on account of their wickedness. The 
 prophet after great reluctance to obey the command of God, and a 
 signal chastisement for his disobedience, repaired at length to Nine- 
 veh, and executed his commission. 
 
 The Ninevites took the alarm, and humbled themselves before 
 Jehovah, in consequence of which they were delivered at that time 
 from destruction. The Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the 
 capital, ended, however, soon afterwards, as we shall now learn. 
 
 Sect. 11. Sardanapalus was the last and the most vicious 
 of the Assyrian monarchs. In his reign a conspiracy broke 
 out, by which the kingdom was destroyed, 7(57 years B. C. 
 Three monarchies rose from its ruins, viz. Nineveh, which 
 
 * We have here followed Usher, and not the authors of the Universal Hia-- 
 tory. Usher, as we think, more consistently, supposes Pul to be the father oi 
 Sardanapalus. 
 
1004752 B. c. 53 
 
 preserved the name of Assyria, Babylon, and the kingdom 
 of the Medes. 
 
 Sardanapalus was the most effeminate of mankind. He never left 
 his palace, but spent all his time with his women and his eunuchs. 
 He imitated them in dress and painting, and spun with them at the 
 distaff. Being besieged in his city, by Arbaces, governor of the Medes, 
 he at length set fire to his palace, and consumed himself, with his wo- 
 men, eunuchs, and treasures. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 SECT. 12. EGYPT continued to be governed by a race of 
 kings, concerning whom the common accounts seem not to 
 be very satisfactory. The most considerable or the best known 
 of them were Shishak, Rhamses, Ainenophis IV. and Thuo- 
 rn. Shishak is mentioned in scripture, and he is by some 
 authors considered the same as Sesostris. But we are dispo- 
 sed to consider Sesostris as much more ancient, and have ac- 
 cordingly spoken of him in a former period. 
 
 Concerning Shisliak, it appears that he built many temples and 
 dtios, dug canals, and among other conquests, took Jerusalem and 
 spoilt the temple. 
 
 Riiamses possessed a very avaricious disposition. Diodorus in- 
 forms us, that he was never at any expense either for the honour of 
 the gods, or the welfare of his people ; but that his sole delight was 
 in the augmentation of his private treasure, which, at his decease, 
 amounted to no lass than 400,000 talents. 
 
 AmenopUis IV. is thought to be the same with Memnon, whose 
 famous statue was said to utter a sound at the rising of the sun. The 
 monument in which he was buried, is much celebrated for its mag- 
 nificence, lie acquired great reno\vn by his expedition against the 
 Bactrians. 
 
 Thuoris lost the Egyptian possessions in the East ; and after his 
 death, Egypt, reduced within its natural boundaries, was divided 
 '.iiioiig several little kingdoms for about 44 years. 
 
 PHOENICIANS. 
 
 SECT. 13. The PHOENICIANS, during this period, were go- 
 verned by the successors of Hiram, of whom the first was 
 Balcazar, his son ; and the seventh from him was Pygma- 
 lion, the brother of the celebrated Dido. The cruelties of 
 Pygmalion obliged her to llee to Africa, where she founded a 
 mighty sovereignty, as will now be mentioned. 
 
 CARTHAGE. 
 
 SECT. 14. According to the most probable accounts, it was 
 869 years B. C. when Dido arrived at Africa. The history 
 
 E2 
 
D4 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD V. 
 
 of the CARTHAGINIANS is dated from this e\*ent. She fixed her 
 habitation at the bottom of a gulf, on a peninsula, near the 
 spot where Tunis now stands. 
 
 From this, Carthage arose, a city which afterwards became 
 famous for its wealth and power, and from its connexion with 
 the Roman wars." The early history of the people, who were 
 called after the name of their principal city, is but little 
 known. Its later history is involved in that of Rome. 
 
 It is probable Dido might have found a few inhabitants in 
 this place, whom its local advantages had induced to settle 
 there ; but to her and her attendants, Carthage is doubtless 
 indebted for a regular foundation. 
 
 The colony had the same language, and national charac- 
 ter, and nearly the same laws, with the parent state. In the 
 height of its splendour, it possessed a population of 700,000 
 inhabitants, and had under its dominion 300 small cities, bor- 
 dering on the Mediterranean sea. 
 
 Pygmalion, wishing to possess himself of the immense riches oi 
 Sichaens, the husband of Dido, took an opportunity, while they were 
 engaged in a chase, to run him through the body with a spear. The 
 suspicion of his sister was awakened ; but, concealing her design, 
 she requested Pygmalion to furnish her with men and ships, to con- 
 vey her effects to a small city between Tyre and Sidon, that she might 
 live there with her brother Barca. 
 
 The king granted her request ; but Dido had no sooner embarked 
 her property on board, than her brother and others, who favoured 
 her real design, set sail for Cyprus, whence they carried off a great 
 number of young women, and then steered their course to Africa. 
 
 The Tynan monarch, thus defeated in his schemes, was about to 
 send a fleet after the fugitives ; but the tears of his mother, and the 
 threatening predictions of the oracle, prevented his intended revenge. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 SECT. 15. In ITALY, at the time of Numitor, about 775 
 B. C., there was a turn in events deserving our notice. Awn- 
 lius : the brother of Numitor, being ambitious of the throne, 
 usurped the government, and connected this act with the 
 murder of the king's only son, and with compelling Rhea 
 Sylvia, his only daughter, to become a vestal. lie thus 
 meant to prevent any from becoming claimants to the throne. 
 
 The event, however, frustrated the hopes of Amulius ; for 
 from Sylvia sprung Remus and Romulus, twin brothers, who, 
 at length overcoming Amulius, replaced their grandfather, 
 Numitor. on the throne. 
 
1004752 B. c. 55 
 
 Amulius, hearing of the birtl\of Remus and Romulus, so contrary 
 (o his expectations, ordered the mother to be buried alive, the pun- 
 ishment of incontinent vestals, and the children to be thrown into the 
 river Tiber. The latter sentence was executed, but the former was 
 prevented by the intercession of a daughter of Amulius. 
 
 The infants, though put into the Tiber, were saved, since the bas- 
 ket in which they were covered, floated on the surface. It was borne 
 to the foot of the Aventine mount, and there stranded. According 
 to some accounts, a she-wolf suckled them, which is incredible. 
 
 According to other accounts, the woman who preserved and nursed 
 them, was called Lupa, and as Lupa is the Latin word for she-wolf, 
 this circumstance caused the mistake. 
 
 ' The two .brothers became shepherds, were fond of hunting wild 
 beasts, and at length turned their arms against the robbers that in- 
 fested the country. Having been informed of their high birth, they 
 collected their friends, and fought against Amulius, their uncle, and 
 killed him. 
 
 Numitor, after an exile of 42 years, was then called to the throne 
 again, and was happy to owe his restoration to the bravery of his 
 grandsons. Such were the youths who were destined by Provi- 
 dence to lay the foundation of a city, which became the mistress of 
 the world. 
 
 Distinguished characters in Period V. 
 
 1. Solomon, endowed with extraordinary wisdom. 
 
 2. Homer, the greatest of the Grecian poets. 
 
 3. Ilesiod, an eminent Greek poet. 
 
 4. LycurgiiS) a reformer of the Spartan republic, and wise 
 legislator. 
 
 5. Dido, a Tynan princess, who founded Carthage. 
 
 6. Isaiah, the greatest of the prophetical writers. 
 
 1. Solomon \vas the son of David by Bathsheba. He succeeded 
 David in the kingdom of Israel. He was the wisest of mankind. In 
 parly life he appeared to be exemplary in piety, but was afterwards 
 guilty of great defection from the strictness of religion. It is be- 
 lieved, however, that he did not die an apostate. The temple which 
 he erected at Jerusalem in honour of the God of Israel, has also ren- 
 dered his name immortal. 
 
 He wrote the books of Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and the Canti- 
 cles, all inspired by the Spirit of God. He died 975 years B. C. aged 
 58 years, and having reigned 40 years. 
 
 2. Homer was not only the greatest of the Greek poets, but the 
 earliest whose works have survived the devastations of time. On 
 these accounts he is styled the father of poetry, and indeed, so far as 
 we can know with certainty, he is the most ancient of all profane 
 classical writers. 
 
 The place of his nativity is unknown. Seven illustrious cities 
 contended for the honour of having given him birth. His parentage 
 
56 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD V. 
 
 and the circumstances of his life are also unknown, except in regard 
 to the latter, it was agreed that he was a wandering poet, and that 
 he was blind. 
 
 His greatest poems, (and they are among the greatest of uninspi- 
 red books,) are the Iliad and Odyssey. Other works have been as- 
 cribed to him, but without having been sufficiently substantiated. His 
 poetry is characterized by sublimity, fire, sweetness, elegance, and 
 universal knowledge. 
 
 The poems of Homer are the compositions of a man, who travel- 
 led and examined, with the most critical accuracy, whatever he met in 
 his way. Modern travellers are astonished to see the different scenes 
 which his pen described, almost 3000 years ago, still appearing the 
 same ; and the sailor who steers his course along the ^Egean, beholds 
 all the promontories and rocks which presented themselves to Nestor 
 and Menelaus, when they returned victorious from the Trojan war. 
 
 The first appearance of Homer's poems in Greece, was about 200 
 years after the supposed time of the bard. Pisistratus, tyrant of 
 Athens, was the first who arranged the Iliad and Odyssey in'tlie form 
 in which they now appear to us. The Arimdelian marbles fix the 
 period in which he flourished, at 907 years B. C. 
 
 3. Jlesiod is generally considered as having been a contemporary 
 of Homer. He was born at Ascra in Bceotia. His greatest production 
 was a poem on Agriculture, which contains refined moral reflections, 
 mingled with instructions for cultivating fields. 
 
 His Theogony, another poem, gives a faithful account of the god.s 
 of antiquity. Hesiod is admired for elegance and sweetness. Cicero 
 highly commends him, and the Greeks were so partial to his moral 
 poetical instructions, that they required their children to learn them 
 all by heart. 
 
 4. Lycurfu,s flourished about 884 years B. C. He was regent of 
 Sparta, until Charilaus, his nephew, "had attained to mature i ears. 
 Then leaving Sparta, he travelled in Asia and Egypt, for the purpose 
 of improving his mind, and observing the manners, customs, and po- 
 litical institutions of different nations. 
 
 Upon his return, he reformed the abuses of the state, banishc;! lux- 
 ury, and produced a system which gave rise to all the magnanimity, 
 fortitude, and intrepidity which distinguished the Lacedaemoniat 
 
 Having established his laws, and engaged the citizens not to alter 
 them until his return, he left his country, and, by a voluntary death, 
 rendered that event impossible ; thus securing, as far as in his power, 
 he perpetuity of his institutions. 
 
 5. Dido, also called Elissa, was a daughter of Bolus, king of 
 Tyre, an( i married her uncle Sichaeus. Her husband having been 
 murdered by Pygmalion, the successor of Belus, the disconsolate 
 princess, with a number of Tyrians, set sail in quest of a settlement. 
 A storm drove her fleet on the African coast, and there she founded, 
 or enlarged a city, that became much celebrated in the annals of 
 history. 
 
 Her beauty, as well as the fame of her enterprise, gained her 
 many admirers; and her subjects wished to compel her to marry 
 
1004752 B. c. 5? 
 
 larbas, king of Mauritania, by whom they were threatened with war. 
 Dido requested three months for consideration ; and, during that 
 time, she erected a funeral pile, as if wishing, 'by a solemn sacrifice, 
 to appease the manes of Siehaeus, to whom she had vowed eternal 
 
 fidelity. 
 
 When her preparation was completed, she stabbed herself on the 
 pile, in presence of iier people, and by this desperate feat, obtained 
 the name of Dido, valiant worn an. The poets have made ^Eneas and 
 Dido contemporaneous, but this is only a fiction, allowed perhaps by 
 the rules of their art. 
 
 6. Isaiah was the son of Amos, and of the lineage of David. He 
 prophesied from 735 to 681 13. C. during the reigns of several kings 
 of Judah. lie is the greatest and the sublimest of the prophets. He 
 reproved the sinners of his day with boldness, and exposed the many 
 vices that prevailed in the nation. He is called the evangelical pro- 
 phet, from his frequent allusion to, and prediction of Gospel times. 
 He is said to have been cut in two with a wooden saw, by the cruel 
 king Manasseh. 
 
 PERIOD VI. 
 
 The period of the Roman kings, extending from the 
 founding of Rome, 752 years B. C., to the battle of Ma- 
 rathon, 490 years B. C. 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 SECT. 1. Romulus began the building of ROME 752 B. C. 
 His brother Remus was indeed concerned in the projected un- 
 dertaking, but a dispute arising between the brothers respect- 
 ing the place where the city should stand, they had recourse 
 to arms ; in consequence of which, Remus lost his life. 
 
 Romulus, only 18 years of age, was thus left to pursue the 
 enterprise alone. On the Palatine hill he fixed as the spot, 
 and enclosing about a mile of territory in compass, with a 
 wall, he filled it with 1000 houses, or rather huts. To this 
 collection he gave the name of Rome ; and he peopled it with 
 the tumultuous and vicious rabble, which he found in the 
 neighbourhood. At first it was nearly destitute of laws ; but 
 it soon became a well regulated community. 
 
 The liberty of building a city on those hills, where the two bro- 
 thers had fed their flocks, was granted to them by Numitor, the king. 
 He assigned to them a certain territory, and permitted such of his 
 subjects as chose, to resort thither in aid of the work. 
 
 A division taking place, in regard to the particular spot where the 
 city should stand, Numitor advised them to watch the flight of birds, 
 
58 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 a custom common in that age, when any contested point was to be 
 settled. They took their stations on different hills. .Remus saw six 
 vultures ; Romulus twice as many ; so that each one thought himself 
 victorious the one having the first omen, the other the most com- 
 plete. 
 
 A contest was the result ; and it is asserted that Rernus was killed 
 by the hand of his brother. Jumping contemptuously over the city 
 wall, he was struck dead upon the spot by Romulus, who declared 
 that no one should insult his rising walls with impunity. 
 
 2. Romulus, having been elected king, introduced order 
 and discipline among his subjects, which gradually improved 
 under his successors. 
 
 He adopted many important regulations respecting the go- 
 vernment and policy of his newly acquired territory, the wis- 
 dom of which has been sanctioned by time. As some of 
 these, a,nd other institutions that were afterwards added, are 
 to be presented under the General "Views in this work, they 
 need not here be given. 
 
 3. Under the salutary regulations of Romulus, great 
 numbers of men, from the small towns around Rome, flock- 
 ed to the city, and every day it increased in power and ex- 
 tent. The most important event under the administration 
 of Romulus, was the Rape of the Sabine virgins, by which 
 the Romans were supplied with wives, and which caused the 
 war that thence ensued between the Romans and Sabines. 
 
 After conquering some of the neighbouring kings, Romu- 
 lus was killed (it is supposed) by the Senators, having reigned 
 37 years, and was succeeded, at the expiration of one year, 
 by Numa Pompilius, a Sabine, the wisest and best of the 
 Roman kings, 715 years B. C. 
 
 In the want of women, Romulus proposed intermarrages with the 
 Sabines, his neighbours. His proposal, however, was? rejected with 
 scorn. He then tried the effect of intrigue and force. Inviting the 
 neighbouring- tribes to witness some magnificent spectacle in the 
 city, he had the pleasure of rinding that the Sabines, with their wives 
 and daughters, were among the foremost to be present. 
 
 At the proper time, the Roman youth rushed in among them with 
 drawn swords, seized the youngest and most beautiful of the women, 
 and carried them off by violence. The virgins, at first offended by 
 the boldness of the intrusion, at length became reconciled to their lot. 
 
 The Sabines, as might be expected, resented the affront, and flew 
 to arms. After several unfortunate attempts at revenge, the Sabines, 
 with Tatius, their king, at their head, entered the Roman territories, 
 25,000 men strong. Having by stratagem passed into the city, they 
 
752490 B. c. 59 
 
 continued the war at pleasure. At length the Romans and Sabines 
 prepared for a general engagement. 
 
 In the midst of the fight, however, the Sabine women who had 
 been carried off by the Romans, rushed in between the combatants. 
 " If," cried they, " any must die, let it be us, who are the cause of 
 your animosity ; since, if our parents or our husbands fall, we must, 
 in either case, be miserable in surviving them." 
 
 This moving spectacle produced an effect. An accommodation 
 ensued. It was agreed that Tatius and Romulus should reign jointly 
 in Rome ; that 100 Sabines should be admitted into the senate ; and 
 that the privileges of Roman citizens, should be extended to such of 
 the Sabines as chose to enjoy them. 
 
 Tatius lived but five years after this ; and Romulus, taking advan- 
 tage of this event, and elated by prosperity, invaded the liberty of 
 his people. The senators opposed his encroachments, and at length, 
 it is said, tore him to pieces in the senate house. 
 
 When the throne was offered to Numa, he wished to decline it ; and 
 it was not until his friends repeatedly urged him to accept it, that he 
 gave up his own wishes to theirs, and for the good of his country 
 consented to become king of Rome. 
 
 He was a wise and virtuous man, and, before his elevation to the 
 throne, lived contentedly in privacy. He proved excellent as a mo- 
 narch, and reigned 43 years in profound peace, inspiring his subjects 
 with the love of wisdom and virtue, 
 
 He multiplied the national gods, built temples, and instituted dif- 
 ferent classes of priests, and a great variety of religious ceremonies. 
 The Flamines officiated each in the service of a peculiar deity; the 
 Salii guarded the sacred bucklers ; the Vestals cherished the sacred 
 fire ; the Augurs and Aruspices divined future events from the flight 
 of birds, and the entrails of victims. 
 
 4. The third king of Rome was Tullius Hostilius, who 
 was elected, and began to reign, 672 B. C. His disposi 
 tion was warlike. He subdued the Albans, Fidemites, and 
 other neighbouring states. The Sabines, now disunited from 
 the Roman?, became 'their most powerful enemy. Tullius 
 reigned 33 years, and, according to some accounts, he was 
 killed by lightning. The most remarkable event during the 
 reign of Tullius, was the combat between the Horatii and 
 Curiatii. 
 
 In the war between the Romans and Albans, as their armies were 
 about to engage, the Alban general proposed that the dispute should 
 be decided by single combat, and that the side whose champion was 
 overcome, should submit to the conqueror. To this the Roman king 
 acceded. 
 
 It happened that there were three twin brothers in each army ; 
 those of the Romans were called Horatii, those of the Albans, Cu- 
 riatii ; all remarkable for their prowess. To these the combat was 
 
60 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 assigned. The armies were drawn up in due order, and the brothers 
 took to their arms. 
 
 The signal being given, the youths rushed forward to the encoun- 
 ter. They were soon engaged hand to hand, each regardless of his 
 own safety, seeking only the destruction of his, opponent. The three 
 Albans were severely wounded, and loud shouts ran along the Ro 
 man army. In a few seconds, two of the Romans fell and expired. 
 The acclamations were heard amid the Albans. 
 
 The surviving Roman now saw that all depended on him ; it was 
 an awful moment. But he did not despair ; he manfully roused his 
 spirits to meet the exigence of the occasion. Knowing that force 
 alone could not avail, he had recourse to art. 
 
 He drew back, as if flying from his enemies. Immediately were 
 heard the hisses of the Romans. But Horatius had the felicity to 
 witness what he wished. The wounded Curiatii, pursuing him at 
 unequal distances, were divided. Turning upon the nearest pursuer, 
 he laid him dead at his feet. The second brother advancing, soc-n 
 shared the same fate. 
 
 Only one now remained on each side. The hisses of the Romans 
 were turned into cheerings. But what was their exultation when 
 they saw the last of the Curiatii stretched lifeless on the ground ! 
 
 What followed, it is painful to relate. When Horatius readied 
 Rome, he saw his sister bitterly lamenting the death of the Curiatii, 
 one of whom she was engaged to marry. In the dreadful moment 
 of ungovcrned rage, he killed her on the spot. 
 
 Horatius was condemned to die for his crime, but making his ap- 
 peal to the people, he was pardoned, though his laurels and his cha- 
 racter were forever tarnished. 
 
 5. Rome was governed by four other kings, in succession, 
 v.iz. Ancius Martins, Tarquinius Prisons, Servius Tullius, and 
 Tarquinins Superbus. 
 
 Ancns inherited the virtues of his grandfather, Numa, and 
 was, besides, a warrior; Tarquin enriched Rome with mag- 
 nilicent works : Servius ruled with political wisdom ; but 
 Tarquin the Proud pursued a course of systematic tyranny. 
 With him ended the monarchical form of government at Rome, 
 509 years B. C. 
 
 Servius married his two daughters to the two sons of Tarquin, 
 and then having established good government, was preparing to qu 
 tiie throne and live in peace and retirement. But these intentions 
 were frustrated. 
 
 Tullia, one of his daughters, preferred her sister's husband to her 
 own, and he was disposed to reciprocate so vile an attachment. To 
 answer their base purposes, they both killed their respective partners. 
 As one wickedness too surely paves the way for another, these flagi 
 tious wretches next plotted the death of Servius. 
 
 It will be read with horror, that not only did the cruel Tullia re- 
 joice, when she heard that Tarquinius had murdered her father, but 
 
752 490 B c. Gi 
 
 that when she rode forth in her chariot, to congratulate the base mur- 
 derer, she would not permit her coachman to indulge even his hu- 
 manity, who seeing the bleeding body of Servius lying in the street, 
 was about to turn down another road, thinking, very rationally, that 
 his mistress would be shocked to behold the mangled corpse of her 
 old father. 
 
 Tullia had expelled from her heart all natural feeling, and per- 
 ceiving the hesitation of the coachman, angrily bade the man drive 
 on ; he did so, and the chariot-wheels of .the daughter's car wer 
 stained with the blood of her gray-haired father. 
 
 Tarquin, surnamed the proud, upon this event, was made king ; 
 but though at first he ingratiated himself with the lower classes of 
 the people, yet by his oppressive and tyrannical conduct, he at length 
 became an object of universal detestation. His son Sextus having 
 greatly indulged in detestable vices, became the occasion of his own 
 and the king's ruin. 
 
 This prince, and Collatinus a noble Roman, and some officers, 
 when with the army besieging Ardea, a small town not far from 
 Rome, in the height of a debauch, were boasting what excellent 
 wives each possessed. Collatinus was certain that his was the best ; 
 in their merriment, the young men mounted their horses, and set oit 
 for Rome, to discover whose wife was most properly employed in 
 the absence of her husband. 
 
 The ladies were all found visiting and passing the time in amuse- 
 ment and mirth, except Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus. She was 
 industriously spinning wool among her maidens at home. Sextus 
 was so taken with the good sense and right behaviour of Lucretia, 
 that he fell in love with her, and wished her tcf quit her husband, 
 indulging at the same time the most unwarrantable designs. 
 
 Lucretia, shocked at his vile proposals, and unable to survive her 
 dishonour, killed herself for grief, which so distracted Collatinus, that 
 with Junius Brutus, and other friends, he raised an army, and drove 
 Sextus and his infamous father from Rome. The people had suffer- 
 ed so much under the tyranny of this king, that they resolved that 
 he should never come back, and that they would have no more kings. 
 
 The cause of the interest which Brutus took in the death of Lu- 
 cretia, was the following. His father and eldest brother had been 
 slain by Tarquin, and unable to avenge their death, he pretended to 
 be insane. The artifice saved his life ; he was called Brutus for his 
 stupidity. When the infamous deed of the Tarquins was done, arid 
 the catastrophe which ensued was known, he seized the occasion of 
 
 revenge. 
 
 Snatching the dagger from the wound of the bleeding Lucretia, he 
 swore upon the reeking blade, immortal hatred to the royal family. 
 " Be witness, ye gods," he cried, " that from this moment I proclaim 
 myself the avenger of the chaste Lucretia's cause," &c. This energy 
 of speech and action, in one who had been reputed a fool, astonished 
 Rome, and every patriot's arm was nerved against Tarquin and his 
 adherents against Tarquin and royalty, 
 
 F 
 
63 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD YI. 
 
 6. From a monarchy, Rome now became a republic, wilh 
 a gradual increase of the power of the people from time to 
 time. At jirst the nobles had much the largest share in the 
 government. The supreme authority was committed to two 
 magistrates, chosen from the patrician order every year, who 
 were named consuls. Their power w r as nearly or quite equal 
 to that of the kings, only it was temporary. Brutus and 
 Collatinus were the first consuls, who, with several of their 
 successors, were engaged in hostility with the banished kinq;. 
 
 Tarquin, after his expulsion, took refuge in Etruria, where lie 
 enlisted two of the most powerful cities, Venii and Tarquinii, to es- 
 pouse his cause. At, Rome also he had adherents. A conspiracy 
 having been formed to open the gates of the city to him, the republic 
 was on the eve of ruin. 
 
 It was however discovered in season, and the two sons of Brutus 
 aaving been concerned in it, he sternly ordered them to be beheaded 
 in his presence. He put off the father, and acted only the consul a 
 dreadful necessity. 
 
 Some time after, in a combat between the Romans and Tarquins, 
 Brutus engaged with Anms, son of Tarquin, and so fierce was the 
 attack, that they both fell dead together. Brutus was honoured as 
 the father of the republic. 
 
 Tarquin now fled for aid to Porsenna, king of Cmsium, who ad- 
 vanced with a large army to Rome, and had nearly entered it. The 
 valour of one man saved the city. Horatius Codes, seeing the ene- 
 my approach the bridge where he stood sentinel, and observing the 
 retreat of the Romans, besought them to assisuhim. He told them to 
 burn or break down the bridge behind him, whilst he went forward 
 to keep back the enemy. 
 
 He then remained alone fighting in the midst of his enemies, and 
 when he heard the crash of the bridge and the shouts of the Romans, 
 knowing that no way of entrance was left for the foe, he jumped .into 
 the river and swam over to his friends in safety. 
 
 In the war with Porsenna occurred another remarkable incident. 
 
 Mutius Scoevola, a noble young Roman, upon leave obtained of the 
 senate, disguised himself, and entered the tent of Porsenna. There lie 
 saw a man so richly drest that he thought he was the king, whom he 
 contrived to kill, but it was only the king's secretary. 
 
 While endeavouring to quit the camp, Mutius was seized and car- 
 ried before Porsenna, who told him he would severely torture him if 
 he did not betray the schemes of the Romans. Mutius only answered 
 by putting his hand into one of the fires lighted near him, and hold- 
 ing it steadily there. 
 
 The king, seeing the courage and fortitude of this youth, leaped 
 from his throne, and drawing the hand of Mutius from the flame, 
 highly praised him, and dismissed him without farther harm. Peace 
 was soon concluded upon this incident. 
 
752490 B. c. 63 
 
 7. The Latins, excited by Mamilius, Tarquin's son-in- 
 law, declared war against the Romans, 501 years B. C. The 
 common people, oppressed by the patrician order, had become 
 disaffected, and refused to enlist into the service. In this 
 crisis, the Romans resorted to the desperate measure of having 
 a dictator, a magistrate with unlimited authority, for the pe- 
 riod of six months. This was an effectual resort in times of 
 danger. 
 
 A few years after, the people, supposing their grievances 
 riot sufficiently redressed, rose in general insurrection, when 
 the senate consented to create five new magistrates, called 
 tribunes, who were to be annually selected by the people. 
 
 These were to be sacred ; their office was to defend the 
 oppressed, pardon offenders, arraign the enemies of the peo- 
 ple, and, if necessary, stop the whole machine of government. 
 They were afterwards increased to ten. The popular or de- 
 mocratic constitution of Rome may be dated from this period, 
 490 years B. C. 
 
 About this time, Coriolanus, a patrician and able warrior, 
 being banished from Rome, for proposing the abolition of .the 
 tribunate, retired to the Volsci, among whom he raised an 
 army, and advanced to besiege Rome. Attacking the city, 
 he would probably have conquered it, but he was turned from 
 his purpose by the prayers and tears of his mother, wife, and 
 children. 
 
 A few particulars respecting Coriolanus must here be related. 
 Passing over the circumstances of his banishment, we find that upon 
 his entrance into the territory of the Volsci, he met a most friendly 
 reception from Tullus Aufidius, a mortal enemy to Rome. 
 
 Having advised this prince to make war against the Romans, he 
 marched at the head of the Volsci, as general. The approach of 
 Coriolanus, at the head of so powerful an enemy, greatly alarmed 
 the Romans, who sent him several embassies to reconcile him to hi? 
 country, and to solicit his return. He was deaf to all proposals ; and 
 though each successive embassy was made more and more solemn 
 and urgent, he bade them prepare for war. 
 
 At Rome, all was now confusion and consternation. The republic- 
 was nearly given up for lost. Coriolanus had pitched his camp at 
 only a very short distance from the city. As a last resort, it was 
 suggested, that possibly his wife or mother might effect what the 
 senate and the ministers of religion could not. 
 
 Accordingly his mother, Veturia, and his wife, Vergilia, with his 
 children, and the principal matrons of the city, undertook the Ip^t 
 embassy. The meeting of Coriolanus and this train, was in the h'gh- 
 
64 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 est degree tender and affecting. In the sternness of his soul he had 
 resolved to give them a denial ; but the authority of a mother, and 
 the entreaties of a wife and of children, must be listened to. 
 
 "My son," cried his mother, "how am I to consider this meeting'/ 
 Do I embrace my son or my enemy? Am I your mother or your 
 captive ? How have I lived to see this day to see my son a banished 
 man and still more distressful, to see him the enemy of his coun- 
 try ? how has he been able to turn his arms against the place that 
 gave him life how direct his rage against those walls that protect 
 liis wife, his children, and his gods ? But it is to me only that my 
 country owes her oppressor. Had I never been a mother, Rome had 
 still been free." 
 
 With these and similar words, and with the tears and entreaties of 
 his wife and children, his stern and obstinate resolutions were over- 
 come. He was melted under them, and the feelings of a man rose 
 superior to the honour of a soldier and the vengeance of a foe. The 
 Volsci were marched from the neighbourhood of Rome, but the event 
 fulfilled the sad prediction which he addressed to his mother, in re- 
 ply a prediction which only a Roman mother could hear " O my 
 mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son." 
 
 The act of Coriolanus, of course, displeased the Volsci. He was 
 summoned to appear before the people of Antium : but the clamours 
 which his enemies raised were so 'prevalent, that he was murdered 
 on the spot appointed for his trial. His body was honoured, never- 
 theless, with a magnificent funeral by the Volsci, and the Roman ma- 
 trons put on mourning for his loss. 
 
 To show their sense of Veturia's merit and patriotism, the Romans 
 dedicated a temple to Female Fortune. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 8. GREECE, during this period, underwent several changes. 
 After trie institutions of Lycurgus had been a number of 
 years in successful operation, those of Athens began to re- 
 ceive attention from some of their wise men. The office ot 
 archon had become decennial, at the beginning of this pe- 
 riod. 
 
 In 648 B. C. the archons were elected annually, were 
 nine in number, and all had equal authority. Under these 
 changes the people became miserable, and a reform was at- 
 tempted, first by Draco, and 150 years afterwards by the illus- 
 trious Solon, 594 years B. C. At the request of the citizens, 
 they each furnished, during his archonship, a written code 
 for the regulation of the state. 
 
 Draco was a wise and honest, but a very stern man. His laws 
 were characterized by extreme severity. Very trifling offences were 
 punished with death, " because," said Draco, " small crimes deserve 
 death, and I haveno greater punishment for the greatest sins,"- 
 plan ill adapted to the state nf human society. 
 
752490 B. c. 65 
 
 Solon was one of the seven wise men of Greece. He established 
 excellent rules of justice, order, and discipline. But, though possess- 
 ed of extensive knowledge, he wanted a firm and intrepid mind ; and 
 he rather accommodated his system to the habits and passions of his 
 countrymen, than attempted to reform their manners. 
 
 He cancelled the bloody code of Draco, except the laws which re- 
 lated to murder ; and he abolished the debts of the poor by an act of 
 insolvency. He divided the Athenians into fojp classes, of which the 
 three first consisted of persons possessing property, and the fourth of 
 those who were poor. 
 
 All the offices of the state were committed to the care of the rich ; 
 but those who possessed no property, were allowed to vote in the 
 general assembly of the people, in whose hands he lodged the su- 
 preme power. 
 
 He instituted a senate, composed of 400 persons, (afterwards in- 
 creased to 500 and 600,) who had cognisance of all appeals from the 
 court of Areopagus, and with whom it was necessary that every 
 measure should originate before it was discussed in the assembly of 
 the people. In this way he sought to balance the weight of the po- 
 pular interest. 
 
 Solon committed the supreme administration of justice to the 
 court of Areopagus. This court had fallen into disrepute, but So- 
 lon, by. confining its numbers to those who had been archons, great- 
 ly raised the reputation of the body. 
 
 The following anecdote of Solon and Thespis is worthy of remem- 
 brance. Thespis was an actor of plays. Solon having at one time 
 attended those shows, which were then very rude, called Thespis, 
 who had been acting various characters, and asked him if he was 
 not ashamed to speak so many lies ? 
 
 Thespis replied, " It was all in jest." Solon, striking his staff on 
 the ground, violently exclaimed, "If we encourage ourselves to speak 
 falsely in jest, we shall run the chance of acquiring a habit of speak- 
 ing falsely in serious matters." Such a sentiment is worthy of the 
 wisdom of Solon. 
 
 9. Scarcely had Athens begun to enjoy the benefit of 
 these new regulations, when Pisistratus, a rich and ambi- 
 tious citizen, usurped the supreme power, (B. C. 560,) which 
 act Solon was unable to prevent. He and his posterity exer- 
 cised it during 50 years. 
 
 Hippias and Hipparchus, his sons, who succeeded him, en- 
 joyed a peaceable crown for a time, but were at length de- 
 throned, and democracy was restored. 
 
 Pisistratus secured the favour of the people by the following ex- 
 pedient. Wounding himself, he ran into the market place, and pro- 
 claimed that his enemies had inflicted the injury. Solon, with con- 
 tempt, said to him, " Son of Hippocrates, you act Ulysses badly : he 
 hurt himself to deceive his enemies ; you have done so to cheat your 
 friends." 
 
 F2 
 
66 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 The populace, as is generally the case, being deaf to the voice of 
 reason, Pisistratus became tyrant, or king of Athens. He secured 
 the affections of the people by his splendour and munificence. He 
 was eminent for his love of learning, and the fine arts. He adorned 
 Athens with many magnificent buildings. 
 
 The restoration of democracy was undertaken by Harmodius and 
 Aristogiton, who were citizens in middle life. They succeeded 
 eventually, though %py both lost their lives in the attempt. Aristo- 
 giton was previously tortured, having fallen into the hands of Hip- 
 pias. By the aid of the Lacedaemonians the object was accomplish- 
 ed, and Hippias. who at first escaped the fate of his brother, was at 
 length dethroned. 
 
 Passing into Asia, he solicited foreign aid to place him in the so- 
 vereignty. Darius at this time meditated the conquest of Greece. 
 Hippias took advantage of the views of an enemy against his native 
 country, and Greece soon became involved in a war with Persia. 
 
 10. Under the institutions of Lycurgus the Spartans had 
 become a race of warriors. Being in the neighbourhood of 
 Messenia, they were almost constantly at war with thai 
 state. The first Messeman war began 743 years B. C. and 
 lasted 1 9 years. There were two other periods of conten- 
 tion between Sparta and Messenia, but the latter was final- 
 ly subdued. The territory was seized and its inhabitants 
 were enslaved. 
 
 During one of these wars, the Lacedaemonians, it is said, bound 
 themselves by oath not to return home till they had conquered the 
 Messenians. Despairing, however, of ever returning, they sent or- 
 ders to the women of Sparta to recruit the population, by promiscu- 
 ous intercourse with the young men, who being children when the 
 war began, had not taken the oath. 
 
 The offspring of this singular and improper order were denomina- 
 ted Partheniae, or Sons of Virgins. 
 
 ISRAELITES. 
 
 11. The kingdom of ISRAEL, towards the beginning of 
 the present period, (721 B. C.) was subverted by Salmana- 
 zar king of Assyria, or Nineveh. The Israelites were car- 
 ried captive to Assyria, whence they never returned. This 
 event occurred during the reign of Hosea, their last king. 
 
 Hosea had reigned nine years, when Salmanazar made him tribu- 
 tary. But Hosea having revolted, the Assyrian king besieged Sama- 
 ria, the capital of the ten tribes, and after three years took and plun- 
 dered it. 
 
 Except a few, who remained in Canaan, the Israelites were disper- 
 sed throughout Assyria, and lost their distinctive character. Those 
 who remained in their native country became intermixed with stran- 
 gers. The descendants of these mingled races were afterwards 
 known by the name of Samaritans. 
 
752490 B. c. 67 
 
 \ 
 
 Thus, in a little more than two centuries after the separation of the 
 (en tribes from those of Judah and Benjamin, were they destroyed 
 as a nation, having, on account of their great sins, previously suffered 
 an awful series of calamities. 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 12. The kingdom of JUDAH from the commencement of 
 this period enjoyed but a doubtful existence. It was invaded 
 at different times by the Babylonians, rendered tributary, and 
 finally subdued. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, within 115 years after the destruction, of 
 Samaria, took Jerusalem, and razed the city and its temple 
 
 to its foundations. 
 
 During the latter part of the kingdom of Judah, the greater por 
 lion of its kings were impious. Two or three of them, however, 
 were eminently religious. Such were Hezekiah and Josiah. They 
 were both of them reformers, and destroyed the altars of idolatry. 
 
 The idolatry of Ahaz was punished by the captivity of 200,000 of 
 his subjects, though they were afterwards sent back upon the remon- 
 strance of the prophet Obed. Manasseh^an impious and cruel prince, 
 was carried to Babylon, bound with fetters. This affliction, becom- 
 ing the means of his repentance, God heard his supplications, and 
 brought him again into his kingdom. 
 
 13. Under Jehoiachin, who was carried captive to Baby 
 Ion, together with his people, commenced the Seventy years 
 Captivity of the Jews, 606 B. C. The king was after- 
 wards released, but remained tributary to the king of Baby 
 Ion. ; 
 
 In the reign of Zedekiah, the next but one in succession after Je- 
 hoiachin, Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, and entirely de- 
 molished. Zedekiah, after seeing all his children slain, had his eyes 
 put out, and was brought in fetters to Babylon. 
 
 14. The Jews having been in captivity to the Babylo- 
 nians just 70 years, were permitted, by Cyrus, king of Persia., 
 to return to their native land, 536 years B. C. This was 
 accomplished under the direction of Zerubbabel and Joshua, 
 their leaders. 
 
 They soon began the rebuilding of the temple, but their 
 enemies prevented them from making any progress. Seve- 
 ral years afterwards they commenced the work anew, and 
 impVted it in the space of four years, 516 B. C. Upon 
 thu-- event they celebrated the first passover. 
 
 The return of the Jews from their captivity happened the first 
 year of Cyrus, who, as we shall soon learn, had conquered Babylon, 
 and terminated the Babylonian empire. 
 
 The influence of adversity on many 01 the Jews, seems to have 
 
68 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 been very favorable on this occasion. It brought them to repent- 
 ance, and engaged them in the worship and ordinances of their re- 
 ligion. The vessels of the temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had 
 brought with him from Jerusalem, were all restored by the Persian 
 monarch. 
 
 NINEVEH. 
 
 15. Of the three kingdoms into which the ancient Assy- 
 rian empire was divided upon the death of Sardanapalus, 
 NINEVEH or Assyria comes first in order. Its first king is 
 supposed to have been Tiglath Pileser, 747 B. C. A few 
 of his successors, during this period, were Salmanazar, Sen 
 nacherib, Esarhaddon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Belshazzar. 
 
 Under the last of these kings the kingdom of Nineveh end 
 ed. Babylon, its capital, was taken by Cyaxares II. aided 
 by Cyrus, and Belshazzar was killed, 538 years B. 0. 
 
 Salmanazar was the sovereign mentioned above, in the history of 
 the Israelites. He destroyed the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. 
 
 Of Sennacherib it is recorded in his war with the Jews, that having 
 written a letter to Hezekiah full of blasphemy against the God of Is- 
 rael, God, in order to punish him, when he was just ready to take Je- 
 rusalem, sent an angel, who in one night smote 185,000 men of his 
 army. 
 
 Covered with shame, he returned to his own country, and there 
 his two eldest sons conspired against and killed him in the temple of 
 Nisroch. 
 
 About 108 years after this prince, Nebuchadnezzar began to reign 
 over the kingdom of Nineveh. He signalized his reign by many con- 
 quests, particularly of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. 
 
 His heart being elated with success, God, to punish him for his 
 pride, reduced him to such a state of insanity, that, wandering in the 
 forests, he lived upon grass, like a wild beast. He recovered twelve 
 months before his death, and, by a solemn edict, published through- 
 out the whole of his dominions the astonishing things that God had 
 wrought in him. 
 
 Labynit, or the scripture Belshazzar, became peculiarly infamous, 
 by profanely using the holy vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had 
 brought out of the spoils of the temple. He was at length besieged 
 by Cyaxares II. king of the Medes, in conjunction with Cyrus. 
 
 During the siege he made a great entertainment for his whole court 
 on a certain night; but their joy was greatly disturbed by a vision, 
 and still more by the explanation which Daniel, the prophet, a Jew- 
 ish captive, gave of it to the king, that his kingdom was taken from 
 him, and delivered to the Medes and Persians. That very night 
 Babvlon was taken and Belshazzar killed. 
 
 BABYLON. 
 
 16. BABYLON, the next kingdom in order of the second em- 
 
752490 B. c. 69 
 
 pire of Assyria, continued separate not quite 70 years. Na- 
 bonassar was its first king. After a few successive reigns, 
 and interregnums, it was subdued by Esarhaddon, one of the 
 kings of Nineveh, and annexed to his dominions, 680 B. C. 
 The famous astronomical epocha at Babylon, called the era of 
 Nabonassar, commenced from the reign of this prince. We are un- 
 acquainted with the history of his successors, only Merodach seems 
 to be the same prince who sent ambassadors to Hezekiah, to congra- 
 tulate him on the recovery of his health. 
 
 MEDES. 
 
 17. The last in order of the kingdoms that constituted 
 the second empire of Assyria was that of the MEDES. After 
 the destruction of the first Assyrian empire, the Medes enjoy- 
 ed for some time the liberty they had acquired by their va- 
 lour. They formed a republic ; but anarchy having prevailed, 
 they elected a king after 37 years. 
 
 Dejoces, the first king, was elected 690 years B. C. The 
 fourth king after him, viz. Cyaxares II. or Darius the Mede, 
 having with his nephew, Cyrus, conquered Babylon, reigned 
 over it two years in conjunction with Cyrus ; after which the 
 kingdom of the Medes, and indeed the \vhole Assyrian em- 
 pire, was united to that of Persia, 536 years B. C. 
 
 The Medes are supposed to be the descendants of Madai, the third 
 son of Japhet, from whom they derived their name. They seem to 
 have been independent tribes at first, and not to have been united 
 under one monarchy till the time of Dejoces. 
 
 They were governed by petty princes, and some are of opinion, 
 that one of the four kings, who in the time of Abraham, invaded the 
 southern coast of Canaan, reigned in Media. They were first brought 
 into subjection to the Assyrian yoke by Ninus. 
 
 Some time after they had shaken off this yoke, they were govern- 
 ed by kings of their own, who became absolute, and were controlled 
 by no law. Of Dejoces it is recorded, that he no sooner ascended 
 the throne, than he endeavoured to civilize and polish his subjects. 
 He built the beautiful city of Ecbatana, and made it the capital of his 
 empire. 
 
 He then contrived a code of laws for the good of the state, and cau- 
 sed them to be strictly obeyed. In a war with Nebuchadnezzar I. 
 his capital was plundered, and stripped of all its ornaments, and 
 falling into the conqueror's hands, he was cruelly shot to death with 
 arrows. 
 
 Phraortes, his successor, was much more fortunate, and conquered 
 almost all upper Asia. Cyaxares I. a brave prince, made war upon 
 the kingdom of Nineveh, to avenge the wrongs inflicted by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. A battle ensued, in which the Ninevitea or Assyrians 
 
70 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 were defeated ; but a formidable army of the Scythians having invaded 
 Media, Cyaxares marched with all his forces against them. 
 
 The Medes, however, were vanquished, and obliged to make an 
 alliance with the Scythians, who settled in Media, where they re- 
 mained for 28 years. Finding that they could not get rid of their 
 troublesome guests by force, they effected it by stratagem. The 
 Scythians being invited to a general feast, which was given in every 
 family, each landlord made his guest drunk, and in that condition 
 massacred him. 
 
 After this event, Cyaxares entered into a war with the Lydians. 
 This war continued five years. The battle fought in the fifth year, 
 was remarkable on account of a total eclipse of the sun, which hap- 
 pened during the engagement, and which was foretold by Thales, the 
 philosopher. 
 
 The Medes and Lydians, equally terrified, immediately retreated, 
 and soon after concluded a peace. Two more princes succeeded, viz. 
 Astyages and Cyaxares II. Astyages married his daughter to Cam- 
 byses, king of Persia, of which marriage Cyrus was the issue. After 
 the death of Cyaxares, Cyrus united the kingdoms of the Medes and 
 Persians. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 18. From the days of Cyras the Great, 536 years B. C. 
 the PERSIAN empire holds a distinguished place in ancient 
 history. It was originally of small extent, and almost un- 
 known ; but after being founded by Cyrus, it included all 
 India, Assyria, Media, and Persia, and the parts adjoining to 
 the Euxine and Caspian Seas. It is sometimes called the 
 Medo-Persian empire. 
 
 Cyrus is represented as a prince of an excellent character, 
 and he obtained the surname of Great, from his heroic actions 
 and splendid achievements. Having undertaken an expedi- 
 tion against the Scythians, he was surprised and slain by 
 means of an ambuscade from the enemy, 529 years B.C. 
 
 He was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who is called in 
 scripture Artaxerxes, and who added Egypt to his empire. 
 Cambyses was succeeded by Darius, 522 years B. C., the son 
 of Hystaspes, who by a stratagem obtained the sovereignty. 
 
 The first inhabitants of Persia were called Elamites, and descended 
 from Elam the eldest son of Shem. During, however, more than 16 
 centuries we have little information relative to their history. Che- 
 derlaomer, the only king of Elam recorded in history, conquered the 
 king of Sodom, but was defeated by Abraham. This incident is 
 mentioned in Scripture. 
 
 Cyrus was born but one year after his uncle Cyaxares. The man- 
 ners of the Persians were admirable in those days, great simplicity 
 of dress, and food, and behaviour, universally prevailed, so that Cyrus 
 
752490 B. c. 71 
 
 plainly and wisely educated, as he was treated like other chil- 
 dren of his own age. But he surpassed them all, not only in aptness 
 to learn, but in courage and in address. 
 
 When he was yet a boy, his mother took him to visit his grand- 
 father, but the pride and luxury of the court of Media quite surprised 
 and disgusted him. Astyages was so charmed with the sensible con- 
 versation and artless manners of the prince, that he loaded him with 
 presents. Cyrus, however, gave them all away to the courtiers, ac- 
 cording to their merits, or their services rendered to himself. 
 
 Sacas, the cup-bearer, he neglected, because he did not let him visit 
 Astyages when he pleased ; and when Astyages lamented his neglect 
 of so good an officer, " Oh," said the young prince, " there is not 
 much merit in being a good cup-bearer ; I can do as well myself." 
 He then took the cup, and handed it to his mother with great modesty 
 and gracefulness. 
 
 Astyages admired his skill, but laughingly observed, " the young 
 waiter had forgotten one thing." " What have I forgotten ?" asked 
 Cyrus. " To taste the w r ine before you handed it to me and your mo- 
 ther." " I did not forget that, but I did not choose to swallow poison." 
 
 " Poison !" exclaimed the king. " Yes, there must be poison in the 
 cup, for they who drink of it sometimes grow giddy and sick, and 
 fall down." " Then do you never drink in your country ?" inquired 
 Astyages. " Yes, but we only drink to satisfy thirst, and then a lit- 
 tle water suffices." 
 
 Many similar anecdotes are recorded of this prince, which may be 
 learnt from larger histories. Having reduced all the nations from 
 the ^Egean sea to the Euphrates, he advanced towards Babylon, and 
 at length entered it by stratagem. Having caused deep and large 
 ditches to be dug all around it, he, on a certain night, when all the 
 Babylonians were engaged in feasting and merriment, ordered the 
 dams of the ditches to be thrown open, that the waters of the Euphra- 
 tes might run into them. 
 
 By this means, the channel of the river, which ran through the city, 
 was left dry, so that the troops entered it without opposition. The 
 guards were surprised and slain, together with the king and all his 
 family. The kingdom of Babylon was thus destroyed for ever. 
 
 Two years after this, Cyrus reigned over his vast empire alone 
 during seven years, in the first of which he published the famous 
 edict for the return of the Jews. 
 
 Of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, it is recorded that he conquered 
 Egypt, which remained under the Persian yoke 112 years. He made 
 himself master of Pelusium. the key of Egypt, by the following 
 Btratagem. He placed in front of his army a great number of those 
 animals considered sacred by the Egyptians, who not daring to injure 
 them, made no opposition to the Persian army. 
 
 After an impostor named Smerdis, who reigned 7 months, Darius, 
 a descendant of Cyrus on the mother's side, ascended the throne. 
 In his time it was that the Jews were permitted to rebuild their tem- 
 ple. After a war against the Scythians, he turned his arms, as we 
 shall soon see, against the Greeks. 
 
72 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 LYDIANS. 
 
 19. In the history of the LYDIANS, the last of its dynasties, 
 was that of the Mermnadse. Gyges, one of the chief officers 
 of Candaules the king, having murdered the latter, became 
 possessed of his queen and throne, 718 years B. C. He was 
 the first of the Mermnadee race. The fourth prince after him 
 was Croesus, so celebrated for his riches. His kingdom was 
 conquered by Cyrus. 
 
 A circumstance worthy of record occurred in the contest between 
 Cyrus and Croesus. After Croesus was taken prisoner, he was con- 
 demned by the conqueror to be burnt alive. When the unhappy 
 prince was led to the funeral pile, he exclaimed aloud three times, 
 Solon ! Solon ! Solon ! 
 
 Cyrus immediately demanded, why he pronounced that celebra- 
 ted philosopher's name with so much vehemence in that extremity. 
 Croesus answered, that the observation of Solon, "That no mortal 
 could be esteemed happy till the end of life," had forcibly recurred to 
 his recollection. 
 
 Cyrus was struck with the remark, and, as if in anticipation of his 
 own tragical end, ordered the unhappy king to be taken from the pile, 
 and treated him ever after with honour and respect. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 20. EGYPT, during the present period, was governed by 
 the following kings Sabbacon, Tharaca, Pharaoh-Necho, 
 Psammenitus, and a few others. Under the last of these, 
 525 B. C. Egypt was conquered by Cambyses, king of Per 
 sia, to which power it was subject more than a century. 
 
 Sabbacon, a king of Ethiopia, it seems, conquered Egypt. He 
 killed Nechus, king of Sais ; burnt Bocchoris, another king, to death, 
 and forced Anysis the blind to retire into the morasses. During his 
 continuance in Egypt, he acquired a high reputation for wisdom and 
 integrity. He finally relinquished the sceptre, and returned into 
 Ethiopia, because he would not massacre the priests, agreeably to a 
 suggestion said to have been imparted unto him by the tutelar god 
 of Thebes. 
 
 Tharaca, called in scripture Tirhakah, made war against Senna- 
 cherib, king of Assyria. After him there was an anarchy of two 
 years, and an aristocracy of twelve governors for fifteen years. 
 
 Pharaoh-Necho waged war against the Assyrians and Jews, killed 
 Josiah king of Judah, captured Jerusalem, imprisoned Jehoahaz, 
 and appointed Jehoiachim king. 
 
 Psammenitus reigned only six months before the invasion of Cam- 
 byses, and the subjection of his kingdom. He was kindly treated at 
 first by the conquerer, but thirsting for an opportunity to revenge 
 himself, he was condemned to drink bull's blood, and died wretch- 
 edly. 
 
752490 B. o, 73 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period VI. 
 
 1. Romulus, founder and first king of Rome. 
 
 2. Sappho, a Greek poetess, inventor of the Sapphic verse. 
 
 3. jEsop, a Phrygian philosopher and fabulist. 
 
 4. Solon, a legislator of Athens, and one of the wisest men 
 of Greece. 
 
 5. Thales, founder of the Ionic philosophy. 
 
 6. Cyrus, a wise and successful prince, who conquered 
 most of the East. 
 
 7. Anacreon, a Greek poet, and father of the Anacreontic 
 verse. 
 
 8. Pythagoras, a Grecian philosopher. 
 
 1. Romulus was a son of Rhea Sylvia, and grandson of Numitor, 
 king of Alba, and born at the same birth with Remus. His story 
 has already been told. As the founder of Rome his name is immor- 
 tal. His virtues were those of a military chieftain and adventurer 
 in a rude age. He is not undistinguished as a legislator, though his 
 institutions had almost exclusively a warlike tendency. 
 
 After a reign of 37 or 39 years, he was killed, as is supposed, by 
 the senators. The fable, however, on this subject is, that as he was 
 giving instructions to the senators, he disappeared from their sight 
 an eclipse of the sun, which happened at that time, being favourable 
 to the rumor that he was taken up to heaven. The Romans paid 
 him divine honours under the name of Quirinus, and ranked him 
 among the twelve great gods. 
 
 2. Sappho was born in the island of Lesbos, about 600 years B. C. 
 She is celebrated for her poetical talents and beauty. Her tender 
 attachments were extremely violent, and the conduct into which they 
 betrayed her must be reprobated by every virtuous mind. She con- 
 ceived such a passion for Phaon, a youth of Mytilene, that upon his 
 refusal to reciprocate it, she threw herself into the sea from Mount 
 Leucas. 
 
 She composed nine books in lyric verses, besides epigrams, elegies, 
 &c. Of all these compositions nothing now remains but two frag- 
 ments, one of which is preserved by Longinus ; though they were 
 all extant in the age of Horace. Her poems were admired for their 
 sublimity, sweetness, and elegance ; yet they were highly objection- 
 able, it is said, on account of their licentiousness. 
 
 3. ^Esop flourished about 580 years B. C. Those entertaining and 
 instructive fables which he composed, have acquired for him a high 
 reputation, and he is generally supposed to have been the inventor 
 of that kind of writing. He was originally a slave, and had several 
 masters, but procured his liberty by the charms of his genius. Fall- 
 ing into the hands of an Athenian philosopher, he was enfranchised. 
 
 He travelled over the greatest part of Greece and Egypt, but re- 
 sided much at the court of Croesus, king of Lydia, by whom he was 
 ix to consult the oracle of Delphi. In this commission JEsop be- 
 
 G 
 
74 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI. 
 
 liaved himself with great severity, and sarcastically compared the 
 Delphians to floating sticks which appear large at a distance, but are 
 nothing when brought near. 
 
 The Delphians, offended with his caustic remarks, accused him of 
 some act of sacrilege, and pretending to have proved it against him, 
 threw him down from a rock. He is said to have been short and 
 deformed in his person. 
 
 4. Solon was born at Salamis and educated at Athens. After de- 
 voting the early part of his life to philosophical and political studies. 
 he travelled over the greatest portion of Greece ; but was distressed 
 with the dissentions that prevailed among his countrymen. 
 
 Having, however, been elected archon and legislator of Athens, he 
 made a reform in every department of the government. He institu- 
 ted the Areopagus, regulated the Prytaneum, and his laws flourished 
 in full vigour above 400 years. He died, as some report, in Cyprus, at 
 the court of king Philocyprus, in his 80th year, about 558 B. C. 
 
 5. Thales was born at Miletus, in Ionia. Like the rest of the an- 
 cients, he travelled in quest of knowledge, and for some time resided 
 in Crete, Phrenicia, and Egypt. Under the priests of Memphis he 
 was taught geometry, astronomy, and philosophy, and enabled to 
 measure with exactness, the height and extent of a pyramid, by its 
 shadow. 
 
 His discoveries in astronomy were great, and lie was the first who 
 calculated accurately a solar eclipse. Like Homer, he looked 
 upon water as the principle of every thing. In founding the Ionic 
 sect of philosophy, which distinguished itself for deep and abstruse 
 speculations, his name is memorable. 
 
 He died in the 96th year of his age, about 548 years B. C. His 
 compositions are lost. 
 
 6. Cyrus subdued the eastern parts of Asia, and made war against 
 Crcesus, king of Lydia, whom he conquered, B. C. 548. He invaded 
 the kingdom of Assyria, and took the city of Babylon, by drying the 
 channels of the Euphrates, and marching his troops through the bed 
 of this river, while the people were celebrating a grand festival. 
 
 He afterwards marched against Tomyris, the queen of the Massa- 
 getas, a Scythian nation, and was defeated in a bloody battle, B. C. 
 1530. The victorious queen, who had lost her son in the previous 
 encounter, was so incensed against Cyrus, that she cut off his head, 
 and threw it into a vessel filled with human blood, exclaiming, " Sa- 
 tisfy thyself with blood, which thou hast so eagerly desired." 
 
 According to Xenophon, Cyrus possessed many excellent traits of 
 character. 
 
 7. Anacreon had a delicate wit, but he was certainly too fond of 
 pleasure and wine. All that he wrote is not extant ; though his odes 
 remain, and their sweetness, gayety, and elegance have been admi- 
 red in every age. With " flowers, beauties, and perpetual graces," 
 they have a hurtful moral tendency. 
 
 He lived to his 85th year, and after every excess of pleasure and 
 debauchery, choked himself with a grape stone, and expired. His 
 Statue was placed in the citadel of Athens, representing him as an 
 
752490 B. c. 75 
 
 old aftmfcen man, singing, with every mark of dissipation and in- 
 temperance. 
 
 8. Pythagoras was born at Samos. In his 18th year he obtained 
 the prize for wrestling at the Olympic games. He afterwards tra- 
 velled in Egypt, Chaldaea, and the east, and at length, in his 40th 
 year, he retired to Crotona, in Magna Graecia. 
 
 Here his universal knowledge gained him friends, admirers, and 
 iisciples, arid a reformation took place in the morals of the people. 
 The world is indebted to him for the demonstration of the 47th pro- 
 position of Euclid, respecting the square of the hypothemise. By 
 fiis ingenious discoveries in astronomy he traced the true solar sys- 
 tem. The time and place of his death are unknown. 
 
 PERIOD VII. 
 
 The Period of Grecian Glory, extending from the Battle 
 of Marathon^ 490 years B. C. to the birth of Alexander, 
 356 years B. C. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 I. The GREEKS, soon after the expulsion of Hippias, the 
 king of Athens, became involved in a war with Persia. Un- 
 der Darius, the Persians invaded Greece, 496 years B. C. 
 His first fleet was wrecked ; but -a second of 600 sail, con- 
 taining 500,000 men, ravaged the Grecian islands, and an 
 immense army poured down on Attica. 
 
 Miltiades, at the head of the Greeks, met the Persian hosts, 
 and defeated them on the plain of Marathon. The Persians 
 lost 6300 men in that battle, while the Greeks lost but 190. 
 The Grecian force did not exceed 10,000 men. The date 
 of this engagement is 490 years B. C. and one of the most 
 important in its consequences that history records. 
 
 Ambition and revenge in the breast of Darius, gave rise to his 
 project of invading Greece. The Athenians had rendered assistance 
 to the people of Ionia in attempting to throw off the Persian yoke, 
 and had ravaged Sardis, the capital of Lydia. Darius soon reducing 
 the lonians to submission, turned his arms against the Greeks ; while 
 the exile Hippias, basely seconded the plans of the Persian monarch. 
 
 One expedition in a great measure failed ; and it was some time 
 before another could be gathered and prepared to act, so that it was 
 six years from the period in which the Persian invasion first com 
 menced, to the battle of Marathon. Previously to the descent on 
 Attica, the Persians, under Mardonius, had attacked Thrace, Macedo- 
 nia, and the neighbouring provinces. 
 
 Marathon, where the Grecian and Persian forces met, was a small 
 town by the sea side. The Greeks were led by ten generals, each 
 
76 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 of whom was to command for one day by turns, and Miltiades was 
 to take his turn as the others, although he was chief general. 
 
 Aristides, (one of the ten,) had sense enough to see the evil of such 
 a plan, and generosity to give up his honours, for the benefit of his 
 country. When it was his day to command he resigned it to Miltia- 
 des, because, as he said, " Miltiades is the best general." The other 
 generals saw the propriety of this conduct, and resigned to their 
 commander in like manner. 
 
 Miltiades, however, thought it his duty not to act till his proper day 
 came round, but he probably made the necessary preparation. The 
 armies engaged in a fierce and obstinate battle. Themistocles, a 
 brave man, and the compeer of Aristides, fought nobly by his side. 
 From the skill with which Miltiades had placed his troops, as much 
 as from the valour of those troops, the battle of Marathon was won 
 by the Greeks. 
 
 A soldier covered with the blood of the enemy ran to Athens with 
 the news, and had just strength enough left to say, "Rejoice! the 
 victory is ours !" and then fell down dead, from his fatigue and 
 wounds. 
 
 Not long after this service rendered to his country, Miltiades, who 
 at first was loaded with honours, died in prison, where he was thrust 
 by the Athenians, because he could not pay a fine which they order- 
 ed him to pay. On a false pretence of treachery to his country, this 
 great general had been condemned to death, and afterwards the sen- 
 tence of death was changed to the paying of a fine. 
 
 Greece, particularly Athens, abounded with great men about this 
 time. A little tale or two concerning Themistocles may be interest- 
 ing here. At a time when he was great in power, he laughingly 
 said, that " his son was greater than any man in Greece." " How is 
 that ?" said a friend. " Why," replied Themistocles, " the Athenians 
 govern Greece, I command the Athenians, his mother commands 
 me, and this boy commands his mother." 
 
 Themistocles was an able general, and saved his country in one 
 instance or more. But he was not an amiable man. Ambition was 
 his god. Plutarch relates that after the battle of Marathon, in which 
 Miltiades gained so glorious a victory, Themistocles was observed to 
 court solitude, and indulge in a profound melancholy. 
 
 Upon inquiry made of him respecting the cause of his mental de- 
 jection, he replied, that " the trophies of Miltiades would not permit 
 him to sleep." Indeed all his feelings and conduct showed how 
 completely ambition had gotten the mastery over him, and how much, 
 consequently, he wished to be master of Athens and of Greece. Yet 
 under the ungrateful treatment, which he afterwards received from 
 his countrymen, he would not betray the land that gave him birth, 
 though he had an opportunity of doing it. 
 
 2. On the death of Darius, his son Xerxes prosecuted the 
 war against Greece. During the early part of this Avar were 
 fought the celebrated battles of Thermopylae and Plateea on land, 
 and those of the straights of Salamig and Mycale on water. 
 
490356 B. c. 7* 
 
 The battles of Thermopylae and Solamis took place 480 
 years B. C. ; and those of Platsea aKa Mycale, 479. Leoni- 
 das, Themis tocles, Aristides, Pausanias, and several others, 
 distinguished themselves in the defence of Greece, and ac- 
 quired lasting- renown by their achievements. 
 
 Xerxes brought over with him 2,000,000 of righting men, 
 besides vast numbers of women and domestics -the largest 
 army and assemblage of persons recorded in history. Thi3 
 immense force was effectually resisted, during two days, at 
 the pass of Thermopylae, by 6000 Greeks. 
 
 Their valour, though it could not finally arrest the progress 
 of the Persians, cost the latter the lives of 20,000 warriors. 
 Athens was soon reached, which the Persians pillaged and 
 burnt. The women and children, however, had been pre- 
 viously conveyed to a place of safety, and the men betook 
 themselves to their fleet. 
 
 Xerxes was a vain mortal. He ordered a passage to be cut 
 through, the high mountain of Athos, in Macedonia, and thus a canal 
 was made for his ships. He is said to have written a letter to 
 Mount Athos, in which he " commanded it not to put stones in the 
 way of his workmen, or he would cut it down and throw it into the 
 sea," and he ordered the labourers to be chastised to make them work 
 faster. 
 
 When he saw, from a high hill, the plain covered with his soldiers, 
 and the sea with his ships, he at first, in the pride of his heart, called 
 himself the most favoured of mortals ; but when he reflected, that in 
 a hundred years, not one of the many thousands whom he beheld 
 would be alive, he burst into tears at the instability of all human 
 things. 
 
 Almost all the small cities of Greece submitted to the Persian king 
 when he sent to them, as was the custom, for earth and water; 
 which was the same as to ask them, whether they would receive 
 him as their conqueror. Sparta and Athens, with the small towns 
 of Thespia and Plataea, alone refused to receive the heralds and to 
 send the token of homage. 
 
 Every thing gave way before the march of Xerxes, until he came 
 to the pass of Thermopylae. On this spot Leonidas, one of the two 
 reigning kings of Sparta, with his 6000 of brave soldiers, awaited his 
 coming. Xerxes, after a weak attempt to corrupt him, imperiously 
 summoned him to give up his arms. "Let him come and take 
 them," was the short answer of this true native of Laconia. 
 
 The bravest of the Persian troops were ordered out against Leoni- 
 das, but they were always driven back with disgrace. At last a 
 wretch went and informed the king of a secret path, by which he 
 could mount an eminence which overlooked the Grecian camp. 
 The Persians gained this advantageous post during the darkness of 
 
 G2 
 
78 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 the night, and the next morning the Greeks discovered that they had 
 been betrayed. 
 
 Leonidas knew that it was in vain to expect his small army could 
 conquer the endless forces of Xerxes ; he therefore sent away his 
 allies, and kept with him only his 300 Lacedaemonians. He had been 
 told by the oracle that either Sparta or her king must perish, and he 
 longed to die for the good of his country. 
 
 Xerxes marched his vast army against this heroic little band. Leo- 
 nidas fell among the first, bravely fighting, and covered with wounds. 
 Of the 300 heroes, only one escaped to bear to Sparta the news that 
 her valiant warriors had died in her defence. 
 
 Xerxes having arrived at Athens, found it desolate and deserted 
 He burnt down its citadel, and sent away its finest pictures and 
 statues to Susa, the capital of Persia. The Athenians having man- 
 ned their fleet, soon attacked that of the Persians, and put it to flight 
 after a very short, but severe engagement. Themistocles command- 
 ed on this occasion. 
 
 The Persian king had seated himself on a high mountain, that he 
 might see his Persians overcome the Greeks, but when he saw the 
 issue of the battle, so contrary to his expectations, he hastened with 
 a part of his army across the Hellespont. 
 
 A second overthrow awaited his army by land ; for Mardonius, 
 his general, at the head of 300,000 Persians, was defeated with im- 
 mense slaughter, at Plataea, by the combined army of Athenians and 
 Lacedaemonians, amounting to a little over 100,000 men, led by Pau- 
 sanias and Aristides. 
 
 On the same day with this battle, the Greeks engaged and destroy- 
 ed the remains of the Persian fleet at Mycale. Thus gloriously to 
 the Greeks, ended the celebrated expedition of Xerxes against Greece. 
 
 U 3. From the time of the battles of Plateea and Salamis, the 
 ambitious schemes of Xerxes were at an end. He left Greece 
 suddenly, and his inglorious life was soon after terminated 
 by assassination. The military glory of the Greeks was now 
 at its height. They were for the most part united in oppo- 
 sing the common enemy. Their danger was the cause of 
 their union, and their union was the cause of their prosperity. 
 
 4. About 10 years after the return of Xerxes into Asia 
 with a part of his forces, Cimon, son of Miltiades, expelling 
 the Persians from Thrace, destroyed the Persian fleet at the 
 mouth of the river Eurymedon, and landing his troops, sig- 
 nally defeated their army the same day. 
 
 Some years afterwards he destroyed a Persian fleet of 300 
 sail ; and landing in Cilicia, completed his triumph by de- 
 feating 300,000 Persians under Megabyzes, 460 years B. C. 
 ArtaxerxeSj who had succeeded his father Xerxes, soon sued 
 for peace. The terms were highly honourable to the Greeks. 
 
490356 B. c. 79 
 
 The prosperity and military glory of the Greeks continued 50 
 years ; after which, upon the return of the peace with Persia, the 
 martial and the patriotic spirit began visibly to decline in Athens. 
 Still, as will soon appear, the following age, called the age of Pericles, 
 was an era of the highest splendour, so far as literature, taste, and 
 the fine arts were concerned. 
 
 Cimon was as renowned as his father Miltiades. He was joined 
 with Aristides at one time in the command of the Athenians ; yet, 
 notwithstanding the important services which they rendered to their 
 country, they were both punished by the ostracism,* and scarcely 
 with any pretext. 
 
 Before Cimon was banished, besides the victories he gained for 
 Athens, he had greatly improved the city; he planted groves and 
 shady walks ; he erected fine places for exercise and public speak- 
 ing. The celebrated tragic poets, ^Eschylus and Sophocles were 
 wont to recite their pieces before him. Cimon was not less devoted 
 to his ungrateful countrymen after his return from banishment. His 
 victories procured the peace above mentioned. In it, he stipulated 
 for the freedom of all the Grecian cities of Asia. 
 
 Of Aristides, who was called " the just," many interesting anec- 
 dotes are recorded, but we have room for only two. 
 
 Once when he was carrying a prosecution against his enemy, and 
 sentence was about to be pronounced, before the accused had spoken, 
 Aristides entreated that the man might be heard in his defence, and 
 even helped him to make it. 
 
 On another occasion, when he was judge, a trial came before him, 
 in which one of the parties thought to irritate him against the other, 
 by declaring that the other had said and done many injurious things 
 against Aristides. "Do not talk about that," said Aristides, "tell 
 me only what harm he has done to thee, it is thy cause I am judg- 
 
 ing." 
 
 5. The authority in Athens became for a time divided be- 
 tween Cimon and Pericles. In a few years, however, Peri- 
 cles stood at the head of the Athenian republic. His will had 
 almost the force of law. He adorned Athens with the most 
 magnificent structures, and rendered it the seat of learning 1 , 
 taste, and the fine arts. He laboured, however, under the re- 
 proach of having corrupted the manners of the people, by his 
 luxuries. 
 
 Under his administration commenced the Lacedaemonian, 
 war, 431 years B. C., which lasted 28 years. He died three 
 years after its commencement, and was succeeded in the 
 government of Athens by Alcibiades, who ran a similar 
 course, though with less integrity. Alcibiades repeatedly ex 
 
 *See " General Views." 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 perienced the Ingratitude of his countrymen a conduct which 
 he eagerly retaliated. 
 
 The Lacedaemonian war ended in the humiliation and 
 submission of Athens. The Athenians agreed to demolish 
 their port, to limit their fleet to 12 ships, and to undertake for 
 the future, no enterprise in Avar, but under the command of 
 the Spartans, 405 year B. C. Lysander, the Spartan com- 
 mander, signalized himself in this war. 
 
 Pericles was remarkable for the dignity of his manners, and the 
 elegance of his speech. For 40 years he secured an unbounded au- 
 thority. Athens, at this time, was considered as in its highest state 
 of refinement and knowledge, and with Sparta, ranked as the first of 
 the cities of Greece. 
 
 When some persons complained that Pericles spent too much ol 
 the public money in beautifying the city, he went into the assembly ol 
 the people, and asked, " whether, indeed, they thought him extrava- 
 gant ?" The people said. " yes." " Then place the expense at my 
 charge instead of yours," answered Pericles, " only let the new build- 
 ings be marked with my name instead of yours." 
 
 The people were either so pleased with the spirit of his reply, or were 
 so jealous of the fame which Pericles might acquire, that they cried 
 out, " he might spend as much as he pleased of the public treasures." 
 
 At a critical time in the Peloponnesian war, Pericles was taken 
 off in consequence of the ravages of a terrible plague which then 
 afflicted Athens. That plague was one of the most malignant and 
 fatal which history relates to us. 
 
 Beginning in Ethiopia, it swept over several countries in its course, 
 and finally rested in Athens. It surpassed the efforts of the medical 
 art to cure it. Few or no constitutions could withstand its attacks. 
 The nature of the disease was such that it threw its victim into a 
 sort of despair, so that he was disabled from seeking or applying 
 relief. 
 
 It was dangerous for friends to offer their assistance to the diseas- 
 ed ; and the situation of the Athenians was such, in consequence of 
 being shut up by an invading army, that the malignity of the pesti- 
 lence was greatly increased. They fell down dead upon one anothei 
 as they passed along the streets, and the dead and the dying were 
 mingled together in the utmost confusion. 
 
 In this complication of distress, Pericles displayed a great soul. 
 He was able to inspire courage into the drooping' hearts of his coun 
 trymen ; but after some fresh plans of conquest adopted during a 
 mitigation of the pestilence, he was himself cut off by the plague, 
 which had broken out anew. 
 
 On his death bed his friends attempted to console him, by recount- 
 ing his glorious deeds, particularly his military successes, and the 
 monuments he erected to commemorate them. " Ah, r ' exclaimed the 
 dying statesman and hero, " you have forgotten the most valuable 
 part of my character, and now the most pleasant to my mind that 
 
490356 B. c. 81 
 
 none of my fellow-citizens have been compelled, through any act 
 of mine, to put on a mourning robe." 
 
 The occasion of the Lacedaemonian war was as follows: Corinth 
 having been included in the last made treaty between Athens and 
 Sparta, the Corinthians in waging war with the people of Corcyra, 
 an ancient colony of their own, solicited the aid of Athens, as did 
 also the people of Corcyra. 
 
 The Athenians took the part of the latter a measure which ex- 
 ceedingly displeased the Corinthians, and was considered as viola- 
 ting their treaty with Sparta. On this ground war was declared be- 
 tween Athens and LacedaBmon, each being supported by its respec- 
 tive allies. This war distracted and enfeebled Greece. 
 
 Alcibiades, who bore a conspicuous part in it on the Athenian 
 side, during the interval of a truce with Sparta, persuaded his coun- 
 trymen to try the conquest of Sicily, and was sent as the general of 
 the troops. When he was gone, his enemies raised an accusation 
 against him, and the fickle people directed him immediately to re- 
 turn. 
 
 Alcibiades, fearing to return whilst the Athenians were so incens- 
 ed against him, fled away secretly, and when he was told that for 
 his disobedience, all his property was confiscated, and that he him- 
 self was condemned to death, " I will show them that I am alive," 
 he exclaimed. 
 
 He first fled to Argos, and next to Sparta, where he gained all 
 hearts by conforming to their plain dress and simple food. But the 
 king of Sparta perceiving that Alcibiades affected to appear what he 
 Was not, was by no means backward to disapprove him, which in- 
 duced the Athenian to quit Sparta, and seek protection in Persia. 
 
 Athens was now governed by a council of 400, and the tyranny of 
 these was so great, that Alcibiades was sent for to assist in restoring 
 the liberty of the people. The Spartans, with some vessels, were 
 watching the city, to take advantage of the confusion that prevailed. 
 Alcibiades, with the small fleet he had collected at Samos, attacked 
 the Spartans, destroyed their ships, and soon after entered Athens 
 in triumph. 
 
 The Athenians being again displeased with Alcibiades, he left the 
 city to avoid their displeasure. He at length retired to live in a 
 small village in Phrygia, with a woman called Timandra. The 
 Spartans persuaded the Persians to destroy him. 
 
 Accordingly, a party of soldiers went to his house, and fearing his 
 known courage, dared not to enter it, but set fire to the building. 
 Alcibiades rushed out, and the barbarians from a distance (for they 
 feared to approach him) killed him with darts and arrows. Timan- 
 dra buried the corpse decently, and was the only mourner of this 
 once powerful man. 
 
 The defeat of the Athenian fleet at JEgos Potamos, by Lysander, 
 was the means of bringing the tedious Lacedaemonian war to a close. 
 The taking and plundering of Athens were the consequence of ti. 
 Having gained possession of the city, Lysander burnt down the 
 houses and demolished the walls. It was said that he was so cruel aa 
 
82 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 to add insult to misfortune, by ordering music to be played whilst 
 the walls were destroyed. 
 
 6. Lysander, after the reduction of Athens, abolished the 
 popular form of government in that state, and substituted that 
 of the thirty tyrants, which was absolute. Many of the dis- 
 tinguished citizens fled from their country ; but Thrasybulus, 
 aided by a body of patriots, expelled the usurpers, and once 
 more re-established the government of the people, 403 years 
 B.C. 
 
 The thirty tyrants were as many Lacedaemonian captains, to 
 whom the government of the Athenians was delegated by Lysander. 
 They held their authority but three years. To Lysander, history 
 ascribes the first great breach of his country's constitution, by the 
 introduction of gold into that republic. 
 
 7. The persecution and death of Socrates, the philosopher, 
 took place about this time, (401 years B. C.) This transac- 
 tion has thrown a dark stain on the Athenian character. 
 He was destroyed contrary to every principle of reason and 
 justice. 
 
 Socrates was the friend and tutor of Alcibiades. The sophists, 
 whose manner of reasoning he turned into ridicule, represented him 
 as an enemy to the religion of his country, because, without con- 
 forming to the popular superstitions, he led the mind to a knowledge 
 of the Deity, the Creator of the universe ; and to the belief of a fu- 
 ture state of rewards and punishments. 
 
 He made a noble and manly defence, in all the consciousness of 
 innocence ; but in vain. He was -condemned to die by his inimical 
 judges. One of his disciples lamenting before him that he should 
 die innocent, " Would you have me die guilty 7" replied Socrates, 
 with a smile. 
 
 The juice of hemlock, or something resembling hemlock, a liquor 
 which was said to cause death, by its coldness, was administered to 
 the philosopher. He continued calmly conversing with his friends, 
 to the last moment of his life. 
 
 8. In the same year with the death of Socrates, occurred 
 the celebrated retreat of 10,000 Greeks, under Xenophon, 
 from Babylon to the banks of the Euxine. This is considered 
 the most remarkable retreat on record. It was accomplished 
 in a few months, the soldiers traversing a hostile country of 
 1 600 miles in extent, amidst incredible hardships and dangers. 
 They lost only 1500 men. 
 
 The Greeks came into the situation above mentioned, in conse- 
 quence of assisting Cyrus, a younger brother of Artaxerxes Mnemon, 
 in his attempt to dethrone the latter. Cyrus failed in the attempt, 
 in a battle near Babylon, and lost his life. The Greeks, who amount- 
 ed to 13,000 at first, were reduced to 10,000, and in this situation 
 
490356 B. c. 8P> 
 
 Were under the necessity either of submitting to the enemy, or of 
 making good their retreat. s 
 
 The latter they both chose and accomplished. The Greeks were 
 led by Clearckus on this expedition, but he having trusted himself 
 among the Persians, was basely delivered up to the king, by whose 
 order he was beheaded. In this exigency they elected Xenophon, a 
 young Athenian, as their commander, under whom they were to 
 effect their retreat. 
 
 They observed the greatest order and discipline ; and though in 
 the midst of vindictive enemies, and with deserts, hills, mountains, 
 rivers, and even the sea before them, they arrived with an inconsi 
 derable loss, at the banks of the Euxine. Xenophon himself has 
 written an admirable account of this retreat. 
 
 The Greek cities of Asia having taken a part in this enterprise of 
 the Greeks, Sparta was engaged to defend her countrymen, and 
 consequently was involved in a war with Persia. The disunion of 
 the Grecian states, and especially the hostility of Athens against 
 Sparta, rendered the war disastrous to the Spartans ; who, to avoid 
 destruction, sued for peace, and obtained it, by the sacrifice of all her 
 Asiatic colonies, 387 years B. C. 
 
 9. Among the Grecian states, Thebes became particularly 
 distinguished during the latter part of the present period* 
 It had been, comparatively obscure before. The Thebana 
 contending among themselves, the Spartans interfered in the 
 contention, and seized 'on the Theban fortress. This mea- 
 sure brought on a war between Sparta and Thebes. 
 
 Athens at first united with Thebes, but at length Thebes 
 stood alone against Sparta and the league of Greece. Pe- 
 lopidas and Epaminondas were the Theban leaders, who 
 greatly distinguished themselves in this war. The celebra- 
 ted battles of Leuctra and Mantinea were gained by the The- 
 bans over their enemies, the one 371 years B. C., and the 
 other 8 years afterwards. In the latter engagement, the great 
 Epaminondas was slain. 
 
 The ravages of this contention among the Grecian states, 
 may be said to have paved the way for their entire subjugation 
 
 by a foreign power. 
 
 The fortress at Thebes, which the Spartans had seized, was kept 
 by the latter during four years, but the angry and deceived Thebans 
 took their revenge. A party of them, headed by Pelopidas, putting 
 on women's clothes over their armour, entered among the Lacedae- 
 monians, at a feast given to them, and cut their principal officers to 
 pieces. 
 
 Archias, the chief Spartan, had that very day received a letter from 
 Athens to inform him of the whole plot, but he had very improperly 
 thrown aside the letter without looking into it, saying, " business to- 
 morrow." He was the first man killed, and thus lost his life for a 
 
84 AKCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 neglect of his duty, in suffering the pleasure he enjoyed in the com- 
 pany of his friends, to make him forget the interests of his country, 
 
 Epaminondas, the friend of Pelopidas, who had acted with the lat- 
 ter, was, upon the expulsion of the Spartans from the citadel, called 
 from a quiet and private life to become the general of the Theban 
 army. He was as much celebrated for his wisdom and virtue, as for 
 his bravery. Of all the excellencies of his character, he gained the 
 most respect for his strict regard to truth, as he was never known to 
 be guilty of a falsehood. In the battle of Leuctra, the Theban army 
 was much smaller than that of Sparta ; but the skill of their general, 
 in disposing the force to the best advantage, and the valour of the sol- 
 diers and officers, more than made up for the difference in numbers. 
 Besides, the Thebans were fighting for their liberty ; the Spartans 
 only for conquest. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the 
 Thebans prevailed. 
 
 Pelopidas shared the danger and the glory of his friend ; yet when 
 these valiant generals returned to Thebes, they were both called be- 
 fore the tribunal of justice for the crime of keeping their command 
 too long. Both were acquitted ; yet the enemies of Epaminondas 
 caused him to be elected a city scavenger, on purpose to disgrace and 
 vex him. But what might have been a disgrace to a mean person, 
 was no disgrace to this noble Theban. He accepted the office, saying, 
 "If the office will not give me honour, I will give honour to the office." 
 
 Epaminondas fell in the battle of Mantinea, and in the moment of 
 victory. A javelin had pierced his bosom, and becoming disabled, a 
 fierce contest arose between his foes and friends for the possession of 
 his person.- The Thebans at length bore him from the field. Epa- 
 minondas, though in extreme agony from his wound, thought only 
 of his country ; and when informed that the Thebans had conquered, 
 he said. " then all is well." 
 
 He drew the weapon from his bosom, as no one around him had the 
 fortitude to do it, it being understood, from the nature of the wound, 
 he would expire as soon as it was extricated. The glory of Thebes 
 rose with this man, and with him it expired. 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 10. In the history of ROME, during this period, we may 
 observe an additional change in its constitution of govern- 
 ment. It became, in effect, a democracy 471 years B. C. 
 The supreme authority passed from the higher order, into 
 the hands of the people. The popular character of the go- 
 vernment had been theoretically established before, but it be- 
 came now practically democratic. 
 
 This change was completed by Volero, a Roman tribune, who 
 obtained a law for the election of magistrates, in the comitia held by 
 the tribes. Before this, time, the comitia, by centuries and by curise, 
 could not be called but in virtue of a decree of the senate, after consult- 
 ing the auspices, and in those comitia the tribunes had been hitherto 
 elected. In the comitia held by tribes these restraints were unknown 
 
 
490356 B. c. 85 
 
 11. Soon afterwards, (456 B. C.) upon the invasion of the 
 /Equi and Volsci, tile Romans had recourse to the despotic 
 measure of choosing 1 a dictator. Q,uinctius Cincinnatus was 
 appointed. He was called from the plough to this office. 
 After having 1 rescued a Roman army from destruction, de- 
 feated a powerful enemy, and rendered other signal services 
 to his country, he hastened to resign his power at the end of 
 16 days, though he might have held it 6 months, the term for 
 which dictators were appointed. 
 
 Cincinnatus was fixed upon as the wisest and bravest man be- 
 longing to the commonwealth. He cultivated a small farm of four 
 acres with his own hands. The deputies of the senate found him 
 following his plough in one of his little fields. They begged him 
 to put on his gown, and hear the message from the senate. 
 
 Cincinnatus anxiously asked, "if* all was well?" and then desired 
 his wife Racilia to fetch his gown from their cottage. After wiping 
 off the dust and dirt with which he was covered, he put on his robe 
 and went to the deputies. They saluted him dictator, and bid him 
 hasten to the city, which was in the greatest peril. 
 
 A handsome barge had been sent to carry him over the river, for his 
 farm lay on the opposite side of the Tiber. His three sons, with his 
 friends, and several of the senators, were ready to receive him when 
 he landed at Rome, and to carry him in a pompous procession to the 
 house prepared for him. 
 
 The very next morning he began to fortify the city, and marshal 
 the soldiers for battle ; and he very soon gained a great victory, and 
 made the officers of the enemy pass under the yoke. His administra- 
 tion was entirely satisfactory to all parties, though the times were ex- 
 tremely turbulent. He most probably saved Rome from destruction, 
 by his wisdom and valour. 
 
 He was chosen dictator on another emergency, many years after- 
 wards, in his 80th year, and then also acted with vigour and wisdom. 
 
 12. In 451 years B. C. ten persons who were called the 
 Decemviri, were elected to frame a code of laws, and were 
 invested with absolute power for one year, during which all 
 other magistrates were suspended. They afterwards caused 
 their laws to be engraven on 12 tables, and placed in the most 
 conspicuous part of the city. 
 
 These laws were long preserved and acted upon, and are 
 to this day respected in some parts of Europe. They how- 
 ever manifested the stern spirit of the people, and like those 
 of Draco, might be said to be written in blood. Nine crimes* 
 
 * Parric'" 6 v/as very properly included as oru of those crimes. But to the 
 honour ci "Romans it should be observed, that this crime was not known to 
 be commiv .. '' ring- more than 500 years from the building 1 of the city \^ m Qs- 
 this was the'' wricicte. 
 
 * 11 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 of very different complexions were punishable with death, one 
 of which was nightly meetings. 
 
 The Romans had no code of laws until that which was formed and 
 digested by the decemviri* The number of the laws was increased 
 from time to time by the senate and people. Each decemvir, by turn, 
 presided for a day, and had the sovereign authority, with its insignia, 
 the fasces. The nine others acted solely as judges in the determina- 
 tion of law-suits, and the correction of abuses. 
 
 Their government lasted only three years. Its dissolution was 
 highly tragical. Appius Claudius, one of the ten, fell in love with the 
 beautiful Virginia; she was engaged to marry Iciliu.s, formerly a tri- 
 bune of the people, and would not therefore listen to the proposals 
 of Appius. 
 
 He therefore, to get possession of the lovely virgin, procured a base 
 dependant to claim her as his slave. The claim was made to Appiu." 
 himself, who pronounced an infamous decree, by which she was de- 
 clared to be the property of this profligate minion of his own. 
 
 Virginius, her father, who was falsely sworn to have stolen hei 
 from the dependant of Appius, was at a distance with the army 
 Intelligence, however, by means of Jcilius, was conveyed to him re- 
 specting the transactions in the city, and he returned with all imagi- 
 nable speed. 
 
 Finding, notwithstanding his true and simple tale that Virginia 
 was his daughter, that he could not preserve her from the licentious 
 decemvir, he now begged to give her his parting embrace. His re- 
 quest was granted. He clasped his child in his arms, while she clung 
 round his neck, and wet his cheeks with her tears. 
 
 As Virginius was tenderly kissing her, before he raised his head, he 
 suddenly plunged a dagger into her bosom, saying, " Oh ! my child, 
 by this means only can I give thee freedom." He then held up the 
 bloody instrument to the now pale and frighted Claudius, exclaim- 
 ing, " By this innocent blood, Appius, I devote thy head to the infer- 
 nal gods." 
 
 All M^as now horror and confusion. Icilius showed the dead body 
 to the people and roused their fury. Virginius hasted to the camp 
 bearing with him the dagger reeking with his daughter's blood ; and 
 instantly the camp was in an uproar. The power of the decemviri 
 and the senators could not still the tumult. 
 
 Appius woiild have been torn to pieces at once, -but he found the 
 means of escape aud voluntary death. Public tranquillity was at 
 Ir-ngth restored, by the consent of the senate to abolish the decemviri. 
 The consuls were now restored, together with the tribunes of the peo- 
 ple, 499 years B. C. 
 
 13. A law for the intermarriage of the patricians and pie 
 beians at Rome was passed 445 years B. C. In the same 
 year military tribunes were created. These were in lieu of 
 the consuls': they were six in number, three patricians and 
 three plebeians. The consuls, however, were soon restored. 
 
 
490356 B. c. 87 
 
 In 437 years B. C. was established the office of censors, 
 whose duty it was to make the census of the people every 
 five years. 
 
 The people, in their desire for still more power, endeavoured to 
 break down the only two barriers that separated the patricians from 
 themselves. These were, one, the law which prevented their inter- 
 marriage ; and the other, the constitutional limitation of all the higher 
 offices to the patrician order. 
 
 . The first point, after a long contest, was conceded the other was 
 partially evaded. The senate sought a palliative in the creation of 
 the military tribunes above mentioned. This measure satisfied the 
 people for a time. 
 
 The new magistracy of the censors was highly important. In 
 addition to making the census, it was incumbent on the censors to 
 inspect the morals and regulate the duties of the citizens. It became, 
 in after times, the function only of consular persons, and after them, 
 of the emperors. 
 
 14. The dissentions between the different orders of the 
 people, raged with violence ; but the senate, not long after 
 their concession to the people, adopted for themselves a very 
 wise expedient. This was to give a regular pay to the troops, 
 an expense defrayed by a moderate tax on the citizens. 
 From this period soldiers were to be obtained, and the senate 
 had the army under its control. Roman ambition now be- 
 came systematic, and irresistible. 
 
 15. Veii, the rival of Rome, was besieged by the Romans, 
 and after a siege of ten years, was taken by Camillus, 391 
 years B. C. Two years after, Falerii, the capital of the Fa- 
 lisci, surrendered to the same general. The dominion of 
 Rome, confined hitherto to a territory of a few miles, was 
 now rapidly extended. 
 
 The siege of Veii was attended with much expense of blood and 
 treasure to the Romans. They nearly despaired of taking it ; but 
 upon the appointment of Camillus dictator, things soon assumed a 
 different aspect. He secretly wrought a mine into the city, which 
 opened into the midst of the capital. 
 
 Then giving his men directions how to enter the breach, the city 
 was instantly filled with his legions, to the utter confusion of the be- 
 sieged. Thus, like a second Troy, was Veii taken after a ten years' 
 siege, and Camillus, according to the manner of the Roman kings, 
 enjoyed the honour of a triumuph. 
 
 It is related, that during the attack of Falerii, a schoolmaster be- 
 trayed into the hands of Camillus all his scholars, expecting to obtain 
 a handsome reward for his treachery. The boys happened to be 
 the sons of the principal Falisci, and the Roman general was given 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 to understand, that they would probably deliver up their city to re- 
 cover their children. 
 
 The noble Roman, shocked at this perfidious action, sent back the 
 boys in safety to their parents, and giving each of them a rod, bade 
 them whip the traitor into town. This generous behaviour of 
 Camillus accomplished more than his arms could have done. The 
 place instantly submitted, leaving to the Roman the conditions of the 
 surrender, which were of course very mild. 
 
 The brave Camillus, becoming at length an object of envy or 
 jealousy with the people, he was obliged to quit Rome, arid live at 
 Ardea, a town in its neighborhood, but they had reason afitrwards to 
 be ashamed of their injustice. 
 
 16. Soon after these successes, Rome experienced a terrible 
 calamity. It was taken, devastated, and burnt by the Gaul?, 
 under Brennus, 385 years B. C. The capitol, however, was 
 preserved. This the barbarians besieged, but they were soon 
 expelled the city by Camillus. 
 
 The Gauls were a branch of the great Celtic nation, and inha- 
 bited regions beyond the Alps. These they had penetrated at differ- 
 ent periods, and a portion of this people had already settled in small 
 towns at the foot of the mountains. This people, it seems, on some 
 occasion, had undertaken the siege of Clusium, a city of Etruria. 
 The Clusians, who were not of a warlike character, immediately en 
 treated the mediation of the Romans. 
 
 The latter sent ambassadors to Brennus, but without success. 
 These ambassadors then retired to Clusium, where they appeared at 
 the head of the Clusians in a sally against the besiegers. Upon this, 
 Brennus, in great displeasure, marched directly against Rome. 
 
 In this condition, an army was drawn out to save the city ; but the 
 numbers and impetuosity of the barbarians were such, that no ef- 
 fectual resistance was made. The greatest part of the citizens fled 
 for protection to the neighbouring cities ; the young and brave men 
 entered into the capitol, resolved to hold out to the last against the 
 enemy ; and the aged senators assembled in the senate-house, deter 
 mined patiently to await their fate. 
 
 Soon after they entered the city, Brennus, and some of his soldiers, 
 went into the senate-house. The venerable appearance of these no- 
 ble old men rendered the Gauls afraid or unwilling to harm them. 
 A soldier at last gently shaking the beard of Papyrius, the old Roman 
 was so offended at the act, that he struck the man on his head with 
 an ivory staff he had in his hand : this slight blow instantly aroused 
 the fury of the barbarians ; they massacred the senators on the spot, 
 and set fire to the city. 
 
 In this season of distress, the Romans did not give up all for lost. 
 The little band, shut up in the capitol, made every possible arrange- 
 ment for defence. They were assaulted in vain. At this juncture, 
 Camillus, forgetting all his private wrongs, gathered an army, with 
 which he entered Rome, and immediately put the barbarians to 
 flight. 
 
490356 B. c. 89 
 
 / 
 
 A singular occurrence, showing the providence of God in the go- 
 vernment of the world, attended the siege of Rome. 
 
 The capitol was at one time nearly taken by surprise : a number 
 of Gauls h aving climbed up the steep rock on which it stood, were about 
 to kill the sentinels and make themselves masters of the place, when 
 some geese, kept near the spot, being awakened by the noise, began 
 to flutter their wings, and cackle loudly, so as to arouse the soldiers. 
 This little circumstance saved the capitol, and perhaps the Roman 
 name from extinction. 
 
 17. The constitution of Home was still farther altered 
 about tliis time, 367 years B. C. The plebeians obtained the 
 right of having one of the two consuls chosen from among 1 
 thorn. The military tribunes were abolished the next year. 
 From this period the Roman power began rapidly to rise. 
 
 The vanity and ambition of a young woman produced this change 
 in the government of Rome. Fabius Ambustius, a patrician, had 
 married two daughters, one to a plebeian, and the other to a patrician. 
 The wife of the plebeian, envious of the honours of her sister, pined 
 with discontent. 
 
 Her father and brother, learning the cause of her unhappincss 
 promised her the- distinct ion which she desired. By their joint en- 
 deavours, after much tumult and contest, they succeeded in obtain 
 ing for the plebeians the right of admission into the consulate. Lu- 
 cius Sextius was the first plebeian consul. The husband of the ple- 
 beian lady, viz. Licinius Stolo, was the second. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 18. The kingdom of EGYPT, which had been conquered by 
 Cambyses. king of Persia, was, under Darius Nothus, a dis- 
 tant successor, restored by Amyrthaeus, 413 years B. C. It 
 continued independent for 60 years, under eight kings. 
 
 At the expiration of this term it was subjected again to the 
 Persian yoke, by Artaxcrxes Ochus. 
 
 No very interesting particulars occur in this portion of the Egyp- 
 tian history. It is necessary only to observe, that it was by means 
 of aid afforded to them by the Greeks, that the Egyptians, after they 
 had revolted, under Amyrthaeus, were enabled to withstand the Per- 
 sian force which sought to reconquer them. It was under a king 
 called Nectanebis that Egypt again lost her independence. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 19. The history of the PERSIAN empire, during this period, 
 is- mostly involved in that of the Greeks, with whom the for- 
 mer was so frequently at war. Darius, Xerxes, and Arta- 
 xerxes II. as we have seen, were, during most of their lives, 
 engaged in this war. Concerning the rest of the Persian 
 sovereigns, there is little interesting to be communicated. 
 
 H2 
 
90 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIG^ VII. 
 
 Artaxerxes I. we are told, killed his brother Darius, being tie 
 ceived by Artabanus, who imputed the murder of Xerxes to that 
 prince: but upon being acquainted with the truth, he put Artabanus 
 and all his family to death. During his reign the Egyptians at- 
 tempted to shake off his yoke, but were soon obliged to submit. 
 
 Xerxes II. was assassinated by his brother, Sogdianus, 45 days af- 
 ter he ascended to the throne. Sogdianus, who assumed the govern- 
 
 C.J / 
 
 ment, enjoyed the fruits of his fratricide only six months and a 
 half, when he was smothered in ashes, (a mode of torture invented 
 on this occasion, and afterwards inflicted on great criminals,) by or- 
 der of his brother Ochus, who took the name of Darius Not! HIS. 
 
 Darius Nothus was a weak prince, in whose reign it was that the 
 Egyptians recovered their independence. Artaxerxes II. succeeded 
 him, who was surnamed Mnemon, by the Greeks, on account of his 
 prodigious memory. He killed his brother Cyrus, who had taken 
 arms against him, in single battle. The 10,000 Greeks who retreat- 
 ed under Xenophon, served in the army of this Cyrus. 
 
 Ochus succeeded him, who poisoned his brother, and murdered all 
 the princes of the royal family. He invaded Egypt, plundered the 
 temples, and killed the priests. But his chief minister, enraged at 
 the ruin of his country, poisoned him. 
 
 MACEDON. 
 
 20. The kingdom of MACEDON, which was governed, dur- 
 ing several hundred years, by the descendants of Caranus, 
 was comparatively unknown till the time of Philip, who was 
 also a descendant of Caranus. Philip soon gave it celebrity. 
 Previously to the birth of his son Alexander, he had con 
 quered Thessaly, Peeonia, and Illyricuin. He had also gain 
 ed a victory over the Athenians, at Mythone, 300 years B. C. 
 
 Philip ascended the throne by popular choice, in violation of the 
 natural right of the nearer heirs to the crown ; he secured his power 
 by the success of his arms against the neighbouring nations. He was 
 brave, artful, and accomplished, and by his intrigues gained over, at 
 an early period of his career, many Greeks to favour his interests. 
 
 In his war against the united Paeonians, Illyrians, &c. he met with sin- 
 gularly good fortune. Parrnenio, his general, was sent against the 
 Illyrians, and he himself marched an army intoPaeonia and Thrace, 
 where he was signally successful. On his return, a messenger ar- 
 rived with news of Parmenio's victory ; and soon after came another, 
 informing him that his horses had been victorious at the Olympic 
 games. 
 
 This was a victory that he esteemed preferable to any other.* Al- 
 most at the same time came a third messenger, who acquainted him 
 that his wife, Olympias, had brought forth a son, at Pella. Philip, 
 terrified at so signal a happiness, which the heathens generally con- 
 sidered as a bad omen, exclaimed, " Great Jupiter 3 in return for so 
 many blessings, send me a slight misfortune." 
 
490 -356 B. c. 91 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period VII. 
 
 1. Confucius j the great Chinese philosopher. 
 
 2. Herodotus, a Greek, the father of profane history. 
 
 3. Pindar, the chief of the Grecian lyric poets. 
 
 4. Phidias, a Greek, the most famous sculptor of antiquity, 
 
 5. Euripides, an eminent tragic poet of Greece. 
 
 6. Sophpcles r an eminent tragic poet of Greece. 
 
 7. Socrates, the greatest of heathen moralists-. 
 
 8. Thucydides, an eminent Greek historian. 
 
 9. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, 
 
 10. Xenophon, a celebrated general, historian, and phifo 
 gopher. 
 
 1. Confucius was born in the kingdom of Lt,, which is now the 
 province of Chan Long, 551 years B. C. He was a man of great 
 knowledge and extensive wisdom, was beloved on account of his vir- 
 tues rendered great service to his country by his moral maxims, 
 and possessed much influence even with kings y as well as with his 
 countrymen in general. He died in the 73d year of his age. 
 
 2. Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus. His history describes 
 the wars of the Greeks against the Persians, from the age of Cyrus 
 to the battle of Mycale. This he publicly repeated at the Olympic 
 games, when the names of the Muses were given to his nine books, 
 
 This celebrated work, which has procured its author the title of 
 father of history, is written in the Ionic dialect. Herodotus is among 
 the historians, what Homer is among the poets. His style abounds 
 with elegance, ease, and sweetness. He also wrote a history of As- 
 syria and Arabia, but this is not extant. 
 
 3. Pindar was a native of Thebes. His compositions were courted 
 by statesmen and princes, and his hymns were repealed in the tem- 
 ples, at the celebration of the festivals. Some of his odes are extant, 
 greatly admired for grandeur of expression, magnificence of style, 
 boldness of metaphors, and harmony of numbers. 
 
 Horace calls him inimitable ; and this eulogium is probably not 
 undeserved. After his death, his statue was erected at Thebes, in the 
 public place where the games were exhibited, and six centuries after- 
 wards it was viewed with pleasure and admiration by the geogra- 
 pher Pausanias. He died B. C. 435, at the age, as some say, of 86. 
 
 4. Phidias was an Athenian. He died B. C. 432. His statue of 
 Jupiter Olympius passed for one of the wonders of the world. That 
 of Minerva, in the Pantheon of Athens, measured 39 feet in height, 
 and was made of gold and ivory. 
 
 5. Euripides was born at Salamis. He was the rival of Sophocles. 
 The jealousy between these great poets, was made the subject of suc- 
 cessful ridicule by the comic poet Aristophanes. It is said that he 
 used to shut himself up in a gloomy cave, near Salamis, in which he 
 Composed some of his best tragedies. 
 
 During the representation of one of his pieces, the audience, dis 
 
92 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VII. 
 
 pleased with some lines in the composition, desired the writer to 
 strike them off. Euripides heard the reproof with indignation, and 
 advancing forward on the stage, he told the spectators, that he came 
 there to instruct them, and not to receive instruction. 
 
 The ridicule and envy to which lie was exposed in Athens induced 
 him to retire to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia, where he 
 was entertained with the greatest munificence. He was here how- 
 ever destined to meet a terrible end. It is said the hounds of the king 
 attacking him, in one of his solitary walks, tore his body to pieces. 
 407 B. C. in the 78th year of his age. 
 
 As a poet he is peculiarly happy in expressing the passions of love, 
 especially the more tender and animated. He is also sublime, and the 
 most common expressions have received a most perfect polish from 
 his pen. His productions abound with moral reflections, and philo- 
 sophical aphorisms. 
 
 The poet was such an enemy to the fair sex, that some have called 
 him the woman hater. In spite of his antipathy he married twice ; 
 but his connexions were so injudicious, that he was compelled to di- 
 vorce both his wives. From this cause may have arisen his erro- 
 neons conceptions of the female character. Of 75 tragedies, only 19 
 remain. 
 
 6. Sophocles was born about 497 B. C. He was distinguished not 
 only a? a poet, but as a statesman and general, and filled the office of 
 archon with applause. 
 
 Twenty times he obtained the prize of poetry from his competi- 
 tors. Of one hundred and twenty tragedies which he wrote, seven 
 only are extant, but these prove him to have carried the drama 
 almost to perfection. 
 
 Accused of insanity by his children, who wished to obtain his pos- 
 sessions, the poet composed and read his traged}^ of CEdipns, at Co- 
 lonos. Asking his judges whether the author of such a performance 
 could be insane, he was at once acquitted, to the confusion of his un- 
 grateful offspring. 
 
 He died in his 91st year, through excess of joy, at hearing of hie 
 having obtained a poetical prize at the Olympic Games., 
 
 7. Socrates was a native of Athens. He followed the occupation 
 of his father, who was a statuary, for some time ; and some have men- 
 tioned the statues of the Graces, admired for their simplicity and ele- 
 gance, as the work of his own hands. He was called away from this 
 meaner employment, for which, however, he never blushed, by a 
 friend ; and philosophy soon became his study. 
 
 He appeared like the rest of his countrymen in the field of battle, 
 and he fought with boldness and intrepidity. But his character ap- 
 pears more conspicuous as a philosopher and moralist, than as a 
 warrior. He was fond of labour, bore injuries with patience, and 
 acquired that serenity of mind and firmness of countenance which 
 the most alarming dangers could never destroy, or the most sudden 
 calamities alter. 
 
 He was attended by a number of illustrious pupils, whom he in- 
 structed by his exemplary life, as well as by his doctrines. He spoke 
 
490356 B. c. 93 
 
 with freedom on every subject, religious as well as civil. This inde- 
 pendence of spirit, and that visible superiority of mind and genius 
 over the rest of his countrymen, created many enemies to him, ana 
 at length they condemned him to death, on the false accusation 01 
 corrupting the Athenian youth, of making innovations in the religion 
 of the Greeks, and of ridiculing the gods which the Athenians wor- 
 shipped. He drank the juice of the hemlock in the 70th year of his 
 age, and died 401 B. C. 
 
 Socrates believed the divine origin of dreams and omens, and was 
 a supporter of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. From hv* 
 principles, enforced by his example, the celebrated sects of the Pia- 
 tonists, Stoics, Peripatetics, &c. soon after rose. 
 
 8. Thucydides was born at Athens. He early appeared in the 
 Athenian armies, but being unsuccessful in some expedition, he was 
 banished Athens, in the 8th year of the Peloponnesian war. He then 
 wrote his history of the important events of that war, to its 21si 
 year. 
 
 So deeply was Thucydides inspired by the muse of history, that 
 he shed tears when he heard Herodotus repeat his history of the 
 Persian wars, at the public festivals of Greece ; the character of his 
 interesting work is well known. He is considered highly authentic 
 and impartial, and stands unrivalled for the fire, conciseness, and 
 energy of his narrative. 
 
 Thucydides died at Athens, where he had been recalled from exile, 
 in his 80th year, 391 B. C. 
 
 9. Hippocrates was born in the island of Cos, B. C. 408. He im- 
 proved himself by reading in the tablets of the temples, the diseases, 
 and means of recovery of individuals. He was skilful, and devoted 
 his whole time to medical applications and professional duties. Some 
 say he delivered Athens from a dreadful plague. 
 
 According to Galen, his opinions were respected as oracular. His 
 memory is still venerated, and his writings, few of which remain, 
 procured him the epithet of divine. He died in the 99th year of his 
 age, 361 B. C., free from all disorder of the mind and body, and after 
 death, received the highest honours. 
 
 10. Xenophon was an Athenian. He was bred in the school of 
 Socrates, and acquired great literary distinction. He served in the 
 army of Cyrus the younger, and chiefly superintended the retreat of 
 the 10,000, after the battle of the Cunaxa. He afterward followed 
 the fortunes of Agesilaus, and acquired riches in his expeditions. 
 
 In his subsequent retirement he composed and wrote for the in- 
 formation of posterity, and died at Corinth, in his 90th year, 359 
 B. C. He continued the history of Thucydides, wrote a life of Cy- 
 rus the Great, and collected Memorabilia of Socrates. The simpli- 
 city and elegance of Xenophon's style have procured him the name 
 of the Athenian muse, and the bee of Greece. 
 
94 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VI I L 
 
 PERIOD VIII. 
 
 The period of Roman Military Renown, extending from 
 thn Birth of Alexander , 356 years B. C. to the destruc- 
 tion of Carthage, 146 years B. C. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 SECT. 1. At the commencement of this period, the GREEKS 
 were greatly embroiled in domestic dissensions, and were fast 
 falling from the enviable height to which their arms and na- 
 tional spirit had formerly raised them. They were no longer 
 the people they had been, and were preparing \ o receive the 
 yoke of a master. From that time their history is connected 
 with that of the Macedonian monarchy. 
 
 An attempt of the Phocians to plunder the temple of Del- 
 phos, excited the sacred war, in which almost all the states be- 
 came involved. The assistance of Philip being solicited by 
 the Thebans and Thessalians, he commenced hostilities by 
 invading Phocis, the key to Attica. The eloquence of De- 
 mosthenes roused the Athenians to arms. But their struggle 
 was unsuccessful. 
 
 Philip met them at Cheronaea, gained a complete victory, 
 and Greece fell into the hands of the conqueror. This event 
 is dated 338 years B. C. He however chose not to treat them 
 as a conquered people. The separate governments retained 
 their independence, subject only, in their national acts, to the 
 control of Philip. After his death they hoped to recover their 
 liberty, but they only changed masters. 
 
 The sacrilege of the Phocians in robbing the temple of Delphos, 
 subjected them to a summons to appear before the Amphictyonic 
 council, to answer for their crime. A fine being imposed, disputes 
 arose, which could be settled only by arms. The war continued 10 
 years. 
 
 The interference of Philip at this juncture was, as might have 
 been expected, fatal to the liberties of Greece. He contrived to have 
 the Phocians expelled from the Amphictyonic council, and to be him- 
 self chosen in their place. 
 
 The eloquence of Demosthenes delayed for a time the fate of 
 Gveece. He was ever stirring up the Athenians against Philip and 
 satirizing that king. His speeches were called Philippics, since they 
 wore directed against Philip, and hence Philippics has been a term 
 signifying " speeches against any person." 
 
 Demosthenes, it is well known, had to contend against many na 
 
356 -146 B. c. 95 
 
 tural impediments, in attaining the art of addressing a popular assem- 
 bly. As a proof of his triumphant success, it is recorded, that 
 ^Eschines, a rival orator, once repeated a speech of his own, and one 
 of Demosthenes. His own was much applauded, but that of Demos- 
 thenes applauded much more. " Ah !" said the generous ^Eschines, 
 " how would you have applauded it, had you heard Demosthenes 
 speak it." 
 
 Soon after the battle of Cheronsea, Philip, calling a general coun- 
 cil of the states was appointed commander in chief of the forces of 
 Greece ; but on the eve of attempting the conquest of Persia, he was 
 assassinated by Pausanias, a captain of his guards, from private re- 
 sentment. The hopes inspired by his death proved abortive, as the 
 Greeks soon came under the yoke of his successor. 
 
 2. Greece was entered by Alexander, son of Philip, 336 
 years B. C. He obliged the Athenians to submit, burnt 
 Thebes, and was declared commander in chief of the Grecian 
 forces, in the expedition against Persia, which he began the 
 
 next year. 
 
 Alexander was 20 years old, when the death of Philip raised him 
 to the throne. The celebrated Aristotle was his teacher, and under 
 him, the youthful prince early desired to distinguish himself. He 
 read much ; Homer's Iliad he especially studied. 
 
 \Mien very young, he managed the fiery war-horse Bucephalus, 
 which no one else dared to mount. In honour of this steed, he af- 
 terwards built a city which he called Bucephala. When he attended 
 his father to battle, he manifested not only valour, but skill ; and once 
 had the happiness to save his parent's- iife, when it was in great dan- 
 ger from an enemy. 
 
 At Corinth he saw Diogenes, named the Cynic, because he affect- 
 ed great dislike to wealth and rank, and lived in a strange, rude man- 
 ner. Alexander asked him whether he wanted any thing. " Yes," 
 said Diogenes, " I want you to stand out of my sunshine, and not to 
 take from me, \vhat yon cannot give me." 
 
 Alexander admired this speech, and directly remarked, "Were I 
 not Alexander, I would be Diogenes." As if he had said, " Had I not 
 all things as Alexander, I would desire to scorn all things as Dio- 
 genes." 
 
 Before his expedition into Asia, which will soon be mentioned, he 
 was resolved to consult the oracle at Delphos ; but as he visited the 
 temple on a day on which it was forbidden to ask the oracle, the 
 priestess refused to go into the temple. Alexander, unaccustomed to 
 denial, seized her by the arm and drew her forwards. " Ah, my son, 
 you are irresistible !" exclaimed the priestess. " These words," he 
 observed, " are a sufficient answer." 
 
 The Grecian states had revolted after the death of Philip ; but 
 Alexander, in a few successful battles, brought them into subjection. 
 In an assembly of the deputies of the nation at Corinth, he commu- 
 nicated to them his resolution of undertaking the conqtiest of Persia, 
 agreeably to the designs of his father Philip. 
 
96 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 3. Alexander, at the head of the Grecian forces, invaded 
 Persia 335 years B. C. He was then not 22 years of age. 
 He took with him only 35,000 men, and with this small force, 
 he conquered not only Persia, but Syria, Egypt, India, and 
 several other countries, and meditated the design of proceed- 
 ing to the Eastern ocean, which, however, he was obliged to 
 relinquish. 
 
 He accomplished his immense undertaking within the 
 short space of six years. On his return home, while he tar- 
 ried at Babylon, he died suddenly in a fit of debauch, as some 
 have maintained, in the 33d year of his age, and the 13th of 
 his reign. Alexander was not destitute of some traits which 
 we love in human beings ; but in a moral point of view, he 
 must be regarded as a mighty murderer, and enemy of hu- 
 man happiness. 
 
 The first exploit of Alexander in this expedition, was the passage 
 of the Granicus, which he effected notwithstanding the opposition of 
 the Persians, who lost 20,000 men in the conflict. The fruit of this 
 victory was the submission of all Asia Minor. 
 
 The next encounter between the Macedonians or Greeks, and the 
 Persians, was in 333 B. C., near the town of Issus, in which the lat- 
 ter lost 100,000 men ; and the mother, wife, and children of Darius, 
 the Persian monarch, fell into the hands of Alexander. 
 
 After this victory he overrun all Syria, took Damascus, where he 
 found the treasures of Darius, destroyed Tyre, entered Jerusalem, 
 stormed Gaza, subjugated Egypt, and visited the temple of Jupiter 
 Ammon, in the Lybian desert, where he caused himself to be pro- 
 claimed the son of that fictitious deity ; on his return he built the 
 city of Alexandria. 
 
 Returning from Egypt he found Darius with his forces concentra- 
 ted on the eastern bank of the Tigris ; a battle ensued at Arbela, 331 
 years B. C., in which 300.000 Persians were slain, or as some, with 
 greater probability, say, 40,000, and but 500 Macedonians. Darius be- 
 took himself to flight, and was slain by Bessus, one of his lieutenants. 
 Babylon, Suza, and Persepolis, fell into the hands of the conqueror, 
 who set fire to the last, at the instigation of the courtezan Thais. 
 
 Having finished the conquest of Assyria, Persia, and Media- 
 Alexander crossed the mountains of Caucasus, entered llyrcania, and 
 subdued all the nations south of the Oxus. He then, passing into 
 Sogdiana, overtook the perfidious Bessus, and put him to death. 
 While in Sogdiana, he killed the veteran Clitus, his friend, in a fit 01 
 intoxication/ 
 
 In 328 B. (X he projected the conquest of India. Penetrating be- 
 yond the Hydaspes, he defeated Porus, a king of that country. He 
 still continued his course to the East ; but when he arrived at the 
 banks of the GangeSj his soldiery seeing no end to their toils. 
 
 
356146 B. c. 97 
 
 ^5&f 
 
 go no farther. He returned to the Indus, and pursuing hfs course 
 southward by that river, he arrived at the ocean, whence he des 
 patched his fleet to the Persian Gulf. 
 
 After his arrival at Babylon, he gave himself up to much intempe- 
 rance, but was still projecting new conquests, when death suddenly 
 put an end to his career. Alexander possessed some generosity of 
 nature, but his vicious habits often overpowered it. Intoxication and 
 the love of conquest render his name odious to a good man. 
 
 One or two instances of amiable native feeling, will show what h 
 might have been, could he have controlled his violent passions. 
 
 He conducted himself very dutifully towards his mother, listened 
 to her reproofs with mildness and patience, and when Antipater, whom 
 he left to govern Macedonia in his absence, wrote a long letter com- 
 plaining of Olympias, the king said, with a smile, " Antipater does 
 not know that one tear shed by a mother, will obliterate ten such 
 letters as this." 
 
 When he conquered Porus, who was seven and a half high, this sin- 
 gularly tall man, as he was introduced to Alexander, was asked by him 
 how he would be treated, " Like a king," replied Porus. Alexander 
 was so much pleased with this answer, that he restored his kingdom to 
 him, and ever afterwards treated him with kindness and respect. 
 
 4. The conquests and acquisitions of Alexander were divi- 
 ded, soon after his death, among thirty-three of his principal 
 officers. Four, however, of his generals, at length obtained 
 the whole, 312 years B. C. having partitioned the empire 
 among themselves. It then constituted four considerable 
 monarchies. 
 
 The names of these generals were Ptolemy, Lysimachus, 
 Cassander, and Seleucus. Egypt, Lybia, Arabia, and Pales- 
 tine, were assigned to Ptolemy ; Macedonia and Greece to 
 Cassander ; Bithynia and Thrace to Lysimachus ; but the 
 remaining territories in Asia, as far as the river Indus, which 
 were called the kingdom of Syria, to Seleucus. 
 
 The most powerful of these divisions was that of Syria, 
 under Seleucus and his descendants, and that of Egypt under 
 the Ptolemies. Only Ptolemy and Seleucus transmitted their 
 empires to their children. 
 
 Alexander nominated no successor. He had a son, called Her- 
 cules, by one of his wives, named Barsine. He also left a brother, 
 Aridaeus. Aridams, and another son of Alexander, born subsequent- 
 ly to the conqueror's death, and called after his own name, were 
 soon destroyed. Hercules and Barsine, and Cleopatra, the only sis- 
 ter of Alexander, shared the same fate, not long afterwards. 
 
 Thus his whole family became extinct. Of this destruction, the 
 contentions of his generals were the cause, and the cause of those 
 contentions was the neglect of appointing a successor. The vanity of 
 
 * 
 
98 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 human grandeur, in this instance, appears peculiarly striking. Of the 
 wars and intrigues of these generals among themselves, we need 
 give no account, as they are not interesting. Some subsequent 
 events, relating to them or their sovereignties, will be mentioned in 
 the proper place. 
 
 5. From the period of Alexander's death, the history of the 
 Grecian states, to the time of their subjugation by the Romans, 
 presents only a series of uninteresting revolutions. This 
 people had lost their political distinction. The last effort made 
 to revive the expiring spirit of liberty, was the formation of 
 the Achaean league, which was a union of 12 of the smaller 
 states, for this object. 
 
 This took place 281 years B. C., but it effected little.. 
 
 Immediately after Alexander's death, Demosthenes made one 
 more effort to vindicate the national freedom, and to rouse his coun- 
 trymen to shake of the yoke of Macedon ; but it was too late. The 
 pacific counsels of Phocion, suited far better the timi'd or languid 
 spirit of the people. Antipater, who governed Greece a short time 
 after Alexander's death, demanded that Demosthenes should be de 
 livered up to him. But Demosthenes prevented this by committing 
 suicide. 
 
 Phocion, though he opposed Demosthenes, was one of the most 
 eminent men of Greece. He recommended peace : inasmuch as he 
 was honest himself, he did not suspect the cunning of the enemy of 
 his country. After having been chosen general 45 times, and after 
 having performed the greatest services for his country, he was con- 
 demned to die by the ungrateful Athenians. 
 
 When about to swallow the dose of hemlock, that was to poison 
 him, he was asked what message he would send to his son. " Tell 
 him," said this virtuous old man, " that I desire he will not remember 
 the injustice of the Athenians." 
 
 The government of the Achaean league was committed to Aratus, 
 of Sicyon, wkh the title of Praetor, a young man of great ambition, 
 who immediately conceived the idea of freeing the whole country 
 from the Macedonian dominion. But this plan was defeated by the 
 jealousy of the greater states. 
 
 Sparta refused to follow the guidance of the Praetor of Achaia, and 
 Aratus, forgetful at once of the interests of his country, thought of 
 nothing but to wreak his vengeance against Sparta. For this purpose 
 he solicited the a^d even of the Macedonians themselves. 
 
 6. Macedonia and Greece were now preparing to follow 
 the fate of ail the nations within the grasp of Roman ambi- 
 tion. Their period of conquest was ended ; that of their 
 subjugation was at hand. The Romans, as we shah 1 soon 
 learn, had become the most powerful of the contemporary na- 
 tions. 
 
356146 B. c. 99 
 
 An occasion was offered for the interference of the Romans 
 in the affairs of Macedonia and Greece an occasion which 
 was eagerly embraced. Macedonia, with its last king, Per- 
 seus, first fell, 167 years B. 0. Twenty-one years afterwards, 
 Greece surrendered its independence to Rome, whose legions 
 were led by the consul Mummius. This event was hastened 
 by the dissensions which the Romans fomented between the 
 different states of Greece. 
 
 An insult, said to have been received by the deputies of 
 Rome from the Achaeans, furnished the pretext for an attack 
 on Greece. From this time, Greece became a province of 
 Rome, under the name of Achaia. 
 
 The occasion of the introduction of the Romans into Greece, was 
 an invitation from the JEtolians, to assist them in repelling an attack 
 by Macedonia. Nothing could have better suited the wishes of the 
 Romans. Perseus, a successor of Alexander in the part of his em- 
 pire which fell to Cassander, was then kin*. 
 
 He persuaded the Acha3ans to join him in his preparations againsl 
 Rome. After being sometimes the conqueror, and sometimes the 
 conquered, he was at last vanquished by Paulus ^Emilius, at Pydna, 
 and himself and all his family taken prisoners. They were carried 
 to Rome, and served to swell the train of the conqueror. Perseus 
 starved himself to death, and Macedonia became a province of Rome. 
 
 The Romans had, in effect, conquered Greece, by their arts, before 
 they made use of their arms. They had corrupted many of the 
 principal Greeks ; and, on the pretence above mentioned, they marched 
 their legions against this once renowned people. Metellus, the con- 
 sul, began the war, which Mummius completed. 
 
 Corinth, in which the Greeks made a last stand, was razed and 
 burnt to the ground. Diaeus, who commanded the Greeks in this 
 city, killed his wife, to prevent her from falling into the hands of the 
 enemy, and then took poison, of which he died. Corinth was de- 
 strqyed the same year which witnessed the destruction of Carthage, 
 146 B. C., which latter event we have referred to the beginning of the 
 next period, having anticipated this item of the Grecian history. 
 
 Some time previously to the subjugation of Greece, Philopcemen 
 was selected to command the forces of the Achaean cities. He was 
 an admirable man ; but, in one instance, he stained his character by 
 his conduct towards the Spartans, numbers of whom he cruelly 
 butchered, when that city was taken by him. 
 
 He was, however, called to suffer in his turn ; for, at 70 years ol 
 age, he was taken prisoner, when besieging Messena. The Messe- 
 nians were so delighted to possess this illustrious man in bondage, 
 that they dragged him in chains to the public theatre, for crowds to 
 gaze upon him. 
 
 At night, he was put into a dungeon, and the jailor carried to him 
 a dose of poison. He calmly received the cup, and, having heard 
 
100 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 that most ol his friends had escaped by flight, he said, " then I find 
 we are not entirely unfortunate," and, drinking off the fatal draught, 
 without one murmur, laid himself down and expired. 
 
 About this same time, Sparta had a king called Nabis, who was 
 notorious for his cruelty and avarice. Most of the wealthy citizens 
 he banished from Sparta, that he might seize their riches, and many 
 he caused to be assassinated. He had received Argos from Philip, in 
 pledge for some money which he had lent that monarch. He there 
 practised the most shocking cruelties. 
 
 He had invented a machine, in the form of a statue, resembling his 
 wife, the breast, arms, and hands of which were full of pegs of iron, 
 covered with magnificent garments. If any one refused to give him 
 money, he was introduced to this machine, which, by means of cer- 
 tain springs, caught fast hold of him, and, that he might deliver 
 himself from this exquisite torture, he readily granted whatever Na- 
 bis desired. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 7. ROME, at the commencement of this period, under cir- 
 cumstances more favourable for conquest than it ever had been 
 before, was not long in subduing the petty nations within a 
 moderate distance of its territory. The name of " Gauls" still 
 inspired some terror, but the Romans soon began to despise 
 them, after they had repressed one or two invasions. 
 
 8. Having subdued all their neighbours, such as the Her- 
 iiici, the ./Equi, the Volci, &c. the Romans began to look for 
 greater conquests. They soon found an occasion against the 
 Samnites, a numerous and warlike people inhabiting the south 
 of Italy, with whom they were engaged in war 71 years. 
 This war commenced 343 years B. C. A war with the La- 
 tins commenced three years afterwards. The Latins were 
 soon subjugated. 
 
 The Samnites possessed that tract of country, which at this day 
 constitutes a considerable part of the kingdom of Naples. They 
 were a far more formidable enemy, both as to numbers and disci- 
 pline, than the Romans had hitherto contended with. Two consuls 
 were at first sent against them. The fortune of Rome attended one 
 of them ; but th? other, Cornelius, was involved in difficulty. 
 , Having been surrounded by the Samnites, his army must have per- 
 ished had not the tribune Decius, with 400 men, made a diversion 
 in his favour. Decius advanced to seize a hill in the midst of the 
 enemy. This bold attempt cost the life of every one of his soldiers. 
 Decius alone escaped, but he preserved the army of the consul. 
 
 In the war with the Latins, at this time a distinct nation, again 
 Titus Manlius, who was consul, gave a most remarkable instance of 
 well meant, but mistaken severity. He had ordered the Roman sol- 
 diers not to quit their ranks, without permission, on pain of death. 
 
35G 146 B. c. 101 
 
 A son of the consul happened, with his detachment, to meet a troop 
 of Latins, headed by Metius. 
 
 Metius scoffingly addressed the Romans, and at last dared their 
 young commander to fight him. The son, forgetful of the orders of 
 his father, or regardless of them, in his indignation, sprang forward 
 to the encounter, and soon conquered the Latin. Then gathering to- 
 gether the arms of the fallen foe, he ran to his father's tent, and 
 throwing them at his feet, told his story. 
 
 But tragical was the issue. The consul turned from him, and or 
 dering the troops to be assembled, thus addressed him in their pro 
 sence. 
 
 "Titus Manlius ! you this day dared to disobey the command oi 
 your consul, and the orders of your father ; you have thus done an 
 injury to discipline and military government, and must, by youi 
 death, expiate your fault. Your courage has endeared you to me, bul 
 I must be just ; and if you have a drop of my blood in your veins 
 you will not refuse to die, when justice demands it. Go, lictor, and tie 
 him to the stake." 
 
 The astonished young man showsd his noble spirit to the last, and 
 as calmly knelt down beneath the axe, as he had bravely wielded his 
 sword against the enemies of his country. The whole Roman armies 
 mourned his early death. How unnatural were even the virtues of 
 the Romans, in many instances ! 
 
 9. The Avar with the Samnites continued with occasional 
 suspensions, but was destined to end only with their ruin. 
 The Romans were generally successful in their battles, 
 though, in one instance, a Roman army experienced a signal 
 mortification, in being obliged to pass under the yoke. 
 
 The Tarentincs, having become the allies of the Samnites, 
 shared their fate. The Samnites were completely subdued, 
 272 years B. C., although, in the mean time, the Romans had 
 on hand a war with some other states, as will be soon men- 
 tioned. 
 
 During the war with the Samnites, their general, Pontius, de- 
 coyed the Romans into a defile, in which they were wholly in the 
 power of their enemies. Rejecting the advice of his father, which 
 was either to put them all to death, or honourably to free them, he 
 chose a middle course, and determined to disgrace them. 
 
 For that purpose, he obliged the Roman soldiers, with their officers 
 leading the way, to pass half naked under the yoke a sort of gal- 
 iows made of three spears, two being fixed firmly in the ground, and 
 one laid across on the top of the others. This was considered an in- 
 sufferable disgrace. 
 
 The Romans keenly felt the indignity, and not having their power 
 in the least crippled by this means, only became the more impatient 
 to subdue their rivals. They had soon an opportunity of inflicting 
 upon the Samnites a similar odium, and of obliging them at length to 
 sue for peace. 
 
 12 
 
102 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 10. The Romans had a short contention with the Tus- 
 cans, 312 B. C. Daring two successive years, they were de- 
 feated, in the last by Fabius. But the most important war, 
 about this time, was that in w hich they were engaged with 
 Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. 
 
 The aid of this celebrated general had been sought by the 
 Tarentines. as allies with the Samnites, in their united con- 
 test with Rome. He landed in Italy with 30,000 men, and a 
 train of elephants, and commenced an attack on the Romans. 
 
 After various turns of fortune, he was at last totally -defeat- 
 ed, with the loss of 26,000 men, and returned with haste to 
 Lis dominions. From this time, the hostile states, left to bear 
 alone the Aveight of the Roman power, were no longer for- 
 midable, and all Italy submitted to Rome, about 270 years 
 B. C. 
 
 Pyrrhus was born to be a warrior ; but warriors make themselves 
 miserable. When he was preparing to comply with the invitations of 
 the Tarentines, Cineas, a wise and good man, asked him what were 
 his intentions and expectations ? 
 
 " To conquer Rome," said Pyrrhus. 
 
 " And what will you do next, my lord ?" 
 
 " Next, I will conquer Italy." 
 
 " And what after that ?" 
 
 " We will subdue Carthage, Macedonia, all Africa, and Greece." 
 
 " And when we have conquered all we can, what shall we do ?" 
 
 "Do ! then we will sit down, and spend our time in comfort." 
 
 " Ah ! my lord !" said the reasonable Cineas, " what prevents our 
 being in peace and comfort now ?" 
 
 Having arrived in Italy, he speedily conquered the Romans under 
 their consul Laevinius. This victory was thought to have been gain- 
 ed by the effect produced by the elephants of Pyrrhus's army, the 
 Roman horses taking fright at the sight of these huge animals. Pyr- 
 rhus was surprised at the valiant and skilful conduct of the Romans, 
 for, at that time, all people, except those of one's own nation, were 
 considered barbarians, rude and unknowing. 
 
 After the first battle, observing the noble and stern countenances 
 of his enemies, as they lay dead on the field, Pyrrhus, awed into re- 
 spect, cried out, in the true spirit of military ambition, " O with what 
 ease could I conquer the world, had I the Romans for soldiers, and 
 had they me for their king !" He gained a second victory, but after 
 that he found himself losing ground daily, and was glad to leave 
 Italy before he was entirely conquered. The people of Sicily had 
 sent to him for assistance ; thither he went. 
 
 In Sicily, he also experienced a change of fortune, at first prospe- 
 rous, and then adverse. So that he once more returned to Italy, being 
 almost driven from Syracuse by the Carthaginians. The Romans 
 
 
356146 B. c. 103 
 
 fell before him again ; but at last, they terribly defeated him, and he 
 was obliged to return with haste to his own country. 
 
 An anecdote, illustrating the generosity of the Romans and of Pyr- 
 rhus, and shewing that this was the age of Roman virtue, is worth re- 
 cording. One of the physicians of Pyrrhus told the Romans, that 
 he would poison his master, if they would give him a large reward. 
 Fabricius, the Roman general, was shocked at this treachery, and di- 
 rectly informed Pyrrhus of it, sending away the physician with 
 scorn ; " for," said the general, " we should be honourable even to 
 our enemies." Pyrrhus would not be outdone in generosity, and ex- 
 pressed his gratitude by sending to Rome all his prisoners without 
 ransom, and by desiring to negotiate a peace. 
 
 11. The different states of Italy had now lost their inde- 
 pendence ; but after their conquest, they did not all bear the 
 same relation to Rome. Their privileges were unequal, va- 
 rying according to the different terms granted to the con- 
 quered, and afterwards modified according to their fidelity 
 to the parent state. Some were entirely subjected to the Ro- 
 man laws ; others were allowed to live under the original in- 
 stitutions ; and some were tributary, and others allies. 
 
 The success of the war with Pyrrhus, gave the Romans 
 reputation abroad. They now seemed to themselves to be 
 equal to any enterprise. They had long been jealous of the 
 growing power of Carthage, and easily found a pretext for 
 declaring war against that republic. It was alleged that 
 Carthage had rendered assistance to the enemies of Rome. 
 
 Thus commenced what is commonly called the first Punic 
 War, 264 years B. C. It lasted 23 years. The Romans 
 were in general victorious, though they were once, under Re- 
 gulus, severely beaten before the gates of Carthage. Their 
 first attempts in naval warfare were made during this conten- 
 tion. They were highly successful in them, although the Car- 
 thaginians had been long celebrated for their enterprise and 
 courage on the ocean. 
 
 The Romans won several naval battles, and took the 
 strongest of the Sicilian towns, Sicily being the principal 
 scene of the war. The i/1 success of the Carthaginians, re- 
 duced them to the necessicy of making peace on very humili- 
 ating terms. They were required to quit Sicily, return all the 
 prisoners they had taken, and pay 3,200 talents of silver. 
 
 The Mamertines, who inhabited a small section of the island of 
 Sicily, had put themselves under the protection of Rome, with a view 
 to ward off impending ruin, with which the Carthaginians threatened 
 them, as allies of Hiero, king of Syracuse. The Romans, too prouOi 
 
104 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII, 
 
 to dignify the Mamertines with the name of allies, instead of pro- 
 fessing to assist them, boldly declared war against Carthage, alleging 
 as a reason, the assistance not long before rendered by Carthage to 
 the southern parts of Italy, against the Romans. 
 
 Such was the frivolous pretext for this sanguinary war. It was the 
 object, both of Carthage and Rome respectively, to reduce Sicily en- 
 tirely to its sway. The Carthaginians had already possessed them- 
 selves of a considerable part of it. The Syracusans at first having 
 confederated with the Carthaginians, at length turned against them. 
 
 Agrigentum was taken from the Carthaginians, after a long siege; 
 and a fleet of the Romans, the first they ever possessed, and which 
 they had equipped in a few weeks, defeated that of Carthage, in a 
 most signal manner. A second naval engagement soon followed, at- 
 tended with like success, the Carthaginians, under Hanno and Hamil 
 car, losing 60 ships of war. 
 
 These victories so much encouraged the Romans, that they boldly 
 crossed the Mediterranean sea, and landing in Africa, took the small 
 town of Clypea. Regulus, the leader, was ordered to remain there, 
 and continue, as pro-consul, to command the troops ; but he earnestly 
 requested to return home, as he had a small estate of seven acres 
 which required his care. 
 
 A person was directed to perform this service, and then Regulus, 
 satisfied that his wife and children would have food, willingly devo- 
 ted himself to his public duties. The Carthaginians had procured 
 forces from Sparta under Xantippus, and thus supported, defeated 
 the Romans, and took Regulus prisoner. 
 
 Regulus having been kept in prison several years, was then sent to 
 Rome to propose peace, and an exchange of prisoners. He was first 
 obliged to take an oath that he would return to Carthage, if he did 
 not succeed in his proposals. When this noble Roman made his ap- 
 pearance among his countrymen, they were all touched by his mis- 
 fortunes, and were willing to purchase his freedom, by granting the 
 request of his enemies. 
 
 But he would not allow his country to suffer for his sake, and, 
 though he knew that torture and death awaited him at Carthage, he 
 besought the Romans to send him back, and to refuse the Carthagi- 
 nians their prisoners. The senate, with the utmost pain, consented 
 to this disinterested advice ; and, in spite of the tears of his wife, the 
 embraces of his children, and the entreaties of his friends, Regulus 
 returned to Carthage. 
 
 The sequel may be easily conjectured. As soon as the Carthagi- 
 nians saw him come back with a denial, they put him to every kind 
 of suffering they could invent to the most barbarous tortures, all of 
 which he bore with patient silence. He died as heroically as he had 
 lived. 
 
 After various successes on both sides, the Romans gained two na- 
 val battles, and thus so effectually crippled the strength of the Car- 
 thaginians on their own element, that they sought a peace by great 
 sacrifices. The isl and of Sicily was now declared a Roman province, 
 though Syracuse maintained her independent government. 
 
356146 B. c. 105 
 
 i 
 
 12. A peace of twenty-three years' continuance subsisted 
 between Rome and Carthage, during which time the Ro- 
 mans had two short contentions first with the Illyrians, and 
 next with the Gauls. Over both of these nations the Roman 
 arms triumphed. The temple of Janus, which was never 
 shut during a time of war, was now shut for the second time, 
 since the foundation of the city, 235 B. C. The Romans, 
 at this era, began to cultivate the arts of peace, and to acquire 
 a taste for literature. ' 
 
 The. war with the Illyrians was owing to depredations committed 
 by them, on the trading subjects of Rome. Redress being refused, 
 the consuls marched against them, and most of the Illyrian towns 
 were obliged to surrender. The war with the Gauls was occasioned 
 by the irruption of these barbarians upon Italy. The Romans oppo- 
 sed them, with such success, that they lost two kings, and in one bat- 
 tle alone 40,000 men killed and 10,000 taken prisoners. 
 
 13. The peace between the Romans and Carthaginians was 
 rather a matter of policy than of inclination. The Carthagi- 
 nians particularly had improved the time in preparing for re- 
 venge. They began the aggression in the second Punic war, 
 by laying siege to Saguntum, a city of Spain, in alliance 
 with Rome. Their leader in this war was the celebrated Han- 
 nibal, son of Hamilcar, under whom the first Punic war was 
 principally conducted. The son inherited the father's enmity 
 fo the Romans, and was greatly superior to him in talents. 
 
 The war commenced 218 years B. C., and lasted 17 years. 
 It was at first highly favourable to the Carthaginians, and 
 Rome was thrown into imminent danger, and great distress, 
 by the victories of Hannibal, who had carried the war into 
 Italy. But the Roman fortune began at length to prevail, 
 and Hannibal was recalled to save Carthage itself, inas- 
 much as Scipio the Roman general, who triumphed in Spain, 
 had passed over into Africa, and spread terror to the gates of 
 Carthage. 
 
 Hannibal and Scipio met at Zama; the battle of that 
 place decided the fate of the war, and the Carthaginians sued 
 for peace, which they obtained only by abandoning Spain, 
 Sicily, and all the islands by surrendering all their prisoners, 
 and nearly the whole of their fleet, by paying 10,000 talents, 
 and by engaging to undertake no war without the consent of 
 Rome. 
 
 Of Hannibal it is recordedj that when only nine years of age, at 
 
106 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIM. 
 
 the instance of his father, he took a solemn oath at the altar, decla 
 ring himself the eternal enemy of the Romans ; and never had they 
 so terrible a foe. Like most other great soldiers, he was capable of 
 bearing fatigue and hardship, heat and cold, good and bad fortune in 
 the extreme, with entire equanimity, and without shrinking. 
 
 He was simple in dress, rigid in self-government he ate, drank 
 and slept only so much as to support his body, jind give him strength 
 to perform the intentions of his great mind. If, however, we are to 
 believe the accounts of his enemies, he was not without striking 
 moral defects being cruel, negligent of his truth and honour, and a 
 scorner of the religion of his country. 
 
 Hannibal crossing the sea from Africa to Europe, and taking Sa- 
 guntum, in Spain marched through Spain, and over the Pyrennean 
 hills into Gaul, along the coast of that country, and over the lofty 
 Alps crowned with snow, to Italy a land journey of 1000 miles. 
 Such an exploit had never been done before. The difficulties of the 
 way would have disheartened any other man. In addition to this he 
 passed through various barbarous tribes, with most of whom he was 
 obliged to fight for a passage ; the Gauls among the rest attempting 
 to oppose his progress. 
 
 He arrived in Italy with only 20,000 foot and 6000 horse. When 
 he began this wonderful enterprise he was only 26 years old. 
 Several Roman generals of approved talent and valour opposed him, 
 yet he was on the point of making himself master of proud Rome. In 
 the first engagement near the Ticinus, the Romans were defeated, 
 and they Lost two other important battles at the Trebia and the lake 
 Thrasymenus. 
 
 Advancing to Cannae, the Carthaginians were opposed by the 
 whole force of Rome ; but in vain. Their fine army under their 
 consuls was totally routed. Varro gave orders for the battle against 
 the wish of his colleague Paulus ./Emilius ; but the encounter once 
 begun, ^Gmilius fought with the utmost skill and bravery, and died 
 covered with wounds. 
 
 Just before his death he was found sitting on a stone, faint and 
 streaming with blood. The soldier who discovered him, besought 
 him to mount his horse, and put himself under his protection. " No, 33 
 said ^Emilius with gratitude, " I will not clog you with my sinking 
 frame ; go hasten to Rome, and tell the senate of this day's disaster, 
 and bid them fortify the city, for the enemy is approaching it. I will 
 die with my slaughtered soldiers, that I may neither suffer the in- 
 dignation of Rome myself, nor be called upon to give testimony 
 against my colleague, to prove my own innocence." 
 
 It is an opinion generally entertained, though by no means certain, 
 that if Hannibal had marched directly to Rome, after the battle of 
 Cannae, the fate of the republic w r ould have been inevitable. But 
 this he did not see fit to attempt. The tide of success now began to 
 turn against him. Wintering his troops in the luxurious city of Cap- 
 ua, they lost much of their virtue. 
 
 The Romans concentrated all their strength, even the slaves, arm- 
 ed in the common cause j and victory once more attended the stan 
 
356146 B. c. 107 
 
 dards of Rome. Hannibal retreated before the brave Marcelltis. 
 The forces of the king of Macedon, who had joined the Carthaginians, 
 were also defeated at this juncture. 
 
 While Fabius, who was now opposed to Hannibal, conducted the 
 war prosperously, by always avoiding a general engagement, the 
 younger Scipio accomplished the entire reduction of Spain. Asdrubal 
 was sent into Italy after a long delay, to the assistance of his brother 
 Hannibal, but was defeated by the consul Claudius, and slain in battle. 
 
 Scipio, having triumphed in Spain, passed over into Africa, where 
 his path was marked with terror and victory. This policy he had 
 himself suggested to the Roman senate, as the only probable means 
 of driving the Carthaginians from Italy. According to his expecta- 
 tions, when Carthage perceived the danger to which itself was ex- 
 posed, Hannibal was recalled to protect his native land. He had beeu 
 absent 16 years. 
 
 Scipio was an antagonist worthy of Hannibal. When he was 
 very young, he saved the life of his father in a battle ; and after the 
 fatal overthrow at Cannae, hearing of some young men who thought 
 of abandoning their country, he, with a few other resolute spirits, 
 suddenly entered the room where they were deliberating, and fiercely 
 drew his sword and exclaimed, "whoever is against Rome, this sword 
 is against him." The young men, intimidated by his resolution, or 
 inspired by his spirit^ took a vow with him and his companions, to 
 fight for their country whilst a drop of blood remained in their veins. 
 
 The meeting at Zama, in Africa, between Hannibal and Scipio, the 
 two greatest warriors in the world, was highly interesting. They gazed 
 on each other with mutual awe and admiration. Hannibal in vain strove 
 to procure honourable terms of peace. The youthful Roman, however, 
 answered him with pride and disdain ; and the armies prepared for battle. 
 
 The contest was dreadful ; but the superior vigour of the Romans, 
 notwithstanding the skill of the Carthaginians, prevailed. The latter 
 lost 40,000 men in killed and in prisoners, and were thus obliged to 
 conclude a fatal peace. Carthage was nearly ruined. As to Hanni- 
 bal, he survived this battle several years ; but being hated and hunted 
 by the Romans from place to place, he committed the unjustifiable act 
 of suicide, so common in ancient times. 
 
 "Let us relieve the Romans of their fears," said he, "by closing 
 the existence of a feeble old man." He died at 70 years of age, at the 
 court of Prussias, king of Bythynia. The second Punic war ended 
 with the battle at Zama, B. C. 201. 
 
 14. The Roman dominion now rapidly extended. Other 
 victories over other enemies attended the arms of the republic. 
 Philip king of Macedon was defeated by the Romans under 
 Flaminius in Thessaly, 197 years B. C. The Gauls received 
 some signal overthrows. 
 
 The war with Philip is called the first Macedonian war, and was ter- 
 minated by the request of Philip for peace, which the senate granted 
 the second year of the contest. The second Macedonian war, which 
 terminated the monarchy, as also that vhich put a period to Grecian 
 
108 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 liberty, have already been narrated in the history of Macedonia and 
 Greece. 
 
 15. Five years afterwards, or 192 years B. C., commenced 
 the Syrian war, under Antiochus the Great. This ended in 
 his entire defeat, and in the cession to the Romans of all 
 Asia Minor. The pretext of this war was, that Antiochus 
 Jiad made encroachments on the Grecian states, who were 
 then called the allies of Rome. These successes, by pouring 
 wealth into Rome, began to corrupt the simplicity of the an 
 cient manners. 
 
 SICILY. 
 
 16. The history of SICILY is considerably included in that 
 of Rome and other nations, but a few particulars may deserve 
 a separate notice. In early times the government was a 
 monarchy, but it afterwards became a republic, and continued 
 such, except at Syracuse, the monarchy of which, after 60 
 years, was re-established in the person of Dionysius the Elder. 
 
 The Sicilians were frequently engaged in wars with the 
 Carthaginians, and the latter, in the course of time, possessed 
 themselves of a considerable part of the island. It was the 
 scene and the object of the first Punic war; and in the se- 
 cond, the whole of it was brought under the sway of Rome, 
 by the consul Marcellus, 212 years B. C. 
 
 This important island in the Mediterranean sea, the granary of 
 Italy, was settled in an early age of the world, though the exact pe- 
 riod is unknown. The Phoenicians had sent colonies thither before 
 the Trojan war. The Greeks at later periods made considerable set- 
 tlements in the island. The Corinthians founded Syracuse, which 
 became the most renowned of the Greek cities of Sicily. 
 
 The regal government exercised in the various parts of the island, 
 having become excessively tyrannical, was the cause of its being 
 abolished in all the cities held there by the Greeks. Dionysius, how- 
 ever, a person of mean birth, but great talents, found the means of 
 reviving the monarchy at Syracuse, and though thrice expelled on 
 account of his tyranny, he re-assumed the sceptre, which he transmit- 
 ed to his son, Dionysius the Younger. 
 
 This weak and detestable tyrant had been well educated by the 
 great Plato ; but he soon forgot all the good that had been taught 
 him. He so provoked his virtuous brother-in-law Dion, (whom the 
 jealousy of the nobles had banished,) by marrying Dion's wife to one 
 of his courtiers, that the latter led an army to Syracuse, drove the 
 tyrant from his throne, and recovered his wife. In the hands of Dion 
 the government was administered with much moderation and ability , 
 but this excellent sovereign was at last cruelly murdered 
 
356146 B. c. 109 
 
 i 
 
 At his death Dionysius again ascended the throne, and was again 
 driven from it ; and after all his various fortunes, it is said he became 
 a school-master at Corinth. The brave and humane Timoleon, a 
 Greek, was the person who accomplished the second banishment of 
 this tyrant. Timoleon was sent; for to assist the Syracusans against 
 the Carthaginians, and having defeated them, he entered Syracuse in 
 triumph. 
 
 Dionysius, being unfit to rule, surrendered himself and his citadel 
 into his hancls, and was sent to Corinth. Timoleon again defeated 
 the Carthaginians under Asdrubal and Amilcar, and at length sub- 
 dued all the enemies of Syracuse. After having served Syracuse 
 and the whole island to the extent of his power, he gave up his 
 authority, and lived the rest of his days in tranquil retirement. 
 
 A few years after the battle of Cannae, Marcellus the Roman con- 
 sul, laid siege to Syracuse ; and in spite of the wonderful machines 
 constructed and employed by Archimedes, he finally took it. Mar- 
 cellus, who was acquainted with the extraordinary abilities of this 
 man, when the city had fallen into his hands, gave orders, that 
 Archimedes should be conducted to him in safety. 
 
 When the city was taken, this philosopher was so absorbed in 
 study, that he was not aware of the event, until a soldier, rushing into 
 his apartment, bade him rise and follow him. Archimedes desired him 
 to wait a moment until he had solved the problem that he was work- 
 ing. The soldier, not understanding what he was talking about, arid 
 provoked at his disobedience, drew his sword and killed him on the 
 spot. Marcellus was greatly disappointed at this event. 
 
 SYRIA. 
 
 17. During the present period the kingdom of Syria, or 
 Syro-Medio, rose into importance under its founder Seleucug 
 Nicator, or the Conqueror, 312 years B. C. In the first divi- 
 sion of Alexander's empire, the country anciently called Syria, 
 fell to the lot of Antigonus. But Seleucus, a distinguished 
 and able officer in the empire, revolted, and made war upon 
 Antigonusj who being slain at the battle of Ipsus, Seleucus 
 remained possessor of his dominions. The sovereigns of this 
 new kingdom, after him, were known under the name of Se- 
 leucidee. 
 
 Syria was first inhabited by the posterity of Aram, the youngest 
 son of Shem. The kings of this country were little known till the time 
 of Alexander the Great, except what is related of them in the Bible. 
 Hadadezer made an unsuccessful war against David. Benhadad was 
 three times defeated by Ahab and Ahaziah. A few other particulars 
 are related of the Syrian kings, till Syria was made a province of 
 the Assyrian Empire by Tiglath-Pileser, who defeated and slew Re- 
 zin, the king of Syria, in battle. 
 
 18. The second and last division of Alexander's empire 
 was formerly mentioned. Seleucus who retained Syria to 
 
 K 
 
110 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 which other possessions were added, made war upon I ^ysi- 
 machus, who had reduced Macedonia under his sway. Lysi 
 machus was lolled, and Seleucus seized on his kingdom. But 
 the conqueror was assassinated the same year, by Ptolemy 
 Ceraunus, who afterwards reigned at Macedon. 
 
 Of the Seleucidae, or successors of Seleucus, to the end of this 
 period, the following epitome may be given. Antiochus Soter, or the 
 saviour, succeeded the conqueror. Of this Antiochus it is recorded, 
 that when a young man, he fell in love with one of his father's wives, 
 a young and beautiful woman, to such a degree, as to be nearly re- 
 duced to death. 
 
 His physician discovering, from the agitation of his pulse at the 
 sight of Stratonice, (the name of the object of his passion,) the true 
 cause of his disease, made it known to Seleucus the father. From 
 affection to the son he renounced Stratonice, and gave her to him in 
 marriage, 280 B. C. 
 
 Antiochus Theos, or the God, invaded Egypt. During his ab- 
 sence the provinces of the East were entered by the Parthians, who 
 founded a new kingdom. The Bactrians also became independent. 
 He made peace with Ptolemy Philadelphus, and married his daugh- 
 ter Berenice, after repudiating his wife. The king of Egypt being 
 dead, he took back his former wife, who poisoned him, Berenice, and 
 her son, 261 B. C. 
 
 After the reigns of Seleucus Callinicus, and Seleucus Ceraunus, re 
 specting whom nothing remarkable took place, Antiochus the Great, 
 ascended the throne. He was at first engaged in subduing some of 
 his revolted governors. Afterwards he invaded Media, Parthia, Ffyr- 
 cania, Bactria, and even India, 223 B. C. 
 
 Having planned the conquest of Asia Minor, and taken some places 
 there, an embassy was sent by the Romans, desiring him to desist. 
 This brought on the war with the Romans which has been partici 
 larly detailed. In this attempt he first conquered a part of Greece. 
 Here the Romans defeated him, and being closely pursued by Scipio 
 Asiaticus, he was beaten again in Asia. Among one of the conditions 
 of peace was the delivery of his son Antiochus, as a hostage to the 
 Romans. 
 
 Seleucus Philopater, who was left by his father to govern Syria, 
 during his absence, next ascended the throne, 187 years B. C. His 
 general Heliodorus, in attempting to rob the temple of Jerusalem of 
 its treasures, was repulsed by the hand of God, and rigorously ehas 
 tised. He poisoned Seleucus after his return. 
 
 Antiochus Epiphanes, the son who was delivered as a hostage tc 
 the Romans, and exchanged, after chastising Heliodorus, gained pos 
 session of the throne, 175 years B. C. In attempting to reduce Egypt 
 under his dominion, he was stopped by a Roman ambassador, who 
 obliged him to return. 
 
 Incensed at this, he vented his rage against the Jews, took Jerusa- 
 lem, slaughtered 40,000 persons, and made as man}'' prisoners. The 
 Jews, however, revolted, and under Judas Maccabceus defeated seve- 
 
356 146 B.C. Ill 
 
 ral of his generals. These wars will be detailed in the history of the 
 Jews. Antiochus, in attempting to exterminate the Jews, perished in 
 great torments. 
 
 Antiochus Eupator and Demetrius Soter continued the war with 
 the Jews, and Alexander Balas, the last sovereign, during this period, 
 abandoned himself to a life of debauchery. 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 20. In the history of the Jews at the commencement of 
 this period, we have to notice the favour which was mani 
 fested towards them by Alexander the Great, who granted to 
 them the freedom of their country, laws, and religion, and ex- 
 empted them from paying tribute every seventh year. 
 
 In thek dependent state, they had continued to enjoy a de- 
 gree of prosperity under the sovereigns of Persia, even after the 
 time of Cyrus. His successors, down to the era of Alexander, 
 had, in general, treated them with much kindness. But with 
 the latter expired the prosperous state of Judea, 324 years 
 B. C. 
 
 Darius, son of Cyrus, favoured the Jews during his long reign. 
 Xerxes confirmed their privileges. Under Artaxerxes they were still 
 more favoured through the influence of his queen Esther, a Jewess. 
 From this prince, Ezra obtained very liberal donations to be applied 
 to the service of the temple, and authority to re-establish the govern- 
 ment according to the divine constitution, 480 years B. C. 
 
 Several years afterwards, under the same prince, Nehemiah his 
 cup-bearer, obtained leave to go to Jerusalem and rebuild its walls. 
 He and Joiada the high priest reformed many abuses respecting 
 tithes, the- observation of the sabbath, and the marrying of strange 
 wives. 
 
 In the latter period, to which our accounts more particularly refer, 
 it is recorded that Jaddus, the high priest, in his priestly attire, met 
 Alexander the Great, and shewed him the prophecy of Daniel, ID 
 which his conquest was foretold. 
 
 21. From this time, 323 years B. C., Judea was succes 
 sively invaded and subdued by the Egyptians and Syrians, 
 and the inhabitants were reduced to bondage. In conse- 
 quence of an invasion by Antiochus Epiphanes, about 170 
 years B. C. the sacrifices ceased among the Jews, and there 
 scarcely existed any external signs of their peculiar civil or 
 religious polity. 
 
 Such persecutions roused the Jews to drive the Syrians 
 from Judea, which they gloriously achieved under Judas 
 Maccabseus, 166 years B. U. 
 
 Under the priesthood of Onias I., Ptolemy, governor of Egypt 
 taking advantage of the circumstance that the Jews would not fight 
 
1 12 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD V1I1. 
 
 on the sabbath, captured Jerusalem on that day, and carried off 
 100,000 persons, whom, however, he afterwards treated kindly. 
 
 When Eleazer was high priest, he sent to Ptolemy Philadelphia 
 six men of every tribe, to translate the sacred scriptures into Greek. 
 This translation is the celebrated one called the Septuaoint, 277 
 B.C. 
 
 Jason, 170 B. C., on false reports of Antiochus' death, raised great 
 disturbances in Jerusalem, with a view to recover the high priest- 
 hood. Antiochus (Epiphanes) irritated by the frequent revolts of 
 the Jews, marched to Jerusalem, slew 80,000 people, took 40,000 
 captives, and then entered the temple and plundered the treasures. 
 
 Antiochus having commanded the Jews to observe the rites of the 
 heathen, and to eat of the sacrifices, some of the more conscientious 
 among them chose rather the loss of life ; among whom were a mo- 
 ther and her seven sons, who expired in dreadful tortures. The same 
 year the king's commissioner, who was entrusted with this iniquitous 
 business, was killed by Mattathias and his five sons, who thereupon 
 fled into the wilderness. 
 
 Judas Maccabeus, at the head of those who fled into the wilder- 
 ness, made war against Antiochus, and defeated several of his gene- 
 rals. The king hearing of the deieat of his troops in Judea, took an 
 oath, that he would destroy the whole nation. As he hastened to 
 Jerusalem, he fell from his chariot, and died miserably. 
 
 In a battle with a general of one of his successors, Judas was killed. 
 Jonathan his brother succeeded, and was made high priest, 153 years 
 B. C. A younger brother had been previously killed. The remain- 
 der of the history of the Maccabees is to be pursued in the next suc- 
 ceeding period. " 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 22. EGYPT, having been in subjection 30 years since it 
 was last brought under the Persian yoke, was subdued by 
 Alexander the Great, 332 years B. C. He appointed Ptol- 
 emy Lagus its governor, who. after the conqueror's death, be- 
 gan a new dynasty of kings, called Ptolemseans or Lagidse 
 323 years B. C. 
 
 This dynasty lasted 294 years, and ended in Cleopatra. 
 Of the sovereigns that belong to the period now treated of, we 
 find the names of six of various characters. 
 
 Ptolemy Lagus, called also Soter or Saviour, was a man of great 
 bilities, and endeavoured to restore Egypt to its ancient splendour. 
 He erected the famous library at Alexandria. He subdued Syria, 
 Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Jerusalem. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, or Lover of his brother, pursued the steps 
 of his father in a great measure. He protected commerce, arts, and 
 sciences, and erected magnificent buildings. Ptolemy Evergetes, or 
 th Benefactor, was not only a lover of science, but an author. He 
 S] 9 red no pains to enrich his library. 
 
 Ptolemy Philopater, or Lover of his father, a surname probably 
 
356 14bB. r. 113 
 
 ^ /ven him m derision, being suspected to have put his father to death, 
 was a cruel prince. He slew his brother, murdered his queen, and 
 ordered all the Jews within his dominions to abjure their religion, 
 which however they refused to do. 
 
 Ptolemy Epiphanes, or the Illustrious, w'as famous only for his 
 vices. He suffered every thing to fall into disorder, and was at last 
 poisoned by his subjects. 
 
 Ptolemy Philometer, or Lover of his mother, engaged in an un- 
 successful war against Syria, in which he was taken prisoner, and 
 the crown given to his brother Physcon ; but after Philometer re 
 gained his liberty, they reigned jointly. 
 
 PARTHIA. 
 
 23. The history of PARTHIA begins at this era. Arsacea, 
 a nobleman, descended as some think from Artaxerxea 
 Mncmon, king of Persia, revolted from Antiochus Theos, 
 king of Syria (256 B. C.) and founded the new kingdom of 
 Parthia, which at first consisted only of the province so called, 
 From him his successors are called Arsacidee. 
 
 The single province of Parthia was not large ; but the Parthian 
 empire included not only Parthia, but Hyrcania, Sogdiana, Bactria, 
 Persia, Media, and several other regions. Parthia was first sub- 
 ject to the Medes, afterwards to the Persians, and lastly to Alexander 
 the Great : upon whose death, it fell to the share of Seleucus Nicator ; 
 and his successors held it till the reign of Antiochus Theos. 
 
 They were a warlike people, and the best horsemen and archers in 
 the world. For the sake of war, they neglected agriculture, trade, 
 and all other callings. 
 
 24. The Arsacidse were in general conquerors, and greatly 
 extended their dominions from time to time. Mithridates I. 
 the fifth from Arsaces, was a man of uncommon wisdom and 
 courage. He reduced the Bactrians, Persians, Medes, and 
 Elymaeans, and extended his dominions into India, beyond 
 the boundaries of Alexander's conquests. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 25. The third dynasty of the emperors of CHINA, which 
 commenced 1110 years B. C., ended during this period 
 viz. 246 years B. C. It included 35 emperors. It is called 
 the dynasty of Tcheou. 
 
 The fourth dynasty, which began at the latter date, lasted 
 43 years, terminating 203 years B. C. It included four em- 
 perors. It is called the dynasty of Tsin. 
 
 Chaus the fourth emperor of the third dynasty was excessively 
 fond of hunting. In the pursuit of that sport, he did incalculable 
 damage to the crops of his subjects. Their remonstrances being un- 
 heeded, they determined to destroy him. For this purpose, as he 
 
114 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 was wont to pass a large river, on his return from the chase, in a 
 boat which waited for him, they caused one to be built of such con- 
 struction as to break in pieces before it reached the opposite shore. 
 Entering his boat, he and his attendants soon went to the bottom. 
 
 Ching, the second emperor of the fourth dynasty, left a monument 
 of his power, which still astonishes those that behold it, viz. the fa- 
 mous wall, 500 leagues long, which separates China from its north- 
 ern neighbours. He suppressed the tributary kingdoms, and reduced 
 them to their former state of provinces. 
 
 Elated with his success, he became ambitious of being thought the 
 first sovereign of China. With this view he ordered all the historical 
 writings and public records to be burned, and many of the learned 
 men to be buried alive, that past events might not be transmitted 
 to posterity. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period VIII. 
 
 1. Plato, an eminent Grecian philosopher, caUed the 
 Divine. 
 
 2. Apelles, the greatest of the painters of antiquity. 
 
 3. Alexander the Great, conqueror of most of the world 
 known to the ancients. 
 
 4. Demosthenes, the prince of orators. 
 
 5. Aristotle, the ablest logician and philosopher of antiquity. 
 
 6. Euclid, the greatest master of mathematical science. 
 
 7. Theocritus, the father of pastoral poetry. 
 
 8. Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. 
 
 9. Archimedes, a famous geometrician of Syracuse. 
 
 1. Plato was born about 429 years B. C. His name, Aristocles, was 
 changed to Plato, from the largeness of his shoulders. He was 8 
 years the pupil of Socrates, after whose death, he travelled into 
 foreign countries. When he had finished these, he retired to the 
 groves of Academus, where he was attended by a crowd of noble and 
 illustrious pupils. 
 
 His learning and virtues were topics of conversation in every part 
 of Greece ; he was elegant in his manners, and partook of innocent 
 pleasures and amusements. He died in his 81st year, about 348 B. C. 
 
 The works of Plato are numerous ; they are all in the form of a 
 dialogue, except twelve letters. The ancients and even the learned 
 moderns have highly respected and admired the writings of this great 
 philosopher. They display unusual depth of thought, and singular 
 elegance, melody, and sweetness of expression. Among other truihs, he 
 maintained by many powerful arguments the immortality of the soul. 
 
 2. Apelles was born in the island of Cos, and lived contemporary 
 with Alexander, who would suffer no other to draw his picture. His 
 Venus rising out of the sea, was purchased by Augustus, and placed 
 in a temple at Rome. The lower part had sustained some injury 
 which no artist could repair. He wrote some pieces which were 
 extant in the age of Pliny 
 
356- 146 B. c. 115 
 
 One of his pictures of Alexander exhibited the conqueror with a 
 thunderbolt in his hand. The piece was finished with so much skill 
 and dexterity, that it used to be said that there were two Alexanders : 
 one invincible, the son of Philip : the other inimitable, the produc- 
 tion of Apelles. The date of his death does not appear. 
 
 3. Alexander was born at Pella in Macedonia, 355 B. C. At the 
 age often years he was delivered to the tuition of Aristotle, and early 
 followed his father to the field. When he came to the throne, he in- 
 vaded Asia, as has been already described, defeating Darius in three 
 great battles, reducing Egypt, Media, Syria, and Persia, and spread- 
 ing his conquests over a part of India. 
 
 On his return from India he stopped at Babylon, where he died in 
 his 32d year, from excess in drinking, or as some think, from poison. 
 He aspired to be thought a demigod, but was humane, liberal; and a 
 patron of learning. With many valuable qualities, much is it to be 
 regretted that he should have been the scourge, by being the conqueroi 
 of the world. 
 
 His tender treatment of the wife and mother of Darius, who were 
 taken prisoners, has been greatly praised. The latter, who had sur- 
 vived the death of her son, killed herself when she heard that Alex- 
 ander was dead. He was guilty of many extravagant and profligate 
 actions ; yet amidst them all fre was fond of candour and truth, and 
 after any act of wickedness, appeared to be stung with grief and re- 
 morse. 
 
 When one of his officers read to him as he sailed on the Hydaspes, 
 a history which the officer had composed of his wars with Porus, 
 and in which he had too liberally praised him, Alexander snatched 
 the book from his hand, and threw it into the river saying, " What 
 need is there of such flattery ? Are not the exploits of Alexander suf- 
 ficiently meritorious in themselves, without the colouring of false- 
 hood ?" 
 
 The death of his friend Clitus. of which he was the author, while 
 it might be in a degree palliated, shewed how capable he was of re- 
 gret for a wrong action. Clitus had greatly abused Alexander ; they 
 were both heated with wine and passion. The monarch after bear- 
 ing the abuse for some time, ordered Clitus to be carried out of his 
 presence. 
 
 The latter, however, soon returned, and renewed his invectives. 
 Alexander giving loose to his indignation, stabbed the veteran ; but 
 was so immediately shocked with what he had done, that he was 
 about to kill himself on the spot, and was only prevented by his 
 friends. 
 
 4. Demosthenes was only seven years old when his father died, 
 and his guardians, proving unfaithful to their trust, squandered his 
 property, and neglected his education. He was therefore indebted 
 to his own industry and application, for the discipline of his mind. 
 
 By unwearied efforts, and by overcoming the greatest obstacles, 
 such as weakness of the lungs, difficulty of pronunciation, and un- 
 couth habits of body, he became the greatest orator in the world. 
 That he might devote himself the more closely to his studies, he con- 
 
116 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 fined himself to a retired cave, and shaved half of his head, so thai 
 he could not decently appear in public. 
 
 His abilities as an orator soon placed him at the head of the go- 
 vernment, and in this capacity he roused and animated his country- 
 men against the ambitious designs of Philip. He also opposed Alex- 
 ander, and made every effort to save his country. When the gene- 
 rals of Alexander approached Athens, he fled for safety to the temple 
 of Neptune, and there took poison to prevent himself from falling 
 into their hands, in his 60th year, B. C. 322. 
 
 5. Aristotle possessed one of the keenest and most inventive ori- 
 ginal intellects ever known. His writings treat of almost every branch 
 of knowledge in his time ; moral and natural philosophy, metaphy- 
 sics, mechanics, grammar, criticism, and politics, all occupied his pen. 
 
 His eloquence also was remarkable. He was moderate in his meals, 
 slept little, and was indefatigably industrious. That he might not 
 oversleep himself, Diogenes Laertius tells us, that he lay always with 
 one hand out of the bed, holding in it a ball of brass, which, by its 
 falling into a basin of the same metal, awaked him. 
 
 Though educated in the school of Plato, he differed from his mas- 
 ter, and at length formed a new school. He taught in the Lyceum. He 
 had a deformed countenance, but his genius was an ample compensa- 
 tion for all his personal defects. As he expired, he is said to have ut- 
 tered the following sentiment. " I entered this world in impurity, I 
 have lived in anxiety, I depart in perturbation. Cause of causes, 
 pity rne !" If he lived in scepticism, as is affirmed, he hardly died 
 in it. His death occurred in his 63d year. 
 
 6. Euclid was a mathematician of Alexandria. He flourished about 
 300 years B. C. He distinguished himself by his writings on music 
 and geometry, but particularly by 15 books on the elements of mathe- 
 matics, which consist of problems and theorems, with demonstrations. 
 His elements have gone through innumerable editions. He was 
 greatly respected by antiquity, and his school, which he established 
 at Alexandria, became the most famous in the world, for mathe- 
 matics. 
 
 7. Theocritus flourished at Syracuse in Sicily, 282 years B. C. He 
 distinguished himself by his poetical compositions, of which 30 Idy- 
 lia, and some epigrams, are extant, written in the Doric dialect, and 
 admired for their beauty, elegance, and simplicity. 
 
 He excelled in pastorals. He clothes his peasants with all the rusti- 
 city of nature, though sometimes speaking on exalted subjects. It is 
 said he wrote some invectives against Hiero, king of Syracuse, who 
 ordered him to be strangled. 
 
 8. Zeno was a native of Cyprus. In early life he followed commer- 
 cial pursuits ; but having been shipwrecked, to divert his melancholy, 
 he took up a book to read. The book was written by Xenophon, and 
 so captivated was he, that from this time he devoted himself to phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 Becoming perfect in every branch of knowledge, he at length 
 opened a school in Athens, and delivered his instructions in a porch, 
 in Greek called stoa. He was austere in his manners, but his life was 
 
146-^80 B.C. 117 
 
 an example of moderation and sobriety. He taught philosophy 48 
 years, and died in his 98th year, B. C. 264. A stranger to diseases and 
 indisposition, virtue was his chief good. 
 
 9. Archimedes was born at Syracuse. At the siege, by Marcellus, 
 he constructed machines which sunk some of the Roman ships, and 
 others he set on fire with burning glasses. These glasses are supposed 
 to have been reflectors made of metal, and capable of producing their 
 effect at the distance of a bow shot. 
 
 He was killed at the taking of the place, 208 B. C. by a soldier, who 
 was ignorant of his character, and while the philosopher was enga- 
 ged in his studies. Some of his works are extant. 
 
 PERIOD IX. 
 
 The period of the civil war between Marius and Sylla, 
 extending from the destruction of Carthage, 146 years 
 JB. C. to the first campaign of Julius Ccesar, 80 years 
 B. C. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 SECT. 1. This period, as well as that which follows, pro- 
 perly begins with the affairs of the ROMANS a people, 
 already possessing vast power and resources, and destined to 
 become in a short time, the conquerors of the whole civilized 
 portion of the human family. 
 
 Following the course of their victories, we next light upon 
 their final conquest and destruction of Carthage, the most 
 formidable rival Rome ever possessed. That city fell under 
 the hands of the conquerors 146 years B. C. The war, of 
 which this was the result, had commenced four years before. 
 The Romans were the aggressors, having invaded Africa at 
 a favourable juncture, when the Carthaginians were engaged 
 in a war with another power. 
 
 Carthage fell, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of its 
 inhabitants, and was converted into a pile of ruins, with the 
 extinction of the Carthaginian name. 
 
 When the indications of Roman hostility appeared, the Cartha- 
 ginians, who had suffered so severely in the last war, recoiled at the 
 idea of another contest with the conquering Romans. They therefore 
 sent a deputation to Rome to settle the matter pacifically, If possible. 
 The Senate gave no decisive answer. 
 
 A second deputation followed, but it sought in vain to avert the 
 threatened evil. The demands made upon the Carthaginians were 
 in the highest degree disgraceful to Rome. They were commanded 
 
118 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IX. 
 
 to promise implicit obedience, and to send 300 hostages as a security 
 for their future good conduct. The promise was given, and the 
 Carthaginians yielded up their children, as the required hostages. 
 
 They were next ordered to give up all their arms ; this order was 
 also obeyed : and to consummate their degradation and the cruelty of 
 the Romans, they were required to quit their beloved city, and allov 
 it to be levelled to the ground. The Carthaginians, as might hav 
 been expected, were fired with indignation, and resolved unani 
 mously that if they could not save their capital, they would perish 
 with it. 
 
 Despoiled, however, of their arms, they could at first effect but 
 little, although they exerted every nerve, in meeting the foe. Their 
 women cut off their long fine hair to be twisted into cords for bows , 
 they brought out all their gold and silver vessels to be converted into 
 arms, for these were the only metals they had left. 
 
 The Romans were astonished at the resistance they experienced } 
 many times were they repulsed from the walls, and many were the 
 soldiers slain in the various attacks. Indeed, it is thought by some, 
 that Carthage would not finally have been taken, had not one of her 
 own officers basely gone over to the enemy. The affairs of the 
 Carthaginians declined from that time. 
 
 Scipio ^Emilianus cut off their supplies of food, and blocked up 
 the haven. The persevering citizens cut out a new passage into the 
 sea. He next attacked and cut to pieces the army they had station- 
 ed without the walls, killing 70,000 men, and taking 10,000 prison- 
 ers. After this he broke through the walls, and entered the city, 
 pulling or burning down houses and temples, and public buildings, 
 with indiscriminate fury. 
 
 Asdrubal, the Carthaginian general, delivered himself and citadel 
 to the conquerors ; but his wife and children, with numbers of the 
 citizens, set fire to the temples, and rushing into them, perished in 
 the flames. So completely was this once beautiful city destroyed, 
 that the place on which it stood cannot be discovered ; it was burning 
 17 days, and was 24 miles in circumference. 
 
 All the cities which befriended Carthage, shared her fate ; and the 
 Romans gave away the lands to their friends. 
 
 2. Soon after the ruin of Carthage, viz, 137 years B. C. 
 the Numantines, a people of Spain, overcame the Romans in 
 battle ; but three years after this defeat, Numantia, the finest 
 and largest city in Spain, was taken by the Romans, and 
 he inhabitants, to escape falling 1 irto the hands of these cruel 
 conquerors, set fire to their city, and all of them perished in 
 the flames. Thus Spain became a province of Rome 134 
 years B. C. 
 
 Previously to the defeat of the Romans by the Numantines, there 
 had been a war between the Romans and Spain, which lasted 9 years. 
 Fabius, who was sent to manage this war, gained a victory over one 
 

 146--- SO B. c, 119 
 
 o f the leaders of the Spanish forces, who was obliged to retire into 
 Lusitania. 
 
 The reverse which the Romans met with in the contest with Numan- 
 tia, was highly disgraceful to them. Thirty thousand of the.ir num- 
 ber were conquered by 4000 Numantines. The consul, Mancinus, was 
 recalled, and Scipio was sent into Spain, who restored the discipline 
 of the troops. He soon defeated the Numantines, who, being reduced 
 to the last extremity, perished as above described. 
 
 3. Rome at this time, (133 B. C.) was beginning 1 to be 
 greatly disturbed by internal dissensions. Attains, king of 
 Pergamus, having, by his last will, made the Romans his 
 heirs, Tiberius Gracchus, a tribune of the people, proposed 
 that the money should be divided among the poor. This 
 caused a great disturbance, during which Gracchus was 
 killed. 
 
 About twelve years afterwards, Gains Gracchus, brother to 
 Tiberius, having opposed the senate, and become popular and 
 powerful, exposed himself to the resentment of the nobles, 
 who marked him out for destruction. In consequence of some 
 riots, the consul Opimius pursued him so closely, that to avoid 
 falling into his hands, he accomplished his own death, by the 
 assistance of a servant. 
 
 The Gracchi were sons of Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Afri- 
 canus, the conqueror of Hannibal. She was left a widow with twelve 
 children. The following circumstance places her character in a very 
 favourable light. A lady once came to visit her, who prided herself 
 much on her jewels, and after shewing them to Cornelia, asked to 
 see hers in return. Cornelia waited till her sons came home from 
 school, and then presenting them to her guest, said, " Behold, madam, 
 these are my jewels." 
 
 The interference of Tiberius, her elder son, in behalf of the poor, 
 had given great offence to the rich. At a public meeting he chanced 
 to put his hand to his head, and those who wished his downfall im- 
 mediately said that he was desirous of a crown, and in the uproar 
 that ensued, he lost his life. 
 
 At his death, the populace placed his younger brother at their 
 head. Caius Gracchus was only 21 at this time, and had lived a life 
 of great retirement, yet he did much good, and caused many useful 
 acts to be passed. He was temperate and simple in his food, and of 
 an active and industrious disposition. His love and respect for his 
 mother were remarkable. At her request he withdrew a law he much 
 desired to have passed : and so much was he esteemed, that a statue 
 was erected to the memory of his mother, with this inscription, 
 
 Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi," a tribute honourable to both 
 parent and children. 
 
 The tumults attending the attempts of the Gracchi to remove the 
 corruptions of the higher orders at their expense, were a prelude to 
 
120 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IX. 
 
 
 
 those civil disorders, which now rapidly followed to the end oi ihe 
 commonwealth . 
 
 4. The Romans, though corrupt at home, still displayed 
 their valour abroad. Besides some small states which they 
 had acquired on the north and east, they defeated Jugurtha, 
 king of Numidia, about this time. The war with him com- 
 menced 111 years B. C., and was finished under Marius 108 
 B. C. The consequence to Jugurtha was the loss of his king- 
 dom arid life. 
 
 After an engagement in which 90,000 of the Numidian 
 army were slain, he was betrayed and made prisoner, and 
 the senate finally condemned him to be starved to death in 
 a dungeon. Jugurtha' s own conduct occasioned his calamity, 
 though the senate of Rome acted with singular cruelty. 
 
 In this war Metellus the consul was leader at first, but 
 Marius found means to supplant him, and to succeed in 
 command. 
 
 Jugurtha, who was grandson of the famous Massinissa, that 
 sided against Hannibal, sought to usurp the crown of Numidia, by 
 destroying his cousins, the sons of the late king. He succeeded in 
 murdering the elder brother ; and the younger, applying for aid to 
 Rome, failed of success, since Jugurtha bribed the senate, who de- 
 creed to him the sovereignty of half the kingdom. 
 
 He then made war upon his cousin, and finally put him also to 
 death. The displeasure of the Roman people being excited by this 
 conduct, the senate were constrained to summon him to Rome, to 
 answer for his perfidy. He accordingly went thither, and pleading 
 his own cause in person, he again, by bribery, secured the favour of 
 the senate. 
 
 A repetition of his base conduct in reference to his cousin, drew 
 upon him, however, the vengeance of the Romans. Metellus was 
 sent against himj and in the space of two years, Jugurtha was over- 
 thrown in several battles, so that he was forced to negociate a peace. 
 The negociation, however, was soon laid aside. 
 
 Metellus had very much broken the strength of the Numidian 
 king, before Marius succeeded to the command. Having by his arts 
 obtained the consulship, Marius enjoyed the reputation of putting an 
 end to the war. This man was the glory and the scourge of Rome. 
 He was born of poor parents, and inured from infancy to penury 
 and toil. His manners were as rude as his countenance was forbid- 
 ding. 
 
 He was thus prepared, however, to become a great general. His 
 stature was extraordinary, his strength incomparable, and his bravery 
 undaunted. When he entered the country of Jugurtha, he quickly 
 made himself master of the cities that yet remained to the latter. 
 
 liocchus, king of Mauritania, at first assisted this prince, but fear- 
 ing at length for his own crown, and understanding that the Romans 
 
14680 B. c. 121 
 
 would be satisfied with the delivery of Jugurthainto their hands, he 
 resorted to this treacherous measure, and the Numidian, dragged in 
 chains to Rome, experienced the fate above recorded. 
 
 5. After a short war with the Teutones and Cimbri, of 
 whom several hundred thousands were slain under Marius, 
 the Romans fell into a contention with the allied states of 
 Italy. This was called the Social War, and was entered into 
 OP the part of the states, with a view to obtain the rights of 
 citizenship, 91 years B. C. 
 
 This war ended in an allowance of those rights, to such of 
 the allies as should return to their allegiance. It cost the 
 lives of 300,000 of the flower of Italy, and was conducted by 
 the ablest generals, on both sides. 
 
 6. Following this was the commencement of theMithridatic 
 War, 89 years B. 0. Sylla, who had distinguished himself in 
 the social war, was appointed to the command of the expe- 
 dition against Mitliridates, to the great disappointment of Ma- 
 rius. This measure was the foundation of those dreadful 
 dissensions by which Rome became soon distracted. 
 
 Within the space of three years, Sylla greatly humbled the 
 power of Mithridates, and at the expiration of that time re- 
 turned to Rome, burning with revenge against his enemies, 
 Marius and his accomplices. 
 
 Mithridates was a powerful and warlike monarch, whose dominion 
 at this time extended over Cappadocia, Bithynia, Thrace, Macedon, 
 and all Greece. He was able to bring 250,000 infantry into the field, 
 and 50,000 horse. He had also a vast number of armed chariots, 
 and in his port 400 ships of war. 
 
 The Romans desired to attack him, and they wanted no other pre 
 tence, than his having invaded some of those states that were under 
 the protection of Rome. Sylla entered with spirit on the war, and 
 soon had an oppotunity to acquire glory by his arms. 
 
 This general who now began to take the lead in the commonwealth, 
 belonged to one of the most illustrious families in Rome. His person 
 was elegant, his air noble, his manners easy and apparently sincere , 
 he loved pleasure, but glory still more ; and fond of popularity, he de- 
 sired to please all the world. He rose by degrees into office, and 
 , >on eclipsed every other commander. On this account he received 
 the present appointment, in opposition to the claims of Marius. 
 
 In the course of the war, which had now commenced in earnest. 
 Mithridates having caused 150,000 Romans, who were in his domin- 
 ions, to be slain in cold blood, next sent his general Archelaus to op- 
 pose Sylia. Archolaus, however, was defeated near Athens, with the 
 loss of an incredible number of his forces. 
 
 Another battle followed, by which the Roman general recovered 
 all the countries that had been usurped by Mithridates ; so that both 
 
122 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IX. 
 
 parties desired a cessation of arms, Mithridates on account of his 
 losses, and Sylla on account of his designs against Marius. 
 
 7. Before much progress was made in the Mithridatic war, 
 the contention between Marius and Sylla had begun, 88 years 
 B. C. Sylla having been recalled from Asia, refused to obey 
 the mandate of the senate, and found his army well disposed 
 to support him. They required their leader to march them 
 to Rome. He accordingly led them on, and they entered the 
 city sword in hand. 
 
 Marius and his partisans, after some resistance, fled from the 
 city, and Sylla ruled for a time in triumph. He soon returned, 
 however, into Asia, to finish the war he had undertaken. In 
 the mean time, the party of Marius recovered strength, and he 
 returning to Italy, and joining his forces to those of China, his 
 zealous partizan, laid siege to Rome. The city he compelled 
 to absolute submission. 
 
 After putting to death all whom they considered their ene- 
 mies, they assumed the consulship. But Marius, in a fit of 
 debauch, died a few days after ; and Cinna at no great inter 
 val followed, having been privately assassinated. 
 
 After Sylla had entered Rome in arms, his object, with the excep- 
 tion of a few vindictive measures, seemed to be to give peace to the city, 
 and it was not until he had effected this object, as he supposed, that 
 he departed upon his expediton against Mithridates. By confining 
 his efforts solely against Marius, tie had, however, overlooked a for- 
 midable rising opponent in Cornelius Cinna. 
 
 This man, who was of noble extraction, ambitious, bold, and enter 
 prising, had sufficient influence to raise an army with a view to con- 
 tend against the supporters of Sylla. Just at this juncture, Marius, 
 having escaped a thousand perils during his absence, returned, with 
 his son, to the gates of Rome. An army of veterans and slaves, the 
 latter of whom he had promised liberty, flocked to his standard, and 
 burning with revenge, he entered Rome, having previously received 
 the submission of the senate. 
 
 Tragical occurrences followed ; for senators of the first rank were 
 butchered in the streets, and every personal enemy which Marius or 
 Cinna had, that could be found, was put to death. In a month Mari- 
 us died, having satisfied his two prevailing passions of ambition anc" 
 revenge ; and while Cinna was preparing to meet Sylla in arms, he 
 perished in a mutiny of his own soldiers, by an unknown hand. 
 
 8. Sylla soon returned to Italy, victorious over his foreign 
 enemy, and joined by Cethegus, Pompey, and other leaders, 
 gave battle to those Romans who had been opposed to hii 
 and entirely defeated them. Rome now for the first time re- 
 ceived a native master. A most dreadful massacre and pro- 
 
14680 B. c. 123 
 
 scriptioii followed, in which Sylla designed to exterminate 
 every enemy he had in Italy. 
 
 The army opposed to Sylla was headed by young Marius, son of 
 Cains, and although it was more numerous than that of Sylla, it was 
 less united and disciplined. Several misfortunes, however, happen- 
 ing to the forces of Marius, they soon yielded. 
 
 A large body of the Samnites, who, at this time, were.in the interest 
 of Mur^is, had carried the war to the gate of Rome. They were on the 
 point of success, when Sylla met them, and a most obstinate contest 
 ensued. Sylla found himself victorious. On the field of battle 50,000 
 of the vanquished and the victors lay promiscuously in death. Sylla 
 now became undisputed master of his country, and entered Rome at 
 the heau <_H ^L* army. 
 
 But he entered it to accomplish the purposes of the direst revenge. 
 A long list of senators, and Roman knights, together with an unnum 
 bered multitude of the citizens, he caused to be put to death. This 
 work of destruction he extended throughout the principal towns of 
 Italy. He permitted his soldiers to revenge their private injuries, 
 and thus almost indiscriminate massacres took place. 
 
 9. Such violence, however, could be supported only by an 
 increase of power. Accordingly Sylia invested himself with 
 the Dictatorship, thus designing to give an air of justice to his 
 monstrous oppressions. This dictatorship commenced 82 years 
 B. C., and lasted not quite three years. Rome was now be- 
 ginning to settle into a despotism, having passed through all 
 the forms of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. From 
 this time, though nominally a republic for a number of years, 
 it never freed itself from the yoke of despotism. 
 
 Sylla, as perpetual dictator,- was without a rival in authority, 
 and absolute master of the government. Every thing was 
 done as he exacted. The least opposition aroused his ven- 
 geance. The people saw nothing before them but the pros- 
 pect of hopeless slavery, for, while they were amused with the 
 show of their former government, Sylla took care that none 
 but his own creatures should be elected to any office. 
 
 It was at this crisis, however, that, contrary to all expecta- 
 tion, Sylla laid down the dictatorship. The step was unac- 
 countable, and the reasons of 'it have ever remained hidden 
 from mankind. 
 
 He retired in safety. Of all that great multitude which he had so 
 often insulted and terrified, none were found hardy enough to reproach 
 or accuse him, except one young man who pursued him, with bitter 
 invectives, to his own door. 
 
 Sylla, without replying to so low an adversary, turning to those 
 who followed, observed, " That this fellow's insolence would, for the 
 
124 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IX. 
 
 future, prevent any man's laying down an office of such supreme 
 authority." 
 
 / 
 
 Retiring into the country, in order to enjoy the pleasures of tran- 
 quillity and social happiness, if such a wretch could enjoy either, he 
 did not long survive his abdication, dying of a most filthy disease a 
 loathsome and mortifying object to human ambition. 
 
 A little before his death he made his own epitaph, the tenor of 
 which was, " that no man had ever exceeded him in doing good to his 
 friends, or injuries to his enemies." 
 
 SYRIA. 
 
 10. The affairs of SYRIA, under the Seleucidse, or succes- 
 sors of Seleucus, to the end of this period, were in a very un- 
 prosperous state. A succession of massacres and usurpations 
 took place, till the time of Tigranes, king of Armenia, whom 
 the Syrians invited to reign over them, 85 years B. C. Indeed 
 Syria existed in independence but a few years after the pre- 
 sent period, having been made a province of Rome soon after 
 the commencement of the next succeeding period, viz. 64 
 years B. C. 
 
 The following are the names of some of the Seleueiclae of the pre- 
 sent era. The first was Demetrius Nicator, or the conqueror, who 
 reigned five years, but was then confined to his palace for a long 
 time. He afterwards recovered his dominions, and reigned four 
 years. 
 
 After him Tryphon usurped the sceptre, and reigned four years. 
 He was at length killed by his own soldiers. 
 
 Antiochus Sidetes, the second son of Demetrius Soter, next ascend- 
 ed the throne of his ancestors. He made war against Jerusalem, and 
 obliged it to capitulate, but he granted the Jews a peace upon reason- 
 able conditions. 
 
 In attempting to recover all the provinces that belonged to the Sy- 
 rian empire, of which Parthia was one, he made war against Phraates, 
 king of Parthia, but being obliged to separate his troops and put 
 them into winter quarters, the inhabitants of the country resolved on 
 their destruction, and massacred them all in one day. Including at- 
 tendants, they amounted to 400,000 persons. 
 
 After this prince were Seleucus V. Antiochus Gryphus, who reign- 
 ed 29 years, Antiochus IX. who was slain by a son of Gryphus; and 
 one or two others whose names need not be mentioned. 
 
 The Syrians having suffered so long, and so severely, under the 
 turbulent princes of the race of Seleucus, resolved to exclude them 
 from the throne. This they accomplished by sending an embassy to 
 Tigranes, and inviting him to accept of the sovereignty. 
 
 Tigranes complied with their request, and swayed the Syrian 
 sceptre 18 years in perfect peace. Engaging afterwards in a war 
 the Romans, Lucullus the consul defeated him, and took the city 
 Tigranocerta, 69 years B. C. 
 
U680 B . c. U5 
 
 After this, Antiochus Asiaticus, a son of one of the former kings of 
 Syria, was acknowledged as king by Lucullus, and reigned peace- 
 ably for the space of four years ; but at the expiration of that time 
 he was driven from the throne by Pompey, and Syria was reduced 
 to a Roman province. 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 11. Pursuing the history of the Jews under the Maccabees 
 it appears, that the brothers of Judas Maccabseus availed 
 themselves of their advantages with perseverance and suc- 
 cess. By their exertions they established the independence cf 
 their country, and changed its republican government to a vi- 
 gorous monarchy. 
 
 John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabeeus, uniting in his 
 person the offices of high priest and generalissimo of the 
 army, subdued the enemies of bis country, ceased to pay ho- 
 mage to the kings of Syria, firmly established his govern- 
 ment, and is celeb rated for his many valuable qualities, 135 
 H. C. He reigned 28 years. 
 
 His sons assumed the title as well as the power of kings ; 
 and the high-priesthood remained in his family, though not 
 in the person of the monarch. His descendants are distin- 
 guished in the history of the Jewish nation, by the appella- 
 tion of the Asmonean dynasty, which continued about 126 
 V i n.rs. The independence of Judea was, hoAvever, drawing 
 uoar to its close, an event which will be noticed in the suc- 
 iin^ period. 
 
 Concerning Hrycanus it may be further recorded, that he seized 
 on several of the defenceless cities of Syria, and thus accomplished 
 a complete deliverance of his nation from the oppression of Syria. 
 He also made some conquests, both in Arabia and Phoenicia, turned 
 nis victorious arms against the Samaritans, and subdued Idumea. At 
 the time of his death he had raised his nation to a considerable de- 
 gree of wealth, prosperity, and happiness. 
 
 Of Aristobulus, one of the sons that reigned after Hyrcanus, it is 
 recorded that he caused his brother Antigonus to be killed on suspi- 
 cion of disloyalty ; that his mother .claiming a right to the sove- 
 reignty by virtue of Hyrcanus' will, was barbarously starved to 
 death, and that her other sons were kept in close confinement. 
 
 This tyrannical persecutor assumed the royal diadem, which had 
 not been worn by any of his predecessors, and effected the conquest 
 of Iturea. His successes, however, were soon interrupted by sick- 
 ness ; and the deep remorse he felt on account of the treatment o* his 
 mother, produced a vomiting of blood, which speedily close*' his 
 wicked life and reign. 
 
 L2 
 
126 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD IX. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 12. Egypt, during this period, continued under the rule 
 of the Ptolemsean dynasty. The nation increased in mag- 
 nificence and consequence during the reigns of the Ptolemies. 
 Their reigns, however, were disturbed by many plots and in- 
 surrections, which arose between the different states over 
 which the princes had dominion. 
 
 These states were so numerous, as at one time to include 
 33,333 well peopled cities. 
 
 Of the first Ptolemy in this period, viz. Physcon, we remark, that 
 he was so called on account of his corpulency; but the name which 
 he assumed was Evergetes, or the Benefactor. This was changed by 
 his subjects into Kakergetes, or the Evil Doer, for he was the most 
 cruel, wicked, and despicable of the Ptolemies who swayed the Egyp- 
 tian sceptre. 
 
 He murdered the child of his wife Cleopatra in his mother's arms. 
 He caused all persons to be put to death who had lamented the fate 
 of the young prince, and gave free permission to the foreigners who 
 composed his guard, to plunder and massacre the inhabitants of 
 Alexandria. That wealthy city was accordingly stript of its inhabi- 
 tants, and repeopled by strangers whom lie had invited thither. 
 
 These, and many other enormities, rank him among the most bru- 
 tal of mankind. Ptolemy Lathyrus succeeded Physcon. His moth'; r 
 Cleopatra, however, contrived to dethrone him, and to place his bro- 
 ther Alexander on the throne. The latter retained the title of kino 
 18 years. After his death, Lathyrus re-assumed the government. 
 
 To Lathyrus a most inhuman action is attributed, in his war with 
 the Jews, on a certain occasion. Having taken up his quarters aftci 
 a victorious battle, in the neighbouring villages of Judea, he caused 
 Jill the female and infant inhabitants to he murdered, and their muti- 
 lated limbs to be put into boiling caldrons, as if he designed to make 
 a repast for his army. He wished to inspire the Jews with terror by 
 representing their enemies as cannibals. 
 
 PARTHIA. 
 
 13. Parthia continued, during this period, to be governec 
 by the Arsacidee, or descendants of Arsaces. This empire, 
 which was greatly extended at one time, and which undei 
 Mithridates I. enjoyed the height of its grandeur, was soon 
 afterwards considerably abridged. The principal sovereigns 
 during this peroid, were Phraates II. Artabanus II. and Mi- 
 thridates II. 
 
 Phraates II. when preparing to invade Syria at a certain time, 
 found himself under the necessity of fighting the Scythians, whom 
 he had called to his assistance against Antiochus, and to whom he 
 refused to pay the promised sum, on account of their not arriving 
 before the defeat of the Syrians 
 
14680 B. c. 127 
 
 In order to strengthen his army he enlisted all the Greek merce- 
 naries, who, following Antiochus, were prisoners ; but these Greeks 
 having been treated with cruelty during their captivity, resolved to 
 have revenge ; and in the first engagement deserted to the Scythians, 
 and in conjunction with them attacked the Parthians, cut their army 
 to pieces, killed the king, and ravaged their country. In this battJe 
 the Chinese also assisted the Scythians, which is their first appear- 
 ance abroad, which history records. They had previously been con- 
 fined to their own country in their wars and transactions. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period IX. 
 
 1 . Polybius, a learned historian, who wrote the history of the 
 Greeks and Romans. 
 
 2. Apollodorus, a Greek grammarian. 
 
 3. Lucilius, an early Roman poet. 
 
 4. Marius, a celebrated Roman general and consul. 
 
 5. Sylla, an able general, eminent for his success and cru- 
 elty in war. 
 
 6. John Hyrcamis, a liberator of the Jews, and father of the 
 Asmonean dynasty. 
 
 1. Polybius was a native of Arcadia, in Greece. He was initiated 
 in the duties, and made acquainted with the qualifications of a states- 
 man, liy his father, the instructer of Philopcemen. He fought against 
 the Romans in the war of Perseus, but was taken and brought pri- 
 soner to Rome, where he was befriended by the younger Scipio. 
 
 Polybius acquired an intimacy with the powerful Romans, and 
 was present at the taking of Carthage and Numantia. After the death 
 of Scipio, he retired to Megalopolis, where he died in his 82d year, 
 about 124 years B. C. He wrote a universal history in Greek, divi- 
 ded into 40 books, which began with the first Punic war, arid finished 
 with the conquest of Macedonia, by Paulus. 
 
 The greatest part of this valuable history is lost. Five books, and 
 numerous fragments, remain. It is highly authentic and accurate. 
 
 2. Apollodorus flourished about 115 years B. C. He wrote a his- 
 tory of Athens, besides other works. But of all his compositions no- 
 thing is extant, except his Bibliotheca, a valuable work, divided into 
 three books. 
 
 3. Lucilius was a Roman knight, born at Aurunca, and distinguished 
 by his virtuous and inoffensive character. He is considered as the 
 first great satirical writer among the Romans, and indeed as the 
 founder of satire. He was superior to his poetical predecessors at 
 Rome ; he wrote with great roughness and inelegance, but with much 
 facility, and he gained many admirers. 
 
 Blackwell says, that he was " a writer of such keennes of temper 
 and flowing wit, as fitted him to strike out a new road, never trod by 
 poet before." Some, however, admired him beyond his real merits. 
 Of 30 satires which he wrote, nothing but a few verses remains. H 
 died at Naples in the 46th year of his age. 
 
128 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 4. Harms was born of obscure and illiterate parents, but became 
 one of the most powerful and cruel tyrants, that Rome ever beheld 
 during her consular government. He became seven times consul. 
 He destroyed the Ambrones, Teutones, and Cimbri, who were pre' 
 paring to invade Italy, and raised a civil war, to oppose the power ol 
 Sylla, as has been narrated in this History. He died B. C. 86, after 
 he had filled all Rome with blood. 
 
 Among the instances which are mentioned of his firmness, this 
 may be recorded. A swelling in the leg obliged him to apply to 
 a physician, who urged the necessity of cutting it off. Marius gave 
 it, and saw the operation performed without a distortion of the face, 
 and without a groan. The physician asked the other, and Marius 
 gave it with equal composure. 
 
 5. Sylla was the inveterate enemy of Marius, between whm. as 
 we have seen, the most bloody wars were waged. He was descended 
 from a noble family, but was poor in early life. He afterwards be- 
 came immensely rich. He first entered the army under Marius, as 
 qurestor, in Numidia. He afterwards had the administration of the 
 Mithridatic war. 
 
 In his wars with Marius, Sylla acted the tyrant to a terrible ex- 
 tent, and t\ie streets of Rome he filled with devastation and blood. 
 As perpetual dictator, he exercised the most absolute authority ; but 
 at length abdicated and died at Puteoli of a most loathsome disease, 
 in his 60th year, 78 B. C. Mankind have never understood the cause 
 of his abdication. He and Marius both sought in their last sickness 
 to drown the stings of conscience by continual intoxication. 
 
 6. John Hyrcanus was prince and high-priest of the Jews, after 
 his father. He restored his nation to independence, from the power 
 of Antiochus, king of Syria, and died 106 years B. CL He was illus- 
 trious by his virtues, as well as by being the father of a race of princes. 
 He was succeeded on the throne of Judea by a son of the same name. 
 
 PERIOD X. 
 
 TJie period of RornanLiterature, extending front the first 
 campaign of Julius Cccsar, 80 years B. C. to the nativity 
 of Jesus Christ, or the commencement of the Christian era, 
 
 ROME. 
 
 SECT. I. ROME, at the commencement of this period, had 
 greatly extended its dominions, and was fast becoming a uni- 
 versal empire. Abroad the Romans triumphed hut at home 
 their affairs were in a melancholy and distracted state. The 
 form of public liberty remained, but the reality had principally 
 departed. The civil dissensions of Marius and Sylla had pros- 
 trated many of their most valuable institutions. 
 
80 B. c. 129 
 
 Before these dissensions were brought to a close, a man be- 
 gan to appear 011 the stage, who* was destined to destroy the 
 last remnant of the liberties of his country. This man was 
 Julius Csesar. In his first military enterprise, 80 years B. C., 
 in the siege of Mytilene, under Thermus, the praetor of Asia, 
 his bravery and talents were rewarded with a civic crown. 
 
 Soon after this he returned to Rome to prosecute his studied, 
 and for a time refused all interference in the feuds which were 
 then prevailing. Before he had finished his studies, however, 
 he raised troops to repress the incursions of Mithridates, and 
 was successful in saving or rescuing several of the eastern 
 provinces from his grasp. 
 
 From this time his ambitious views were too apparent, and in seek- 
 ing office and popularity, he was but too successful. He had escaped 
 with difficulty the proscriptions of Sylla, who was persuaded to let 
 him live, though that tyrant dreaded Caesar's abilities. 
 
 Csesar was descended from one of the first families in Rome, and 
 had married a daughter of China. His powerful name and connex- 
 ions he strengthened, by arts of the most consummate policy and ad- 
 dress. His powers of mind were of the highest order, and he excelled 
 in whatever branch of pursuit ne engaged. 
 
 He was in person slender, tall, and delicate, and was reputed to be 
 the handsomest man in Rome. He had a habit of running his fingei 
 under the nicely adjusted curls of his head, when he appeared in pub- 
 lic assemblies : this led Cicero to remark, " that one would hardly 
 imagine that under such a fine exterior, there was hatching the de- 
 struction of the liberties of Rome/' 
 
 Of his feats in war, and the important part he acted in the common- 
 wealth, we shall have occasion to speak, in following the order of 
 events. 
 
 2. After the death of Sylla, contention broke out anew ; 
 for the terror of his power had created a short interval of a 
 dreadful repose. 
 
 Catulus and Lepidus settled their difficulties only by arms 
 and the War of Sertorious, and the Servile War ensued. These, 
 however, were safely terminated after a few years. The war 
 of Sertorius commenced 77 years B. C. The Servile War 
 commenced 73 years B. C. , 
 
 Lepidus, who was consul, wishing to annul all the acts of Sylla, 
 was opposed by his colleague Catulus. To carry his point he found 
 it necessary to use force, and accordingly he raised an army in his 
 government of Gaul, with which he approached, in hostile array, to- 
 wards Rome^ 
 
 Catulus, to whom Pompey and his forces were joined, met him at 
 the Milvian Bridge, two miles from Rome, and gave him battle. Le- 
 
13O ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 pidns was entirely defeated, and escaping into Sardinia, soon died of 
 grief. His party, however, did not expire with him. 
 
 A more dangerous enemy still remained in Spain. This was Ser- 
 torius, a veteran soldier, who had been bred under Marius, his equal 
 m courage his superior in virtue. Banished from Rome by Sylla, 
 he had found a refuge in Spain, whither all, who fled from Sylia's 
 cruelty, resorted to him. Having gained the affections of its warlike 
 nhabitants, he resisted, during eight years, the Roman power. 
 
 Metellus, and afterwards Pompey, were sent to bring him to sub- 
 mission, but he often came off victorious, and was even threatening 
 to invade Italy, when he was suddenly destroyed by the treachery 
 of one of his lieutenants-. The revolted provinces of Spain quickly 
 submitted to Pompey. 
 
 The Servile War took its rise from a few gladiators, who broke 
 
 * ' 7 
 
 from their fencing-school at Capua, and having drawn a number of 
 slaves after them, overthrew the force that was sent against them, 
 and from this success, their number soon increased to an army of 
 40,000 men. 
 
 With this strength, and headed by Sparlacus, their general, they 
 sustained a vigorous war of three years in the very heart of Italy, 
 and even talked of attacking Rome ; but Crassus, having assembled 
 all the forces in the neighbourhood of the capital, destroyed the 
 greatest part of them, and among them Spartacus, fighting bravely 
 to the last. 
 
 3. The War which had been carried on against Mithrida- 
 tes, and which Sylla had suspended by means of a peace, 
 was renewed about this time, 72 years B. C. This was one 
 of the most important wars which the Romans ever waged. 
 Mithridates defeated the successor of Sylla, and contracting 
 an alliance with Tigranes, king of Armenia, began to be quite 
 formidable to the power of Rome. 
 
 Lucullus, however, an experienced general, was sent against 
 him, and defeated him in several engagements, with immense 
 loss. Tigranes also felt the weight of the Roman arm ; and 
 both, doubtless, would have been obliged soon to sue for peace, 
 had not Lucullus, by means of intrigue, been deposed from 
 his command, and Glabrio appointed in his stead. 
 
 After this, Mithridates met with success again, till Pompey 
 was appointed to take the command against this powerful 
 enemy of Rome. Under the auspices of this great general. 
 the Roman arms were completely victorious, and the wai 
 terminated about 63 years B. C., with the death of Mithri- 
 dates. 
 
 Mithridates was the undaunted enemy of Rome during 25 years. 
 His resources in wealth and soldiers were great, and his bravery and 
 talents were equal to his resources. The Roman general with whom 
 
80 B. c. 131 
 
 lc had finally to contend, was an antagonist worthy of him, in every 
 respect. Pompey had already become a favourite hero of the Ro- 
 man people. 
 
 He had generally been successful in his military enterprises, and 
 in the commission which he had recently received of managing the 
 war against the pirates of the Mediterranean, he had shewn equal 
 intrepidity and skill. Pleased with his success, the people had en- 
 trusted to him the sole management of the Mithridatic war, with an 
 almost unlimited authority. 
 
 His power would have rendered him extremely dangerous to the 
 liberties of his country, had he been an enemy to those liberties. But 
 though highly ambitious, he was desirous rather of glory than of do- 
 minion. He wished to be the first man in the state, and for this rea- 
 son entered into a contest with Crassus for the favour of the people, 
 as he afterwards fought against Ca?sar, in behalf of the republic. 
 
 In the Mithridatic war he manifested his qualities as a general. 
 He first proposed terms of accommodation to Mithridates. But 
 these were refused ; and the king, collecting an army from the wrecks 
 of his former power, was about to carry the war into Armenia. In 
 this project, however, he was disappointed, and was obliged to flee. 
 
 Pompey, nevertheless, overtook him before he had time to pass the 
 Euphrates. It was then night, but being compelled to engage, it is 
 said the moon, shining from behind the Roman army, lengthened 
 their shadows so much, that the archers of Mithridates shot their ar 
 rows at these, mistaking the shadow for the substance. 
 
 He was overthrown with great loss ; but he broke through the Ro- 
 man army with a few hundred horse, and escaped. Here, after wan- 
 dering through the forests several days, leading his horse, and sub- 
 sisting on fruits which were found in his way, he met with a few 
 thousand of his troops that had survived the engagement, who con- 
 ducted him to one of his magazines, containing the treasures deposi- 
 ted to support the war. 
 
 After this he sought aid from several princes ; but though he failed 
 in this attempt, and though he was betrayed by his unnatural son, he 
 still aimed at great designs, and even in the heart of Asia, he pro- 
 jected the invasion of the Roman empire. Upon being apprized of 
 his intentions, a mutiny ensued, which was promoted by his son. 
 
 JBeing obliged to take refuge in his palace, he sent to his son for 
 leave to depart, with offers of the remnant of his kingdom to him. 
 The monster, however, denied this request, and sternly conveyed a 
 message to the old man, intimating that death was now all that he 
 oould expect. 
 
 This instance of filial ingratitude aggravated all his other calami- 
 ties ; and he sought for his wives, children, and himself, a voluntary 
 death. They all readily consented to die with their monarch, rather 
 than to undergo the horrors of a Roman captivity. 
 
 4. After defeating Mithridates, Pompey made very nume- 
 rous and extensive conquests, setting up and deposing kings 
 at his pleasure He at length marched against Jerusalem, 
 
132 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X, 
 
 and after besieging it three months, took it 12,000 of its 
 defenders having lost their lives. He then returned to Rome, 
 enjoying the most splendid triumph that ever entered its 
 gates, 61 years B. C. 
 
 Darius, king of Media, and Antioehus, king of Syria, were compel- 
 led to submit to the clemency of Pompey, while Phraates, king of 
 Parthia, was obliged to retire, and send to entreat peace. From 
 thence, extending his conquest over the Thuraeans and Arabians, he 
 Deduced all Syria and Pontus into Roman provinces. 
 
 In his conquest of Jerusalem after gratifying his curiosity with the 
 holy things of the place, h restored Hyrcanus to the priesthood and 
 government, and took Aiistobulus with him to grace his triumph. 
 This triumph lasted two days. In it were exposed the names of 15 
 conquered kingdoms, 800 cities taken, 29 cities repeopled, and 1000 
 castles brought to acknowledge the empire of Rome. 
 
 The treasures that were brought home amounted to near 20,000,000 
 of our money ($;) and the trophies and other splendours of the pro- 
 fession, were such, that the spectators seemed lost in the magnificent 
 profusion. The glory, rather than the real prosperity of Rome, was 
 increased by these victories. While Pompey and the Roman arms 
 were triumphant abroad, the city was near its -ruin, by means of a 
 conspiracy in its very "bosom. 
 
 5. Sergius Catiline, a patrician, by birth, at this time, (B. C. 
 64) plotted the downfall of his country. His object was to 
 rise on its ruins to wealth and power ; and accordingly asso- 
 ciating with him a number of ambitious, profligate characters 
 like himself, he hoped to throw Rome and all Italy into a state 
 of tumult Paul insurrection, and -to destroy the lives of the most 
 distinguished of the citizens. 
 
 But the vigilance of Cicero, who wns consul, frustrated this 
 horrible project. Taking the necessary precautions, he secured 
 the conspirators that were in Rome, and ordered them to exe 
 cution, according to law. Catiline, who had fled, soon raised 
 an army, and coining to battle with the forces of the republic, 
 he was overthrown, g,nd himself and his whole -army were 
 given to the sword. 
 
 Cicero, by his abilities, patriotism, and zeal for the public 
 
 6. Pompey, after his triumphal entrance into Rome, sought, 
 to be the first man in the republic. His contention was more 
 -particularly with Crassus, who, on account of his wealth, 
 possessed an influence at this time next to that of Pompey, 
 
 ' / ' . 
 
 good, was raised to the most enviable height of glory and re- 
 nown. 
 
80 B. C. 'CHRISTIAN ERA. 133 
 
 Caesar, who was also aspiring after the same distinction, sought 
 to accomplish his object by uniting these rivals. 
 
 This union he brought to pass, and thus he avoided making 
 himself an enemy to either of them, and enjoyed the favour 
 of both. From a regard to their mutual friend, Pompey and 
 Crass us agreed to a partition of power with Ceesar, and thua 
 was formed the First Triumvirate, B. C. 59. 
 
 Ceesar was chosen consul. He increased his popularity, by 
 a division of lands among the poorer citizens, and strengthened 
 his interest with Pompey, by giving him his daughter in 
 marriage. The coalition between Pompey, Crassus, and 
 Ceesar, constituted a power distinct from the senate or the peo- 
 ple, and yet dependent on both. It was exceedingly detri- 
 mental to the public liberties. 
 
 7. Having divided the empire between them, these three 
 individuals prepared for their respective destinations. Caesar, 
 however, previously to his departure, had the address to pro- 
 cure the banishment of Cicero from Rome, and thus removed 
 one of the greatest obstacles to his career of ambition. He ac- 
 complished this object by means of his partizans, particu- 
 larly Clodius, the tribune, 58 years B. C. 
 
 The pretext for this base act, was the illegality of _certain 
 measures pursued in the suppression of Catiline's conspiracy. 
 Through the interest of Poinpey, however, Cicero was at 
 length recalled from exile, with distinguished honour. 
 
 Cicero continued to be the watchful guardian of the few remaining 
 liberties of his country. He was the greatest man of the Romans, if 
 not of all antiquity. His virtues were as conspicuous as his talents* 
 He appeared, however, to have one foible, and that was vanity. He 
 desired to unite in his character incompatible qualities ; and to be 
 thought not only the greatest orator, but the greatest jester in 
 Rome. 
 
 In his zeal for the public good, Cajsar had reason to fear him. To 
 procure his banishment from the city, he favoured the designs of 
 Clodius, who was Cicero's inveterate enemy, and in this he was 
 joined by Pompey. Clodius, as tribune, caused a law to be passed, 
 importing that any who had condemned a Roman citizen unheard, 
 should himself be banished. This was designed to have a bearing 
 on Cicero, in regard to his proceedings against Catiline. 
 
 Being impeached oil this law, Cicero Was banished 400 miles from 
 Italy, his houses were ordered to be demolished, and his goods set 
 up for sale. In vain did he protest against the iniquitous sentence ; 
 the people had ungratefully forgotten their benefactor, and sixteen 
 months did he spend in solitude and grief. He bore his exile with 
 greatest impatience. M 
 
134 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 Pompey, who had concurred in the banishment of Cicero, at 
 'ength saw his mistake in the growing reputation and power of his 
 rival, Caesar. To prop his own sinking fortunes, he needed the aid of 
 Cicero, and interceding in his favour, procured his recall to Rome, 
 57 B. C. 
 
 8. Csesar, who had the government of Transalpine Gaul 
 and Illy da, nobly sustained the military glory of his country, 
 in the wars which he waged on its account. In Gaul 5 Ger- 
 many, and Britain, he spread the terror of his arms. His 
 landing on the British isles, and his success in subduing the 
 savage and hardy natives, is a memorable event in history. 
 
 His invasion of Britain took place 55 years B. C.; and his 
 subjugation of a considerable part of the country was effected 
 at two different times, in the course of one year, 54 B. C. But 
 the urgency of affairs at home, delayed the progress of his 
 arms in -Britain. 
 
 Caesar, in the first year of his government, subdued the Helvetii, 
 who had left their own country, and attempted to settle themselves 
 in the more inviting regions of the Roman provinces. Two hundred 
 thousand of their number perished. The Germans, with Ariovistus 
 at their head, were next cut off. The Belga3, Nervii, the Celtic 
 Gauls, the Suevi, and other warlike nations, were all successively 
 brought under subjection. 
 
 At length, urged by the desire of conquest, he invaded Britain. 
 But upon approaching the shores, he found them covered with men 
 to oppose his landing, and it was not without a severe struggle, that 
 the natives were put to flight. Having obtained other advantages 
 over them, and bound them to obedience, he passed over to the conti- 
 nent during winter quarters, meditating a return in the spring. 
 
 The absence of the conqueror inspired the Britons, naturally fond 
 of liberty, with a resolution to renounce the Roman power. But in 
 a second expedition, Caesar so intimidated them with repeated victo- 
 ries, that they no longer resisted in the plains, but fled to the forests. 
 Here, however, they were unsafe, and soon yielded to the necessity 
 of suing for a peace. 
 
 In the course of nine years this ambitious general and waster of 
 hurn^-u life conquered, together with Britain, all that country which 
 extends from the Mediterranean to the German sea. It is said that 
 he took 800 cities ; subdued 300 different states ; overcame 3,000,000 
 men, 1,000,000 of whom fell on the field of battle, and the remainder 
 made prisoners of war. Notwithstanding the plaudits of the world, 
 how little glory was there in all this ! 
 
 9. The death of Crassus, which occurred in an expedition 
 n gainst the Parthians, 53 years B. C., put an end to the 
 Triumvirate. After this event, Caesar and Pompey, whose 
 union was far from being sincere, began each to entertain the 
 idea of supreme, undivided dominion. , Both were extremely 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 135 
 
 powerful ; but Ceesar had superior talents, and an invincible 
 army devoted to his interests. The main body of the people 
 were also in favour of Ceesar who had won them by his libe- 
 rality. 
 
 The strength of Pompey lay in the favour of the consuls, 
 and the good wishes of the Roman senate ; and several legions 
 were also at his command. In attitudes so imposing, and 
 with resources so vast, it is not surprising that, in those dege- 
 nerate times, each should be encouraged to expect the posses- 
 sion of supreme power. 
 
 The contest for superiority was not long a contest of plans 
 and feelings merely it soon became a contest of blows. The 
 result of this terrible civil war was disastrous in the extreme 
 to Pompey and the republic. At Pharsalia, in Thessaly, 
 Caesar and Pompey met in battle, in which Pompey was en- 
 tirely defeated, with the loss of 15,000 men killed, and 24,000 
 taken prisoners, 48 years B. C. Being soon after in the power 
 of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, to whom he had fled for protec- 
 tion, he was basely murdered. 
 
 Near the expiration of the term of his government, Caesar applied 
 to the senate to be continued in his authority. This application the 
 senate refused. Cassar then determined to appeal to arms for what 
 he chose to consider as his right. Having, by the sanction of an 
 oath, engaged the services of his army in his favour, he began to draw 
 towards the confines of Italy, and passing the Alps with his third 
 legion, stopped at Ravenna, from whence he wrote a letter to the 
 consuls, declaring that he was ready to resign all command, if Pom- 
 pey would show equal submission. ' 
 
 But the senate being devoted to Pompey, was determined to de- 
 prive Caesar of his command, and consequently passed a decree, by 
 which he was to be considered an enemy to the commonwealth, if 
 he did not disband his army within a limited time. 
 
 Caesar, nothing at all intimidated or deterred from his project, 
 marched his army to the Rubicon, a small river which formed the 
 boundary between Italy and Gaul. This boundary the Romans 
 considered as sacred, and not to be passed with impunity, since they 
 had solemnly devoted to the infernal gods, and branded with sacri- 
 lege and parricide, any person who should presume to pass it, with 
 an army, a legion, or even a single cohort. 
 
 At this spot, he for a moment hesitated, as if profoundly impressed 
 with the fearful consequences which must result from the step he was 
 about to take. His misgivings, however, subsiding, he said to one of 
 his generals, " the die is cast," and putting spurs to his horse, he 
 plunged in, and with his soldiers soon gained the opposite shore. 
 
 Terror and indignation seized the citizens of Rome, as the news 
 of this transaction reached their ears. Pompey was not ia sufficient 
 
136 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 force to meet the enemy, and accordingly quitted the city, and led his 
 soldiers to Capua, where he had two legions. From that place he 
 passed over at length into Macedonia, followed by the consuls, and a 
 large body of the senators. At the same time, he caused levies to be 
 raised over both Italy and Greece. 
 
 In two months, Caesar having made himself master of all Italy, 
 entered Rome in triumph, to the great joy of most of the people. He 
 secured to himself the supreme authority and the public treasures 
 and having made profession of respect for the citizens and liberties 
 of Rome, and adjusted the concerns of the city, he left it in a few 
 days, and set out to take the field against his enemies. 
 
 The lieutenants of Pompey having possession of Spain, Caesai 
 marched directly thither, leading his army again over the lofty Alps 
 In the course of 40 days he subdued the whole country, and return 
 ed victorious to Rome, where, during his absence, he had been norm 
 nated dictator. He was soon after chosen consul also. His dictator 
 ship he relinquished at the expiration of eleven days. 
 
 In the meantime, Pompey's preparations were such as became tho 
 crisis which was approaching. He had received from the sovereigns 
 of the East very considerable supplies, as well as the assurances of their 
 friendship. He was master of nine Italian legions, and had a fleet of 
 500 large ships, under the conduct of an experienced commander. 
 
 The nobles and most distinguished citizens of Rome, flocked daily 
 around his standard ; and he had at one time above 200 senators in 
 his camp, among whom were the great names of Cicero and Cato. 
 Pompey's party glorying in their numbers and strength, were confi- 
 dent of success. 
 
 Caesar, with a courage bordering on rashness, immediately sought 
 his rival, and desired to bring him to an engagement. Near Dyrra- 
 chium the opposing armies were so situated that it became necessary 
 to fight. The result was by no means decisive, though it was favoura- 
 ble on the whole to Pompey, who afterwards led his troops to Phar- 
 salia. 
 
 Previously to this encounter, a circumstance took place, displaying 
 tire lofty spirit of Ceesar. For the purpose of hastening the arrival 
 of a reinforcement, he conceived the design of passing over to Brun- 
 dusium in the night, by embarking in a fisherman's boat at the mouth 
 of the river Apsus. This he accordingly did with great secrecy, 
 having disguised himself .in the habit of a slave. 
 
 When they had rowed off a considerable way, the wind suddenly 
 changed against them the sea began to rise in billows, and the storm 
 increased to an alarming degree. The fisherman, who had rowed 
 all night with extreme labour, was often inclined to put back, but 
 was dissuaded by his passenger. At length, however, he conceived 
 himself unable to proceed, and yet he was too distant from land to 
 hope for making good his return. 
 
 In this moment of despair he was about to give up the oa,r, and 
 commit himself to the mercy of the waves, when Caesar discovering 
 himself, commanded him to row boldly " Fear nothing," cried he, 
 " you carry Caesar and his fortune." The fisherman was encouraged 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 137 
 
 to proceed, but the wind finally forced them to make for land, and 
 return. 
 
 Soon after the affair at Dyrrachium, the hostile armies found them- 
 selves on the plains of Pharsalia. Caesar invited and provoked a 
 battle, by all the arts in his power. Pompey had secured an advan- 
 tageous situation, and it was by the artifice of decamping and indu- 
 cing the enemy to follow him, that Caesar drew him from it. 
 
 When Cajsar perceived the effect of his stratagem, with joy in his 
 countenance he informed his soldiers that the hour was come which 
 was to crown their glory, and terminate their fatigues. His forces, 
 however, were much exceeded by those of Pompey, who led an 
 army of 45,000 footmen, and 7000 horse, while the troops of Caesar 
 did not number more than 23,000 men, only 1000 of whom were 
 cavalry. But they were better disciplined than those of Pompey. 
 
 Awful was the moment of meeting. The armies were both Roman, 
 mingled indeed with foreigners, and the first in the world the leaders 
 were consummately brave, and the interest at stake was the dominion 
 of Rome. Every heart was fired and every arm nerved. The generals 
 both addressed their armies previously to the engagement, and urged 
 them to sustain the reputation of their ancient bra.very. 
 
 The battle commenced on the part of Caesar. But the cavalry of 
 Pompey were too numerous for their adversaries. Caesar's men were 
 forced to retire. Their general had foreseen this result, and had made 
 the requisite disposition of his forces. Six cohorts in reserve, who 
 had been ordered to discharge their javelins at the faces of Pompey's 
 cavalry, were, at this crisis, brought up to the engagement. The sin- 
 gle circumstance of the manner of their fighting determined the fate 
 of the battle. Pompey's cavalry, who consisted of the younger part 
 of the Roman nobility, valued themselves upon their beauty, and 
 dreaded a scar in the face, more than a wound in the body. They 
 were therefore frightened from the field by the unusual mode of at- 
 tack, and thus the day was lost to Pompey and the republic. 
 
 The loss of Caesar was inconsiderable, 200 men only being slain. 
 His clemency towards his vanquished enemies deserves to be noticed. 
 iMost of the prisoners he incorporated with the rest of his army, and 
 to the senators, and Roman knights, who fell into his hands, he gave 
 liberty to retire whithersoever they pleased. The letters which Pom- 
 pey had received from several persons who wished to be thought neu- 
 tral, Caesar committed to the flames without reading them, as Pom- 
 pey had done upon a former occasion. 
 
 Caesar followed up his victory with the greatest energy, and after 
 Pompey's flight instantly pursued him. He did not however over- 
 take him alive. Pompey had been destined to suffer the extremity . 
 misery. His fall was from the summit of power to the most abject 
 dependence, and it was as sudden as it was terrible. Escaping from 
 the field of battle, and wandering along the beautiful vale of Tenre^ 
 in the greatest agony of mind, he finally found the means of sailing 
 to Lesbos, where he had left his wife Cornelia. 
 
 Their meeting was tender and distressing to the last degree. The 
 news of her reverse of fortune had caused Cornelia to faint, and for 
 
 M2 
 
138 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 a considerable time life appeared to be extinguished. At length re 
 covering herself, she ran quite through the city to the sea-side. Pom- 
 pey received her without speaking a word, and for some time sup- 
 ported her in his arms, with silent anguish. When words found 
 their way, the tenderest expressions of affection and grief were mu- 
 tually uttered. 
 
 But it became necessary to flee, and sailing to the coast of Egypt, 
 they sought the protection of Ptolemy, whose father had formerly 
 found in Pompey a benefactor. The ministers of the king wishing 
 to court the favour of Cssar, basely proposed to receive and then 
 murder their guest, as lie approached the shore. This diabolical coun- 
 sel prevailing, Achillas, and Septimius, the latter by birth a Roman, 
 were appointed to carry it into execution. 
 
 Accordingly, in the very sight of Cornelia, as Pompey arose to go 
 ashore, supporting himself upon his freedman's arm, Septimius stab- 
 bed him in the back ; when the warrior, perceiving what would be his 
 fate, silently resigned himself to it, at the same time muffling his face 
 with his robe. 
 
 The freed man of Pompey, after the people had retired, found the 
 means of burning the body of his master, from which the head had 
 t een separated, and over the tomb the following inscription was 
 afterwards placed : " He whose merits deserve a temple, can now 
 scarcely find a grave." Coesar soon reached Egypt; but the head of 
 Pompey, which was immediately presented to him, and from which 
 he turned his face in horror, informed him, that he had now nothing 
 to fear from a man who had so lately contended with him for the em- 
 pire of the \vorld. 
 
 10. War was Caesar's element. He found an occasion -of 
 gratifying his ruling passion in Egypt. In a contest between 
 Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra, he interposed in behalf of 
 the latter, and at length brought Egypt under the Roman 
 yoke, 48 B. C. In two years after, he subdued Pharnaces, 
 king of Pontus. 
 
 Cleopatra, though sister to Ptolemy, was nevertheless married to 
 him, and both jointly held the throne. The ambition of Cleopatra 
 prompted her to aspire after undivided authority. The charms of 
 her person were unequalled, and conquering even the conqueror of 
 the world, they engaged him in a war which was alike easy and de- 
 sirable. After the reduction of Egypt, Crcsar, forgetful of the re- 
 spect due to his character, abandoned himself to pleasure in the com- 
 pany of Cleopatra. 
 
 From such a course, however, he soon broke off, for hearing of the 
 revolt of Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, who had seized upon Chal- 
 cis and Armenia, he bent his way thither. In the battle of Zela, he 
 signally chastised the offending monarch. " I came, I saw, I conquer- 
 e<V' is the expressive language in which his report was conveyed to 
 the Roman senate. 
 
 11. Leaving the scene of conquest in the East, Csesar has- 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 139 
 
 tened to Rome, where his presence was greaUy needed. An- 
 tony, who acted as his deputy, had created disturbances which 
 Caesar only could quell. Italy was divided, and the party of 
 Pompey was yet extremely formidable. Caesar, however, soon 
 restored tranquillity to Rome. 
 
 But at this time the two sons of Pompey, with Cato and 
 Scipio, were in arms in Africa, assisted by Juba, king of Mau- 
 ritania; thither Caesar hastened, and at Thepsus, meeting them 
 in battle, overthrew them with little or no loss on his side. 
 Scipio, in attempting to escape into Spain, fell among the 
 enemy, and was slain. Cato, confining himself in Utica, at 
 first thought of resisting the victorious Csesar, but finding his 
 followers irresolute, he deliberately put an end to his own life. 
 
 This event finishing the war in Africa, Csesar returned in 
 triumph to Rome, 45 years B. C. By an unparalleled display 
 of magnificence and by unbounded liberality, he courted and 
 obtained the favour of the great body of the people. Almost 
 every honour and title was conferred upon him. He was 
 styled father of his country, was created perpetual dictator, 
 received the title of emperor, and Ms person was declared 
 sacred. 
 
 The story of Cato is deeply tragical. This extraordinary man dis- 
 played at once the firmness and the depravity of his nature. When 
 he found it in vain to attempt to animate his soldiers against Csesar. 
 he resolved to die. After supping cheerfully, he came into his bed- 
 chamber, where he laid himself down, and with deep attention, read 
 some time Plato's Dialogue on the immortality of the soul. 
 
 Perceiving soon that his sword had been removed from the head of 
 his bed, he made inquiries respecting it of his domestics; but while 
 he was like to obtain no satisfaction from them, his son, who had 
 caused it to be taken away, entered with tears, and besought him, in 
 the most humble and affectionate manner, to change his resolution ; 
 but receiving a stern reprimand, he desisted from his persuasions. 
 
 His sword being at length handed to him, his tranquillity returned, 
 and he cried out, " Now am I master of myself." He then took up 
 the book again, which he read twice over, and fell into a profound 
 sleep. Upon waking, he made some inquiry of one of his freedmen, 
 respecting his friends, and then shutting himself up in the room 
 alone, he stabbed himself; but the wound not being immediately mor- 
 tal, with a most ferocious resolution, he tore out his own bowels, and 
 died as he had lived, a stoic. By this deed he has blackened his cha- 
 racter, to all futurity. 
 
 12. The state of affairs in Spain called Csesar again into 
 that country, 45 years B. C. Two of the sons of Pompey 
 were in arms, and it was not without severe fighting thai 
 
140 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 Caesar subdued the remnant of his enemies in Spain, He re 
 turned to Rome to receive new demonstrations of the almost 
 slavish homage of its citizens. 
 
 Finding himself in peace, he turned his attention more than 
 ever to the improvement of the empire. He affected great 
 moderation in the enjoyment of his power, though he was evi- 
 dently eager of its acquisition. He however turned it to a 
 good account. He made no discriminations between his 
 friends and foes : he was liberal alike to both. He adorned 
 the city with magnificent buildings, undertook to level several 
 mountains in Italy, and to drain the Pontine marshes, impro- 
 ved the navigation of the Tiber, reformed the calendar, and 
 meditated distant conquests. 
 
 13. His brilliant course, however, was destined shortly to 
 end. He was suspected of aiming at royalty ; and though 
 many of the people felt greatly obliged by his clemency and 
 munificence, yet they detested the name of king. This cir- 
 cumstance urged 60 of the senators, who were actuated by 
 the love of liberty, though some of them seem to have been 
 impelled also by private resentment, to league together with 
 a view to deprive him of his life. This they accomplished in 
 the senate house on the ides (15th) of March, in the 56th year 
 of his age, 44 B. C. 
 
 Caesar enjoyed all the power of a monarch ; and though he might, 
 in the first instance, have ambitiously sought it, yet it was conferred 
 or allowed by the free consent of the people. But the name of king 
 was not to be endured. The particular occasion of envy or alarm 
 among the friends of liberty, was the neglect, on the part of Caesar, of 
 rising from his seat, when the senate was conferring upon him some 
 special honours. 
 
 From that time it began to be rumoured that he was about to take 
 the title of king. Whether such was his purpose cannot now be de- 
 termined, though it cannot be well conceived why he should desire 
 that empty honour, when he possessed the reality. The conspiracy 
 which was formed against him, was headed by Brutus and Cassius, 
 the one his friend the other his enemy. Brutus owed his life to 
 the clemency of Caesar, whom the latter spared at the battle of Phar- 
 salia ; and he was not destitute of a strong personal attachment to 
 the dictator. 
 
 The conspiracy which had been formed, happened in some way 
 or other to be known by two or three individuals ; but the means ta- 
 ken to apprize Ca3sar of it, failed. As he -proceeded to the senate, on 
 the day agreed upon by the conspirators, a slave hastened to carry 
 him information, but could not come near him for the crowd. Arte- 
 midorus, a great philosopher, who had discovered the whole plot, de- 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 141 
 
 livered him a memorial, but Caesar gave it, with other papers, to one 
 of his secretaries, without reading it. 
 
 As soon as he had taken his place, the conspirators came near him 
 under pretence of saluting him ; and Cimber, who was one of them, 
 pretending to sue for his brother's pardon, approached in a suppliant 
 posture, and so near as to take hold of the bottom of his robe, which 
 prevented Caesar from rising. 
 
 This was the signal agreed on. Casca, who was behind, stabbed 
 him, though slightly, in the shoulder. Caesar instantly turned round 
 and wounded him in the arm. However, the conspirators were now 
 all in action, and surrounded him. He received a second stab in the 
 breast, while Cassius wounded him in the face. Still he defended 
 himself with great vigour, rushing among them, and throwing down 
 such as opposed him, till seeing Brutus who had struck a dagger in 
 his thigh, he yielded himself to his fate, first exclaiming to his friend, 
 in a subdued and languishing tone, " And you, too, my son !" 
 
 He fell, covered with his robe, before him, and pierced with 23 
 wounds. 
 
 The character of a despot and conqueror, as such, is to be detest- 
 ed. CaSsar enslaved his country, and waded to dominion through 
 rivers of blood. His elevation cost the lives of 1,200,000 human be- 
 ings. We may be permitted to express our abhorrence of such con- 
 duct, and to regret tj^at transcendant talents (for such he possessed) 
 should have been perverted to so base a purpose. 
 
 The darkness of this picture is however relieved by some lines of 
 light if it were not so, Caesar would have been a monster. Besides 
 the splendid endowments of his genius, he was distinguished by 
 liberality, clemency, and modesty. He always spared a vanquished 
 enemy ; and perhaps no despot, in his personal feelings and private 
 character, was ever more amiable. How much then is it to be lament- 
 ed, that such qualities should have been united to an insatiable am- 
 bition ! 
 
 14. The death of Caesar produced an unheard of crisis in 
 human affairs. There was no longer any tyrant, yet liberty 
 was extinct ; for the causes which destroyed it kept it from 
 reviving. The senate and people mutually distrusted each 
 other. There was a very general feeling of sorrow and in- 
 dignation among the latter at the murder of Caesar, nor could 
 the senate at all mitigate or repress it. 
 
 Mark Antony, a man of consummate military talents, but 
 profligate in the extreme, exposed the bleeding body of Caesar 
 in the forum. This sight, together with the bloody robe, pro- 
 duced an electric effect on the multitude, which was heigh t- 
 ed to an excessive degree, by means of an artful and inflam- 
 matory harangue delivered by Antony on the occasion. The 
 conspirators were obliged to flee the city in order to save their 
 lives. 
 
142 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 At this juncture, (43 B. C.) a second triumvirate was form- 
 ed, consisting of Antony, already mentioned, Lepidus, who 
 was immensely rich, and Octavius, afterwards surnamed Au- 
 gustus, who was Caesar's grand nephew and adopted heir. 
 This was a most bloody triumvirate. As they divided the 
 supreme authority among themselves, by concert, they stipu- 
 lated that all their respective enemies should be destroyed, 
 though those might happen to be the best friends of each as- 
 sociate who was required to sacrifice them. 
 
 Lepidus gave up his brother Paulus to the vengeance of one of his 
 colleagues. Antony permitted the proscription of his uncle Lucius ; 
 and Augustus, to his eternal infamy, sacrificed the great Cicero. 
 Three hundred senators, and 2000 Roman knights, besides multitudes 
 of worthy citizens, were included in this horrible proscription. 
 
 15. The conspirators were not suffered long to escape the 
 vengeance of the friends of Cyesar. Octavius and Antony 
 now marched against them in Thrace, where they had a for- 
 midable army of 100,000 men, commanded by Brutus and 
 Cassius. An engagement took place at Philippi, 42 years 
 B. C., which decided the fate of the empiie. It was won by 
 Octavius and Antony, or rather by Antony alone, for Octa- 
 vius was destitute not only of military talents, but even of 
 personal bravery. 
 
 The death-blow was now given to Roman liberty. The 
 republican party was entirely subdued, and Brutus and Cas- 
 sius, its leaders, escaped the hands of their enemies^ only by a 
 voluntary death. 
 
 The loss of the battle at Philippi by the republicans, was occasion- 
 ed principally through the hasty despair of Cassius. Brutus, on his 
 part, had been victorious, Cassius had suffered a severe loss, but 
 would have been relieved by Brutus, had he not ordered himself to 
 be killed in the meantime, in consequence of having mistaken a body 
 of Brutus's cavalry, who was approaching him, for that of the enemy. 
 
 When Brutus was informed of the defeat and death of Cassius, he 
 seemed hardly able to restrain the excess of his grief for a man, whom 
 he called " the last of the Romans." He bathed the dead body with 
 his tears. Antony offered him battle on the ensuing day ; but it was 
 the policy of Brutus to delay, and even to attempt to starve his ene- 
 my ; he probably might have done it. 
 
 'Die soldiers of Brutus, however, urged a battle, nor would they 
 submit to a refusal. After a respite of a few days, Brutus took the 
 field. He fought with the resolution to conquer, but some unhappy 
 movement of a*part of his troops turned the fortune of the day, and 
 all was lost. He followed the fate of Cassius. 
 
 Retiring out of the way of the enemy, with Strato } his master io 
 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 143 
 
 oratory, he requested the latter to put an end to his life. After much 
 solicitation Strato reluctantly assented, and averting his face, pre- 
 sented the sword's point to Brutus, who threw himself upon it, and 
 immediately expired. , 
 
 Octavius being sick at this time, took no part in the battle of Phi- 
 lippi Indeed his presence, had it been afforded, would have been of 
 little service to the combatants, since he possessed neither skill nor 
 courage. He had, however, gained a large share of popularity with 
 the Roman people, partly on account of his name, and his relation- 
 ship to Caesar, and partly on account of his personal appearance, and 
 accomplishments. These were in the highest degree prepossessing. 
 
 He was destined, as will soon appear, to be much more successful 
 than the other Triumviri, and even at length 'to place himself at the 
 head of the empire. 
 
 16. The power of the Triumviri being established upon 
 the ruins of the commonwealth, they began to think of en- 
 joying the homage to which they had aspired. Lepidus, how- 
 ever, wqs soon deposed and banished. Antony took his way 
 to the East, where, at Athens, he spent some time in philoso- 
 phic retirement, and afterwards passed from kingdom to king- 
 dom, attended by a crowd of sovereigns, exacting contribu- 
 tions, and giving away crowns with capricious insolence. 
 While Octavius, with consummate art, was increasing his fa- 
 vour with the people by his munificence, and contriving the 
 means of attaining to supreme power. 
 
 It may be necessary to observe here, that there were properly 
 four individuals at this period, who were the masters of the Roman 
 empire. Some time after the formation of the second triumvirate, 
 Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey the Great, was admitted to a share 
 of the authority and possessions of the state, in connexion with the 
 triumviri. 
 
 An occasion of war soon occurring, Octavius had the good fortune 
 to defeat Pompey in a naval engagement, through the skill and in- 
 trepidity of Agrippa, his friend and associate in war. This event oc- 
 curred 32 years B. C. Augustus had now no competitor for the em- 
 pire of the world, save Mark Antony. 
 
 17. Antony having summoned Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, 
 to answer for her disaffection to the Roman cause, was caught 
 in the toils of love by the artifices of the beautiful queen. In 
 his infatuation ITS forgot ambition and empire, in devotion to 
 the object of his guilty passion. Octavius saw in this mad- 
 ness the presage of his ruin. 
 
 On Cleopatra, her lover had lavished the provinces of the 
 empire for which he was declared a public enemy, and as for 
 her sake he had divorced Octavia, the gisto of Octavius, the 
 
144 ANCIENT HISTORY FEKldtf X* 
 
 latter embraced the opportunity, which he had eagerly de- 
 sired, of declaring war against him. 
 
 An immense armament, principally naval, (the land for- 
 ces being merely spectators,) came to an engagement near 
 Actium, on the coast of Epirus, 31 years B. 0. The conflict 
 was decisive* Cleopatra, who attended Antony, deserted him 
 with her galleys, in the midst of the engagement. 
 
 Such was his infatuation, that he immediately followed 
 her, leaving his fleet, which after a contest of some hours, 
 yielded to the squadron of Octavius. The conqueror pursued 
 the fugitives to Egypt ; and the infamous Cleopatra proffered 
 terms to Octavius, including the surrender of her kingdom 
 and the abandonment of Antony. 
 
 After an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, Antony antici- 
 pated his doom by falling on his sword. Cleopatra also soon 
 after saw fit to frustrate the design of Octavius, which was to 
 carry her in chains to Rome as an ornament to his triumph^ 
 by seeking a voluntary death. 
 
 Octavius was now left without a rival, with the government 
 of Rome in his hands. Egypt, which had existed a kingdom 
 from immemorial ages, from this time became a province of 
 Rome, 30 years B. C. 
 
 The story of Cleopatra will be briefly told under the history of 
 Egypt for this period. Antony, her lover, had few superiors in war, 
 and he was the idol of his army. He was, however, profligate in the 
 extreme, and his infatuated conduct in relation to the Egyptian 
 queen, while it showed the native strength and tenderness of his pas- 
 sions, has imprinted an indelible stain on his character as a hero. 
 His weakness in this respect was the cause of his ruin, and prevented 
 the acquisition of universal empire, which he might, perhaps have 
 otherwise obtained. 
 
 In the struggle between Antony and Octavius, the strength of the 
 East and of the West were arrayed against each other. Antony's force 
 composed a body of 100,000 foot, and 12,000 horse ; while his fleet 
 amounted to 500 ships of war. The army of Octavius mustered but 
 80,000 foot, but equalled his adversary in the number of his cavalry ; 
 while his fleet was only half as large as Antony's ; but the ships 
 were better built and better manned. 
 
 The fortune of the day in the battle of Actium, was determined by 
 the flight of Cleopatra with 60 galleys. Yet with this diminution of 
 the fleet, and with the abandonment of it by Antony himself, it fought 
 with the utmost obstinacy for several hours, till partly by the con- 
 duct of Agrippa, and partly by the promises of Octavius, it submitted 
 to the conqueror. The land forces of Antony soon followed the ex- 
 ample of the navy, an- 4 yielded to Octavius without striking a blow- 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 145 
 
 18. The Roman empire had now become the largest 
 which the world had ever seen : and Octavius, now named 
 Augustus, holding the principal offices of the state, was, in 
 effect, the absolute master of the lives and fortunes of the Ro 
 man people. During a long administration he almost effaced 
 the memory of his former cruelties, and seemed to consult 
 only the good of his subjects. , 
 
 His reign constituted the era of Roman taste and genius, 
 under the auspices of Meceenas, his chief minister, who was 
 the most eminent patron of letters recorded in history. 
 
 Seventeen years before the close of 'his life and reign, ac- 
 according to the true computation, (not the vulgar era,) our 
 Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST was born in Judea an 
 event more important than any other that ever took place in 
 our world. 
 
 Augustus pursued a pacific course, and restored order to the state 
 During the period of his administration of the government, the tem- 
 ple of Janus, which was shut only at the prevalence of general peace, 
 was closed for the first time since the commencement of the second 
 Punic war, and only the third time from the building of Rome. Itwas 
 precisely at this happy and singular crisis of human affairs, that the 
 birth of our blessed Saviour happened. 
 
 The administration of Augustus .was however fatal to liberty ; 
 though that circumstance itself tended to general tranquillity, since 
 the corruption of manners required the most absolute restraint. By 
 masterly strokes of policy, he united all interests and reconciled a 
 differences. He disguised his new despotism, under names familiar 
 and allowed by that constitution which he had destroyed. 
 
 He claimed to himself the title of emperor, to preserve authority 
 over the army ; he caused himself to be created tribune, to managi 
 the people ; and prince of the senate, to govern that body. After he 
 had fixed himself in the government, he long hesitated whether he 
 should restore to Rome its liberty, or retain his present situation. The 
 examples, and the differing fortunes of Sylla and Caesar, were before 
 him, and operated on his hopes and fears. 
 
 Disclosing his feelings to Agrippa, who had assisted him in gaining 
 the empire, and to Mecaenas, his principal minister and adviser, the 
 former suggested the wisdom of his resigning it the latter dissuaded 
 him from taking such a step. The opinion of Mecaenas, as it was on 
 the whole more agreeable to Augustus, was followed, and perhaps 
 mankind have little reason to regret it, considering what was the 
 awful corruption of the times. 
 
 Through the counsels of this great minister, Augustus fostered 
 learning and the arts to the highest degree, and specimens of human 
 intellect then appeared, which have rarely been equalled among man- 
 kind. Genius enjoyed all the rewards and all the consideration that 
 it could claim. 
 
 N 
 
146 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 The authority which Augustus usurped, he, from policy, accepted 
 only for a limited period, sometimes for ten, and sometimes for only 
 five years ; but at the expiration of the term, it was regularly be- 
 Btowed upon him again. 
 
 His -situation, which was above all equality, generated virtues to 
 which, in all probability, he was naturally a stranger. He sometimes 
 condescended to plead before the proper tribunals, for those he de- 
 sired to protect, for he suffered the laws to have their proper course. 
 One of his veteran soldiers entreated his protection in a law-suit. 
 Augustus, taking little notice of his request, desired him apply to an 
 advocate. " Ah !" replied the soldier, " it was not by proxy that I 
 served you at the battle of Actium." 
 
 This reply pleased Augustus so much, that he pleaded his cause in 
 person, and gained it for him. 
 
 He was so affable, that he returned the salutations of the meanest 
 person. One day a person presented him with a petition, but with 
 so much awe, that Augustus was displeased with his meanness. 
 " What ! friend," cried he, " you seem as if you were offering some- 
 thing to an elephant, and not to a man : be bolder." 
 
 A part of his long reign of more than 40 years belongs to modern 
 history, but we may here speak of it as entire. During the whole of 
 it he cultivated the arts of peace. The wars which were carried on 
 in the distant provinces aimed rather at enforcing submission, than 
 at extending dominion. He was however successful in almost all of 
 them. The defeat of his general, Varus, in Germany, was the most 
 serious disaster which he experienced. The choicest troops of the 
 empire constituted the army of Varus, and they were entirely cut off 
 in the forests of that country. 
 
 In his domestic life, Augustus was less happy and fortunate, than 
 as master of the Roman people. His wife, Livia, was an imperious 
 woman, and controlled him at her pleasure. Her son, Tiberius, who 
 at length succeeded to the empire, possessed a suspicious and obsti- 
 nate temper, and gave him so much uneasiness, that he banished him 
 for five years at a distance from Rome. But his daughter, Julia, by 
 his former wife, afflicted him more than all the rest, through her ex- 
 cessive lewdnes? The very court where her father presided, was 
 not exempt from ner debaucheries. 
 
 Augustus lost a favourite son, who, it is supposed, was taken off by 
 poison, lest he should supplant Tiberius. The emperor was often 
 heard to exclaim, " How happy should I have been had I never had 
 a wife or children !" He died during an absence from Rome, at Nola, 
 ofadysentery, in the76thyear of his age, after reigning 41 years, 14 A. C. 
 
 . 19. Little is to be said, separately, of the history of other 
 nations during this period, as they were mostly swallowed up 
 in the Roman empire. We can notice only two or three, and 
 these are very much blended with the Roman history, being 
 included in the number of the Roman provinces before the 
 end of the present period. First, Judea comes under review. 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 14? 
 
 JUDEA. 
 
 THE JEWS at this time were ruled by the sacerdotal and 
 royal family of the Maccabees, under the title of the As- 
 inonean dynasty, but they were in the last stages of their 
 independent existence. When Pompey came to Jerusalem 
 to settle the affairs of Judea, he restored Hyrcanus with the 
 title of Prince of the Jews, and conferred the government of the 
 country on Antipater, an Idumean proselyte, 63 years B. C. 
 
 In the civil wars between Ceesar and Pompey, the former sent 
 Aristobulus, whom Pompey had carried captive to Rome, into Judea, 
 to engage the Jews in his (Cesar's) cause, but he was poisoned by his 
 enemies. At the same time Pompey ordered his son Alexander to 
 be beheaded. 
 
 20. After one other revolution in the person of Hyrcanus, 
 the family of the Herodians was seated on the throne of Ju- 
 dea. Herod, called the Great, son of Antipater, was declared 
 king of that country, by a decree of the Roman senate, 37 
 years B. C. His reign was splendid, but distinguished by a 
 singular degree of profligacy. 
 
 Some time after his establishment on the throne, Herod, in order 
 to please Mariamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus, whom he had married t 
 appointed her brother, Aristobulus, High Priest ; but perceiving that 
 he was much beloved by the Jews, he caused him to be drowned 
 while bathing. After the battle of Actium he went to Rhodes to 
 meet Augustus, who confirmed his title of king of Judea. Upon his 
 return he condemned to death his wife. Mariamne, and her mother, 
 Alexandra. 
 
 From this hour his life was a continual scene of misery and fero- 
 city. At the instigation of his third son, he sentenced to death Aris- 
 tobulus and Alexander, his children by Mariamne, and the next year 
 Antipater himself experienced the same fate. His last moments also 
 were stained with the blood of the children of Bethlehem and the 
 neighbourhood, whom he ordered to be slain, in the hope that the 
 infant Jesus Christ would fall among them. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 21. The family of the Lagidse, continued to rule EGYPT 
 Alexander II. was on the throne at the commencement of this 
 period. Cleopatra was the last sovereign. The intermediate 
 sovereigns were Ptolemy Auletes, Berenice, and Ptolemy 
 Dionysius, who reigned for a time jointly with Cleopatra. 
 
 With the death of this queen ended the family of the La- 
 gitlee, after having ruled in Egypt about 294 years. Egypt 
 was now reduced to a Roman province, and governed by a 
 Praetor sent thither from Rome, 30 years B. C, 
 
148 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 $ Ptolemy Dionysius was 13 years old at the time of his father's 
 death, by whose will he was nominated to the succession, on condi- 
 tion of his marrying his sister Cleopatra, then 17 years of age. The 
 Romans were appointed guardians of these children. Cleopatra 
 married her brother, and they reigned jointly, till, dissatisfied with 
 the Roman ministry, she retired to Syria and Palestine, where she 
 raised an army, and advanced under the walls of Pelusium, to give 
 battle to the ministers of her husband. 
 
 At this moment, as we have before learned, Pompey, vanquished at 
 Pharsalia, took refuge in Alexandria, and was assassinated by order 
 of Ptolemy. Julius Ca3sar, pursuing his rival, arrived soon after- 
 wards, and endeavoured to compromise the differences between the 
 king and the queen. For a short time they were reconciled ; but 
 Ptolemy, renewing the war not long afterwards, was defeated and 
 drowned in the Nile. 
 
 Cleopatra then married her youngest brother, a boy of eleven years 
 of age, and already affianced to his sister Arsinoe. Him, however, 
 she soon poisoned, 43 B. C. ; and assumed the sole government. After 
 the arrival of Mark Antony in Egypt, and his captivation by Cleo- 
 patra, her character became still more remarkable for corrup- 
 tion. The beauties of her person were incomparable ; and in polite 
 learning, in brilliancy of wit, and in tunefulness of voice in her con- 
 versation, she was as irresistible as in her personal charms. These 
 qualities, joined to an extreme profligacy of manners, rendered her 
 one of the most dangerous foes to virtue that ever lived. 
 
 When summoned to present herself before Antony for the first 
 time, her appearance was so splendid and fascinating, that the Ro- 
 man warrior rather adored than judged her. Every decoration was 
 employed to heighten the most consummate loveliness of features, and 
 gracefulness of motion. Holding Antony in the chains of a base 
 passion, she ruled him at her pleasure. 
 
 The profusion of riches displayed at her feasts was astonishing. 
 Antony holding the wealth of plundered provinces, with his utmost 
 efforts could not equal the queen in the sumptuousness of her enter- 
 tainments. It was at one of these feasts that the incident mentioned 
 by Pliny occurred. 
 
 Cleopatra, having laid a considerable wager that she could expend 
 more than 50,000/. upon one repast, caused one of the pearls that she 
 wore in her ears, which was valued at the above named sum, to be 
 dissolved in an acid, and then swallowed it. She was then preparing 
 to melt the other in a similar manner, but some one had the address 
 to divert her from her design. 
 
 After the battle of Actium, Octavius used every effort to secure the 
 person of the queen, and to effect the death of Antony, by her means. 
 He promised her his protection and friendship if she would kill him 
 This she peremptorily refused to do, but consented to deliver his 
 person and the kingdom of Egypt into the enemy's hand. 
 
 Antony, who had before meanly sought his life of Octavius, open- 
 ing his eyes to his danger, and to the perfidy of Cleopatra 3 at first 
 made some faint and ineffectual attempt at resistance, and then in his 
 
80. B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 149 
 
 fury attempted to avenge himself of the queen. She, howevei, 
 eluded his purpose by taking flight to a monument, which she had 
 erected for her safety, and gave out a report that she had killed her - 
 self. 
 
 Upon this news, Antony forgot his resentment his former affec- 
 tion rushed into his heart, and his cup of calamity was full. He 
 resolved to follow her example, and die a Roman death. At the mo- 
 ment he had fallen upon his sword, the news of the queen's death 
 was contradicted, and Antony, weltering in his blood, and stil 
 breathing, consented to be carried to see the queen. 
 
 After being pulled up to the top of the monument where Cleopa- 
 tra was, by means of ropes let down and fastened to him, a scene of 
 anguish and affection was presented which can sc&rcely be conceived. 
 Suffice it to say, he died in her arms, bedewed with her tears, and 
 almost stifled with her caresses. 
 
 The queen, though at length taken by Octavius, and apparently 
 secured by the strict guard which he placed over her, found an op- 
 portunity of poisoning herself by means of an asp, which she applied 
 to her arm, the sting of which instantly threw her into a fatal lethargy. 
 In such a miserable end were these victims of guilt involved. 
 
 PARTHIA. 
 
 22. Under the Arsacidae, PARTHIA continued to enjoy some 
 consequence during this period. Its principal sovereigns 
 were Phraates III. Orodes I. and Phraates IV. 
 
 Orodes I. was no sooner on the throne, than he was attacked by 
 Crassus, the Roman consul, to whom Syria was allotted in the par- 
 tition of the provinces of the empire between him, Ceesar, and Pom- 
 pey, 53 B. C. The Parthian armies were commanded by Surena, a 
 general of extraordinary wisdom and valour. Crassus being led by 
 the king of Edessa into a barren country, his army was completely 
 defeated, and himself taken and killed. 
 
 Orodes, jealous of Surena's glory, caused him to be put to death soon 
 after, and entrusted the command of his army to Pacorus, his own 
 son, who made great conquests in several countries, but who was 
 soon after defeated and killed by Ventidias, the Roman general. 
 Orodes, overwhelmed with grief, became insane; but having recovered 
 in some degree, he associated his eldest son Phraates his partner in 
 the throne. 
 
 The infamous wretch first attempted to poison his father, but that 
 only curing him of the dropsy, he stifled the old man in bed, and 
 murdered all his brothers. When Augustus came into Asia, he 
 obliged Phraates to restore the ensigns taken from Crassus, and after- 
 wards from Antony, and to deliver four of his sons as hostages. 
 Divine Providence punished him in a remarkable manner, as he 
 was killed by a conspiracy of his concubine and his own son, 
 13 A. C. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period X. 
 1. Lucretius, a Roman didactic poet. 
 
 N2 
 
150 ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X, 
 
 2. Julius Caesar, a successful warrior and elegant writer. 
 
 3. Cicero, the prince of Roman orators and philosophers. 
 
 4. Catullus, a Roman epigrammatic poet. 
 
 5. Sallust, the first philosophical Roman historian. 
 
 6. Varro, the most learned of the Romans. 
 
 7. Cornelius Nepos, an eminent Roman historian. 
 
 8. Virgil, the prince of Roman poets. 
 
 9. Horace, the greatest of the Roman lyric poets. 
 
 1. Lucretius was early sent to Athens, where he studied philo- 
 sophy. He embraced the tenets of Epicurus. In his poem of the 
 Nature of Things, he is the advocate of atheism and impiety, and 
 earnestly endeavours to establish the mortality of the soul. His mas- 
 terly genius and unaffected elegance are, however, every where con 
 spicuous. 
 
 He wrote Latin better than any man ever did before him, and had 
 he lived in the polished age of Augustus, he would have been no 
 mean rival of Virgil. He wrote his poem while he laboured under 
 a delirium, occasioned by a philtre, administered by means of the jea 
 lousy of his wife or mistress. He died, some say he destroyed him 
 self, in his 44th year, about 54 B. C. 
 
 2. Julius Caesar was the son of Caius Caesar, who was descended 
 from Julius, the son of ^Eneas ; in his 16th year he lost his father ; 
 and Sylla, aware of his ambition, endeavoured to remove him j his 
 friends, however, interceded, and obtained his life ; but Sylla warned 
 them to be upon their guard against that loose-girt boy, alluding to 
 Caesar's manner of wearing his tunic, or coat, loosely girded ; " for ip 
 him," said he, " are many Mariuses." 
 
 He procured many friends by his eloquence, and obtained the office 
 of high priest ; after passing through different dignities, he was sent 
 governor into Spain ; and, upon his return, being elected consul, he 
 entered into an agreement with Pompey and Crassus, that nothing 
 should be done in the state without their joint concurrence. After his 
 consulship, he had the province of Gaul assigned him ; which, with 
 wonderful conduct and bravery, he subdued in 10 years, carrying the 
 terror of his arms also into Germany and Britain, till then unknown 
 to the Romans. 
 
 Pompey now became jealous of his power, and induced the senate 
 to order him to lay down his command ; upon which, he crossed the 
 river Rubicon, the boundary of his province, and led his army to- 
 wards Rome, Pompey and all the friends of liberty fleeing before 
 him. 
 
 Having subdued Italy in sixty days, Caesar entered Rome, and 
 seized upon the money in the public treasury : he then went to 
 Spain, where he conquered the partisans of Pompey under Petreius. 
 Afranius, and Varro ; and, at his return, was created dictator, and 
 soon after consul. Leaving Rome, and going in search of Pompey, 
 the two hostile generals engaged on the plains of Pharsalia ; the army 
 of Caesar amounted only to 23,000 men, while that of Pompey 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 151 
 
 amounted to 45,000 ; but the superior generalship of the former pre- 
 vailed, and he was victorious. 
 
 Making a generous use of his victory, he followed Pompey into 
 Egypt, where he heard of his murder, and making the country tri- 
 butary to his power, he hastened to suppress the remainder of Pom- 
 pey's party in Africa and Spain. Triumphing over all his enemies > 
 he was created perpetual dictator, received the names of imperator 
 and father of his country, and governed the people with justice. His 
 engrossing all the powers of the state, and ruling with absolute au- 
 thority, created general disgust ; a conspiracy was therefore formed 
 against him, by more than sixty senators, the chief of whom were 
 Brutus and Cassius. He was stabbed in the senate house, on the 15th 
 of March, B. C. 44, in the 56th year of his age ; he at first attempt- 
 ed to make some resistance, but seeing Brutus, his intimate friend, 
 among the conspirators, he submitted to his fate, and covered with 
 23 wounds, fell at the foot of Pompey's statue. 
 
 Caesar is perhaps the most distinguished character in history. His 
 talents in war and literature were equally great. Amidst his military 
 enterprises he found time to be the author of many works, none of 
 which remain except seven books of commentaries, or memoirs of his 
 wars ; these are much admired for their elegance, as well as correct- 
 ness of style. He spoke in public with the same spirit with which 
 lie fought, and had he devoted himself to the bar, would doubtless 
 have rivalled Cicero. 
 
 3. Marcus Tullius Cicero w r as the father of Latin eloquence, and 
 the greatest orator that Rome ever produced. He was the son of a 
 Roman knight, and having displayed promising abilities, his father 
 k rocured for him the most celebrated masters of his time. He served 
 one campaign under Sylla, and returning to Rome, appeared as a 
 ^leader at the bar, where the greatness of his genius, and his superior 
 eloquence, soon raised him to notice. 
 
 HavJng passed through the lower honours of the state, he was 
 made consul in his 43d year. Catiline, a profligate noble, with many 
 dissolute and desperate Romans, conspired against their country ; but 
 all their projects were baffled by his extreme vigilance ; Catiline was 
 defeated in the field ; and Cicero, at Rome, punished the rest of the 
 conspirators with death. 
 
 He received the thanks of the people, and was styled the father of 
 his country and the second founder of Rome ; but his refusal to 
 agree to the arbitrary measures of Caesar and Pompey, caused him 
 to be exiled ; he did not bear his banishment with fortitude ; and was 
 overjoyed when, after 16 month's absence, he was restored with ho- 
 nour to his country. After much hesitation, he espoused the cause of 
 Pompey against Caesar ; and when the latter was victorious at Phar- 
 salia, Cicero was reconciled to him, and treated with great humani- 
 ty ; but as a true republican, he approved of Caesar's murder, and 
 thus incurred the hatred of Antony, who wished to succeed in 
 power. 
 
 Octavius, afterwards called Augustus Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus, 
 having formed a third triumvirate, agreed on a proscription of their 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 enemies ; Octavius struggled two days to preserve Cicero from the 
 vengeance of Antony, but at last gave him up ; in his attempt to 
 escape, he was overtaken by a party of soldiers, who cut off his head 
 and right hand, and brought them to Antony ; this happened B. C. 
 43. in the 64th year of his age. 
 
 He is to be admired, not only as a great statesman, but as an ora- 
 tor, a man of genius, and a scholar, in which united character, he 
 stands unrivalled ; his conduct was not always that of a patriot, and 
 he is frequently accused of timidity. 
 
 4. Catullus was a poet of Verona, whose compositions are the off- 
 spring of a luxuriant imagination. He directed his satire against 
 Caesar, whose only revenge was to invite the poet, and hospitably en- 
 tertain him at his table. Catullus was the first Roman who imitated 
 with success the Greek writers, and introduced their numbers among 
 the Latins. 
 
 Though the pages of the poet are occasionally disfigured with in- 
 delicate expressions, the whole is written with great purity of style. 
 He died in the 48th year of his age, B. C. 40. 
 
 5. Sallust was educated at Rome, and made himself known as a 
 magistrate, in the office of quaestor and consul. He was a man of 
 depraved and licentious manners. He married Terentia, the divorced 
 wife of Cicero, and hence the immortal hatred between the historian 
 and orator. 
 
 Of his Roman history little remains ; but his narrative of the Ca 
 tilinarian conspiracy, and the wars of Jugurtha, are extant. 
 
 His descriptions, harangues, &c. are animated and correct, and the 
 author is greatly commended for the vigour of his sentences. He 
 died in his 51st year, 35 B. C. 
 
 8. Varro wrote 300 volumes, which are all lost, except a treatise, 
 Oe Re Rustica, and another De Lingua Latina. The latter he wrote 
 n his 80th year, and dedicated to Cicero. In the civil wars, he was 
 taken by Caesar and proscribed, but escaped. His erudition and ex- 
 tent of information were matter of wonder to Cicero and St. Augus- 
 tine. He died in his 88th year, B. C. 28. 
 
 7. Cornelius Nepos enjoyed the patronage of Augustus. He was 
 the intimate friend of Cicero and Atticus. He possessed a most deli 
 cate taste and lively disposition. He composed several works, but his 
 lives of illustrious Greeks are all that remain. He has ever been ad- 
 mired for the clearness and precision of his style, and the delicacy 
 of his expressions. He died 25 years B. C. 
 
 Q. Virgil was born at Andes, a village near Mantua, about 70 year 
 B. C. Having lost his farms in the distribution of lands to the sol 
 diers of Augustus, after the battle of Philippi, he repaired to Rome, 
 where he obtained an order for the restitution of his property througl 
 the interest of Mecaenas. When he showed this order to the centu- 
 rion who was in possession, he nearly killed Virgil, and the lattei 
 escaped only by swimming across a river. 
 
 Virgil, in his Bucolics, or Pastorals, celebrates the praises of his 
 Illustrious patrons. He undertook his Georgics in order to promote 
 
80 B. C. CHRISTIAN ERA. 153 
 
 the study of agriculture ; and the design of the ^Eneid is thought to 
 have been to reconcile the Romans to a monarchical government. 
 
 By his talents and virtues he acquired the friendship of the empe- 
 ror Augustus, and the most celebrated personages of his time. He 
 died at Brundusium, in the 51st year of his age, B. C. 19, leaving his 
 immense possessions to his friends, and was buried in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Naples, where his tomb is still to be seen. 
 
 9. Horace was born at Venusia ; his father, although poor, took 
 him to Rome when a boy, and educated him with great care. At 
 the age of twenty, he went to Athens to study philosophy, and then, 
 with the rank of military tribune, attended Brutus to the civil wars. 
 In the battle of fchilippi he saved himself by flight, and returned to 
 Rome. 
 
 Finding his father dead, and his fortune ruined, he applied himself 
 to writing verses ; and his talents soon recommended him to the 
 protection of Virgil, Mecaenas, and Augustus, with whom he after- 
 wards lived on terms of the greatest intimacy and friendship. He 
 died in the 57th year of his age, B. C. 8. 
 
GENERAL VIEWS 
 
 OF THE GEOGRAPHY, POPULATION, POLITICS, RELI- 
 GION, MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS, ARTS, LITERA- 
 TURE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, SOCIETY, &c. OF ANCIENT 
 NATIONS. 
 
 ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. 
 
 The few notices which the Bible has transmitted to us, respecting 
 the Antediluvian world, being mostly confined to the moral history 
 of its inhabitants, leave us greatly in the dark in respect to its phy- 
 sical and geographical facts, the state of the arts, political institutions, 
 and similar subjects. We are here chiefly guided by analogy, and 
 conjecture. 
 
 SECT. 1. Surf ace of the Earth. The earth's surface, there 
 is reason to believe, at that period, differed somewhat from its 
 present state. Concerning this subject, however, there are dif- 
 ferent opinions. We incline to that which supposes that there 
 were not those inequalities in the surface of the earth which 
 now appear at least in so great a degree, and that it was 
 thus more uniformly adapted to the purposes of culture, and 
 to the support of its inhabitants. 
 
 The opinion of Dr. Burnet, that the primitive earth was no more 
 than a crust investing the water contained in the abyss, is somewhat 
 plausible. This crust breaking into innumerable pieces, at the time 
 of the deluge, would naturally sink down amidst the mass of waters, 
 to various depths, and thus cause the mountains and valleys which 
 now exist. 
 
 The convulsions occasioned by that terrible event, would be likely 
 to disfigure the earth's surface in a measure, and render it less plea- 
 sant as the abode of human beings. Indeed the mountains and hills, 
 the valleys and plains, in many instances, appear as if they had been 
 shaped and fashioned by some " war of the elements." Their form 
 and appearance are precisely such, as we shoiild conjecture would be 
 produced from the force of "the retiring waters, in vast eddies and 
 whirlpools. 
 
 2. The Seasons. The seasons might have been different 
 from what they are at present. Conjecture has assigned to 
 the Antediluvian world but one season, and that an " eternal 
 
 
ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. 155 
 
 spring." This would be the fact, if, as some philosophers 
 suppose, the plane of the earth's orbit was then coincident 
 with that of the equator. They now make a considerable 
 angle with each other, and this alteration is concluded to 
 have taken place at the time of the deluge. Besides, the va- 
 riety of the seasons is never mentioned in scripture, till after 
 the flood. 
 
 On this supposition an ingenious, but fanciful French writer,* 
 has accounted for the production of the deluge itself. He imagines, 
 that in consequence of this change, whatever might be its cause, the 
 vast masses of ice which had collected for ages in the cold regions of 
 the globe, being acted, upon more immediately by the heat of the sun, 
 suddenly melted, and overflowed the earth. 
 
 3. Population and Longevity. Nothing can be deter- 
 mined with certainty respecting the extent of population. 
 Some imagine that it was very great, far exceeding what it is 
 at present. This is inferred from the surprising length of men's 
 lives, and from the numerous generations that were then con- 
 temporary. But from various circumstances, the probability is. 
 that it was much smaller, and that mankind were not widely 
 diffused over the earth. 
 
 If any thing on this subject may be ascertained or fairly conjec- 
 tured, from the discoveries of geology, the opinion of Cuvier, a great 
 adept in that science, is probably correct, viz. that previously to the 
 last considerable convulsion of our globe, the human race inhabited 
 only some narrow districts. It is well known that while shells, fos- 
 sils, and the bones of animals, have been found in the earth's surface, 
 in great abundance, thus exhibiting the ruins of the deluge, few or 
 no human remains have been discovered, under such circumstances. 
 
 If these latter exist, they must be in some circumscribed parts of 
 the earth, such as Asia or Africa, where the labours of the geologist 
 have not been so particularly bestowed, or they may lie buried under 
 some mass of waters. Of course the population of the antediluvian 
 world must have been mostly confined to those quarters of the globe, 
 or to one of them. 
 
 The longevity of the antediluvians was remarkable. The contrast, 
 in this respect, of that age of the world and the present times is so 
 great, as to have given rise to many conjectures assigning the cause 
 or causes of their longevity. We need not interest ourselves in these 
 conjectures, as nothing can be known with certainty, except it may 
 be remarked, that the air immediately after the flood was most likely 
 much contaminated and rendered unwholesome. 
 
 Mow far this circumstance should have affected the pristine con- 
 stitution of the human body, thus shortening the life of man in suc- 
 cessive ages, down to the present common standard, is left to the cu- 
 
 * St. Pierre. 
 
156 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 rious to inquire. If there were no physical causes of this change, 
 God could have effected it without them. It is his own record that 
 the life of man was abridged. 
 
 4. Religion. In regard to the religious rites of the prime- 
 val race of men, it can only be affirmed, that they offered sa- 
 crifices, both of animals and of the fruits of the earth. The 
 Sabbath, we know, was instituted immediately after the crea 
 tion, and it is not likely that its observance was ever wholly 
 discontinued. 
 
 The descendants of Seth, the son of Adam, were for some time 
 distinguished by their worship of- God and observation of religious 
 rites, while those of Cain were notorious for their irreligion and pro 
 fligacy. These lived separately till intercourses by marriage were 
 formed between them ; and then the pure religion and morals of the 
 descendants of Seth were corrupted, and the whole world became 
 alienated from God. 
 
 5. Arts and Sciences. These must have been cultivated 
 in a degree, and in some of their branches might have been 
 more than we are aware. If we consider that human life 
 was several hundred years in extent, there was space for vast 
 improvements in those arts and sciences that were once disco 
 vered. It is much to be doubted, however, whether many ot 
 them were known. 
 
 The last generation of Cain's line found out the art of 
 working metal ; and music seems to have been invented about 
 the same time. A knowledge of agriculture, architecture, and 
 perhaps of astronomy, was possessed. 
 
 Some suppose that man, in the infancy of the world, was aided by 
 inspiration ; but even if left to the ordinary operation of his faculties, 
 he might have been no stranger to knowledge and mental improve- 
 ment. Still, from the difficulty of originating knowledge, and from 
 the vices of the antediluvians their probable devotion to gross sen- 
 sual pleasures, they seem not to have been as extensively acquainted 
 with the more intellectual objects of human pursuit, as their descend- 
 ants were a few ages after the flood. 
 
 We have some accounts, though not from an authentic source, of 
 discoveries made in astronomy by the posterity of Seth. These dis- 
 coveries, it is said, were engraved on two pillars, the one of brick, 
 and the other of stone. The latter, it is affirmed, existed after the 
 deluge, and remained entire in the time of Josephus, that is, nearly a 
 century after Christ. If this were- a fact, it is singular that no other 
 memorial of their intellect should have appeared. It is here given, 
 however, as it is found on historic record. 
 
 6. Government. On the topic of government, there is 
 hardly a foundation for conjecture. The most probable, is 
 the patriarchal form of government ; that is, the government 
 
ANTEDILLVIAN WORLD. 157 
 
 which was held by the heads of separate families. A num- 
 ber of these might perhaps combine, and place them- 
 selves under the direction of some common ancestor. This 
 is the most natural form of government, and indeed no men- 
 tion is made in the Bible of kingly authority until after the 
 deluge. 
 
 Still, as some suppose, this form of government might have been 
 set aside by tyranny and oppression ; and the change would proba- 
 bly take place, much sooner among the descendants cf Cain, than 
 those of Seth. It is thought that after the union of the families of 
 Cain and Seth, all mankind constituted but one nation, divided into 
 several disorderly associations, and living in a c tate of anarchy, which 
 c lr cumstances would have hastened the progress of wickedness. 
 
 7. Commerce. The intercourse of the antediluvians might 
 have been easy, because they probably lived contiguous to each 
 other. Yet it is evident that they had no idea of navigation, 
 for had vessels been in use, some families might have escaped 
 the disasters of the flood, besides that of Noah. 
 
 It is likely that there was not that necessity for commerce, as there 
 has been since. For this opinion, reasons might be given, but the 
 subject is not sufficiently important . 
 
 Assyria, (including Babylonia.] 
 
 8. Extent and Cities. ASSYRIA generally comprehended 
 the territory lying between Armenia, Babylon, Mesopotamia, 
 and Media. The Assyrian dominion, at times, extended over 
 many parts of Asia; its capital was Nineveh, on the Tigris, 
 built by Ashur. The country is now called Curdistan. 
 
 Nineveh was built on a very spacious plain. It was 15 miles in 
 length, 9 broad, and 47 in circumference, according to Diodorus 
 Siculus and Strabo. On the walls, which were 100 feet high, three 
 chariots could pass together ; they were defended by 1500 towers, 
 each 200 feet high. From the number of infants which it contained, 
 as mentioned in the book of Jonah, it is computed that the inhabitants 
 amounted to more than 600,000 at that time. 
 
 Its situation is indicated, as some suppose, by vestiges on the Tigris, 
 opposite Mosul, retaining the name of Nino. 
 
 Babylonia^ which was afterwards united to Assyria, was 
 made up principally of Mesopotamia, the modern Diarbec. Its 
 capital, Babylon, at length the capital of the whole empire, 
 was bisected by the Euphrates, from N. to S., and formed a 
 square, whose sides subtended the four cardinal points. The 
 city stood on a large plain. Its walls were in thickness 87 
 feet, in height 350 feet, and in compass 60 miles. These 
 tyere drawn about the city in an exact square. 
 
158 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 As a more particular description of Babylon, it may be stated, that 
 on each side of this great square were 25 gates of solid brass. Be- 
 tween every two of these gates were three towers ; four others were 
 at the corners ; and three more between those on the corners and the 
 gate on either side. 
 
 The other parts of the city, some of which we will describe, cor- 
 responded with the magnitude of the walls. The streets, bridge, quays, 
 the lake, ditches, canals, palaces, and hanging gardens, and above all, 
 the temple of Belus, were so many wonders. From the 25 gates 
 ran as many streets, in straight lines, so that the whole number of 
 streets was 50, crossing each other at right angles. There were also 
 four half streets, round the four sides of the city, next the walls, each 
 of them 200 feet wide ; the rest being about 150 feet. 
 
 The whole city was thus cut into 676 squares, each of which was 
 two and a quarter miles in circumference. Round these squares, on 
 every side towards the street, stood stately houses three or four stories 
 high, with large spaces between them, and the areas within the squares 
 filled up with yards, gardens, and pleasure grounds. 
 
 The celebrated hanging gardens were composed of several large 
 terraces, one above tho other. The ascent from terrace to terrace 
 was by stairs ten feet wide, and the whole pile was sustained by vast 
 arches, strengthened by a massy wall of great thickness. On the tops 
 of the arches were first laid prodigiously large flat stones. Over these 
 was a layer of reeds mixed with bitumen, upon which were two tiers 
 of bricks, closely cemented together with plaster. The whole was 
 covered with thick sheets of lead, upon which lay the mould of the 
 garden. This mould was so deep that the largest trees might take 
 root in it, and covered with these and other plants, and every variety 
 of flowers; nothing could be conceived more grand and picturesque. 
 
 The temple of Belus, at its foundation, consisted of a square, each 
 side of which was a furlong in length; it consisted of eight towers, 
 built one above another, decreasing gradually to the top, and was a 
 furlong in height. 
 
 9. Government and Laws. The government both of 
 Assyria and Baby Ionia was strictly despotic, and its sceptre 
 hereditary. The whole centered in the person of the king ; 
 all decrees issued from his mouth ; he even affected the power, 
 and claimed the worship which belonged only to the divinity. 
 
 The great conquerors of the East always courted retirement, as 
 being too glorious to be beheld by vulgar eyes. Thus they contrived 
 to keep in subjection a number of nations of different languages anc" 
 manners, to a person who must have been a stranger to almost all ol 
 them. They adminstered their government by officers of various de- 
 scriptions, civil and military. 
 
 Of the three classes of cfficers, the first had the charge of the vir- 
 gins, and were expected to judge of all matters relating to the connu- 
 bial state ; the second took cognizance of theft ; and the third of all 
 other crimes. 
 
 The laws of the empire were in general vague and uncer- 
 
ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. 159 
 
 tain, depending wholly upon the will of the sovereign ; but 
 one was fixed and irrevocable, which obliged all, especially the 
 poorer sort of people, to marry. 
 
 Their punishments were unfixed and arbitrary, according to the 
 disposition of the sovereign. We read of beheading, cutting to pieces, 
 turning the criminal's house into a dunghill, and burning in a fiery 
 furnace. 
 
 10. Religion. The Chaldeans, properly so called, were 
 both the priests and the literati of the country. They were 
 devoted to the business of religion, and pretended to skill in 
 the prediction of future events. They dealt in charms, incan- 
 tations, and explanations of dreams, and of the extraordinary 
 phenomena of nature. They built temples to the stars, as be- 
 ing the subordinate agents of the divine power, and by wor- 
 shipping them, they expected to obtain the good will of the 
 deity. From this they descended, by a natural process, to the 
 worship of objects on earth, as the representatives, or favour- 
 ites of the stars, or of the deity, through them. Thus idola- 
 try arose not long after the flood, among the earliest of nations 
 
 -the people left on the plains of Shinar, subsequently to the 
 dispersion at Babel. 
 
 It is evident that this was the origin of image worship, since the 
 names of the principal gods of the heathen in general, are those of the 
 sun, moon, and five primary planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury 
 and Venus. 
 
 The norrid custom of sacrificing human victims to conci- 
 liate their gods, was first practised by the Babylonians, and 
 from them it was communicated to the superstitious of the sur- 
 rounding nations. 
 
 There are traces of their ancient cruelty to be discerned in the 
 worship and rites of the Assyrian goddess of Hierapolis, to whom 
 parents, without remorse, sacrificed their children, by throwing them 
 down a precipice in her temple. 
 
 1 1 . Customs. The principal and most singular of their 
 customs, was the manner in which they disposed of their 
 women in marriage. No man had any power over his own 
 daughters, but as soon as they were marriageable, they were 
 put up to auction ; and the price obtained for the more beau- 
 tiful was assigned as a dowry to the more homely. 
 
 The consequence of this practice was, that all their young women 
 were disposed of in marriage the beautiful for their charms, the 
 homely for their wealth. 
 
 Another singular custom was their festival called Sacca. 
 
160 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 During this festival, which lasted five days, the servants com 
 manded their masters, one of them being, for the time, con- 
 stituted chief over the house, and wearing a kind of royal 
 garment, called Zogana. 
 
 They had other extraordinary customs, but some of these are too 
 indecent to be named. In general, they were the most sensual and 
 abandoned people on the face of the earth. 
 
 12. Learning. The Babylonians were famed for learning, 
 particularly the Chaldeans, who were their priests, philoso- 
 phers, astronomers, soothsayers, &c. As in many other coun- 
 tries after them, they were divided into several sects, distin- 
 guished by their peculiar characteristics. 
 
 They were the first who cultivated astronomy, discovered 
 the exact motions of the planets, and pretended to understand 
 the influence these had over things below, and from that to be 
 able to foretel future events. The latter was embodied into a 
 kind of science, called astrology. 
 
 From this origin of astrology, fortune telling, and similar arts, 
 we perceive at once their opposition to religion and rectitude. 
 
 The learning of the Chaldeans was not acquired after the manner 
 of the Greeks, but by tradition from father to son. The only busi- 
 ness of the learned was to apply themselves to the instructions they 
 received. They never departed from early principles, and hence 
 made no great advances in the sciences. 
 
 13. The Arts. The Babylonians, properly so called, ap- 
 plied themselves to the useful arts. Their immense buildings, 
 which could not have been erected without much skill in ge- 
 ometry, prove that they must have been good mathematicians 
 and mechanics. 
 
 They never attained to any superior excellence in painting 
 and statuary. Music and poetry were probably but little at- 
 tended to ; and in physic they had no regular science. 
 
 They exposed their sick in the streets, to be cured by any who. 
 passing by them, saw fit to prescribe for their diseases. 
 
 The Babylonians were great architects, ingenious in casting metals 
 and in their manufactures particularly in their manufactures of 
 embroideries, magnificent carpets, and fine linen. So superb were 
 some of their articles of dress, that we read, in the Roman history, of 
 Cato selling a Babylonian mantle, which had been left him by inhe- 
 ritance, as being what he was ashamed to wear. And it is said that 
 at Rome more than 6000Z. had been paid for a suit of Babylonian 
 hangings. 
 
 China. 
 
 14. Geography. China, in ancient times, included nearly 
 the same territory that it does at present, so far as we can now 
 
CHINA. 161 
 
 ascertain. The Greeks and Romans, through whom most 
 of our acquaintance with antiquity is derived, had no imme- 
 diate- knowledge of that country ; only they mention Serica, 
 ac J another nation of northern Sinai, as constituting its west- 
 erly provinces. 
 
 As, however, the Chinese are not at all given to foreign 
 conquests, and have for many centuries remained the same 
 people in their government and institutions, we may conclud 
 that the ancient territory was the same, or nearly the same, as 
 their modern. It is not our design to state its boundaries or 
 extent, except to say, that it constituted a considerable portion 
 of eastern Asia, and was separated from Tartary, on the north, 
 by its prodigious stone wall of 1500 miles in length. 
 
 But few general views of this country in other respects can be 
 here given, since we have been presented, in this work, with only a 
 small portion of its civil history ; and since from the unchangeable 
 character of the people, these views will answer for an interesting 
 article in modern history. 
 
 15. Government. The original plan of the Chinese go- 
 vernment was patriarchal. Obedience to the father of each 
 family uas enforced in the most rigorous manner, and the 
 emperor was considered as the father of the whole. Every fa- 
 ther was absolute in his own family, and might inflict any 
 punishment short of death ; and every mandarin of a district 
 had the power of life and death over all its members, though 
 the emperor's approbation was requisite to the execution of a 
 capital sentence. 
 
 Since the invasion of the Tartars, as we shall hereafter learn, the 
 government is called an absolute monarchy, though its great funda- 
 mental principles from the beginning have been preserved. 
 
 16. Religion. The ancient Chinese adored a supreme be- 
 ing, under the name of Changti, or Tien ; they also wor- 
 shipped subaltern spirits, supposed to preside over kingdoms, 
 provinces, cities, rivers, and mountains. Their worship was 
 by prayer and thanksgiving, without any mixture of idola- 
 trous practices. 
 
 There are now different sects, whose characteristics belong to 
 the details of modern history. 
 
 17. The Sciences and Arts. The Chinese understood 
 some of the sciences, but seemed to make no progress in them 
 from age to age. Of mathematics, astronomy, and physics, 
 
 they appear to have been quite ignorant for so civilized a peo- 
 
 02 
 
162 GENERAL HEWS. 
 
 pie. The knowledge of medicine was very limited among 
 them, 
 
 In the arts, at an early age, they attained to a certain point 
 of advancement, which they never exceeded. It is affirmed 
 that they manufactured glass 200 years before the Christian 
 era ; that they knew gunpowder from time immemorial , 
 and that they invented printing in the time of Julius Caesar; 
 but these and other inventions were in a very imperfect state, 
 and have remained so to this day. In agriculture, however, 
 and a few other arts, they seem, from a very early period, to 
 have been highly distinguished. 
 
 On the whole, considering their ancient state, and knowing the 
 agreement of their present state with it, no people whatever appear 
 to have been so singular and mysterious, and possessed of such a 
 mixture of wisdom and imbecility. 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 A little before the Christian era, Egypt was one of the most dis- 
 tinguished countries of the ancient world, and enjoyed, from the ear- 
 liest times, a large share of celebrity, on account of its learning and 
 its magnificent public works. In commercial importance, at the 
 time first spoken of, it was much superior to contemporary nations. 
 
 18. Situation, Name, and Division. Egypt was an ex- 
 tensive country, bounded on the east by Arabia and the Red 
 Sea, and by Lybia on the west, -and was properly a long val- 
 ley, following the course of the Nile from S. to N. 
 
 The ancient name was Mitzraim, and is now retained in 
 that of Mesr, under the Turks. 
 
 Egypt was divided into three principal parts, distinguished 
 by the appellations of the Upper Egypt, or Thebais ; the Mid- 
 dle Egypt, or Heptanomis ; and the Lower Egypt, which in- 
 cludes the Delta. 
 
 19. Cities. There were many cities in this country, whose 
 ruins attest their almost unparalleled magnificence. Among 
 these were Thebes, Memphis, Arsinoe, Heliopolis, and Alex- 
 andria, besides many others. 
 
 Thebes was situated in Upper Egypt, on both sides of the Nile. 
 It was called by the Greeks, Diospolis, and was one of the most il- 
 lustrious cities in the world. It is distinguished in Homer by the epi- 
 thet of Hecatompylos, or having a 100 gates. In the time of its splen- 
 dour, it could send into the field, by each of its gates, 200 chariots, 
 and 2000 fighting men. 
 
 Its extent is said to have been 52 miles ; and so great was its wealth, 
 that after it had been plundered by the Persians, 300 talents of gold 
 and 2300 of silver, were found among the remains of the pillage. 
 
EGYPT. \\ j^ 163 
 
 The ruins of this astonishing city occupy a circumference of 27 
 miles on either side of the Nile, and contain several villages, the chief 
 of which is Luxor. Habon, on the western side, contains many stu- 
 pendous monuments. Thebes was severely treated by Cambyses, by 
 Ptolemy Philopater, and under Augustus, for its rebellion. In the 
 adjacent mountains are hewn sepulchres of the ancient kings. 
 
 A remarkable feature of these ruins is their size. Every thing is 
 colossal. The smallest pillars of the temples are between 7 and 8 
 feet in diameter, and some of the largest are 11. Obelisks, Sphinxes, 
 and other monuments of huge dimensions, in different positions, as- 
 tonish the modern traveller, as he gazes on these wonders of human 
 power and art. 
 
 Memphis, supposed to have been founded by Menes, the first Egyp- 
 tian king, was for several ages the metropolis of the whole kingdom. 
 It contained many beautiful temples, the most splendid of which is 
 said to have been that of the god Apis. This city stood on the western 
 bank of the Nile, 15 miles south of the Delta. 
 
 Strabo saw its palaces in ruins. Vestiges of it were apparent in the 
 fifteenth century, but are no longer in being. The Nile may have co- 
 vered them. 
 
 Alexandria was reckoned next to Rome for the grandeur of its 
 buildings, and richness of its materials. It stood on the western side 
 of the Delta, and was built by Alexander the Great, 332 B. C. It was 
 the capital of Lower Egypt, and the metropolis under the Ptolemies. 
 The ancients assert that it was built in the form of a Macedonian 
 cloak, and occupied about 15 miles. The royal palace constituted a 
 fifth part of the city. 
 
 Alexandria rose to the first rank in the ancient world, as the great 
 mart for exchange between the east and west. Its commercial ad- 
 vantages continued for a number of ages. It was further distinguished 
 by schools for philosophy, physic, theology, astronomy, and general 
 learning. 
 
 20. Monuments and Works of Art. Manv of these are 
 
 */ / 
 
 magnificent beyond conception, and show to what a high state 
 of improvement the inhabitants, at a remote period, had car- 
 ried the arts. They still excite the admiration of every tra- 
 veller. 
 
 Besides the cities that have been named, the most celebra- 
 ted of these works of ancient grandeur, are Lake Mreris, the 
 Labyrinth the Catacombs, or Mummy Pits, and the Pyra- 
 mids. 
 
 The lake Moeris has been affirmed to be the most wonderful of 
 all the works of the kings of Egypt, the pyramids notexcepted. The 
 ancients described it as measuring 3600 stadia in circumference; but 
 modern travellers assure us that its breadth does not exceed half a 
 league ; that it is about a day's journey in length, and that its circum- 
 ference is about 12 or 15 leagues, which will be found sufficiently 
 
164 GENERAL VIEWS, 
 
 prodigious, when we consider that it was performed by human la- 
 bour. 
 
 This lake, in the deepest part, has fifty fathoms of water, and 19 
 fed from the Nile, by means of a channel cut for that purpose. It 
 was built by a king of the name of Mceris, whose object was to cor- 
 rect the irregularity of supply in the waters of the river, receiving 
 its superabundance, or making up its deficiency. 
 
 The Labyrinth was an enormous structure of marble, built partly 
 under the ground. It Avas designed as a pantheon of all the Egyptian 
 deities, and as a place for the assembly of the magistracy of the whole 
 nation. It contained no less than 3000 chambers, 1500 of which were 
 subterraneous, and set apart for the sepulchre of the kings who built 
 the labyrinth, or for the abodes of the sacred crocodiles. 
 
 These were never shewn to strangers ; but Herodotus informs us 
 that he viewed every room in the upper part, in which he found suf- 
 ficient to fill him with astonishment. Innumerable exits by different 
 passages, and infinite returns, -afforded him a thousand occasions of 
 wonder. The highest decorations in polished columns and exquisite 
 sculptures, were every where seen. 
 
 The Catacombs were subterraneous galleries of prodigious extent, 
 appropriated to the reception of the dead. These sepulchres of the 
 ancient kings are hewn in free-stone rock, and apparently formed 
 upon one general plan, though differing in the construction of their 
 respective parts. These contain the generations that are gone. Some 
 of the embalmed bodies are perfectly preserved, though they have 
 been dead 3000 years. 
 
 The Pyramids were deservedly classed by the ancients among the 
 wonders of the world. There are said to be twenty of them in differ- 
 ent parts of the country ; but there are three superior to the rest in 
 size and magnificence. These are on the western side of the Nile, io 
 the neighbourhood of the ancient Memphis. 
 
 The largest of them is 481 feet in height, measured perpendicularly, 
 and the area of its basis comprehends eleven English acres of ground. 
 This is a size which would exceed all belief, had it not been actually 
 and repeatedly measured by modern travellers. It has steps entirely 
 round it, made with polished stones, so large that the breadth and 
 depth of every step is one single stone. The smallest stone is 30 feet 
 in length. The number of steps amounts to 208. 
 
 These works are proved, by modern researches, to have been royal 
 sepulchres, but their foundation is lost in antiquity. They are sup- 
 posed, however, to have been erected between one and two thousand 
 years B. C. It is asserted by Pliny and Diodorus, that no less tnan 
 360,000 men were employed in erecting the largest pyramid. It is 
 said also that twenty years were spent in the work. 
 
 21. Government and Laws. The Egyptians were 
 among the earliest nations, if not the very earliest, who had 
 regular established governments and civil regulations. Their 
 government was a despotic, hereditary monarchy, yet so mo- 
 dified by prescribed usages, as to promote the public welfare, 
 
EGYPT. 165 
 
 Their monaichs were restricted to a certain mode of living, and 
 even their time seems to have been portioned out, and set apart for 
 particular employments, by the sacred Egyptian books. They were 
 confined to exactness, not only in public transactions, but in their 
 private life. They could neither bathe, take the air, nor converse 
 with their queens but at certain times. The choice of their provisions 
 was not left to themselves, but their tables were furnished with the 
 most simple food, (generally veal or goose,) and their allowance of 
 wine was extremely moderate. 
 
 These restraints were entirely acceptable to the Egyptian monarchs, 
 and during the period in which they prevailed, the country greatly 
 flourished, and was filled with works of incomparable magnificence 
 
 In the administration of public affairs, each nome, or pro- 
 vince, had its respective governor, who ordered all things with- 
 in his jurisdiction. The lands were divided into three parts, 
 of which one was allotted to the maintenance of the priests, 
 and to religious uses ; the second was appropriated to the 
 king, for defraying the charges of his wars, &c ; and the 
 third part was dedgned for the soldiers. The husband- 
 men, taking the lands at an easy rent from the king, priests, 
 and soldiers, devoted the whole of their attention to agricul- 
 ture ; and the son continually succeeded the father in his oc- 
 cupation. They thus became the most famous for tillage of 
 any in the world. 
 
 22. Mythology. The boasted laws of the Egyptians sink 
 in our estimation, from the influence which a knowledge of 
 their hase idolatry and superstitions produces in the reflecting 
 mind. They had a vast number of gods of different ranks, 
 but their two principal ones were Osiris and Isis, supposed to 
 have been the sun and moon. From Egypt the stream of 
 idolatry flowed over the nations. 
 
 The idolatry of this people was so gross, that exclusive of the 
 worship they paid their pretended gods, they actually bestowed di- 
 vine honours on animals, insects, birds, and even vegetables, as 
 leeks and onions. Their sacred animals were, during their lives, kept 
 in consecrated enclosures; fed with most delicate food, washed and 
 anointed with frequency, and their burial, after death, attended with 
 the heaviest expense. We are credibly informed that in the reign 
 of Ptolemy, the Apis dying of old age at Memphis, his keeper ex- 
 pended in his funeral, about 13,OOOZ. above all his substance. 
 
 23. Education. In the education of their children, the 
 Egyptians exercised great care, and the children were brought 
 .ip with the strictest frugality. The priest instructed them in 
 arithmetic, geometry, and other branches of useful literature ; 
 
166 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 and their fathers, or nearest relations, taught them as early as 
 possible, their paternal art or profession. 
 
 24. Domestic Habits, Manners, and Customs. The 
 usual drink of the people was the water of the Nile, which 
 was very palatable and fattening. They used also a superior 
 beverage made of barley, so that we are possibly indebted to 
 them for the first invention of beer. Cleanliness was a particu- 
 lar characteristic of this people, who scoured their drinking 
 vessels every day. 
 
 As great singularities among them, we may notice the inconsistent 
 employments of the men and women ; the former being engaged in 
 spinning and domestic concerns, while the latter were employed in 
 trade and business ; the kneading of dough with their feet ; the tem- 
 pering of mortar with their hands; and the promiscuous residence of 
 men and beasts in the same apartment 
 
 At their principal feasts, it was a very singular custom to bring in 
 the coffin of a friend after supper, with the image of a dead man 
 carved in wood and painted, which was carried to all the company 
 with this strange admonition : " Look upon this, and be merry ; for 
 such as this now appears, thou shalt be, when thou art dead." 
 
 25. Literature and Arts. Egypt was the parent of 
 learning and philosophy. According to the scriptures, Moses 
 was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Geometry 
 is generally believed to have been found out in Egypt, in con- 
 sequence of the measurement of those lands that were annu- 
 ally overflowed by the Nile. The science, however, was most 
 probably but little extended by them. 
 
 Arithmetic, astronomy, and a kind of algebra, were also cultivated 
 in Egypt ; and it is certain this nation first adjusted the length of the 
 year to the annual revolution of the sun, by adding to their twelve 
 months of thirty days each, five additional days and six hours. Medi- 
 cine and the art of embalming were early cultivated among them, 
 particularly the latter. They were very famous also in magic. 
 
 In architecture, painting, sculpture, &c. they must have made grea 
 proficiency, as is evident from the astonishing works of art wnic 
 yet remain. 
 
 26. Trade. Egypt early engaged in commerce, as its 
 situation was peculiarly favourable for that object. We read 
 in scripture that the Midianites and Ishmaelites traded thither, 
 so early as the time of Jacob. It is certain also that Solomon 
 established a very considerable trade in those parts. 
 
 27. Language. The Egyptian language is one of the 
 most ancient in the world, and probably an original tongue. 
 It is, in some measure, preserved in the Coptic, even to this 
 time, though that language is but little understood. 
 
 !> 
 
 
 
HEBREWS. 16T 
 
 THE HEBREWS. 
 
 28. Country. The country in which this ancient and di- 
 vinely favoured people lived was Palestine. It extended from 
 CcBlo-Syria, to Arabia Petrea ; on the west it had the Medi- 
 terranean, and on the east Arabia Deserta. Its territory was 
 
 very limited. 
 
 The country of the Hebrews is also called by several other names, 
 as the Land of Canaan, the Holy Land, Judea, &c. ; and the people 
 themselves were variously called, as the People of God, Israelites, 
 Jews ; the last more commonly in the latter period of their history. 
 
 Upon the entrance of the Israelites into Palestine, it was 
 divided into twelve different portions, which were assigned to 
 the twelve several tribes into which they were separated. 
 
 29. Remains of ancient Works. Among 1 these are Ja- 
 cob's Well : the Pools of Solomon, Gihon. and Bethesda ; and 
 the Sepulchral Monuments. 
 
 Jacob's well is highly venerated by Christian travellers on ac- 
 count of its antiquity. It is hewn out of the solid rock, about 35 
 yards in depth, and three in diameter, and is at present covered with 
 a stone vault. 
 
 The Pools of Solomon, supposed to have been made by order of 
 that monarch, appear to have been a work of immense cost and labour. 
 They are three in a row, and disposed in such a manner, that the 
 water of the uppermost may fall into the second, and of the second 
 into the third. They are of equal breadth, viz. about 90 paces ; their 
 length varies, the longest being 220. They are all walled and plas- 
 tered, and contain a large quantity of water. 
 
 The Pools of Gihon and Bethesda are similar works, and may be 
 ranked among the most stately ruins. 
 
 The Sepulchral Monuments are scattered all over the country. 
 The most magnificent pieces of antiquity of this kind are the royal 
 sepulchres without the walls of Jerusalem. They are all hewn out of 
 the solid marble rock, and contain several spacious and elaborate 
 apartments. 
 
 30. Cities. Of these there were not many that were large. 
 Jerusalem, the metropolis of the country, and the centre of the 
 Jewish worship, was the most celebrated, and indeed no place 
 
 n the globe has been more celebrated, taking into view its 
 sacred associations. Hebron, Gaza, and Ascalon. were also 
 noted. 
 
 Jerusalem was built on several hills, the largest of which 
 was Mount Zion ; it formed the southern part of the citv. 
 On the east of the second, or lower city, was mount Morian, 
 on which stood the magnificent temple of king Solomon. 
 
68 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Jerusalem, when enlarged by David, Solomon, and other kings, 
 became a most renowned city, and as such is mentioned by the Greek 
 historian, Herodotus, under the name of Cadytis. The city with its 
 temple was destroyed by the Chaldeans, about 600 years B. C. The 
 second temple, which had begun to decay, was rebuilt by Herod the 
 Great. 
 
 The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, was A. D. 70. Under Adri- 
 an, a new city, altogether Roman, and called ^Elia, was built, but 
 there was an alteration of its site. Zion, the principal quarter of the 
 ancient city, was not comprised within the new city. It subsists at 
 present, but in a deplorable condition, inhabited by a motley group 
 of Turks, Jews, and Christians. 
 
 Hebron was a place of high antiquity, and the sepulchre of Abra- 
 ham and his family. In the time of the crusades, it bore the name of 
 St. Abraham : and the Arabs, who always respect their primitive 
 names, call it Cabr-Ibraliim, or the Tomb of Abraham. 
 
 Gaza and Ascalon, on the coast, preserve their names, as also 
 others. Gaza was remarkably strong, and surrounded with walls and 
 towers, after the Philistine manner. It Was taken by Caleb, but soon 
 ^fter regained by the ancient inhabitants, who kept possession ot it 
 to the time of Samson. It passed into various hands, till finally it 
 was pillaged by Alexander, and a second time destroyed by the Mac- 
 cabees. 
 
 Ascalon was also a maritime town of great strength, but was soon 
 reduced, after the death of Joshua, by the tribe of Judah. It was once 
 adorned with several magnificent edifices ; but it is now dwindled 
 into an inconsiderable village. 
 
 31. Religion. The history of the religion of this people, 
 which was called Judaism, is the history of true religion in the 
 ancient world. It is now eclipsed by the radiance of the 
 Gospel, which has come into its room, abrogated what was 
 ritual in it, and confirmed its great general principles and 
 truths. 
 
 Religion flourished variously among the- people, according to the 
 piety or irreligion of their priests, leading men, or sovereigns. In ge- 
 neral, though they had a succession of wise and holy prophets, the 
 nation, as such, Was peculiarly obstinate and rebellious, and continu- 
 ally inclined to forsake the worship of God, and to fall into the idola- 
 trous practices of its heathen neighbours. 
 
 On this account repeated and severe judgments were sent among 
 them. They were visited, at various times, with all the ministers of 
 divine vengeance they were conquered, pillaged, and carried into 
 captivity, and soon after the Christian era, ceased to exist indepen- 
 dently, and were scattered among al] nations. 
 
 They are now known, particularly the tribes of Judah and Benja- 
 min, wherever they are dispersed, as the descendants of Abraham, 
 preserving still their national name and peculiarities. Concerning 
 the other ten tribes we have no certain knowledge of their sepai 
 
HEBREWS. 169 
 
 existence, at this day. Prophecy has been remarkably fulfilled in the 
 case of this people. 
 
 The great general truths of religion were revealed to this 
 people, and to them alone of all the nations of the earth. The 
 being, perfections, and government of God, the moral law, 
 prescribing the duties man owes to God, to his fellow men, 
 and to himself, the awards of eternity, with a thousand par 
 ticular precepts of a spiritual kind, were explicitly declared t 
 this nation. 
 
 The peculiarities of their ritual worship rendered them 
 also a most favoured community. By these they were de- 
 signed to be preserved a people distinct from all the rest of 
 the world, to be kept from idolatry, and to be prepared for the 
 great salvation, which was to be accomplished not only for 
 them, but for all nations, in " the fulness of the time. 
 
 The peculiar rites of Judaism were admirably adapted to honour 
 their Creator, and to render themselves completely happy. Its sacri- 
 fices were at once calculated to convince them of their sins, and to 
 shadow forth the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God. 
 
 32. Government. The government of this people was pro- 
 perly a Theocracy, as being under the immediate direction of 
 God. In this they were distinguished from all other nations. 
 He was considered as the sole dictator of every important 
 transaction, and supreme monarch of the Israelites. 
 
 33. Manners and Customs. The most interesting of 
 these related to the rite of circumcision, to their diet, diver- 
 sions, high places, mourning for the dead, and burials. 
 
 The rite of circumcision has distinguished them as a people, 
 from the beginning. It was always accompanied with great feasting, 
 and other demonstrations of joy. At this time the child was named 
 in the presence of the company assembled, among whom bread and 
 wine were distributed. 
 
 Their diet, except on festivals, seems to have been extremely plain. 
 Bread, water, and vinegar, were in common use. Honey was es- 
 teemed a peculiar delicacy, and the milk of goats was reckoned ex 
 cellent for food. 
 
 Their diversions seem to have consisted chiefly in social repasts, 
 music, and dancing. The two latter partook of a religious character. 
 Games were never introduced into their commonwealth. 
 
 Their high places were of two sorts ; those where they burned in- 
 cense and offered sacrifices to the true God ; and those where they 
 committed various abominable idolatries. 
 
 Their mourning for the death of friends was expressed by rending 
 their garments tearing their hair, heaping dirt or ashes upon their 
 
 p 
 
170 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 heads, wearing sackcloth next their skin, and lying upon the bare 
 ground. 
 
 As to their burials, it is known that they denied sepulture to none 
 but such as were guilty of suicide, and not even to these, but till after 
 sunset. From the pains which the patriarchs took to provide a place 
 of burial for themselves and their descendants, it is evident they con- 
 sidered it a heavy calamity, to be denied a burial, and a favour to be 
 interred among their ancestors. Their sepulchres were on their own 
 lands, and, where practicable, cut into a rock. 
 
 34. Learning. The Israelites excelled in the knowledge 
 of theology, and they had places of public instruction called 
 the schools of the prophets. They seem to have had but little 
 knowledge of astronomy. 
 
 Their language was the Hebrew, the genius of which is 
 pure, primitive, and natural ; and it is highly probable that 
 they had the art of writing very early. The materials on 
 which they wrote were tables of stone ; but mention is made 
 also of rolls, which were doubtless more in use. These rolls 
 are supposed to have been made of skin, or some other pliable 
 substance. 
 
 35. Arts. The arts in which the Israelites made the 
 greatest proficiency were those of war, husbandry, poetry, and 
 music. 
 
 Their situation made them a warlike people, surrounded as they 
 were by enemies. Their arms of offence were broad crooked swords, 
 javelins, slings, bows and arrows, and two-edged swords. Their 
 arms of defence were shields, helmets, coats of mail, breast plates, 
 and targets. 
 
 Their attention was much confined to their lands and domestic 
 avocations, and few trades or manufactures were carried on among 
 them before the reign of Solomon, except such as were absolutely ne- 
 cessary. After Solomon's time, pride and luxury increased with great 
 rapidity. The causes of a change from great economy and simplicity, 
 to their opposites, were laid indeed in the reign of David. 
 
 Poetry is said to be the only fine art in which they were peculiarly 
 excellent ; and in that they are inimitable. Their inspired produc- 
 tions, in poetry, if not in prose, as to native energy and felicity, are 
 unrivalled. 
 
 36. Commerce. With respect to commerce, it appears that 
 they received rich stuffs, linen, gold, &c. from Tyre, in ex- 
 change for their corn, balm, and other excellent commodi- 
 ties ; but they were totally ignorant of navigation. Solomon 
 employed foreign sailors in the ships which he sent to foreign 
 countries. 
 
 Canaanites. 
 The country of the Canaanites has been already described, as it 
 
 
GREECE. 171 
 
 was the same with that of the Hebrews, who, some time after they 
 left Egypt, drove out the ancient inhabitants of the Land of Canaan. 
 
 37. Customs, Manners, Arts, and Sciences. In these, as 
 well as in language, they may be supposed to have differed 
 widely from each other, according to their different situations. 
 It is easy to discern the different classes of merchants, artifi- 
 cers, soldiers, shepherds, and husbandmen. 
 
 Those who resided on the sea-coasts were merchants, in which 
 capacity they will be considered when spoken of as Phoenicians 
 Those who resided in fixed abodes and walled places, cultivated the 
 land. Shepherds and soldiers led a more wandering life. As to war, 
 they were by no means deficient in courage, craft, or policy. 
 
 38. Religion. Their religion seems to have been undefiled 
 to the days of Abraham, when Melchisedek among them was 
 a priest of the Most High God ; but after this period they 
 must have degenerated apace. They compelled their chil- 
 dren to pass through fire to Moloch, and. their wickedness be- 
 came extreme. 
 
 Greece. 
 
 39. Appearance and Face of the Country. This country, 
 rendered illustrious by the intellectual elevation of its inhabi- 
 tants, was a region of enchanting beauty. Its mountains 
 and valleys, lakes and rivers, sufficiently diversified the sur- 
 face, while their grandeur or their softness imparted an inef- 
 fable charm to every prospect. It enjoyed a delightful cli- 
 mate and exuberant soil. 
 
 The classical reader need not to be reminded, that among a 
 thousand other spots endeared to association, were Pindus and Par- 
 nassus, <the seats of the muses ; Athens, filled with the monuments of 
 art and genius ; woody Arcadia, sacred to Pan, and the haunt of shep- 
 herds ; and Thessaly with its fields of pleasure, where 
 
 " The smooth Peneus from its glassy flood 
 Reflects purpureal Tempe's pleasant scene." 
 
 40. Situation, Extent, and Division. Greece occupied a 
 large peninsula between the south of Italy and Asia Minor, 
 about 400 miles long and 150 broad. It had Epirus and 
 Macedonia on the north, the Mediterranean on the south, and 
 the Ionian and ^Egean seas washed, the one its western, arid 
 the other its eastern borders. 
 
 In subsequent times, Epirus and Macedonia were considered as 
 parts of Greece, and then the northern boundary was constituted by 
 Illyricum, Mcesia, and Thrace. 
 
 Greece consisted of two principal divisions Greece, pro 
 n iip.rl and Peloponnesus, 
 
GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Greece proper included the following states ; 1. Attica. 2. Bceo 
 tia. 3. Acarnania. 4. ^tolia. 5. Locris. 6. Doris. 7. Phocis. 8. Thes- 
 sah. 9. Epirus. 10. Macedonia. 
 
 Peloponnesus included the following states; 1. Achaia. 2. Elis. 
 3. Arcadia. 4. Messenia. 5. Laconia. 6. Argolis. 
 
 Connected with Greece were many islands in the seas 
 which surrounded it, the principal of which singly, or in clus- 
 ters, were Euboea, Lemnos, the Cyclades, Crete, Cythera, Za- 
 cynthus, Cephalonia, Corcyra, Tenedos, Lesbos, Scio, Samos, 
 and Patmos. 
 
 41. Names. Greece was called Hellas by the natives, and 
 its inhabitants Hellenes. From their different tribes they were 
 denominated by the poets, Achivi, Danai, Argivi, Pelasgi, 
 lones, Dores, and J^oles. 
 
 42. Interesting Localities. Almost every considerable 
 place in Greece is marked by some circumstance in its natu- 
 ral features, or by some achievement or event in its history, 
 which connects it in the minds of scholars with the most de 
 lightful associations. Several of these localities may be 
 grouped together, as below. 
 
 Peloponnesus took its name from Pelops-, who reigned there. 
 Mycenae was the city of Agamemnon. At Nemea, games were insti- 
 tuted in honour of Hercules, -for killing the Nemean lion. In Epidau- 
 rus, ^Esculapins was worshipped. Lerna gave name to the Le v na?an 
 Hydra, a monster destroyed by Hercules. 
 
 Amyclre abounded in trees, and was honoureu with a splendid 
 temple of Apollo. Helos was a place which the Spartans took, redu- 
 cing the inhabitants to slavery, and hence all their slaves were called 
 Helotes. Near Taenarus, the most southern point of Europe, was a 
 cave through which Hercules is fabled to have dragged Cerberus from 
 the infernal regions". On the mountain Taygetus, the Spartan women 
 celebrated the orgies of Bacchus. 
 
 Elis, was famous for its horses. At Olympia, the Olympic games 
 were celebrated in honour of Jupiter they date from B. C. 776, and 
 form the epoch of Grecian chronology. Corinth was famous for its 
 brass, a mixture of copper with some small quantity of gold and 
 silver. 
 
 Arcadia was the country of musicians and shepherds, and sacrec 
 to Pan, the rural deity. Mercury was born on mount Cyllene. Her- 
 cules destroyed the harpies of the river and lake Stymphalus. At the 
 Isthmus, games were celebrated in honour of Neptune. 
 
 Eleusis was famous for the celebration of the mysteries of Ceres, 
 in which secrecy was enjoined to the votaries, and the breach of it 
 punished with death. In Attica were mount Hymettus, celebrated foi 
 its honey, and mount Pentelicus, for its quarries of marble. The Boeo- 
 tians were reckoned characteristically dull, though there were som* 
 splendid exceptions. 
 
GREECE. 173 
 
 Chaeronea was the birth-place of Plutarch, and remarkable for the 
 defeat of the allied states of Greece, by Philip, which ruined that ce- 
 lebrated nation. Not far from this, was the cave of Trophonius, where 
 oracles were delivered, and which rendered such as catered it me- 
 lancholy for the rest of their lives. Thespia was sacred to the Muses. 
 Tanagra was infamous for its cock-fighting exhibitions. At Delium 
 stood a temple of Apollo ; and the mountain of Helicon, and the 
 fountain Aganippe, were consecrated to the Nine. 
 
 Phocis, the Greeks conjectured, was not only the centre of Greece 
 but of the whole earth. Delphi was rendered illustrious for the tern 
 pie and oracle of Apollo, whose responses were always delivered by 
 a priestess. Parnassus, and the fountain of Castalia at its foot, were 
 the haunts of the Muses. Anticyra was famous for the production ol 
 hellebore, once reputed a specific in maniacal cases. 
 
 Narix was the native place of Ajax. Thermopylae was a famous 
 pass, justly reckoned the key of Greece, and is immortalized from the 
 self-devotion of Leonidas. Where narrowest, there was room only 
 for a single carriage, a ridge of impassable mountains being on the 
 west, and the sea on the east, with cbep and dangerous morasses. 
 
 The ^Itolians constituted the best cavalry in Greece. Naupactus 
 was so called from the number of ships built there, but its site is now 
 overflowed by the sea. Acarnania was famous for its horses. On the 
 promontory Leucate, was the rock from which disappointed lovers 
 sought either death or a cure, by leaping into the sea. 
 
 Through the lake of Acherusia ran the river Acheron, and into the 
 latter flows the Cocytus, both of which, on account of their muddi- 
 ness, were feigned by the poets to be rivers of hell. In the interior ol 
 Epirus, was the most ancient oracle of Greece, the grove, or vocal 
 oaks of Dodona, sacred to Jupiter. 
 
 Chaonia received its name from Chaori, the companion of Helenus, 
 the son of Priam, who was inadvertently killed in hunting. Pindus 
 was holy to Apollo and the Nine. The Acroceraunian mountains 
 were so called from their tops being struck with thunder. 
 
 The vale of Tempe was reckoned the most delicious spot on earth, 
 five miles in length, but in general very narrow. It had mount Olym- 
 pus at the north, and Ossa at the south. These mountains, with Peli- 
 on, according to story, were piled one upon another, by the giants in 
 their war with the gods, to scale heaven. The celebrated spear of 
 Achilles, which none but himself could w r ield, was cut down on Peli- 
 on ; Thessaly was renowned for excellent horses. 
 
 Larissa was the city of Achilles. Heraclea was so called from Her- 
 cules, who is said to have consumed himself in a burning pile, on the 
 top of (Eta, near this place. Othrys was the abode of the Centaurs. 
 On the banks of Amphrysus, Apollo used to feed the flocks of Adme- 
 tus. Pierus, towards the confines of Macedonia, was sacred to the 
 Muses. The women of Thessaly are said to have possessed remark- 
 able skill in magic. 
 
 Athos was a mountain through which Xerxes caused a canal to be 
 cut for the passage of his army. Several towns stood upon it whose 
 inhabitants were remarkable for their longevity. Stagira was the 
 
 P2 
 
174 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 birth place of Aristotle, whence he is called the Stagirite. Apollonia 
 was a place where learning was much cultivated. Strymon was the 
 river along the banks of which Orpheus is imagined to have lament- 
 ed his lost Burydice. 
 
 In the island- Corcyra were the celebrated gardens of Alcinous, 
 which produced fruit twice a year. Ithaca was the residence of Ulys- 
 ses. Cicero compares it to a nest in a rock. The Strophades were a 
 cluster of islands fabled to be infested by harpies. The inhabitants 
 of ^Egina were famed for being the first people that coined money. 
 
 Delos was the birth place of Apollo and Diana. It was said to be 
 a floating island. Paros was the birth place of Phidias and Praxi- 
 teles, and celebrated, moreover, for the finest marble. Naxos was fruit- 
 ful in vines, and therefore sacred to Bacchus. Crete was celebrated 
 for its hundred cities, and for the laws of Minos established there. 
 The Cretans were celebrated archers. 
 
 Rhodes was famous for its brazen colossus, or image of the sun, 
 about 105 feet high. The metal which composed it loaded 900 camels 
 Patmos was the island to which the apostle John was banished, and 
 where he wrote the book of revelation. Scio was famous for its wine 
 and earthen wares. Lemnos was sacred to Vulcan. In the forum of 
 its principal town was the statue of an ox, made by Myron, the back 
 of which, at the winter solstice, was overshadowed by mount Athos, 
 though 80 miles distant. 
 
 43. Cities. Of these there were several, the capitals of the 
 different states of which Greece was composed, as Athens, 
 Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and others. But of these, 
 Athens and Sparta were by far the most renowned. 
 
 Athens, the capital of Attica, was so called from Athense, 
 one of the names of the goddess Minerva, the protectress of 
 the city. It was called by the ancients, for its glory in the arts 
 and sciences, the learned city, the eye of Greece, the school of 
 the world. 
 
 It was situated in a large plain, about five miles from the 
 sea, having in the midst of it, a mount. In its most flourish- 
 in .or state, according to Dio Chrysostom, it was 25 miles in cir- 
 
 i !! 
 
 cumference. It was divided into the upper city or citadel, and 
 
 the lower city. Both contained 440,000 inhabitants, the far 
 greater part of whom were slaves. 
 
 The citadel was built on the rocky mount already mentioned. It 
 was called the Acropolis, or the upper city. When from the increase 
 of its inhabitants, the lower grounds were occupied by buildings, 
 these constituted the lower city. 
 
 The upper city was 16 miles in circumference, and was surround- 
 ed by a strong wall, beautified by 9 gates, to one of which, called the 
 grand entrance, the Athenians ascended by steps, covered with white 
 inarble. 
 
GREECE 'y 
 
 The lower city contained all the buildings that surrounded the ci- 
 tadel, and was encompassed with strong walls. 
 
 In the citadel were several magnificent edifices, the chief of 
 which were the temple of Neptune, and the beautiful temple 
 of Minerva, called Parthenon. These still continue. The lat- 
 ter is justly esteemed one of the noblest remains of antiquity. 
 It is 229 feet long, 101 broad, and 69 high. 
 
 In the lower city, the most magnificent structure of Athens, 
 and scarcely paralleled in the ancient world, was the temple 
 of Jupiter Olympus. It was supported on marble columns, 
 and was half a mile in circuit. 
 
 In both portions of Athens there were many other splendid 
 structures, and monuments without number, some of the 
 proudest efforts of art and genius that the world ever beheld. 
 
 Athens had three harbours on the Saronic gulf, which were joined 
 to the city by two walls, called the long walls. The length of one 
 of these was five miles, that of the other nearly the same. 
 
 There were several Gymnasia, or places of exercise, in and near 
 Athens, the principal of which were the Academy, the Lyceum, and 
 the Cynosarges. 
 
 A Gymnasium was a large edifice designed to accommodate many 
 thousands of people together, with places for the exercises of the 
 youth, and with apartments for philosophers, rhetoricians, &c. to de- 
 liver their lectures. A garden and sacred grove were attached to this 
 edifice. 
 
 Sparta, called also Lacedsemon, was built upon the banks 
 of the river Eurotas, and at the foot of mount Taygetus. It 
 was the capital of the province of Laconia. It was of a circu- 
 lar form, and about 6 miles in circumference. The houses 
 were not built close together, but divided into different villa- 
 ges, according to the ancient manner of the Greeks. It was 
 destitute of walls, till it fell under the dominion of tyrants, 
 after the time of Alexander. The bravery of its citizens was 
 its defence. 
 
 Sparta was divided into different villages, according to the ancient 
 manner of the Greeks. Of these villages there were five, built round 
 an eminence at different distances, each of which was occupied by 
 one of the five tribes of Sparta. 
 
 The prevailing manners were hostile to external splendour, and 
 therefore the houses of the Spartans were destitute of ornaments. The 
 great Square, or forum, however, in which several streets terminated, 
 was embellished with temples and statues. It also contained the pub- 
 lic edifices, in which the assemblies of the various bodies of magistrates 
 were held. 
 
 Sparta was also adorned with a large number of monuments, in 
 
176 fiENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Honour of the gods and ancient heroes. Religious respect was shown 
 to the memory of Hercules, Tyndarus, Castor, Pollux, Leonidas, &c. 
 In the environs of the city were courses for horse and foot races, and 
 places of exercises for youth shaded by beautiful plane trees. Indeed, 
 Sparta was surrounded, to a great extent, with vineyards, olive and 
 plane trees, gardens, and summer houses. 
 
 Corinth, the capital of Achaia, was seated on the Isthmus, 
 which separates Peloponnesus from Attica. It lay between 
 two seas, and had two ports, one on each coast. Its citadel 
 stood on the peak of a hill called Acrocorinthus. This city 
 was one of the best peopled and most wealthy in Greece. It 
 was destroyed by Mummius, the Roman general, during the 
 Achaean league. Corinth was partly rebuilt by Julius Caesar. 
 
 The neat order of the pillars which are used at this day, in the 
 decoration of all fine buildings, took from this city the name of Co- 
 rinthian pillars. Its citizens made high pretensions to politeness, 
 philosophy, and learning. 
 
 Corinth enjoyed its liberty, and immense traffic, till B. C. 146, when 
 it was taken and burned by the Romans. It was then deemed the 
 strongest city in the world, and was a distinguished seat of opulence 
 and the fine arts. Since that period it has been often burned, plun- 
 dered, and subjugated, till of late, under the tyranny of the Turks, it 
 was so decayed, that the population did not exceed 1500 souls, one 
 half Mahometans, and the other half Christians. 
 
 Thebes, the capital of Boeotia, was situated on the river 
 Ismenus. It had seven gates, with walls about seven miles 
 in circumference. It was demolished by Alexander, and re- 
 built by Cassander. Under Epaminondas, the Thebans be- 
 came masters of Greece ; but in Strabo's time (15 or 20 years 
 A. C.) Thebes was only an inconsiderable village. 
 
 In the dreadful period of its demolition by Alexander, 6000 of its 
 inhabitants were slain, and 30,000 sold for slaves. The house in 
 which the great lyric poet Pindar was born and educated, was ordei ed 
 to be spared, and all the rest to be destroyed. 
 
 44. Government. In general the government of Greece 
 partook of a republican character, though it varied at different 
 periods, and was in fact different in the several states. In some 
 of them it exhibited the features of monarchy or aristocracy. 
 They frequently entered into leagues and confederacies with 
 each other, and in this respect bore some faint resemblance to 
 the present government of the United States of America. 
 But on this article we are under the necessity of speaking of 
 the respective states of Greece, chiefly Athens and Sparta, 
 who were, in general, so superior to the rest. 
 
CrREECK. & i 
 
 Government of Athens. 
 
 The government of Athens was at first monarchical, but after the 
 death of Codrus, it became in a degree democratic. 
 
 Classes of the inhabitants. The Athenians were divided 
 into three classes, citizens or freemen, foreigners or sojourners, 
 and slaves. Citizens were the privileged class, who held ex- 
 clusively the offices of government. The privileges of citizen 
 ^hip were obtained with difficulty, and deemed of great value 
 They were conferred only by an assembly of the people, except 
 where they were inherited by those whose parents were citizens. 
 
 The citizens of Athens were divided into ten tribes; but they were 
 not limited to the city, a part of them residing in the small boroughs 
 of Attica. These tribes were named after certain ancient heroes ; 
 each tribe was again subdivided into three parts, and each of these 
 into 30 families. 
 
 Sojourners were persons who came from a foreign country, 
 and settled with their families in Attica. They were per 
 mitted to exercise trades in the city, and were protected by the 
 government, but had no vote in the assembly, nor could they 
 be raised to any office. 
 
 In some instances, when they had rendered important services, 
 ihey were adopted into the class of citizens. 
 
 Slaves or servants were distinguished into two sorts. The 
 first consisted of free born citizens who, through poverty, were 
 forced to serve for wages. These could either change their 
 masters or release themselves when able to procure a subsist- 
 ence. The second sort were wholly at the disposal of their 
 masters, and in general placed beyond the hope of procuring 
 their own freedom, or leaving it as a legacy to their children. 
 
 Sometimes slaves obtained their freedom by fighting for the re- 
 public, or purchased it by means of their savings. 
 
 Magistrates. The Athenian magistrates were divided into 
 three sorts, distinguished by the different methods of their 
 election. These were, 1. the Chirotoneti, chosen by the people 
 in a lawful assembly, in which they voted by holding up their 
 hands. 2. The Cleroti, first approved by the people, and then 
 drawn by lot. 3. The Ereti, extraordinary officers appointed 
 by particular tribes, to take care of any business. 
 
 The poorer citizens were eligible to office ; yet it was seldom that 
 any but the most distinguished persons, were actually appointed as 
 magistrates. The candidates were required to give an account of 
 their past life in the public forum. 
 
 Magistrates, while in office, were liable to be tried on an accusation 
 of neglect of duty ; and after their term of office had expired, they 
 
IT'S GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 were obliged to render an account of their conduct. During thirty 
 days, any man who chose might bring a complaint of mal-adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 The usual government of Athens was carried on by the 
 Archons, the Senate of 500, and assemblies of the people. 
 
 The Archons held the supreme executive power. They 
 were elected annually, and by the second method above 
 named, viz. by lot. They wore garlands of myrtle, were pro- 
 tected from violence and insult, and were exempted from 
 certain taxes. 
 
 The archons were nine in number. The first was called archon, by 
 way of eminence. He decided on causes between married persons, 
 also concerning wills, divorces, and legacies. He was the general 
 guardian of orphans. Some other important concerns were assigned 
 to him. 
 
 The second archon was styled Basileus, and wore a crown. The 
 third archon was called Polemarch. The six remaining archons 
 were named Thesmotheta?. Their respective duties need not be de- 
 scribed. Suffice it to say, that the concern of the archons, as such, 
 was the execution of laws and the general superintendence of the 
 republic. Subordinate magistrates regulated minor details in the 
 police. 
 
 The Senate of five hundred was elected annually by lot, 
 from the different tribes. The business of this body was to 
 consider all proposals intended to come before the people, and 
 to see that nothing improper should be submitted. 
 
 The power of this senate was considerable. They debated aJ 
 measures of public interest and welfare, examined the acounts of 
 magistrates, took care of the fleet, and could punish for offences not 
 prohibited by any law. 
 
 Assemblies of the people were convened for the purpose of 
 consulting on what was most beneficial to the commonwealth. 
 The right of attending them was enjoyed by all the freemen 
 of Athens. Strangers, slaves, women, and persons who had 
 received an infamous punishment, were excluded. They 
 were held four times ev^ry 35 days, and also in cases of pecu- 
 liar emergency. 
 
 The smallest number of which an assembly could legally consist 
 was 6000 citizens. The assemblies decided respecting peace or war ; 
 received ambassadors ; confirmed or abrogated laws j nominated to 
 almost every important office, &c. 
 
 Here was the field in which the good or the bad influence of the 
 orators of Athens was exerted ; in which their talents were elicited, 
 and then* fame acquired ; in which Pericles "thundered," ./Eschines 
 charmed, and Demosthenes ruled the hearts of men. 
 
 There were also other bodies of men occasionally concerned 
 
GREECE. 179 
 
 in the government of Athens, as various courts, particularly 
 that celebrated one called Areopagus. 
 
 The name of this court was taken from the place where it was held. 
 vi/. Mars' Hill. It was in the greatest repute throughout Greece 
 for the wisdom and justice of its proceedings. It took cognizance of 
 crimes, abuses, and innovations either in religion or government. It 
 inspected the laws and public manners. 
 
 The strictest propriety of conduct was required of the members. 
 Expulsion followed any act of gross immorality. To laugh during 
 the sitting of the court, was thought a very blameable levity. 
 
 There was an absurd peculiarity in the government of 
 Athens, which should not be omitted. It was ostracism, a 
 kind of popular judgment so call from ostrakon, a shell, or tile, 
 on which votes were written. 
 
 The following was the process in this condemnation. The people 
 being assembled, each citizen writing on a shell the name of the 
 individual most obnoxious to him without the allegation of a crime, 
 carried it to a certain part of the market place fixed for this purpose, 
 and deposited it there. These shells were numbered in gross by the 
 archons. If they did not amount to 6000, the ostracism was void. 
 If they amounted to this number, the archons, laying every name by 
 itself, pronounced him, whose name Was written by the major part, 
 banished for ten years, with leave to enjoy his estate. Hence it was 
 that so many eminent citizens suffered from the ingratitude or the 
 spleen of the Athenians. 
 
 Government of Sparta. 
 
 Classes of the inhabitants. The inhabitants of Sparta 
 consisted of citizens and slaves, or Helots. The citizens were 
 divided into two classes, the Homoii, and the Hypomiones. 
 The privileges of these varied ; the former were eligible to 
 office ; the latter consisting of the poorer citizens, the freed- 
 men and their sons, were allowed only to vote at the elections. 
 
 The slaves, or Helots, were much more numerous than the 
 citizens. Then* services were similar to those of servants 
 in general, though less severe than those of servants elsewhere 
 in Greece. 
 
 Kings. The republic of Sparta had two magistrates, called 
 kings, but they differed from those of most other nations. 
 They formed a check upon each other, and their power 
 otherwise was very limited. 
 
 Every month they took an oath that they would rule according to 
 the laws ; one of them commanded the army, while the other usually 
 remained at home to administer the laws. As first citizens of the 
 state, they presided in the senate, but their peculiar prerogative was 
 to superintend the religion of the state. 
 
18t) GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Senate. This body consisted, together with the two 
 of twenty-eight members, who were above sixty years of age. 
 and elected to the office for life, and on account of their virtue. 
 Their duty was to consider all questions respecting peace cr 
 war, and other important affairs of the republic. 
 
 Ephori. The Ephori were five magistrates, elected annu- 
 ally by the citizens, to inspect the education of the youth, and 
 the administration of justice. 
 
 Assemblies. The public assemblies were held to decide on 
 matters laid before them by the Senate. There were two of 
 these bodies ; one was called the general assembly, attended 
 by all the freemen of Laconia ; the other, the lesser assembly, 
 composed of the Spartans alone, who exceeded thirty years of 
 age. 
 
 It is to be noticed, that the kings, as well as the other magistrates, 
 constituted a portion of these bodies. 
 
 Government of the other States of Greece. 
 
 Like Athens and Sparta, the government of the other 
 
 sovereignties of Greece was, for the most part, republican. 
 
 Jn some of them there was a preponderance of aristocracy, in 
 
 others of democracy. Thebes was more nearly a monarchy. 
 
 Many of the sovereigns of Thebes were celebrated for their mis- 
 fortunes, such as Laius, (Edipus, Polynices, &c 
 
 Pertaining to the government of the Greeks, as a confede- 
 rated body, was the Amphictyonic Council. This was an as- 
 sembly composed, at first, of a few states in the northern parts 
 of Greece, but afterwards of twelve states, the object of which 
 was the decision of all differences between cities, and to try 
 such offences as openly violated the laws of nations. 
 
 The number of deputies usually sent to this council was two from 
 each state. It met twice a year. The vernal assembly was held at 
 Delphi, and the autumnal at Thermopyla?. 
 
 45. Military Affairs. The armies of the different states 
 of Greece consisted, for the most part, of citizens, whom the 
 laws of their country obliged at a certain age to appear in 
 arms, at the summons of the magistrate. 
 
 The main body of the Grecian armies was composed of infantry. 
 The rest rode in chariots, upon horseback, or upon elephants. 
 
 The Greek arms were at first made of brass, and the boots, 
 and some other parts, of tin. Iron became afterwards the 
 chief material. The defensive arms were a helmet, a breast 
 
GREECE. 181 
 
 plate, and a plate for the back, greaves to defend the legs, 
 guards for the hands, a sort of belt which covered a part of 
 the body in front, and a shield. 
 
 The offensive arms were the spear, or pike, the sword, the 
 pole axe, a club of wood or iron, the bow and arrow, darts or 
 
 javelins, and slings. 
 
 The Greeks, however brave in the field, were very inefficient in 
 undertaking the siege of walled towns. Their armies were generally 
 the militia of the country, called out to temporary service. 
 
 The severest punishments were inflicted by the Lacedemonians 
 on deserters, or cowards, who fled from battle. They forfeited all the 
 privileges and honours of citizens ; it was a disgrace to intermarry 
 with them ; they might be beaten by any who met them, without 
 the liberty of self-defence 5 and they wore some distinguishing dress 
 as a mark of infamy. 
 
 Archilochus, the poet, was banished Sparta for writing an epigram, 
 in which he jestingly related the loss of his shield. 
 
 46. Naval Affairs. The Greek ships consisted chiefly of 
 three sorts : ships of war, those of burthen, and those of pas- 
 sage. 
 
 6 Ships of passage were used as transports ; ships of burthen served 
 as tenders, and were usually of a round form ; ships of war contained 
 the men and the weapons by which the naval engagement was car- 
 ried on, and were distinguished by the several orders or banks of 
 oars which they possessed. These were not fixed in a vertical line 
 over each other, but back of each other, ascending gradually in the 
 form of stairs. 
 
 47. Religion. The Greeks, who were heathens, wor- 
 shipped great numbers of gods and demi-gods, whom they 
 divided into three classes : celestial, marine, and infernal. 
 They were all subject to Jupiter, who was considered the 
 father of gods and men. The above classes are according to 
 their degrees of dignity. 
 
 The gods of Greece are described by the poets according to tradi- 
 tion, and with such embellishments as poetic genius could invent. 
 As the Greeks had no sacred books, these fictions, sanctioned also by 
 the priests and legislators, were the only authority for the popular 
 belief. 
 
 The account we here give of the mythology of the Greeks is to be 
 regarded as a description only of their principal deities, and under the 
 forms in which the poets, sculptors, and painters, represented them. 
 If this article should appear to be somewhat particular, compared 
 with the others respecting Greece, it is because the mythology of this 
 country is the same nearly with that of the whole ancient world, and 
 is necessary to be known in reading the Grecian and Roman classics. 
 
 The celestial deities were Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, Mercury 
 
 Q 
 
182 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Bacchus, Vulcan, Juno, Minerva, Venus, Diana, Ceres, afcI 
 Vesta. 
 
 Jupiter was the son of Saturn and Cybele ; and born at the same 
 birth with Juno, on mount Ida in Crete. He deposed his father, and 
 divided the world between himself and his brethren, Neptune and 
 Pluto. Neptune had the jurisdiction of the sea, and Pluto that of the 
 infernal regions. The sovereignty of heaven and earth he reserved to 
 himself. 
 
 One of his great exploits was the conquest of the Titans, or giants, 
 who heaped mountains upon mountains to scale heaven. Jupiter 
 was guilty of indulging the basest lusts, although he is generally re- 
 presented as the father of men and gods, as shaking heaven with his 
 nod, and governing all things, except the Fates, by his power as su- 
 preme. His altars were never defiled with human sacrifices. 
 
 He is generally represented as a majestic personage, seated on a 
 throne, with a sceptre in one hand, and thunderbolts in the other, 
 and at his feet an eagle with expanded wings. 
 
 Apollo was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and born in the island 
 of Delos. He presided over music, medicine, poetry, divination, the 
 fine arts, and archery. For his offence in killing the Cyclops, he was 
 banished from heaven, and obliged to hire himself as a shepherd to 
 Admetus, king of Thessaly, in which employment he remained nine 
 years. 
 
 His adventures on earth are represented as extraordinary. Among 
 others he flayed Marsyas alive for contending with him in music ; he 
 caused Midas to receive a pair of ass's ears for preferring Pan's mu- 
 sic to his ; he turned into a voilet the beautiful boy Hyacinthus, whom 
 he accidentally killed with a quoit ; and his mistress Daphne he me- 
 tamorphosed into a laurel. 
 
 He is represented as a tall, beardless youth, with rays round his 
 head ; sometimes he holds a lyre in his hand, sometimes he has a 
 bow, with a quiver of arrows at his back. 
 
 Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was the god of war, 
 and patron of all that is bloody, cruel, and furious. The horse, the 
 wolf, the magpie, and the vulture, were offered to him. He had his 
 temples in aU nations, as well as among the Greeks and Romans. 
 During the Trojan war Mars was wounded by Diomedes, and hastily 
 retreating to heaven, complained to Jupiter, that Minerva had direct- 
 ed the weapon of his antagonist. 
 
 He is represented as an old man, armed and standing in a chariot, 
 drawn by two horses, called Flight and Terror ; his sister Bellona, 
 was his charioteer. Discord goes before him in a tattered garment 
 with a torch, and Anger and Clamour follow. 
 
 Mercury, the son of Jupiter and Maia, was the messenger of the 
 gods, the patron of travellers, shepherds, orators, merchants, thieves, 
 and dishonest persons. His exploits abundantly support this charac- 
 ter. Mercury was doubtless some enlightened person in a remote 
 age, who, on account of his actions or services was worshipped after 
 his death. His Greek name, Hermes, signifies to interpret or explain, 
 and he appears to have taught men the arts of civilization, 
 
GREECE. 183 
 
 flc is represented as a naked youth, standing on tiptoe, having a 
 winged cap on his head, and winged sandals on his feet ; in one hand 
 he held a rod, and in the other a purse. 
 
 Bacchus was the son of Jupiter and Semele, and the god of wine. 
 His festivals were celebrated by persons of both sexes, who dressed 
 themselves in skins, and ran about the hills and country shouting, 
 and accompanying their shouts with drums, fifes, and flutes. These 
 solemnities were* attended with disgusting scenes of drunkenness and 
 debauchery. The fir, yew, and fig tree, the ivy and vine, were sacred 
 to him. 
 
 Bacchus is depicted as a corpulent and ruddy youth, crowned with 
 ivy and vine leaves; holding in his hand a small javelin bound with 
 vine leaves ; his chariot is drawn by lions. 
 
 Vulcan, the god of fire, and patron of those who wrought in the 
 metallic arts, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was kicked out 
 of heaven by Jupiter, for attempting to deliver his mother from a 
 chain by which she was suspended. He continued to descend nine 
 days and nights, and lighted on the island of Lemnos, but was crip- 
 pled ever after. 
 
 Vulcan was the artificer of heaven ; he forged the thunderbolts of 
 Jupiter, also the arms of gods and demi-gods. Though deformed, 
 squalid, and sooty, he is made the husband of Venus and father of 
 Cupid. 
 
 Vulcan is represented as working at a forge. One hand raising a 
 hammer ready to strike, the other holding a thunderbolt with pin- 
 cers on an anvil. An eagle waits to carry it to Jupiter when 
 finished. 
 
 Juno, styled the queen of heaven, was both the sister and wife of 
 Jupiter. She was born at Argos, or as some report, in Samos. In 
 her character she was haughty, jealous, and inexorable, though the 
 ancients held her in great veneration, inasmuch as she presided over 
 power, empire, and riches, and was the special protectress of mar- 
 nage and child birth. 
 
 She was lofty, graceful, and magnificent in her face, figure, and 
 motion, and of all the pagan divinities her worship was the most so- 
 lemn and general. 
 
 She is represented seated on a throne, or in a chariot drawn by 
 peacocks, with a diadem or fillet adorned with jewels on her head, 
 and a golden sceptre in her hand. Iris, displaying the rich colours of 
 the rainbow, is her usual attendant. 
 
 Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, sprang completely armed from 
 the head of Jupiter. She was the most accomplished of all the god- 
 desses, and the only divinity that seemed equal to Jupiter. She was 
 a benificent goddess, and instructed in ship building, navigation, spin- 
 ning, and weaving. Her worship was universally established, but 
 Athens claimed her particular attention. 
 
 She is represented as a majestic female, of commanding aspect, 
 armed with a helmet, breastplate, shield, and spear. By her side, or 
 on her crest, is an owl, the bird which is sacred to her. 
 
 Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was the daughter of Jupi- 
 
184 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 ter and Dione, or as some say, she sprung from the froth of the sea. 
 She was licentious in a high degree, and her worship was celebrated 
 with the most disgraceful ceremonies. The most beautiful of her 
 temples were those of Paphos, Cnidus, Cythera, and Idalia. The 
 island of Cyprus was her favourite residence. 
 
 She is represented as a beautiful woman, elegantly attired, and girt 
 about the waist with a cestus, or girdle, that had the power of inspi- 
 ring love. 
 
 Diana was the queen of the woods and the goddess of hunting. 
 She devoted herself to perpetual celibacy, and had for her attendants 
 80 nymphs, all of whom abjured the rites of marriage. Among 
 plants, the poppy and dittany were sacred to her. 
 
 She is represented as a tall, majestic woman, lightly clad, with a 
 crescent on her forehead, a bow in her hand, a quiver on her shoul- 
 ders, her legs bare, and buskins on her feet. 
 
 Ceres, the goddess of corn and harvest, was the daughter of Sa- 
 turn and Cybele, and the first who taught to cultivate the earth. She 
 was a beneficent goddess, but led a licentious life. To her honour the 
 Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated. 
 
 She is represented as a majestic and beautiful woman, crowned 
 with ears of corn ; in one hand she held poppies and ears of corn, 
 and in the other a lighted torch. 
 
 Vesta was the goddess of fire, and guardian of houses and hearths. 
 She ever remained a virgin, and received the first oblations in sacri- 
 fice. 
 
 She was represented in a long, flowing robe, a veil on her head, a 
 lamp in one hand, and a javelin in the other. 
 
 The marine deities were Neptune, and his wife Amphi- 
 trite, Oceanus and his wife Thetys, Triton, Proteus, Nereus, 
 and his sister and consort Doris, &c. 
 
 Neptune, the brother of Jupiter, was second in rank among the 
 gods, and reigned over the sea. Conspiring against Jupiter, he was 
 defeated, banished from heaven, and for one year made subject to 
 Laomedon, king of Troy, where he assisted to build the walls of that 
 city. 
 
 Neptune is represented seated in a chariot made of a shell and 
 drawn by dolphins and sea horses, surrounded by tritons, nymphs, 
 and sea monsters. On his head he wears a crown, -and in his hand 
 holds a trident, or sceptre, with three prongs. 
 
 Oceanus, a sea god, was the son of Ccelum and Vesta. He was 
 called the father, not only of rivers, but of animals. He and his wife 
 Thetys are said to have had 3000 sons. 
 
 Triton, also a sea god, was the son of Neptune and Amphitrite ; 
 he was his father's companion and trumpeter. 
 
 Half of him resembles a man ; the other part is like a fish ; his two 
 feet are like the fore feet of a horse ; his tail is cleft and crooked like 
 a half moon ; and his hair resembles wild parsley. 
 
 Nereus, a sea god, the son of Oceanus, was the father of fifty daugh- 
 ters by his wife Doris, who were called Nereids. 
 
GREECE. 185 
 
 Proteirs, fhe son of Oceanus, a god of the sea, could foretell future 
 events, and change himself into any shape. 
 
 The infernal deities were Pluto and his consort Proserpine, 
 Plutus, Charon, the Furies, Fates, and the three judges, Mi- 
 nos, jEacus, and Rhadamanthus. 
 
 Pluto, who exercised dominion over hell, was the brother of Ju- 
 piter. The goddesses all refusing to marry him on account of his de- 
 formity and gloomy disposition, he seized Proserpine, the daughter 
 of Ceres, in Sicily, opened a passage through the earth, carried her to 
 his residence, married, and made her queen of hell. No tejnples were 
 raised to his honour. 
 
 He is represented seated on a throne of sulphur, from beneath 
 which flow the rivers Lethe, Phlegethon, Cocytus, and Acheron. His 
 countenance is stern ; on his head is a radiated crown ; in one hand a 
 sceptre with two teeth, called a bident, and in the other, two keys. 
 
 Plutus, an infernal deity, was the god of riches. He was lame, blind, 
 injudicious, and timorous. 
 
 Charon was the -ferryman of hell, an old man with white hair, a 
 long beard and garments, deformed with filth, in speech morose, and 
 ill-tempered. Every ghost paid a small brass coin for his fare. 
 
 None could enter Charon's boat without a regular burial ; without 
 this, they wandered a hundred years, amidst the mud and slime of 
 the shore. By him departed souls were ferried over the four rivers ol 
 hell, and carried to Pluto's palace. 
 
 The Furies were three in number, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara. 
 They have the faces of women, their looks are full of terror, they 
 hold lighted torches in their hands, and snakes lash their necks and 
 shoulders. Their office is to observe and punish the crimes of bad 
 men, and torment the consciences of secret offenders. 
 
 The Fates were three daughters of Jupiter by Themis. Their 
 names were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. They decided on the 
 fortunes of mankind. Clotho drew the thread of life, Lachesis turned 
 the wheel, and Atropos cut it with her scissors. 
 
 Minos, j^acus, and Rhadamanthus, were the three judges of the 
 souls of the dead. They assigned various punishments to the wick- 
 ed, adapted to their crimes; to the good they gave a place in the de- 
 lightful realms of Elysium. 
 
 There were many other divinities of various characters and 
 descriptions : as, Cupid, the god of love ; the Muses, who pre- 
 sided over poetry, music, dancing, and the liberal arts ; the 
 Graces, &c. 
 
 Cupid, representing the passion of love, was a beautiful winged 
 boy, with a bow and arrows, and often with a bandage over his eyes. 
 Sometimes he is bestriding the back of a lion, playing on a lyre ; 
 sometimes he appears mounted on a dolphin ; at others, breaking the 
 winged thunderbolt of Jove, or amusing himself with childish diver- 
 sions. 
 
 The Muses were the daughters of Jupiter by Mnemosyne. They 
 were nine in number viz. 
 
 Q2 
 
186 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 1st. Calliope, who presides over eloquence and heroic or epic poe- 
 try, such as Homer's Iliad. 
 
 2d. Clio, who presides over history. 
 
 3d. Erato, the muse ot elegiac or lyric poetry. 
 
 4th. Euterpe, presiding over music. 
 
 5th. Melpomene, the inventress and muse of tragedy. 
 
 6th. Polyhymnia, the muse of singing and rhetoric. 
 
 7th. Terpsichore, who presides over dancing. 
 
 8th. Thalia, the muse of pastoral or comic poetry. 
 
 9th. Urania, who presides over hymns and sacred subjects, and is 
 the muse of astronomy. 
 
 The Graces were the daughters of Bacchus and Venus, and three 
 in number. They were supposed to give to beauty its attractions, and 
 to render even homeliness pleasing. 
 
 They are usually represented as young and blooming virgins, 
 tightly clad, and holding each other by the hand, to show the mutual 
 affection that subsisted between them. 
 
 Besides these, there were rural deities, as Pan, Sylvanus, 
 Priapus, Aristseus, Terminus, and others. There were also 
 the Sirens, Gorgons, Harpies, Dryads, Naiads, Nereids, Tri- 
 tons, Lares, Penates, Fauns, Satyrs, Pales, and a vast number 
 of Nymphs. 
 
 Pan was the principal among the inferior deities, and was the god 
 of hunters, shepherds, and country people generally. 
 
 Sylvanus was next to Pan, and presided over woods. Priapus pre- 
 sided over gardens. Aristreus invented the art of extracting oil from 
 olives, and found the use of honey. Terminus was considered as 
 watching over the boundaries of lands. 
 
 The Sirens were three fabulous persons, who were said to have the 
 faces of women, and the lower parts of their bodies like fish. They 
 had such melodious voices, that mariners were often allured by them 
 to their own destruction. 
 
 The Gorgons, three sisters, had the power of transforming those 
 into stones who looked at them. 
 
 The Harpies are said to have been winged monsters which had the 
 face of a woman, the body and wings of a vulture, claw r s on the hands 
 and feet, and the ears of a bear. 
 
 The Dryads were nymphs who presided over the woods. 
 
 The Naiads were nymphs of springs and fountains. 
 
 The Nereids were nymphs of the sea, and daughters of Nereus and 
 Doris. 
 
 The Tritons were sea gods, with their upper parts like a man, and 
 their lower parts resembling a fish. 
 
 The Lares and Penates were inferior deities who presided over 
 houses and families. 
 
 The Fauns and Satyrs were rural demi-gods, the one attending on 
 Pan, and the other on Bacchus. 
 
 Pales was the goddess of shepherds and pastures. 
 
 The Nymphs were celestial and terrestrial ; the former guided the 
 
GREECE. 187 
 
 heavenly bodrcs, the latter presided over the woods. They are repre- 
 sented as beautiful creatures, inhabiting every forest and glen. 
 
 The worship of these divinities was conducted by priests 
 dressed in costly habits, who offered sacrifices of animals, 
 fruits, perfumes, &c. These sacrifices were sometimes ac- 
 companied by prayers, music, dancing 1 , &c. Human victims 
 were occasionally sacrificed. 
 
 The Greeks derived their religion principally from Egypt ; but 
 by degrees the legislators, poets, and priests, extended it, till the 
 multitude of gods was almost innumerable. Thirty thousand ob- 
 jects of worship have been enumerated among them. These deities 
 were supposed frequently to mingle in the affairs of men, and are re- 
 presented as being stained with almost every vice. 
 
 Temples were erected, festivals instituted, games celebrated, and 
 sacrifices offered, with more or less pomp to all these gods, as also to 
 the souls of departed heroes. 
 
 The religion of the common people consisted chiefly in the exter- 
 nal honours paid to their gods, and an attendance upon sacrifices and 
 ceremonies, though these were performed with great reverence. 
 With respect to a future state of existence, the philosophers seem to 
 have been in doubt. The poets inculcated a belief in Tartarus, or 
 Hell, and Elysium, or Paradise. Women were not encouraged with 
 any hope of immortality. 
 
 Of Hell they have drawn a picture in the most gloomy 
 and horrific colours, where men who have been remarkable 
 for wickedness are tortured with a variety of miseries adapted 
 to their crimes. 
 
 The prospect of Elysium is described by Homer, Hesiod. 
 Pindar, and others, as beautiful and inviting in the highest 
 degree. In that delightful region, there is no inclement 
 weather, but soft winds blow from the ocean to refresh the 
 inhabitants, who live without care or anxiety ; there reigns 
 perpetual sunshine and serenity of sky ; and the f rtile earth 
 produces thrice in a year delicious fruits for their sustenance. 
 
 With the religion of the Greeks were connected their tem- 
 ples, oracles, games, &c. 
 
 The principal temples of the Greeks were those of Diana, 
 at Ephesus, of Apollo, in the city of Miletus, of Ceres and Pro- 
 serpine, at Eleusis, and that of Olympian Jove, at Athens. 
 These were all built of marble, and adorned with the finest 
 ornaments. The most celebrated Grecian temple, however, 
 was that of Apollo at Delphos, which was revered and resort- 
 ed to by all the surrounding nations. 
 
 Statues of the gods, to whom these structures were dedicated, 
 were erected in or near the centre of the building, and enclosed by 
 
188 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 railing. Sacrifices of various kinds were made before these statues 
 the ceremonies of which were generally conducted by the priests. 
 
 Temples among the heathen most probably owe their origin to 
 the superstitious reverence paid by the ancients to the memory of 
 their deceased friends and benefactors. As most of their gods were 
 eminent men, who were consecrated after death ; so the first heathen 
 temples, we naturally infer, were stately monuments erected in ho- 
 nour of the dead. 
 
 Oracles were consulted by the Greeks on all important oc- 
 casions, and their determinations were held sacred and invio- 
 lable. There were certain temples, in which future events 
 were made known to those who devoutly sought to know the 
 will of superior powers. Certain priests or priestesses commu 
 nicated this supposed will. 
 
 Well have they been called lying oracles, in comparison with 
 the clear predictions of the prophets of Jehovah in the scriptures 
 The most celebrated oracles were those of Apollo, at Delphi and De 
 los, the oracle of Jupiter, at Dodona, and that of Trophonius. 
 
 The public and solemn games in Greece were the Olym- 
 pic, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian four in number. The 
 contests at these games were running, leaping, throwing the 
 quoit, boxing, and wrestling. Horse races and chariot races 
 were also in repute. Besides these, there were contests in 
 which musicians, poets, artists, and philosophers, engaged for 
 victory. 
 
 These occasions drew together people from all parts of 
 Greece, and even strangers from foreign countries. The ut- 
 most emulation obtained to secure the prizes, which were 
 wreaths of various evergreens ; and the highest honours and 
 respect were shown towards the victors. Their praises were 
 universally celebrated. The effect of these games on the 
 national spirit was remarkable. 
 
 The Olympic Games were instituted by Hercules in honour of 
 Jupiter Olympius, 1222 years B. C.,and renewed after a long period, 
 first by Lycurgus, 884 B. C., and next by Coroebus, 776 B. C. The 
 last period is the era of the first Olympiad. An Olympiad was the 
 space (which was four years,) intervening between one celebration 
 and another the Greek method of computing time. The victors 
 were crowned with olive. 
 
 The Pythian Games were celebrated every fifth year, in the second 
 year of every Olympiad, near Delphi, in honour of Apollo. The vic- 
 tors were crowned with laurel. The exercises were nearly the same 
 as at the Olympic. 
 
 The Nemean Games, which were instituted by Hercules, were ce- 
 lebrated every third year at the town of Nemea, with the usual ex 
 ercises. The victors were crowned with parsley. 
 
f 
 
 GREECE. 189 
 
 The Isthmian Games were celebrated near the Isthmus of Corinth, 
 whence they derived their name. Their occurrence was every third, 
 and afterwards every fifth year. The victors were crowned with gar- 
 lands of pine leaves. 
 
 48. Literature. In literature, Greece was the glory of 
 the whole earth. No nation, ancient or modern, has ever 
 surpassed the Greeks in literary taste and genius. Since 
 their time, great advances have indeed been made in the sci- 
 ences, strictly so called, and in some branches of polite learn- 
 ing ; yet in chaste and beautiful composition, in liveliness of 
 fancy, in sweetness of periods, in the various forms of intel- 
 lectual effort under the names of poetry, oratory, and history, 
 they are still unrivalled, in mere human productions. 
 
 The Greeks derived a part of their learning from Egypt and 
 Phoenicia, but they originated much of it, and here consists their pe- 
 culiar glory. The praise of invention belongs to them, and even of 
 perfection in some departments. 
 
 Cadmus taught them the alphabet 1519 years B. C. It then con- 
 tained but 16 letters, and the method of writing was from left to 
 right, and from right to left alternately. This circumstance essenti- 
 ally contributed to the rapid advances made by the Greeks in civili- 
 zation and knowledge. 
 
 Poetry, in Greece, was extremely ancient. It was cultivated 
 even before the introduction of letters. In the various forms 
 under which it is usually arranged, there are specimens of 
 surpassing excellence, and names that can never be forgotten, 
 
 In epic poetry, we find the sublime Homer, and the moral Hesi- 
 od. In lyric poetry, shine the gay Anacreon, the sweet Sappho, and 
 the fanciful and daring Pindar. 
 
 In the drama we meet the names of the wild ^Eschylus, the pa- 
 thetic Euripides, the pure and grand Sophocles, and the delicate Me- 
 nander. In pastoral poetry, we read of the easy Bion and the ele- 
 gant Moschus ; and every classical scholar knows, that Theocritus is 
 only another name for simplicity and nature. 
 
 Oratory was greatly cultivated among the Greeks, parti- 
 cularly in Athens, whose institutions were rather more free 
 than was elsewhere the case in Greece. It became an object 
 of attention soon after the Persian invasion, about 480 years 
 B. C. It was cultivated with singular success -was bold and 
 vehement at first, but afterwards more refined and elegant. 
 
 / " w 
 
 Here Pericles awed, by the majesty of his expressions ; Tlracy- 
 dides, who was an orator, as well as a historian, arrested the thoughts- 
 of others, by the force of his own. Here Isocrates soothed the ear by 
 harmony of periods, and Demosthenes flashed conviction and im- 
 pelled te iction, by the united energy of his gesture, voice, and ar- 
 guments 
 
J90 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 History, after those earlier ages in which poetry was the 
 vehicle of recorded events, was cultivated with an interest and 
 success demanded by its importance. The Greeks possessed 
 several most distinguished historians. 
 
 Such were Herodotus, who was characterized by a simple and 
 elegant style and engaging manner ; Thucydides, whose reflections 
 were profound, and fidelity unequalled ; Xenophon, who combined 
 simplicity of style with sagacity of observation. 
 
 Philosophy among the Greeks, was divided into various 
 schools or sects. The professors of philosophy arose from the 
 early Rhapsodists men who recited the poems of Homer and 
 others at the public games, commenting at the same time 
 upon them, and who, having established schools, were digni- 
 fied by the name of sophists, or teachers of wisdom. The 
 Grecian philosophy, was, however, merely speculative, and 
 seldom based upon facts. 
 
 The principal sects of philosophy in Greece were the Ionic, the 
 most ancient, founded by Thales ; the Italian, by Pythagoras ; the 
 Socratic, by Socrates ; the Cynic, by Antisthenes ; the Academic, by 
 Plato ; the Peripatetic, by Aristotle ; the Sceptical, by Pyrrho j the 
 Stoic, by Zeno; the Epicurean, by Epicurus. 
 
 These sects were distinguished by certain peculiarities of doctrine, 
 as for instance, the Italian taught the transmigration of souls ; the 
 Socratic insisted on the excellence of virtue ; the Cynic condemned 
 all knowledge, society, and the arts of life ; the Academic dealt in 
 ideal forms, and mystical theogony ; the Peripatetic exhibited the 
 model of a perfect logic; the Sceptical inculcated universal doubt; the 
 Stoic decried all weakness, and made insensibility a virtue ; and the 
 Epicurean pointed to pleasure as the supreme good. 
 
 The Peripatetic sect, or the school of Aristotle, has exerted the 
 greatest influence over the human mind. It reigned in the schools 
 through 1600 years. 
 
 The principle of all things was a subject of special research by the 
 philosophers of Greece. It may be curious to know their opinions 
 on this topic. 
 
 Anaximenes, taught that this principle consisted of - Water. 
 
 Thales, - - Water. 
 
 Anaxagoras, - - Infinite air. 
 
 Archelaus, - - - Matter and Spirit. 
 
 Heraclitus, - - Fire. 
 
 Democritus, - Atoms. 
 
 Pythagoras, - Unity. 
 
 Plato, - - God, Idea, and matter. 
 
 Aristotle, - Matter, Form, and Privation. 
 
 Zeno, - - God and Matter, (the only things without beginning.) 
 Epicurus, - Matter and empty Space. 
 
 The seven wise men of Greece, who are found in the ranks of phi 
 
GREECE. 19J 
 
 fosophy, were Thales,of Miletus ; Solon, of Athens ; Bias, of Priene ; 
 Chiio, of Lacedaemon ; Cleobulus, of Lindos ; Pittacus, of Mitylene j 
 and Periander, of Corinth. 
 
 49. The arts. Greece, in the age of Pericles, about 430 
 B. C., abounded in architects, sculptors, and painters. It was 
 then in the zenith of its glory in literature, as well as the arts. 
 Indeed this was the taste of the public mind, until after the 
 death of Alexander. Even to this day, Greece, particularly 
 Athens, is the instructress of the world in those monuments 
 of its arts and genius that yet remain. 
 
 In the useful and necessary arts of life, the Greeks nevei 
 made any great improvement. Agriculture, manufactures, 
 and commerce, were left for other nations to perfect. But in 
 the fine arts, appropriately so called, Greece was superior to all 
 ancient nations, and probably not excelled by any modem. 
 Indeed, we may say that the Greeks carried architecture, 
 sculpture, and painting, to perfection. 
 
 This people invented that system of architecture, which is univer- 
 sally considered the most finished and perfect. 
 
 The Greek architecture consisted of three distinct orders, the Doric, 
 the Ionic, and the Corinthian. The Doric possessed a masculine 
 grandeur, and sublime plainness. The Ionic was marked with 
 gracefulness and elegance. The Corinthian affected the highest mag- 
 nificence and ornament, by uniting the characteristics of all the orders. 
 
 In sculpture, the Greeks excelled no less than in architecture. 
 Specimens of their art in this respect are perfect models. The Dying 
 Gladiator, the Venus, and the Laocoon, of the Greek sculptors, have 
 an imperishable fame. 
 
 In painting, though very few specimens have descended down to 
 us, they are supposed also greatly to have excelled. The works of 
 Zeuxis', Apelles, Parrhasius, Protogens, and Timanthes, which have 
 perished, were highly extolled by the writers of antiquity. 
 
 In music, the Greeks appear to have been less conspicuous than 
 several modern nations. 
 
 50. Private and domestic Life. The dress of the Greeks, 
 as well as of other ancient nations, differed much from that of 
 most modern nations. 
 
 The men wore an inner garment called tunic, over which 
 they threw a mantle ; their shoes, or sandals, were fastened 
 under the soles of their feet with thongs or ropes. 
 
 The women, particularly in Athens, wore a w r hite tunic, 
 which was closely bound with a broad sash, and descended in 
 waving folds down to the heels ; also a shorter robe, confined 
 round the waist with a ribbon, bordered at the bottom with 
 
GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 stripes of various colours ; over this they sometimes put on a 
 robe, which was worn gathered up like a scarf. 
 
 In the earlier ages of Greece, its inhabitants used no cover- 
 ing on their heads ; but in after times they wore hats, that 
 were tied under the chin. Women, however, always had 
 their heads covered. 
 
 The Athenians wore in their hair golden grasshoppers, as em- 
 blems of the antiquity of their nation, intimating that they were sprung 
 from the earth. 
 
 In Sparta, the kings, magistrates, and citizens, were but little distin- 
 guished by external appearance. The military costume was of a red 
 colour. 
 
 The Greeks, in general, set a high value on scarlet colour, and a 
 etill greater on purple. 
 
 The meals of the Greeks were usually four in number : 
 Breakfast was taken about the rising of the sun ; the next 
 meal at mid-day ; then came the afternoon repast ; and lastly 
 the supper, which was the principal meal, as it was taken aftei 
 the business of the day. 
 
 9 At Sparta they ate together at public tables, and the chief part of 
 their food consisted of black broth. 
 
 In the earliest ages, convivial entertainments were generally acts 
 of public devotion, but afterwards we find them in use in private life 
 
 There were also political feasts, in which a whole city, tribe, 01 
 other subdivision, met together. 
 
 Water and wine were used for drinking. Perfumed wines were 
 introduced at the tables of the rich. Every thing capable of sustain- 
 ing life was used as food. The Greeks generally were very fond offish. 
 
 Hot baths were very numerous, and bathing in them, and anoint- 
 ing the body, with a change of clean clothes, were usual in preparing 
 for a feast. When guests were invited, men and women were never 
 invited together. 
 
 Seats, on which persons sat upright, were employed ; but, as luxury 
 prevailed, couches were introduced, on which the guests reclined 
 while feasting. 
 
 The marriages among the Greeks were lawful only as the 
 consent of parents or other relatives could be obtained. This 
 institution was greatly encouraged in all parts of Greece. Want 
 of esteem, and sometimes the infliction of punishment, attended 
 the failure of entering into the connubial state. 
 
 O 
 
 Polygamy was allowed only after times of great calamity, such as 
 war or pestilence. Soci-ates married a second wife on this account. 
 Violations of the marriage contract, though the punishment was se- 
 vere, were often committed. 
 
 The Grecian women seldom or never appeared in strange company 
 but were confined to the remote parts of the house, into which no male 
 
PHOENICIANS. 193 
 
 visitants were admitted. When they went abroad, they wore veils 
 to conceal their faces. It was disreputable, however, to appear much 
 abroad. 
 
 In some parts of Greece, parents might expose their children, in 
 certain cases. Children were required to maintain their parents in 
 old age ; but by the laws of Solon, if a person did not bring up hig 
 children to some useful employment, they were to be exempted from 
 such an obligation. 
 
 The funerals of the Greeks were attended with many ce 
 remonies, showing that they considered the duties belonging 
 to the dead to be of the highest importance. In their view, it 
 was the most awful of all imprecations, to wish that a person 
 might die without the honours of a funeral. 
 
 Phoenicians. 
 
 51. Country. Phoenicia was little more than a narrow slip 
 of ground situated between mount Libanus and the sea. It 
 had Syria on the north and east, Judea on the south, and the 
 Mediterranean on the west. 
 
 52. Cities and Remains. Sidon was the capital, and a 
 maritime town of considerable extent, and provided with an 
 excellent harbour. It was distinguished by a high degree of 
 opulence and refinement. 
 
 Tyrus, called the daughter of Sidon, was built upon an 
 it-'lanrl south of Sidon, and 25 miles distant. It was ornament- 
 ed with many magnificent buildings. 
 
 Sidon is often mentioned by Homer, but Tyrus never. Tyrus 
 was joined by Alexander to the main land, and time has consolid'ated 
 his work. 
 
 The walls of Tyre were 150 feet high, with a proportionate breadth. 
 Old Tyre, on the continent, was destroyed by the Assyrians. It was 
 new Tyre that Alexander took after a siege of seven months. A few 
 fishermen's huts are among its ruins. 
 
 Other principal cities were Aradus, Tripoli, Byblus, Sarepta, and 
 Berytus. 
 
 Some vestiges of the splendour of this ancient land are still 
 in existence. The ruins of Sidon exhibit many fine columns 
 ?.nd other fragments of marble. 
 
 A double column of granite, consisting of one entire block, 80 
 feet long, has been noticed among the ruins of Tyre. 
 
 53. Navigation and Colonies. The Phrenicians. con- 
 fined between the sea and mountains, acquired power and 
 aggrandizement by navigation. Their navigators were fa- 
 mous for their skill and intrepidity. They engrossed the 
 
 ommercc of the western hemisphere. 
 
 it 
 
194 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 They formed establishments on both sides of the Mediter- 
 ranean, and even on those of the western ocean. In the time 
 of Abraham, they were known to be a commercial and enter - 
 prising people. 
 
 Carthage, Utica, Gades, &c. were colonies founded by the inha- 
 bitants of Tyre. 
 
 54. Sciences, Arts, and Manufactures. From the earliest 
 periods, the Phoenicians were addicted to philosophy. The 
 sciences of arithmetic and astronomy were invented or im- 
 proved by them, and they are known to have introduced let- 
 ters into Greece. 
 
 Before the time of the Trojan war, Moschus, a Sidonian, ex- 
 plained the doctrine of Atoms. In latter ages, we read of some emi- 
 nent philosophers ; among them was Boethius, Antipater, Diodatus, 
 and Apollonius. 
 
 In manufactures they were skilled. Glass, purple, and fine 
 linen, were products of their own invention. 
 
 In architecture they were so versed, that Solomon sought 
 their aid in erecting his magnificent temple. 
 
 55. Religion. As the Phoenicians were so nearly connect- 
 ed with the immediate descendants of Noah, they were pro- 
 bably instructed in the worship of the true God ; but they be- 
 came at length immersed in idolatry and superstition. 
 
 The principal objects of their mistaken adoration were Beelsmen, 
 or the sun, Baal, Astarte, the " queen of heaven," Hercules, Adonis, 
 and the Pataeci, certain small statues, which being venerated as the 
 tutelar gods of sea-faring men. were always carried about in the 
 prows of their vessels. 
 
 One of these idolatrous objects Milton describes in mellifluous 
 verse. 
 
 " With those iu troop 
 
 Came Ashtoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd 
 Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns; 
 To whose bright iinao-p, nightly by the moon 
 Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs." 
 
 Lydians. 
 
 56. Country. The country of the Lydians had Mysia on 
 the north, and Caria on the south. It constituted an inte- 
 resting portion of Asia Minor. 
 
 The inhabitants on the coast, who were lonians divided into 
 twelve small states, gave their name to a dialect of the Greek lan- 
 guage Ionic. 
 
 57. Cities. The principal cities were Ephesus, illustrious 
 in classic and in Christian antiquity ; Sardis, the ancient me- 
 
ROMANS. *195 
 
 tropolis ; Philadelphia, in which were celebrated the common 
 feasts of all Asia ; and a few others. 
 
 Ephesus was famous for the temple of Diana, one of the seven 
 wonders of the world, completed 220 years after its foundation. This 
 temple was 425 feet in length, and 200 in breadth. The roof was sup- 
 ported by 127 columns 60 feet high, placed there by so many kings. 
 The rich offerings brought into it were immense. 
 
 This temple was burnt on the night that Alexander was born, 
 Erostratus perpetrated this villany merely to eternize his name. It 
 rose, however, from its ruins, with augmented splendour. 
 
 Ephesus was famous also as the place where a flourishing Christian 
 church was planted by the apostle Paul ; and it now stands a monu- 
 ment of the fulfilment of our Saviour's threatening: "Thy candle- 
 stick shall be removed out of his place." 
 
 The city is now a mass of ruins. The whole contains only 40 or 
 50 Turkish families, who live in cottages of dirt. Not a single family 
 here exists to invoke the name of Jesus. Says Gibbon, " The deso- 
 lation is complete. The temple of Diana, or the church of Mary, will 
 equally elude the search of the curious traveller." 
 
 58. Character. The Lydians, under Croesus, and some of 
 his predecessors, were a very warlike people ; but after the 
 introduction of the Persian luxuries, they became indolent, vo- 
 luptuous, and effeminate. 
 
 59. Customs. They are said to be the first people that in- 
 troduced the coinage of gold and silver to facilitate trade ; the 
 first that sold by retail ; that kept taverns and eating houses ; 
 and invented public games, which were therefore called ludi 
 by the Romans. 
 
 Romans. 
 
 60. Country its name, situation^ and division. The 
 country of this renowned people, from their having ruled over 
 a great part of the civilized world, becomes an interesting ob- 
 ject to the scholar or reader. They inhabited that part of 
 Europe which is now called Italy, and their beginning was at 
 Rome, its capital. From the latter they were denominated 
 
 Romans. 
 
 Italy had other names, as Hesperia, Ausonia, CEnotria, and Sa- 
 turnia. 
 
 It had the Alps on the north, the Tyrrhene sea on the 
 west, the Adriatic on the east, and the Grecian sea on the 
 south. 
 
 The whole territory was divided into Cisalpine Gaul, Italy 
 Proper, and Magna Grsecia. 
 
 Its principal districts were Cisalpine Gaul, Etruria, Umbria, Pi- 
 
195 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 cenum, Latium, Campania, Samnium, the Hirpiui, Apulia, Calabria, 
 Lucania, and the Brutii. 
 
 61. Interesting localities of Italy. Italy as well as Greece 
 furnishes many recollections of this kind, that are so pleasing 
 to the student of antiquity. 
 
 Andes, near Mantua, was the birth-place of Virgil, Comum that of 
 the younger Pliny, Verona of Catullus, and Patavium of Livy. Ra- 
 venna was the residence of the emperors of the west when driven 
 from Rome. The river Po is famous for the death of Phaeton, who, 
 ay the poets mention, was thrown down into it by the thunder-bolts 
 of Jupiter. 
 
 Padusa, one of the mouths of the Po, was said to abound in swans. 
 Rubicon was a mountain torrent, which it was forbidden to pass with 
 an armed force, under dreadful imprecations. The inhabitants of 
 Etruria were famous for their skill in augury, early civilization, and 
 resolution, and were conquered by the Romans, only after much 
 bloodshed. 
 
 Circeii was the residence of the fabled enchantress Circe. Tusculum 
 was the villa of Cicero. Capua was celebrated for its wealth, volup- 
 tuousness, and soft climate. Near the promontory of Cumae was the 
 residence of the Sibyl. At Nola, east of Naples, bells were first in- 
 vented. The eruption of Vesuvius, A. C. 79, overwhelmed the cities 
 of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabia3,and destroyed the lifeof Pliny. 
 
 The city of Arpi was founded by Diomcdes. Venusia was the 
 birth-place of Horace. The country of Apulia was celebrated for its 
 wool. Brundusium was the port for passing from Italy to Greece. 
 Rudiae was the birth-place of Ennius. Tarentum was founded by the 
 Lacedaemonians. 
 
 Paestum in Lucania was famous for its roses. On the coast was 
 Metapontum, the school of Pythagoras. Thurium was also called 
 Sybaris, from the effeminacy of its inhabitants. Petilia was built 
 by Philoctetes, after the Trojan war. 
 
 Sicily was famous in antiquity for the birth of Ceres, the rape of 
 Proserpine, the giant Enceladus, mount yEtna, and the Cyclops, with 
 the whirlpool Charybdis, opposite to Scylla on the Italian coast, ob- 
 jects of terror to mariners. Sicily was the storehouse of Italy. 
 Mount Eryx was celebrated for its temple of Venus. The plains of 
 Enna, where Proserpine was carried away by Pluto, abounded in 
 honey. 
 
 Lipara was famous for its fruits : its raisins are still in high repute. 
 Vulcan had forges here. Sardinia was called by the Greeks, Ichnu- 
 sa, from its resemblance to the print of a foot. It was famous for 
 wormwood and bitter herbs, and its air was unwholesome. Corsica 
 was celebrated for its box and yew trees. Urcinium, founded by a 
 son of Ajax, is now Ajaccio, and celebrated in modern times as the 
 birth-place of Napoleon Buonaparte. 
 
 62. Capital of Italy , and Seat of the Roman Empire. 
 The great city of Italy and the Romans was Rome. Here 
 
Rf MANS. 197 
 
 was the beginning of this celebrated people. The city was 
 small and mean at first, but in the course of ages became 
 magnificent beyond conception. 
 
 The city was built on seven hills, Mount Palatinus, Capi- 
 tolinus, Quirilinus. Viminalis, Esquilinus, Ccelius, and Aven- 
 Unus. The Palatine hill was the residence of the kings and 
 emperors. On mount Capitolinus, were the Capitol and 
 Tarpeian rock. 
 
 The seven hills on which Rome was built are not very distinctly 
 marked, particularly now that the rubbish of so many ruined buildings 
 has, in the course of more than 2500 years, filled up the spaces be- 
 tween them. In any place the ground is about 20 feet deep above 
 the old pavement. The summit of the Capitoline hill is only about 
 120 feet above the level of the Tiber. 
 
 In the times of the republic were built the most magnificent aque- 
 ducts, which conveyed water from a vast distance for the service of 
 the city, and some of which supply modern Rome ; whilst the vast 
 ruins of others excite wonder and astonishment. The Circus Maxi- 
 mus was of an oval shape, and afforded accommodation for 150,000 
 people to see the chariot races and other games. 
 
 The ruins of the theatres of Pompey and Marcellus still remain. 
 The Coliseum, built by Vespasian and Titus, for shows of gladiators 
 and wild beasts, was capable of containing 100,000 people, and its 
 magnificent remains are still the most remarkable object at Rome. 
 
 The Pantheon or Temple of all the gods, was built by Agrippa> 
 in the time of Augustus, and its solid construction promises it a dura- 
 tion for many centuries yet to come. 
 
 The columns of Trajan and Antoninus excite the admiration of all 
 beholders. Baths of immense number and extent were made chiefly 
 in the times of the emperors, and the ruins of those of Titus, and Ca- 
 racal I a, still remain. The vast tomb of Adrian is now the castle of 
 St. Angelo. The catacombs are very extensive, but it is uncertain for 
 what purpose they were used. Several vast tombs still remain, one 
 of which was used as a fortress in the middle ages. The triumphal 
 arches of Severus, Titus, and Constantine, still adorn the ancient 
 Forum. 
 
 The extent of the walls is stated by Pliny to have been 13 miles 200 
 paces. A somewhat larger space was enclosed by Aurelian. The 
 modern city encloses also within the walls, the Vatican hill. More 
 than three fourths of the space within the walls are now covered 
 with vineyards, and the modern city is built chiefly in the ancient 
 Campus Martius. Every where are seen magnificent ruins. Egyp- 
 tian obelisks, blocks of oriental granite, ancient and modern buildings, 
 which still render Rome the most interesting city of the whole earth. 
 
 The principal public place in the city was the Forum. This was 
 a large open space of oblong shape, where the people held their as- 
 semblies, justice was administered, and public concerns were trans- 
 acted. It was surrounded in its whole extent with arched porticoes. 
 
 R2 
 
198 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 which included spacious halls, where courts of justice sat and decided 
 the affairs of individuals. 
 
 The Campus Martins was a large plain without the city, along the 
 river Tiber, where the athletic exercises and sports of the Roman 
 youth were practised. It was adorned with many noble structures, 
 and monuments commemorating the deeds of their ancestors. 
 
 63. Political State. The political state, or government 
 among the Romans, varied very much during the successive 
 periods of their existence. At first it was a monarchy : next 
 it became a republic with a preponderance of aristrocratic 
 power, which gradually gave way to the influence of the people. 
 A state almost of anarchy followed, which soon settled down 
 into a despotism. That portion of history which we call ancient, 
 includes and ends with the commencement of Roman des- 
 potism under Augustus. 
 
 The kings of Rome were not absolute or hereditary, but 
 limited and elective. They could neither enact laws, nor 
 make war or peace, without the concurrence of the senate 
 and people. 
 
 They wore a golden crown, and carried an ivory sceptre. They 
 sat in a curule chair, which was made or adorned with ivory, and 
 they were attended with twelve lictors, carrying fasces, which were 
 bundles of rods with an axe placed in the middle. They convened 
 the senate, assembled the people, conducted the army, and ap- 
 pointed the quaestors or treasurers of the public money. 
 
 The Roman people were divided into four classes. 1. The 
 Senate or Patrician order. 2. The Equestrian order or knights. 
 3. The Plebeians or mass of the people. 4. The Slaves. 
 
 The Senate was composed of 100 old men, arid afterwards 
 of 200 or more, who were the council of the king. By them 
 most of the business of the state was transacted. They were 
 called Patres, that is. Fathers. The Patrician families were 
 descended from these fathers. They constituted not an he- 
 reditary nobility, but were accounted noble, because the mem- 
 bers had filled high offices. 
 
 For some centuries, the senate consisted of 300 members, and in 
 the time of Julius Caesar, of 900. Augustus reduced the number to 
 600. They were first chosen by the kings, afterwards by the consuls, 
 and last by the censors. They were distinguished by a particular 
 dress, and had separate seats at the public spectacles. 
 
 In their official character, this body was usually assembled three 
 times a month, but was frequently called together on other days for 
 special business. A senatus consultum was a decree passed by a 
 majority of the senate, and approved by the tribunes of the people. 
 
 The Knights were not originally a separate order, but co; 
 
 
ROMANS. 199 
 
 sisted of such citizens as could maintain a horse for the wars. 
 They seem to have become a separate order at some period 
 under the kings, but afterwards the knights were chosen by 
 the censors, and presented with a horse and a gold ring, at 
 the public expense. 
 
 The knights farmed the public revenues. Every year on the 15th 
 July, they went in procession from the Temple of Honour or of Mars, 
 without the city, to the capitol, on horseback, bearing wreaths of olive 
 in their hands. A certain property (3,229 pounds) was required aa 
 a qualification to be made a knight. 
 
 The Plebeians, or mass of the people, were the remainder 
 of the Roman citizens after the Patricians and Equites or 
 knights. They were called Plebs or Populus. Those who 
 lived in the country were Plebs rustica, and were considered 
 the most respectable. The Plebs urbana consisted chiefly of 
 mechanics, or poorer citizens who followed no trade, and partly 
 maintained themselves from the largesses of corn, &c., distri- 
 buted among them. 
 
 The whole body of the people was at first divided into tribes three 
 in number, and each tribe was subdivided in ten curia? or \vards. 
 Other divisions were afterwards made. To the three tribes, Servms 
 Tullius added a fourth. Augustus afterwards divided Rome into 14 
 wards. 
 
 Besides his addition of a fourth tribe, Servius made a division of 
 the people into six classes, and each class into several centuries or 
 portions of citizens, so called, because they were required to furnish, 
 support and equip 100 men in war. These six classes were formed 
 according to their property ; the first composed of the richest citizens, 
 and the 6th, which was the most numerous, of the poorest. The 
 centuries amounted to 193. 
 
 The slaves constituted a large portion of the population of 
 Rome. Their lives were at the disposal of their masters. 
 They were not only employed in domestic services, but in 
 various trades and manufactures. They were sometime.'? 
 highly educated, and instructed in the liberal arts and profes- 
 sions, as that of physic. 
 
 They were considered as mere property, and publicly sold in a 
 market-place often chained by the leg. If capitally convicted, their 
 punishment was crucifixion. 
 
 During the Saturnalia, or Feast of Saturn, slaves were allowed great 
 freedom, and masters at that time would wait upon them at table ; 
 the same license was permitted on the Ides of August. 
 
 Slaves might be set free by various forms of law. Slaves thus 
 emancipated had the names of Liberti and Libertini. Their children 
 were not equally honourable with other citizens ; but their grand- 
 
200 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 
 children were reckoned Ingenui, or in every respect on an equality 
 with them. 
 
 With a view to connect together the different orders, it was 
 provided by Romulus, that each plebeian should choose a pa- 
 trician to be his patron, whose client the plebeian was called. 
 
 The patron was to protect his client, to give him his advice and 
 forward his interest. - The client was to be ready to assist his patron 
 on all occasions. In elections, the clients exerted themselves on be- 
 half of their patrons. 
 
 The Romans had usually three names, the Preenomen, 
 Nomen, and Cognomen, as in Publius Cornelius Scipio. 
 
 Publius is the name of the individual, to distinguish him from 
 another of the same family, as Cains Lucius, &e. Cornelius shows 
 that he was of a certain family, the gens Cornelia ; and Scipio, that 
 he was of a division of the family, the Scipios being one out of many, 
 into which the whole stock of the gens Cornelia was divided. 
 
 The Roman citizens were not merely the inhabitants of 
 Rome and its environs, but the freedom of the city was granted 
 to other parts of Italy, and afterwards to foreign cities and 
 towns in the empire, whose inhabitants, by this means, en- 
 joyed the same rights as the Romans. 
 
 The power of the people in Rome was expressed in their 
 public assemblies. The name given to these assemblies, in 
 their transactions, was Comitia. The Comitia were summoned 
 by some magistrate, to pass laws, to elect magistrates, to de- 
 cide concerning peace and war, and to try persons guilty of 
 certain heinous offences. 
 
 There were three kinds of Comitia, the Curiata, the Centur.ata, 
 and the Tributa. The Comitia Curiata consisted of an assembly of 
 the resident Roman citizens, who were divided into thirty curias, a 
 majority of which decided all matters of importance that were laid 
 before them. 
 
 The Comitia Centuriata were the principal assembly of the peo- 
 ple. They elected Consuls, Prsetors, Censors, and sometimes a Pro- 
 consul, also the Decemviri, the military Tribunes, and a priest call- 
 ed Rex Sacrorum. They gave their votes, divided into the centuries, 
 of their classes, according to the census. The place of their meet- 
 ing was the Campus Martins, and all Roman citizens, though residing 
 in the country, as well as city, had a right to act, in their several 
 centuries. 
 
 The Comitia Tributa were an assembly of the people in which 
 they voted, as they were separated into tribes, according to their 
 wards. At these comitia were created subordinate magistrates, as 
 jEdiles, Tribunes of the people, Quaestors, &c. The laws, called 
 Plebiscita, were passed at these assemblies. 
 
 Persons who sought offices and preferment were called .candidati, 
 
201 
 
 % 
 
 from a white garment which they wore. They canvassed the people 
 and solicited their votes. 
 
 After the time of Augustus, the comitia fall into disuse. The for- 
 malities were observed, but these were soon after dropped, and the 
 annual magistrates were either chosen by the senate or nominated by 
 the emperors. 
 
 The Roman magistrates were elective, and divided into 
 ordinary, extraordinary, and provincial. The ordinary magis- 
 trates, who were stated, and always in the republic, were the 
 consuls, censors, tribunes, sediles, and quaestors. The extra 
 ordinary, who were temporary magistrates, were the dictator, 
 the decemvirs, the military tribunes, and the interrex. The 
 provincial magistrates, who were appointed to the government 
 of the provinces, were at first praetors, afterwards pro-consuls 
 and pro-praetors, to whom were joined qusestors and lieu- 
 .tenants. 
 
 Consuls, after the banishment of the kings, were put in the room 
 of the latter, to perform the duties of royalty. They were two in 
 number, and held their office for one year. At first they had nearly 
 the same badges of authority, except the crown. The eligible age to 
 be made consul was forty-three, but extraordinary circumstances 
 might justify an earlier age. 
 
 The Tribunes of the people were officers whose duty it was to 
 guard and protect the plebeians in their rights, when the patricians 
 became oppressive. Their power was contracted at first, but at length 
 became very great. Unprincipled men in this office often converted 
 the public assemblies into scenes of violence and blood. 
 
 The censors were appointed to take an account of the number and 
 fortunes of the people. Their power at first was limited, but after- 
 wards, became so great, that it was deemed the most honourable 
 office in the state. There were two censors elected every five years, 
 and they continued in office only one year and a half. 
 
 The Praetors, whose rank was next to that of the consuls, and 
 whose place when vacant they supplied, were appointed to adminis- 
 ter justice and convoke assemblies of the senate and people. They 
 also presided at certain public games. There was at first but one 
 praetor, but afterwards several. 
 
 The Pro-consuls and Pro-pra3tors usually governed the provinces 
 of the empire. To them were joined quaestors and lieutenants. They 
 had the highest rank within their province. The power of the pro- 
 consuls and pro-praetors was much the same, the former being sent to 
 the larger provinces. 
 
 The ^Ediles were so named from their having a particular care 
 of the aedes or buildings, as the temples, baths, aqueducts, theatres, 
 &c. They were distinguished into Curule and Plebeian aediles. The 
 curule sediles superintended the public games, and occupied a more 
 honourable place in the senate than the plebeian sediles, who were 
 assistants to the tribunes 
 
202 GENERAL VIEWS 
 
 
 The Quaestors were appointed for the management of the public 
 revenues. At first they were two in number, but afterwards, as the 
 empire extended, they amounted to many. Two of them, the city 
 quaestors, remained at Rome, and the rest, who were military and 
 provincial quaestors, accompanied the army and provided for the 
 payment of the soldiers, or attended the consuls or praetors into their 
 provinces, and regulated the tribute. 
 
 The Dictators were magistrates, with absolute power, appointed on 
 extraordinary occasions, or in cases of imminent danger. The term 
 of their office was six months. 
 
 Their power was supreme in peace and war. They could raise and 
 disband armies, and decide matters, without consulting the senate 
 and people. The consuls submitted to their commands. As a check 
 to their power, they were liable to be called to an account for the 
 abuse of it, after it was resigned. 
 
 The Decemviri were ten men appointed, on particular occasions, 
 to collect and promulgate laws, &c. They were chosen for one year, 
 but had interest sufficient to be reappointed for another. They pro- 
 posed the laws of the twelve tables. 
 
 The Military Tribunes had consular power in public affairs ; they 
 mediated between the patricians and plebeians, at a time when they 
 could not agree in the election of consuls. 
 
 An interrex was appointed to hold the elections at Rome, when the 
 consuls or dictators were absent. 
 
 64. Religion. The gods of the Romans were nearly the 
 same as those of Greece. The priests of their religion did 
 not form a distinct order of the state ; but were selected from 
 the most honourable citizens for that office. They were of 
 two kinds those that were common to all the gods ; and 
 those that were appointed to some one divinity in particular. 
 
 Of the former, the principal were the poritifices, the au- 
 gur es, the haruspices, the quindecem-viri, and septem-viri. 
 These were all subordinate to the pontifex maximus, or high 
 
 priest. 
 
 } The pontifices were judges in sacred things, and prescribed what 
 was to be done in cases where there was ho law. The pontifex maxi 
 mus was the supreme arbiter. The pontifices were 15 in number. 
 
 The augures, who were the same in number, were expected to pr 
 diet future events, and to determine whether any action would 
 fortunate or not. They divined in various ways, among others 
 by the flight, chirping, or feeding of birds. They had great authori- 
 ty in the state, as nothing important in peace or war could be deter- 
 mined without them. 
 
 The haruspices were required to inspect the beasts offered hi sacri 
 fice, and by them to obtain omens with respect to the future. 
 
 The quindecem-viri were 15 officers who kept the sibylline books, 
 in which was written the future history of Rome. These were said 
 to have been procured from a woman of extraordinary appearance in 
 
 i 
 
ROMANS. 203 
 
 the lime of Tarquin the Proud, and were kept in a stone chest unde 
 the capitol. The quindecem-viri consulted these books in times of 
 great calamity, to provide what should be done, and thus the popular 
 fear was assuaged. 
 
 The septem-viri were seven priests who presided at sacred feasts, 
 games, or processions. 
 
 As an instance of the kind of priests that were appropria- 
 ted to particular deities, we may mention the Yestal Virgins. 
 These were consecrated to the worship of Vesta. 
 
 The Vestal Virgins guarded perpetually the sacred fire of Vesta. 
 They were obliged to observe strict chastity on pain of death. For 
 ten years they learned the sacred rites, for ten years they performed 
 them, and other ten years they spent in teaching others ; and after 
 that they might marry, if they could. 
 
 65. Military Affairs. The Romans were a nation of 
 soldiers, and all their institutions had a tendency towards the 
 encouragement of a military spirit. It was by discipline, skill, 
 and valour, that they conquered the world. 
 
 It was the duty of every citizen to be a soldier, should his 
 country call for his services, from the age of 17 to 46. 
 Those affected by disease, or exercising public functions, were 
 exempted. For 350 years from the building of Rome, no pay 
 was allowed to those who served in the army. 
 
 No man could be appointed to any honourable magistracy, with- 
 out having been ten years in the army. After Latium and the states 
 of Italy were subdued or admitted into alliance, troops were raised 
 among them in the same manner as at Rome. 
 
 About the time of Marius, a very great change took place 
 in the mode of enlisting and supporting the armies. The 
 infantry after that time, consisted of the poorer citizens, and 
 mercenary soldiers from every part of Italy. The cavalry no 
 longer consisted of Roman knights, but of horsemen, raised 
 in Italy and in the provinces, serving for hire. 
 
 The Roman legion was a correct display of military ar- 
 rangement and discipline. Each legion, when full, contained 
 6000 men divided into 10 cohorts or battalions, with other 
 subdivisions. Each legion had a wing of 300 horse attached. 
 *i. is to be noticed, however, that the numbers of the legion 
 varied at different periods, from 3000 to 10,000 and 11,000. 
 
 The dependence of the Romans was on the strength of 
 their infantry. 
 
 Their defensive arms consisted of a helmet, a shield four feet 
 long and two broad, a coat of mail, and greaves for the thighs. Their 
 weapons of assault were two long javelins or pila, and a sword. 
 
204 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 The pilum was a long heavy spear, and a terrible weapon in the 
 hand of a Roman. No defensive armour or covering could resist its 
 force, when propelled so as to reach its object. Its length was about 
 six feet, and its head consisted of a triangular point of steel 18 inches 
 long. The distance from which it was commonly thrown, varied 
 from ten to six yards. When the pila were discharged, the Roman 
 soldiers rushed upon the enemy with their swords. 
 
 The Roman sword was a short two-edged blade of fine temper, 
 adapted to the purpose of striking or thrusting. The latter was deem- 
 ed the most efficacious. 
 
 The legions were usually drawn up in three lines. The first was 
 called hastati, and consisted chiefly of young men. The second line 
 was called principes, consisting of men of middle age ; and the third 
 line triarii, consisting of veterans of tried valour. 
 
 Besides these heavy armed legionaries, there were light-armed 
 troops, who were chiefly employed in using slings, bows and arrows, 
 and throwing light javelins. They advanced before the rest of the 
 army, and annoyed the enemy as much as possible. 
 
 When the army approached the enemy, the light-armed troops 
 discharged their arrows and slings, and as they drew nearer, threw 
 their darts rapidly, and retreated through intervals between the 
 ranks, or by the flanks, and rallied in the rear. The hastati then 
 threw their long javelins, and commenced an attack with their swords. 
 
 When repulsed or fatigued, they retired leisurely into the ranks oi 
 the principes, or behind them, if necessary. The triarii were a body 
 in reserve. If unable to drive back the enemy, a retreat was all that 
 could be hoped for, 
 
 In besieging a town, the method of the Romans, and in- 
 deed of all ancient nations, differed much from that of the 
 moderns, since the use of cannons, and was inferior to the 
 latter. 
 
 The principal engines of attack among the Romans were 
 the catapultee, which discharged heavy stones ; the balistaj, 
 which discharged arrows, and the avies or battering ram, 
 which was the most effective as applied against the wall. 
 
 The aries was a long beam, like the mast of a ship, armed^ at one 
 end, with iron in the form of a ram's head. It was suspended in such 
 a manner, that 100 men, who were frequently changed, by violently 
 thrusting it back and forth, could break almost any wall, that it could 
 be made to reach. 
 
 To protect the soldiers in this work, various contrivances were 
 adopted, such as sheds called testudines, or tortoises, from their re- 
 semblance to the shell of that fish, and sheds called vinese, con- 
 structed of wood and hurdles, and covered with earth and raw hides, 
 i-o that they could not be set on fire. 
 
 The form of a Roman camp of two legions, was a square 
 of nearly 700 yards on each side, with tents and quarters, laid 
 
ROMANS. 205 
 
 out in the most regular order. A rampart of 12 feet high 
 surrounded this square, and it was enclosed by a deep am} 
 
 broad ditch. 
 
 This was the effect of caution, an excellent feature of Roman disci- 
 pline. No circumstances as to fatigue, or the absence of danger, 
 could induce the legions of Rome to neglect a regular encampment. 
 When their camps were to be left, nothing could exceed the celerity 
 of their movements. Each soldier loading himself with his provi- 
 sions and utensils, a weight of 60 pounds, besides his very heavy 
 armour, would march by regular step, 20 miles in the space of six 
 hours. 
 
 The Roman soldiers were among the best in the world. From the 
 constant practice of athletic exercises, they were inured from infancy 
 to hardiness and fatigue, and bred to that species of life which a sol- 
 dier leads in actual warfare. Their bravery and knowledge in the 
 art of war were not exceeded, if they were equalled, by any nation ot 
 antiquity* 
 
 The rewards of soldiers who had distinguished themselves 
 were various kinds of Towns, ornaments of the persons and 
 arms, and donations in money or lands. But the highest 
 object of Roman ambition was the honour of a triumph. Thip 
 was a grand, solemn procession through the city to ilxe capi- 
 tol, granted to the victorious general and his army by a decree 
 of the senate, or by the people. 
 
 The procession which constituted a triumph, marched from the 
 Campus Martins through the most public streets to the capitol. JVIu- 
 sicians of various kinds led the way; oxen, with gilt horns and ribbons, 
 intended for sacrifice, followed, with priests in their dresses of cere- 
 mony. Then the standards taken from the enemy, the arms, spoils^ 
 &c. were carried in procession. The captives followed in chains. 
 
 At length came the general in a robe of purple and gold, with a 
 crown of laurel on his head, and other personal brilliant decorations. 
 He stood in a gilded chariot adorned with ivory, drawn by four milk- 
 white horses. His friends and relations accompanied him, and the 
 principal officers were on horseback beside his chariot. His victori- 
 ous army, crowned with laurel, and singing songs of victory, came last. 
 
 An ovation was a triumph also, but accompanied with less splen- 
 dour. 
 
 66. Fleets. The Roman ships were extremely small 
 compared with modern vessels. They were quickly con- 
 structed and quickly manned. Sailors and rowers were hired 
 to navigate. Soldiers were put on board to fight. 
 
 The success of the Romans at sea was owing rather to the valour 
 of their men, than to their skill as mariners. Their object in sea- 
 battles, was to approach the enemy as quickly as possible, fasten the 
 ships together, and fight hand to hand. 
 
 Until the first Punic war, the Romans were wholly ignorant of the 
 
 8 
 
206 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 
 naval military art. A Carthaginian galley was the first model. So 
 little skill was required in building their ships, that we find them on 
 one occasion, fitting out, and sending to sea, a fleet within 45 days 
 after the trees were cut down. 
 
 The size of the ships was reckoned by the number of banks of oars, 
 placed in benches on the sides of the ship, called triremes, quadri- 
 remes, &c. 
 
 67. Agriculture. In the earliest and best ages of their 
 existence, the Roman people were much given to agriculture. 
 Except that they were frequently interrupted by war, they 
 might be considered as an agricultural people. They were 
 at once soldiers and farmers. 
 
 Many of them residing out of the city, and yet denizens of 
 Rome, were called from the plough to the army. This was 
 the case with several of their most distinguished men and 
 generals, as Q,. Cincinnatus, M. Curius, Cato the Censor, and 
 Scipio Africanus. 
 
 The pursuits of agriculture were however abandoned, after 
 the acquisition of wealth by foreign conquests and commerce. 
 Menials and slaves tilled the ground, and the people aban- 
 doned themselves to every species of luxury and sensuality. 
 
 The attention of the early Romans to husbandry was partly the 
 effect of necessity. The lands having been divided into equal and 
 nrnute portions, each one was obliged to labour for a subsistence. 
 
 The greater number of the farmers visited the city only on every 
 ninth day, which was the market day. They went there for the pur- 
 poses of barter, the procuring of necessaries, and the examination of 
 the new laws which were posted on the capitol and in the market- 
 place, some days previously to their adoption by the people. 
 
 We may obtain a better conception of the agricultural turn of this 
 people, from knowing a few of their common maxims on this subject, 
 than from any description. Those maxims were such as the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 1. He is a thriftless farmer that buys any thing which his farm can 
 produce. 
 
 2. He is no husbandman who does any work in the day time, that 
 can be done in the night, except in stormy weather. 
 
 3. He is worse who does on work days, what he may do on holy- 
 days ; and 
 
 4. He is the worst of all who in a clear sky works within doors, 
 rather than in the field. 
 
 68. Amusements and Public (Spectacles. The drama, 
 though the government was long unfriendly to it, became an 
 amusement of the Roman people. Comedies were the mosl 
 popular, and very few Roman tragedies remain. 
 
ROMANS. 2Q7 
 
 On the stage, pantomimes were much in use, and rope 
 dancers occasionally diversified the entertainment. 
 
 Rude plays, made up with music, dancing, and buffoonery, were 
 in use in the earlier periods of the republic ; but the first regular play 
 was written by Livius Andronicus, in the year of th^^city 512. 
 
 The comic actors wore a low-heeled shoe called soccus ; the tragic 
 actors wore a mask, a flowing robe, and a high-heeled shoe called co- 
 thurnus. Only temporary theatres were used at first. 
 
 The senate correctly judging that theatrical amusements were injn 
 rious to the public morals, so late as the year of the city 599, ordered 
 a theatre, building under the direction of the censors, to be pulled 
 down. Pompey the Great, was the first who built a theatre of hewn 
 stone, and the remains of this vast edifice still continue, and are used 
 by the present Romans for the baiting of bulls. 
 
 There were various public games, connected however with 
 the religion of the Romans, which were sources of much licen- 
 tious entertainment. Those of the Circus Maximus were 
 most frequented. The shows exhibited in that place were 
 chariot and horse-races ; contests of strength and agility ; 
 mock-fights on horseback ; combats of wild beasts, and of 
 men with wild beasts ; representations of horse and foot bat- 
 tles ; and mimic naval fights. 
 
 The ferocious taste of the Romans was much gratified with the 
 combats of wild beasts, and of men with the latter. Criminals were 
 condemned to fight with wild beasts j others did so for hire, or from 
 native ferocity of character. 
 
 For the amusement of the people, lions, leopards, bears, elephants, 
 and all kinds of wild beasts, were sent from Africa and the provinces. 
 Pompey, on one occasion, treated the people with the spectacle of 
 500 lions, which were despatched in five days. 
 
 The gladiatorial shows, however, had superior attractions 
 for the Romans. It is painful to observe this most distin- 
 guished people finding their chief pleasure in the combats. 
 wounds, and death of multitudes of their fellow-creatures. 
 Yet not only the populace, but the knights, senators, and 
 Roman ladies of distinction, eagerly crowded to the sight. 
 
 The first gladiatorial shows were exhibited about the year of the 
 city 490, by two brothers called Bruti, at the funeral of their father. 
 Afterwards they were exhibited by the magistrates at regular periods, 
 arid at length they became the chief means of obtaining favour with 
 the people. They were not entirely abolished till the reign of Theo- 
 dosius the Great. 
 
 Incredible numbers of captives, &c. were destroyed on these occa- 
 sions. Trajan exhibited games for 123 days, when 10,000 wild beasts 
 vyere killed, and 10,000 gladiators fought. During the reign of Clau- 
 dius was exhibited the spectacle of 19,000 men slaughtering one ano* 
 
 v^ for the amusement of the Roman populace. 
 
208 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 
 Gladiators consisted chiefly of slaves, captives, and condemned 
 malefactors ; but sometimes free-born citizens became gladiators for 
 hire. Even persons of noble birth were induced to display their 
 skill and courage before the people, in these combats. 
 
 There were^parious sorts of armour, and various modes of fighting. 
 One mode was the use of the net. "With that a gladiator would en- 
 tangle his opponent, by casting it over his head; and suddenly 
 drawing it together, could despatch him with his dart. If he missed 
 his aim, he betook himself to flight, preparing his net for a second 
 cast, while his opponent in the pursuit endeavoured to despatch him, 
 before ho could have an opportunity. 
 
 Amphitheatres were erected for the convenience of the spectators. 
 The most celebrated was the Coliseum already mentioned. Large 
 coverings were drawn over the amphitheatres, as a screen from the 
 heat cf the sun, or from rain. 
 
 69. Education. The system of education among the 
 Romans, when in their most intellectual state, that is, about 
 the time of Cicero, was much to be admired. The utmost 
 attention was bestowed on the early formation of the mind 
 and character. 
 
 The Roman matrons themselves nursed their children. 
 Next to the care bestowed upon their morals, a remarkable 
 degree of attention seems to have been given to the language 
 of children. The attainment of a pure and correct expression 
 was a great object. The honours of the state were the prize 
 of eloquence. The politeness which characterized the Romans 
 shewed itself particularly in their speech and gesture. 
 
 The education of the Romans at first suited their rude state of soci- 
 ety and their simple manner of life. But upon their intercourse with 
 the Greeks, a more liberal form of education was adopted. Public 
 schools were opened for the reception of youth of both sexes. In 
 literature and the accomplishments of polished life they were alike 
 instructed. 
 
 From the earliest dawn of reason a course of discipline was pur- 
 sued by some matron of the family ; and as children grew towards 
 manhood, they were habituated to all the athletic exercises that 
 could impart agility or grace, and fit them for the profession of arms. 
 
 At the age of 17 they were invested with the manly robe, and young 
 men of family were placed under the protection of some senator of 
 distinguished reputation in jurisprudence. Although he was not con- 
 sidered a preceptor, yet under his auspices they were initiated into 
 public business. 
 
 Eloquence and the military art were the surest roads to preferment. 
 These accordingly were made commanding objects of pursuit with 
 the Roman youth. Eloquence was taught as a science at public 
 schools. 
 
 From the care which the Romans bestowed upon the education of 
 
ROMANS. 209 
 
 their youth, both male and female, arose the large number of great 
 men and eminent women which Rome has produced, and the vir- 
 tues with which they were adorned, during the brilliant era of the 
 republic. Happy, could their history be closed at that epoch ; but the 
 tide of luxury afterwards swept away the most valuable of their in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 70. Literature. Previously to their intercourse with 
 Greece, the Romans, though a sensible and energetic, were 
 a rude and illiterate people. Their language for a long tim 
 was in a very imperfect state. The very few fragments of 
 sentences which have come down to us from an early period., 
 such as are found in the " Fratres Arvales," and " Leges Re- 
 gise," show a great difference between the language then in 
 use, and that which was employed during the age of Au- 
 gustus. 
 
 After successive improvements, the Romans became re- 
 nowned in literature during the last named period. The mas- 
 ter-pieces of Greece, kindled the fire of emulation. Roman 
 literature, in the Augustan era, was inferior to that of the 
 Greeks, only because it was necessarily less original and more 
 imitative than theirs. In some respects the Romans improved 
 upon their models. Poetry, history, oratory, philosophy, and 
 the various kinds of fine writing, were cultivated with great 
 success. 
 
 The dawning of Roman literature appeared in the writings of 
 Livius Andronicus, Plautirs. Ennrus, Caecilius, and Terence. These 
 writers improved and polished the language, partly by original com- 
 positions, and partly by translations from the Greek. 
 
 Poetry among the Romans, as with most other nations, 
 appears to have been the earliest intellectual effort. Of this we 
 have an instance in the Fescennine verses, mentioned by 
 Livy, which are supposed to have been a rude poetical dia- 
 logue. This doubtless proved to be the germ of the stage. 
 Other species of poetry naturally followed. 
 . The names that adorned the Roman drama were Livius Andro- 
 nicus ; Ennius, who more especially improved it ; Plautns, who 
 wrote with strength and spirit ; Caecilius, who is reckoned the best 
 of the Roman dramatists ; Terence, who excels in simplicity and pu- 
 rity; Accius, and Pacuvius, who though rough in style shewed 
 strength of genius. All these except the two last were comic wri- 
 ters. 
 
 The lyric poetry of the Romans owns the names of Catullus, the 
 earliest in this kind of poetry ; and Horace, the greatest among the 
 Romans, if not of antiquity, though he is highly to be censured on 
 account of his occasional indelicacy. 
 
 S2 
 
210 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 In elegiac poetry, Propertius, and Tibullus poured their tender and 
 elegant strains, and Ovid uttered the language of nature and passion. 
 The two last especially offend on the score of morals. 
 
 Of satiric poetry, Lucillius is said to be the inventor : Horace also 
 excelled in this species of poetic composition. Some other names 
 among the Romans, are distinguished as satirists, but they belong to 
 a subsequent era. 
 
 In didactic poetry, Lucretius is a great name j and of epic poetry 
 Virgil is prince among the Romans. Homer among the Greeks, and 
 Virgil among the Romans, have come down to us with almost equal 
 renown. 
 
 History was cultivated by the Romans with much success, 
 particularly during the Augustan age. 
 
 ' The most eminent of their historians were Sallust, who excelled 
 in the philosophy of history ; Caesar, who wrote with purity and sim- 
 plicity ; "but especially Livy, whose judgment, perspicuity, copious- 
 ness, and eloquence, place him at the head of Roman historical wri- 
 ters. 
 
 Oratory was a favourite study at Rome, as it led to the 
 highest honours of the state. The most distinguished sena- 
 tors are said to have exercised their talents in public speak- 
 ing, in behalf of the poor and oppressed. The characteristics 
 of Roman eloquence were seriousness, copiousness, and ma- 
 jesty. 
 
 J. Caesar, Hortensius, and particularly Cicero, distinguished them- 
 selves as public speakers. Of Caesar it is said that " he spoke with 
 the same force with which he fought." Hortensius was eclipsed 
 only by Cicero. And Cicero is the rival of Demosthenes in fame. 
 
 Philosophy made its first appearance at Rome, in the in- 
 terval between the war with Perseus, and the third Punic 
 war. It was derived from Greece. The various systems of 
 the Greek philosophy, had their respective partisans at Rome. 
 
 A few learned Achaeans, banished from their country, and arriving 
 at Italy, diffused a taste for philosophy, polite learning, and the edu- 
 cation of youth. Fearing foreign manners with foreign studies, the 
 senate banished the Greek philosophers from Rome. But the Athe- 
 nian embassy arriving soon after, brought thither Carneades and 
 Critolaus, who revived the taste for the Greek philosophy. 
 
 The system of the Stoics was at first more generally received, as 
 this comported with the national character. Among the Roman sto- 
 ics, were Scipio, Laelius, and the younger Cato. 
 
 The philosophy of Aristotle was little known in Rome till the time, 
 of Cicero. Cratippus and Tyrannion then taught his system with 
 great reputation. 
 
 The Old and New Academy had each its advocates and disciples 
 Marcus Brutus, and Terentius Varro, were ornaments of the former. 
 Of the New Academy, Cicero must be considered as the principal 
 
ROMANS. 211 
 
 supporter, though his design seems to have been rather to illustrate 
 the Greek philosophy in general. He was the greatest of the Roman 
 philosophers, if not on the whole the greatest man of all antiquity. 
 
 With the introduction of luxury, the philosophy of Epicurus be- 
 came' fashionable. The poet Horace was a devotee to this system, as 
 also Lucretius, and many others, who very liberally indulged their 
 appetites, and taught others to indulge them. 
 
 Physics, or natural philosophy, seems to have been little 
 cultivated by the Romans or by the Greeks Before them. 
 Varro is the only name conspicuous in this department, in the 
 annals of antiquity. 
 
 In some instances, splendid libraries were attached to the 
 galleries of some affluent patricians, who patronized learning. 
 These libraries were open to the inspection of the learned and 
 curious, and contributed greatly to the advancement of know- 
 ledge at Rome. 
 
 Among these, the library of Lucullus was remarkable, not only 
 for the number and variety of the books, and specimens of art, but for 
 the liberal use to which it was devoted. 
 
 71. Arts. The Romans are not to be compared with the 
 Greeks, as to native taste and inventive genius, as the fine 
 arts are concerned. They admired and imitated the master- 
 pieces of Greece. But in execution, for the most part, they fell 
 short of their models. By help derived from Grecian genius, 
 they have, however, left many wonderful specimens in the 
 arts, particularly in architecture. 
 
 Their conquest of Greece secured to them as spoils the noble 
 productions of Greece in painting and statuary. With these the 
 wealthy Roman citizens adorned the city, its temples, and porticoes, 
 and their own private dwellings. 
 
 The names of few Roman artists occur. Vitruvius wrote the only 
 book on architecture that is now extant. He shews that he was a 
 master of his profession. In great and magnificent works, Rome has 
 manifested her unbounded wealth and luxury. 
 
 In the mechanic arts some inventions occur, and a degree 
 of perfection was attained among the Romans of ancient his- 
 tory. These however have been greatly extended and im 
 proved in more recent ages; and many comforts which we 
 enjoy, derived from a knowledge of mechanism, were un- 
 known to this people. 
 
 Such conveniences as glass windows and chimneys in houses, 
 not to mention many others, the Romans did not possess ; though 
 their ingenuity supplied the want, in part, by various expedients. 
 
 72. Domestic Life and Manners. The houses and furni- 
 ture of the early Romans were entirely plain in their con- 
 
212 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 
 struction. When luxury commenced in Rome, this plainness 
 was laid aside, and the decorations of art were assumed in a 
 degree. At this latter period, and before luxury reached its 
 utmost bounds, each house contained one spacious hall, in 
 which the family assembled, and which served all the pur 
 poses of society. 
 
 Towards the close of the republic, however, various apartments 
 werg constructed for the reception and entertainment of company, 
 and in- the time of the emperors, their embellishment was carried to 
 the highest point of perfection. The eating rooms were remarkable 
 for their grandeur. 
 
 The tables were originally made of ordinary wood, square, and on 
 four feet ; but the form was afterwards changed to circular, or oval, 
 supported on a single carved pedestal, and they were richly inlaid 
 with ivory, gold, or silver, sometimes with the addition of precious 
 stones. 
 
 We read of a single table formed of a kind of wood, called citron 
 wood, with which we are unacquainted, that cost upwards of eight 
 thousand pounds sterling. A canopy was suspended over the table, 
 to guard it, as it is said, from dirt of the ceiling. This, however it 
 may have added to the decoration of the apartments, does not convey 
 a very favourable idea of the cleanliness of the Romans. 
 
 Originally, the Roman villa was nothing raore than a farm-house 
 of a very humble description ; but at length the word lost its original 
 signification, and was used to denote the abode of luxury and opu- 
 lence. We have fortunately a complete and beautiful description of 
 one, and that his own, in the works of Pliny the younger. They 
 were very numerous about Rome, and very magnificent. 
 
 The meals of the earlier Romans were very simple and 
 frugal. The articles of food, and the furniture of the table, 
 were coarse. But afterwards they became costly and luxuri- 
 ous to the highest degree. The epicurism of the later Romans 
 was enormous. 
 
 At first they sat upright on benches, but at last adopted 
 the habit of reposing on couches. Their principal meal was 
 their supper, taken a little before four o'clock, P. M. Their 
 breakfast was not a regular meal ; it was taken by each one 
 separately and without order ; and their dinner was a very 
 slight repast. Their supper was their last regular meal, 
 though it was sometimes followed by a collation, called com- 
 
 missatio. 
 
 The diet of the earlier Romans consisted of milk and vegetables, 
 with a coarse kind of pudding which served in the room of bread. 
 They rarely indulged in meat, and wine was almost unknown to 
 them. They banished epicures from among them. 
 
 The change which took place in the latter days of the republic 
 
ROMANS. 213 
 
 and in the beginning of the empire, was very striking. Notwithstand- 
 ing sumptuary laws, epicurism advanced with great rapidity, till 
 finally it reached such a height, that viands were esteemed only in 
 proportion to their cost. 
 
 Thus, Maltese cranes, peacocks, and rare singing birds, although 
 hardly eatable, were esteemed great delicacies, and their tongues and 
 brains still greater ; oysters from the coast of Britain were more 
 prized than their own, though the former would never have been 
 eaten fresh ; and we are told of a singular sur-mullet, which had 
 reached a size somewhat larger than common, having been sold for 
 a sum equivalent to fifty guineas. 
 
 The Romans used wine of the most costly kinds at their feasts. 
 The age of it was often very great, We read of some that was 200 
 years old. The Grecian wines were in greater estimation than even 
 the Italian. They used also mead, metheglin, and other fermented 
 liquors. Such was their depravity, they contrived that even water 
 should contribute to inebriate them. 
 
 Gluttony was indulged to such a disgusting excess, that emetics 
 were used to enable the stomach, already gorged with a full meal, to 
 bear a further load. This doubtless was not a universal practice, 
 neither, however, was it confined to a few individual instances. 
 
 The services of the tables were at first only of earthen-ware, or 
 wood. The use of plate was then almost unknown. At a later peri- 
 od plate became so general, that it was as common, as it had been 
 previously rare, and in the time of the emperors, it was frequently 
 of gold. 
 
 The couches on which they lay down at supper were somewhat 
 similar to the modern sofa. The ladies at first did not adopt this 
 practice, and the indulgence was never extended to young people of 
 either sex. 
 
 Each couch could accommodate three or four, but seldom five 
 persons, who laid in a reclining posture, on the left arm, having 
 the shoulders elevated with cushions, and the limbs extended be- 
 hind whoever was next ; so that the head of the one was opposite 
 to the breast of the other, and in serving themselves, they made use 
 only of the right hand. There were many other singular customs 
 observed at their suppers, which we have not time to enumerate. 
 
 Daily Bathing was practised by the Roman people, both in 
 warm and cold water. Vast quantities of water were brought 
 to Rome, for this and other purposes, by means of aqueducts. 
 These aqueducts were magnificent works, as also the baths 
 bc r h public and private which were erected. 
 
 The use of linen, which was unknown to the Romans, has ren- 
 dered this practice for a long time obsolete in Italy ; but in the times 
 of which we speak, it was necessary for the purposes of cleanliness 
 as well as luxury. The remains of some of the baths, are the most 
 astonishing works of Roman grandeur and magnificence. 
 
 Bathing commenced with warm and ended with cold water. On 
 
214 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 - 
 
 leaving the bath the people were anointed with scented oils, and 
 went immediately to supper. 
 
 The Dress of the Romans consisted chiefly of the toga and 
 the tunica. The toga or gown worn by the citizens only, was 
 loose and flowing, and covered the whole body : it was made 
 of wool, had no sleeves, and was disposed in graceful folds, 
 with a view to improve the appearance of the wearer. 
 
 The toga virilis, or manly gown, was assumed by young 
 men at the age of seventeen. 
 
 The tunica or tunic, was a white woollen vest, which came 
 down a little below the knees before, and to the middle of the 
 leg behind, and was fastened about the waist by a girdle, 
 which also served as a purse. 
 
 Women wore a tunic as well as the men, but with this difference, 
 at first, that it reached down to the feet of the women, and had 
 sleeves. Afterwards the men wore the tunic in the same manner. 
 
 Hats and Caps, though known, were worn only on journeys or at 
 the public games. In the city they usually went bare headed, or co- 
 vered themselves with the corner of the toga. 
 
 Ladies of distinction had many waiting maids, who were appro- 
 priated to particular services ; and the duties of the toilet, though not 
 perhaps so well understood as in modem times, were as assiduously 
 attended to. 
 
 Jewels, bracelets, rings, and various expensive ornaments, were 
 worn in great profusion. The convenience of pins was not known, 
 nor were glass mirrors, though there were substitutes for them. 
 Pure woven silk and linen were little known and used till the time 
 of the emperors, and not at all known during nearly the whole peri- 
 od of the republic. 
 
 Marriage was an institution highly countenanced among 
 the Romans. Severe laws were at times enacted to restrain 
 celibacy, though never with much effect. Fathers of large 
 families were particularly respected. Marriages with foreign- 
 ers were strictly forbidden. The validity of the transaction 
 depended on the legal age of the parties, and the consent of 
 
 parents. 
 
 Boys were considered marriageable at fourteen ; girls at twelve. 
 A marriage was never solemnized without consulting the auspices, 
 and offering sacrifices to the gods ; particularly to Juno ; and the ani- 
 mals immolated on the occasion, were deprived of their gall, in allu- 
 sion to the absence of every thing bitter and malignant in the pro- 
 posed union. The mode of marriage and the multitude of ceremo- 
 nies attending it cannot here be described. 
 
 Marriage, among the Romans, was not indissoluble. A husband 
 might repudiate his wife for several reasons, besides that of having 
 violated her conjugal faith. But to the honour of the Romans, more 
 
ROMANS. 215 
 
 than four centuries elapsed without any suit among them for divorce, 
 or complaint of adultery. Afterwards divorces became very frequent, 
 and for the most frivolous causes. 
 
 Fathers at Rome were generally invested with the power of life 
 and death over their children. Exposure of infants was at first some- 
 what frequent, but at length nearly ceased. The adoption of children 
 by married persons who were childless was very common, on 
 count of the privileges connected with having children, whether 
 issue or adoption. 
 
 The funeral rites of the Romans were solemn and impres- 
 sive. During the greater part of the commonwealth, the dead 
 body was buried. Towards the close, the practice of burning 
 the dead was generally introduced, till it became universal. 
 After the introduction of Christianity into the empire, it fell 
 
 into disuse. 
 
 It was a received opinion among the ancients, that the manes of 
 the deceased were propitiated by blood. It was on this account their 
 custom to slaughter, on the tomb of the deceased, those animals to 
 which, while he was living, he was most attached ; and in the more 
 barbarous ages, men were the victims of this horrid superstition. 
 
 " Arms, trappings, horses, by the hearse were led 
 In long array the achievements of the dead. 
 Then pinion'd, with their hands behind, appear 
 The unhappy captives, marching in the rear, 
 Appointed offerings in the victor's name, 
 To sprinkle with their blood, the funeral flame." 
 
 Dryderts Virgil. 
 
 Many of the Roman sepulchres still exist in the gardens of their 
 villas or by the public roads, (for inhumation was not allowed with- 
 in the walls,) with their various monumental inscriptions. 
 
 72k Foreign Commerce. The foreign commerce of' the 
 Romans appears very unimportant, compared with the exten- 
 sive mercantile transactions of our own times. Their trade, 
 if we except the corn received on account of government from 
 Sicily and the Levant, consisted of little else, than articles of 
 mere luxury. Their purchases were made in bullion, as they 
 had no exportable manufactures of their own. This circum- 
 stance necessarily restricted their commercial dealings. 
 
 They traded, it is true, not only to the ports of the Mediterrane- 
 an, but to the East Indies, and occasionally even to England ; but the 
 interests of commerce were little understood, and less appreciated. , 
 Traffic was dishonourable, and they who engaged in it were held in 
 contempt. The consequence was, that it was relinquished to slaves 
 and freemen, who seldom possessed the means to conduct it on an 
 extensive scale. 
 
 Their merchant ships were large, if they reached the burthen ol 
 fifty tons. 
 
216 GENERAL VIEWS, 
 
 Syria. 
 
 73. Situation and Cities. Syria lay on the east coast 
 of the Mediterranean below Cilicia. The coast was called 
 Phoenicia, and below it was Palestine. On the south it had 
 Arabia and the Euphrates. 
 
 Its towns and noticeable places were Antioch, Daphne, 
 Seleucia, Damascus, Heliopolis, and Palmyra, or Tadmor. 
 
 Antioch at one time, was inferior only to Rome and Alexandria 
 in greatness and population. It is now almost depopulated, though 
 its strong walls on both sides of the Orontes, remain. 
 
 Daphne was a place consecrated to luxury, and enchanting from 
 its cool fountains and shady groves of laurel, cypress, &c. Milton 
 compares the garden of Eden to it 
 
 " Nor that sweet grove 
 " Of Daphne by Orontes." 
 
 Seleucia was on the sea near the mouth of the Orontes. The bard 
 again speaks of 
 
 " The royal towers 
 Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings." 
 
 Damascus was the capital of the Phoenicia of Libanus. Its fertile 
 and irriguous valley has ever been famous among the orientals. 
 
 Heliopolis, under the name of Baalbeck, has the remains of a mag- 
 nificent temple dedicated to the sun. The whole edifice, and parti- 
 cularly the roof, glittered with gold. 
 
 Palmyra gave the name of Palmyrene to a vast plain, which was 
 united to the desert of Arabia. The bible and Josephus inform us it 
 was founded by Solomon. It maintained a great commerce between 
 two divisions of the ancient hemisphere. The remains of lofty edi- 
 fices manifest its former magnificence, and attract the curious and 
 astonished traveller. 
 
 74. Character of the ancient Syrians. The ancient 
 Syrians were miserable idolaters. 
 
 An instance of their worship is thus described by the poet before 
 named. 
 
 "Tammuz came next behind, 
 
 Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd 
 The Syrian damsels to lament his fate, 
 In am'rous ditties all a summer's day : 
 While smooth Adonis from his native rock 
 Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood 
 Of Tammuz yearly wounded." 
 
 They were also somewhat of an effeminate race, and re 
 markable for hiding themselves from the sun, in caves, on the 
 decease of their relatives. 
 
 75. Language. The Syrian language became a distinct 
 tongue, so early as the time of Jacob. It was spoken not 
 only in Syria, but also in Mesopotamia, Chaldeea, and Assy* 
 
PERSIA. 217 
 
 ria. After the Babylonish captivity, it was introduced into 
 Palestine. 
 
 The Syriac is an easy and elegant, though not a very copious 
 tongue. It abounds in many Greek words. 
 
 Carthage. 
 
 76. Extent. Carthage has been briefly described in the 
 body of this work. It may only be stated here that with its 
 ports, it comprehended an enclosure of 23 miles. It had a cita 
 del named Byrsa, on an eminence. 
 
 Its military prowess was at its height, under Hamilcar and Hanni- 
 bal. The city'^vvas destroyed by the second Scipio, B. C. 147. It 
 then burned incessantly during 17 days. It was rebuilt by Roman 
 colonies. Its decay may be traced from the seventh century, when 
 it fell into the hands of the Saracens. 
 
 77. Government and Character of the People. The 
 Carthaginians were governed as a republic, and had two 
 persons yearly chosen among them with regal authority. 
 They were very superstitious as a people, and generally 
 offered human victims to their gods. They also bore the 
 character of being faithless and treacherous, and the proverb, 
 Punic faith, is well known. 
 
 Parthia. 
 
 78. Situation, fyc. Parthia had Hyrcania on the north ; 
 Aria on the east ; Carmania on the south ; and Media on the 
 west. It was a healthy country, but sterile. The people 
 were governed by an absolute monarch. 
 
 The ancient Parthians were originally a tribe of Scythians, who 
 being expelled from their native land, took up their abode in this part 
 of Asia. They were a strong and warlike people, and accustomed 
 from their infancy to the exercises of horsemanship and arChery. 
 
 The peculiar custom of discharging their arrows while they were 
 retiring full speed, has been greatly celebrated by the ancients. 
 Their flight was more formidable than their attack. 
 
 They totally neglected agriculture, trade and navigation, and their 
 morals were dreadfully depraved. Their religious principles were 
 much the same as those of the Persians. Their sovereigns affected 
 to be gods. 
 
 Persia. 
 
 79. Extent and Situation. Ancient Persia extended 
 about 2800 miles in length from the Hellespont to the mouth 
 of the river Indus ; and about 2000 miles in breadth, from 
 Pontus to the mouth of the Arabian gulf. 
 
 80. Government. The government of Persia was an ab- 
 
218 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 solute monarchy. The crown was hereditary, and generally 
 bestowed on the eldest of the deceased king's legitimate chil- 
 dren. 
 
 The kings of Persia received almost divine honours from their 
 subjects. No one could approach the seat of majesty without pros- 
 trating himself, or remain in the presence, without holding his hands 
 within his sleeves. Death was the consequence of violating this 
 ceremony. 
 
 Herodotus mentions that Xerxes being once in great danger by 
 sea, many of his attendants strove who should first leap overboard to 
 lighten the vessel, and sacrifice themselves for the preservation of 
 their prince. 
 
 The royal palace at Persepolis was extremely magnificent. The 
 roofs and sides of the apartments were entirely covered with ivory, 
 silver, gold, or amber. The throne was of fine gold and adorned 
 with precious stones. The royal bed was also of gold, and two cof- 
 fers were placed by it, both containing 8,000 talents. 
 
 The Persian monarchs, for the most part, lived only to gratify their 
 sensual appetites. All the delicacies and rarities of the world were 
 sought for their table. Cicero informs us, that the revenues of whole 
 provinces were lavished on the attire of their favorite concubines, one 
 city being compelled to supply them with ornaments for their hair, 
 another for their necks, &c. 
 
 81. Education. The Persians are said to have paid 
 more particular regard to the education of their children, than 
 any other nation. A son was never admitted into the pre- 
 sence of his father, till he had arrived at the age of five 
 years, lest, if he should die before that period, his parents 
 might be too heavily afflicted by his loss. 
 
 At the age of five, learned masters taught the children of the better 
 families, in learning and moral virtues, taking with them the utmost 
 pains, and bestowing upon them the greatest care. 
 
 82. Punishments. The punishments in general were se- 
 vere, as cutting off the right hand, decapitation, pressing to 
 death between two large stones, &c. 
 
 The most severe punishment known in Persia, was the inhuman 
 one of fastening the culprit between two boats, in such a manner that 
 he was unable to move, though his head, hands and feet were left 
 uncovered. His face, exposed to the rays of the sun, was smeared 
 with honey, which invited innumerable swarms of flies and wasps to 
 torment him, while the worms that bred in his excrements devoured 
 his bowels ; and the executioners compelled him, by thrusting sharp 
 iron instrument into his eyes, to receive nourishment for the express 
 purpose of prolonging his excruciating agonies. One victim is re- 
 corded to have lived 17 days under this complication of torments. 
 
 83. Military Art. The Persians were all trained to mili- 
 tary exercise, but more particularly to the use of the bow, 
 
MYTHOLOGY. 219 
 
 They never fought in the night, nor used any stiatagem in- 
 dependent of their own valour. 
 
 When they designed to make war upon any nation, they had the 
 singular custom of sending heralds to demand of them earth and 
 water, thereby commanding them to acknowledge the king of Persia, 
 as sovereign lord of their country. 
 
 84. Religion. Their religion was in a degree idolatrous, 
 though less so than that of the nations around them. They 
 professed to worship the one all-wise and omnipotent God 
 though they held fire to be holy, and the purest symbol of 
 the divine nature. In connexion with this, they had a super- 
 stitious regard of the sun. They honoured also other elements, 
 
 as the earth, the air, and water. 
 
 The Persians are supposed to have been originally instructed 
 in the worship of the true God by their progenitor Elam, but soon 
 to have fallen into the heresy of Zabiism. From this they are 
 thought to have been recovered, and to have afterwards engaged in 
 superstitious acts of reverence to the celestial bodies. 
 
 In ancient times, they were destitute of temples, but erected altars 
 for the preservation of their sacred fires, on the tops of mountains. 
 At length Zoroaster persuaded them, for the sake of convenience, 
 to build over each, a pyreum or fire-temple. This Zoroaster is sup- 
 posed by some to have been a native of Persia, and a restorer of the 
 religion of the Magi. 
 
 MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT NATIONS. 
 
 1. All the nations of antiquity, except the Jews, were 
 heathens and idolaters. Their system of religion was called 
 Polytheism, as acknowledging a plurality of gods. They 
 worshipped divinities by various representations, called idols. 
 Forsaking the service of the only living and true God, as 
 made known at first by traditionary, and afterwards by written 
 revelation, they paid that homage which is due to him, to 
 those that are by nature no God. 
 
 2. Besides angels, as presiding over particular kingdoms, 
 the heavenly bodies, men, beasts, birds, fishes, virtues, vices, 
 diseases, and evil demons, were esteemed deities, and had tem- 
 oles built for their worship. 
 
 Among the Egyptians, the principal deities were Osiris and Isis, 
 supposed to be the sun and moon. The people however bestowed 
 divine honours on animals, birds, insects, and even vegetables, as leeks 
 and onions. The poet Juvenal intimates that their religious exercises 
 were not greatly esteemed by the Romans. In fact, they exceeded 
 all the other ancients m these absurdities, and were extremely de- 
 based by their vile superstitions. 
 
220 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 
 
 The Babylonians and Arabians adored the heavenly bodies. They 
 supposed that the angels resided in the stars, and governed the world 
 under the supreme deity. Among the later Babylonians, Belus be- 
 came their Jupiter, to whom a magnificent temple was erected in 
 Babylon. 
 
 The Canaanites and Syrians worshipped Baal, Tarn muz, Magog, 
 and Astarte. Moloch was the Saturn of the Phosnicians and Car- 
 thaginians. To him, human victims, particularly children, were im- 
 molated. Baal-peor was the idol of the Moabites his rights were 
 detestable and cruel. Dagon was the chief god of the Philistines ; his 
 figure was compounded of a man and a fish. 
 
 In the mythology of the Scythians, the god of war was their 
 favourite divinity, and to him were consecrated groves of oaks of 
 extraordinary size. Horses were sacrificed, and every hundredth 
 man taken in battle. 
 
 In the mythology of the Celts, the Druids had the direction of theo- 
 logical concerns. Their rites were performed in groves, and they paid 
 superstitious reverence to the misletoe. Human victims were often 
 offered; colossal images of wicker-work, filled with human criminals, 
 'were consumed by fire. 
 
 The Persians in their religion rejected, for the most part, the com- 
 plicated popular system of polytheism. They believed in one su- 
 preme God who formed and governed all things. They, however, 
 preserved the sacred fire, as it was called, which was kindled by con 
 secrated sun-beams. Their rites at first were plain and simple, and 
 their priests were called magi. These tenets of their primitive reli 
 gion gradually degenerated into Zabiism, or the adoration of celestial 
 bodies. 
 
 The mythology of the ancient Hindoos resembles, in some of its 
 features, that of the Egyptians, Persians, and Scythians. It is a 
 strange mixture of a few truths with many wild fables. It divides 
 the world into ten parts, setting' over each a guardian spirit. The 
 deity Brahma is made the creating power, Vishnu is the preserver 
 and pervader, and Narayda, the mover on the waters. 
 
 3. The multitude of gods as an object of faith, is preposter- 
 ous and wicked ; but the elegant forms and agreeable fictions 
 that mythology furnishes, are admirably adapted to the pur- 
 poses of poetry, statuary, and painting. The imagination 
 revels in a region fairy and enchanting. 
 
 The theology of Pagan antiquity, according to Scaevolaand Var- 
 ro, was of three sorts. The first of these may well be called fabulous, 
 as treating" of the theology and genealogy of their deities, in which 
 they relate such things as are infinitely unworthy of the divinity, 
 ascribing to them, thefts, murders, adulteries, and all manner of 
 crimes. 
 
 This kind of theology is condemned by the wiser sort of heathens 
 as trifling and scandalous. The writers of this sort of theology were 
 Sanchoniathon the Phoenician; and Orpheus, Hesiod, Pherecydes, 
 &c., among the Greeks. 
 
MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 The second kind called physic or natural, was studied and taught 
 by the philosophers, who rejecting the multiplicity of gods introduced 
 by the poets, brought their theology to a more natural and rational 
 form. They supposed that there was but one supreme God, which 
 they commonly make to be the sun, at least an emblem of him ; but 
 at too great a distance to mind the affairs of the world, and therefore 
 devised certain demons, \vhich they considered as mediators between 
 the supreme God and man. 
 
 The speculations of the philosophers related to the doctrines of these 
 demons, to their nature, their office, and regard to men. Writers Oi 
 this class were Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics. 
 
 The third kind of theology called politic or civil, was instituted by 
 legislators, statesmen, and politicians. The first among the Romans 
 was Numa Pompiiius. This part of the Pagan system chiefly re- 
 spected their gods, temples, altars, sacrifices, and rites of worship, 
 and was properly their idolatry, the care of which belonged to the 
 priests. The whole was enjoined on the common people, to keep 
 them in obedience to the civil state. 
 
 4. In the fictions of mythology, particularly those of Greece 
 and Rome, many things are allegorical and mystical, the 
 true sense of which, though not accommodated to the vul- 
 gar apprehension, the refined and liberal may explain. This 
 suggests one use to be derived from the study of the Pagan sys- 
 tems of religion. We learn the religious views of antiquity. 
 
 Another use of it is, that the classic authors cannot be 
 read with advantage without a knowledge of mythology ; and 
 the classic authors, it is not to be doubted, are the best 
 models of fine writing extant, and are necessary to improve 
 the taste. Connected with this also is the fact, that a know- 
 ledge of mythology can alone enable us to understand and he- 
 come acquainted with antique statues, medals, paintings, (fee. 
 
 The gods of ancient paganism were some mundane, and others 
 supermundane. The mundane are those who were supposed to fab- 
 ricate the world, and the supermundane are those who produce 
 essences, intellects, and souls. Hence they are distinguished into 
 three orders. Of the mundane gods likewise, some are the causes of 
 the existence of the world ; others animate it ; others again harmo- 
 nize it, thus composed of different natures ; and lastly, others guard 
 and preserve it when harmoniously arranged. 
 
 Since also these orders are four, and each consists of things first, 
 middle, and last, it is necessary that the governors of these should be 
 twelve. Hence Jupiter, Neptune and Vulcan fabricate the world. Ce- 
 res, Juno and Diana animate it; Mercury, Venus and Apollo harmo- 
 nize it ; and lastly, Vesta, Minerva and Mars preside over it with a 
 guardian power. 
 
 But the truth of this may be seen in statues as in enigmas. For 
 Apollo in marble holds in his hands a lyre ; Minerva is invested wife 
 
 T2 
 
222 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 arms; and Venus is naked, since harmony produces beauty and 
 beauty is not concealed in subjects of sensible perception. 
 
 As these gods primarily possess the world, it is necessary to con- 
 sider the other mundane gods as subsisting in them, as Bacchus in 
 Jupiter, ^Esculapius in Apollo, and the Graces in Venus. We may 
 also behold the spheres with which they are connected, viz. Vesta 
 with the earth, Neptune with water, Juno with air, and Vulcan with 
 fire. But Apollo and Diana are assumed for the sun and moon ; the 
 sphere of Saturn is attributed to Ceres ; ether to Minerva; and heaven 
 is common to them all. 
 
 The above are a few instances of the real sense of the fictions of 
 mythology. Many of the philosophers in these fictions concealed 
 their better knowledge, often conveying lessons of wisdom under the 
 veil of allegory. The genuine Pagan creed, as given by a heathen 
 philosopher, Maximus Tyrius, is the following : 
 
 " There is one God, the king and father of all things, and many 
 gods, sons of God, ruling together with him. This the Greek says, 
 and the barbarian says, the inhabitant of the continent, and he that 
 dwells near the sea ; and if you even proceed to the utmost shores of 
 the ocean, there too there are gods, rising very near to some, and 
 setting very near to others." By the rising and setting gods he means 
 the stars, which according to the Pagan theology, are divine animals, 
 co-operating with the first cause in the government of the world. 
 
 5. A survey of the heathen mythology presents little to 
 view but absurdity, and the various forms in which human 
 corruption is exhibited. The people at large, whatever the 
 philosophers understood by these " phantasms arid monsters," 
 received them as literal truths, till it became dangerous to 
 shake the faith of communities, or disturb the public religion. 
 
 In this state of things continued the gentile world, until the light 
 of the gospel was sent among them. Those were times of ignorance. 
 The people were unacquainted with the true God and the worship 
 of him with the Messiah and salvation by him. 
 
 The moral world at present is gloriously illuminated. The Bible 
 has scattered the dark shades of spiritual and intellectual night. We 
 behold " one God and one Mediator between God and men," seated 
 upon the throne of the universe ; possessed of boundless wisdom, 
 power, purity, goodness ; the Creator, the Preserver, the Ruler, and 
 the Redeemer of his creatures ; ever present in all parts of his crea- 
 tion,'--ever providing for its general happiness. 
 
 I 
 
DISCOVERIES, INVENTIONS, &C. 223 
 
 Discoveries, Inventions, and Improvements of Early 
 
 Ages. 
 
 SECT. 1. The little that can be gathered concerning the 
 state of society, and the progress in inventions and improve- 
 ments before the flood, has already been exhibited. In the 
 account of individual nations, something also has been said 
 concerning their intellectual culture and useful works of "ait. 
 A few particulars may be added on these topics, with a view 
 to illustrate more fully the advancement of society in the states 
 of antiquity. Special reference will here be had to mecha- 
 nic inventions, respecting which, less has been said hitherto, 
 than on the subject of the fine arts and general literature. 
 
 Sufficient evidence exists, that mankind at a remote period of an- 
 tiquity, must have made considerable progress in the arts of life. The 
 circumstances under which Egypt is presented to us by Moses, in 
 the book of Genesis, indicate that its inhabitants were at that time a 
 cultivated people. No doubt, the progress of invention in their very 
 favourable situation was quite rapid. From them, even the Israelites, 
 at the early period in which Moses wrote, must have learned much 
 In respect to the useful arts. The same was the case with the Ba- 
 bylonians, Phoenicians, and other nations. Still, though some arts 
 have been lost during the lapse of ages, antiquity cannot compare 
 with modern times in the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life. 
 
 2. At first, necessity, and afterwards convenience, urged 
 the cultivation of the arts. The useful arts are the product 
 of necessity. The higher branches of knowledge are the 
 fruit of comparative ease and leisure. 
 
 Among, the earliest arts, is the construction of huts, and 
 of weapons, adapted to war and hunting. 
 
 Astronomy is among the earliest of the sciences, and is said 
 to have originated with the Chaldeans, probably, through the 
 influence of superstition. The occupation of the Chaldeans, 
 many of whom were shepherds, w r atching their flocks by 
 night, was favourable for the observation of the heavenly 
 bodies. 
 
 Geometry was found out by the Egyptians. They were 
 led to the cultivation of this science, by having occasion to 
 measure the lands annually disturbed by the overflowing of 
 the Nile. 
 
 Medicine was among the early sciences. The simplest 
 means of cure answer for rude nations. More complex means 
 ore required for cultivated nations, who have more complex 
 diseases. 
 
224 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 Agriculture is not practised till the tribes of men become 
 stationary, and hold property in the soil. The acquirement, 
 protection, and recognition of property, generally, is the first 
 step from a savage towards a civilized life. The first property 
 consisted of sheep, goats, and oxen ; and the care of these 
 was the earliest and simplest occupation of husbandmen. In 
 this stage of husbandry, all the country was open and com- 
 mon to any occupier ; but as soon as any man could call a 
 spot his own, and could secure to his family the produce of it, 
 its cultivation would be a great object. Hence, arose the art 
 and science of agriculture, properly so called. 
 
 Agriculture flourished less in Greece than in Rome. The Romans 
 were remarkably versed in the knowledge of this useful branch of 
 human pursuit. Their greatest citizens and warriors were, by turns, 
 cultivators of the soil. The Israelites before them, and the Egyp- 
 tians also, were devoted to this employment. The moderns, however, 
 it is believed, have made the greatest proficiency in agriculture, as they 
 have in most of the sciences and practical arts of life. This is the 
 natural effect of time, of prolonged study, and multiplied experi- 
 ments. In many of the fine arts, the ancients are still our masters. 
 
 Architecture was an elegant art, in which antiquity excelled. 
 The necessary and useful were all that was first sought in 
 buildings. Luxury aimed at ornament. Hence, arose the 
 five beautiful orders of architecture, yiz. the Tuscan, the Do 
 ric, the Ionic, the Corinthian, and the Composite. The Greeks 
 perfected this art. 
 
 3. But we may properly notice a few of the minuter divi- 
 sions of ancient art and contrivance. Among these were the 
 following : 
 
 Embalming. The ancients had an imperfect knowledge 
 of the mode of preserving those bodies that were subject to 
 decay. They relied principally on brine, honey, or a covering 
 of wax ; but each of these Avas defective, and far inferior to 
 that by spirits of wine, which combines the advantage of pre- 
 venting putrefaction, with that of perfect transparency. The 
 more scientific modern process, employed in anatomical prepa- 
 rations, was wholly unknown. The Egyptians, however, 
 were famous for embalming dead bodies. 
 
 The method of preventing corruption by means of brine, was 
 the most ancient, as it was the most apparent, and the easiest of 
 execution. It has been supposed to have originated in Persia, and 
 Dion Cassius says, that when Pharnaces sent the body of his father, 
 Mithridates, to Pompey, he had it placed in brine j but it seems pro 
 
DISCOVERIES, INVENTIONS, &C. 225 
 
 bable, that in the East, nitre was more frequently employed for this 
 purpose than common salt. 
 
 The custom of preserving dead bodies in honey, was also employ- 
 ed at a very early period. The remains of several Spartans, who 
 died in foreign countries, were thus prepared for transmission to 
 their native home. The body of Alexander the Great, is also said, 
 by some authors, to have been thus deposited, although we are told 
 by others, that it was embalmed in the manner of the Egyptians. 
 
 In the East, dead bodies were sometimes covered over with wax, 
 and this practice, which was early introduced into Europe, gave rise 
 to that of wrapping the remains of persons of distinction in waxed 
 cloths, which has continued down even to the present day. 
 
 The Egyptian method of embalming, consisted in first extracting 
 the brain through the nostrils, and injecting some viscous unguent 
 in their stead ; then opening the belly, and taking out the intestines, 
 the cavity being washed with palm wine, impregnated with spices, 
 and filled with myrrh and other aromatics ; this done, the body was 
 laid in nitre during seventy days, at the end of which, it was taken 
 out, cleansed, and swathed in fine linen, which was gummed, and 
 ornamented with various painted hieroglyphics, expressive of the de- 
 ceased's character and rank. This was done only for persons of the 
 highest distinction. Less expensive methods were used for others. 
 
 Roads and Street Pavements. The public accommoda- 
 tions of the most splendid capitals of antiquity, were few in 
 comparison with those of modern large towns. The streets 
 of ancient Rome were only partially paved, during its most 
 brilliant era, and are described by authors of that period as 
 being filled with dirt. A few other cities are supposed to 
 have been paved, but this is a matter of doubt. 
 
 Though the Greeks and Romans were indifferent to their 
 streets, yet they paid particular attention to their great public 
 roads. These, in some instances, were magnificent works. 
 Travelling, however, was not generally rapid in those times. 
 There was no part of the Roman policy which so effectually pro- 
 moted the good of mankind, or which has transmitted such exalted 
 ideas of the imperial grandeur, as the number and magnificence of 
 the roads. Though constructed principally for military purposes, 
 they were of vast utility to the districts which they traversed, and 
 proved the most efficacious means of promoting the comfort and 
 civilization of the conquered people. Occasionally, there were in- 
 stances of extraordinary celerity in travelling. We are informed 
 by Pliny, that Tiberius travelled two hundred miles in a day and 
 night, on being despatched by Augustus to console his sick brother, 
 Germanicus. But the ordinary rate of travelling, even on their ex- 
 cellem roads, was slow in comparison of what it is at present. 
 Cicero speaks of a messenger coming from Rome, to his government 
 of Cilicia, in Asia Minor, in forty -seven days : heu tarn longe ! as 
 the orator exclaims, on finding himself so far removed from the 
 
226 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 scene of his glory and exertions. To convey letters from Rome to 
 the neighbourhood of Gibraltar, required, according to Pollio, forty 
 days. 
 
 Mode of conveying Intelligence. The oldest method of 
 communicating the news, with which we are acquainted, was 
 by means of public criers. Another mode was to post up a 
 written advertisement against a column in some public place. 
 
 Public criers among the Greeks and Romans were under the su- 
 perintendence of the police, and were generally employed by indi- 
 viduals, in the same manner as they still are in the country towns ol 
 England. The mode of posting was resorted to by the Roman 
 government, to promulgate its edicts, and even, it is supposed, for 
 imparting more trivial information of general import. Historians 
 appear to have collected materials from them ; nor is it improbable, 
 that copies were taken by individuals and dispersed about the city, 
 or sent to their friends in the provinces. 
 
 Glass. The origin of the art of making glass, like that 
 of many other valuable inventions, is probably due to chance. 
 It is said to have been discovered in Syria. From ancient au- 
 thors, it is supposed not to have been made in Rome, before 
 the reign of Tiberius. 
 
 Pliny mentions that glass was first accidentally discovered by 
 some travellers while dressing their food by the river Belus, in Syria. 
 Being obliged to make a fire on the ground, where there was a great 
 quantity of the herb kali, that plant burning to ashes, its salts incor- 
 porated with the sand, and thus became vitrified. The accident be- 
 coming known, the inhabitants of the neighbouring city of Sidon, 
 availed themselves of it, and soon brought the art into use. It seems 
 to be a corroboration of this account, that the most ancient glass- 
 houses, with which we are acquainted, were erected in Tyre. Pre- 
 viously to the time of Tiberius, the Romans imported glass from the 
 East, and vessels of glass were among their most costly pieces of 
 household furniture. 
 
 Mirrors. There is reason to believe, that artificial mirrors 
 were made almost as soon as the ingenuity of man was ex- 
 erted on mechanical objects, and as every solid body capable 
 of receiving a fine polish, would suit this purpose, we find, 
 that the oldest mirrors mentioned in history, were of metal. 
 Silver, however, afterwards came into use, and the greatest 
 number of ancient mirrors was made of that metal, as it is the 
 most fit of the unmixed metals for this purpose. Inferior mir- 
 rors were also made, some of a mixture of copper and tin, and 
 bset ; some of obsidian stone, and others of other substances. 
 Glass mirrors were most probably unknown to the ancients. 
 
 Metal mirrors are spoken of in the Bible, under the term looking 
 glass, as incorrectly translated. 
 
DISCOVERIES, INVENTIONS, &C. 227 
 
 At Rome, as the satirists declare, no young woman was without a 
 silver mirror. 
 
 The date of the invention of glass mirrors is somewhat a matter 
 of dispute. From Pliny, it is thought, that they were attempted in 
 the glass-houses of Tyre, but it does not appear that the experiments 
 he speaks of, whatever they were, met with success ; and moreover, 
 it is certain, that though glass was used by the Romans, their mir- 
 rors were alluded to among articles of plate. 
 
 Linen. Linen, it is supposed, was first manufactured in 
 Egypt. It is certain, that it was first obtained, and Europe 
 was for a long time supplied, from that country ; and that the 
 invention was very ancient appears from the fact, that mum- 
 mies are generally found swathed in linen. The Greeks, 
 however, were unacquainted with it, and it was not until 
 the second century of the Christian era, that it was first intro- 
 duced into Rome. Before that period, the tunic or under gar- 
 ment of the Romans was made of wool. 
 
 Woollen.- -The oiigin of the arts of spinning and weaving 
 is lost in the obscurity of fable. The Egyptians ascribe the 
 invention to their Isis, and the Hindoos trace it to the remo- 
 test period of their fabulous history ; but this applies only to 
 cotton and flax ; for in those countries wool is not produced. 
 Varro says, that the sheep was introduced into Greece by Her- 
 cules, and it is probable, that the first attempts to manufac- 
 ture wool in Europe, were made by the Athenians. The 
 chief seat of the Roman manufacture was at Padua, whose 
 workmen are to this day highly celebrated. 
 
 Sheep came originally from Africa, but in that country, the ani- 
 mal bears hair instead of wool ; and it is only in colder countries 
 that its covering gradually acquires a woolly texture. It was long, 
 most probably, before sheep became domesticated in the northern 
 countries, whose inhabitants, living in immense woods, were con- 
 tented, for ages, with their fine furs. It was only till a late period of 
 ancient history, that the people of the north of Europe employed 
 artificial means of clothing. 
 
 Among both the Greeks and Romans, spinning was the chief em- 
 ployment of the women. In weaving, the machinery, though perhaps 
 rude in its construction, was, in principle, similar to that still in use. 
 The process of fulling and preparing the cloth, seems to have re- 
 sembled the modern practice in every essential point, except that of 
 shearing the nap, with which the ancients do not appear to have been 
 acquainted. 
 
 Dyeing. Pew arts can lay claim to greater antiquity 
 than that of dyeing, and still fewer attained, in ancient times, 
 so great a degree of perfection. It certainly preceded paint- 
 
228 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 ing, and appears to have been known in the earliest ages of 
 the Jews, Babylonians, and Egyptians, who selected and ap- 
 plied colours for stuffs, cotton, linen, and silk, with the greatest 
 judgment and dexterity. These were extracted from the ani- 
 mal, vegetable, and mineral kingdom ; and without confining 
 themselves to cloth or silk, they dyed equally well, leather, 
 ivory, tortoise-shell, the hair of animals, wood, earth, wax, 
 and even imparted a permanent colour to marble. 
 
 Steel. The invention of steel is of very great antiquity. 
 Although we do not find any distinct mention of it in the Old 
 Testament, still, it is clear, that it was known to the Greeks, in 
 the time of Homer, and received from them several names, the 
 most common of which was stomoma. Chalybs, was also a 
 name given to steel, from the Chalybes, a people inhabiting the 
 southern shore of the Euxine, between Cholcis and Paph- 
 lagonia, a country which was renowned for its works of iron 
 and steel. 
 
 The steel of the ancients was capable of being hammered, and 
 was not near so brittle as the hardest with which we are acquainted. 
 
 These, and many other inventions and discoveries, which cannot 
 here be described, characterized ancient times ; but modern ages have 
 added greatly to the number, and improved many of those which 
 were before known. 
 
THE 
 
 WORLD DISPLAYED 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY; 
 
 EMBRACING A 
 
 HISTORY OF THE WORLD, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 CREATION TO THE PRESENT DAY. 
 
 WITH GENERAL VIEWS OF THE POLITICS, RELIGION, MILITARY AND NAVAL 
 
 AFFAIRS, ARTS, LITERATURE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND SOCIETY, 
 
 OF ANCIENT AS WELL AS MODERN NATIONS. 
 
 BY REV. ROYAL ROBBINS. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 AN OUTLINE OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY H. SAVAGE. 
 
 1839. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, 
 
 By EDWARD HOPKINS, 
 In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Connecticut 
 
T m 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY presents so wide and varied a field, 
 that a volume of the ordinary size is scarcely adequate to the 
 purpose, of pointing out all even of the more striking objects . 
 which such a field contains. Indeed, comparatively little can 
 be hoped to be achieved in a very condensed narrative of the 
 events of modern ages, on the common plan. It would be 
 apt to become a barren outline, or dry abstract, with litlle to 
 interest or instruct the mind of the reader, and this, almost 
 from the necessity of the case. The conciseness which is 
 studied would preclude all minute relation, and with that, the 
 chief charm of history. The character of many publications 
 of this class, otherwise very valuable, has suffered from such 
 a cause. By the use of two sizes of type, this inconvenience 
 is remedied in a degree, if there be sufficient skill in the e lo- 
 cution ; and a considerable space within a given compass, is 
 thus allowed, for lively and entertaining matter not essen- 
 tially connected with the leading facts or frame- work cf 
 history. The latter, necessarily dry in themselves, and having 
 few attractions for common minds, but very important <o 
 every one who would obtain a correct idea of the course cf 
 events, may be all confined to the larger type : and thus, 
 while a very brief epitome of history is presented in thai 
 part, the reader is at the same time, by means of the smaller 
 type, made acquainted with details which will enliven the 
 narrative, and the better impress the more material facts on 
 his mind. This is one great advantage of reading history on 
 the plan of the present work a plan which has of late been 
 adopted with much success ; though the work possesses other 
 peculiarities; which, whether they are happy or not, tho 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 reader, it is believed, will not fail to perceive. The author 
 would only add, that in preparing this outline of history, he 
 has consulted a large number of valuable authors, from 
 whom he has taken whatever was suited to his purposes, in 
 many instances with little variation even in language, though 
 he has generally endeavoured to maintain a homogeneous 
 style and manner that he has exercised much care in select- 
 ing the materials and topics, and in connecting and arranging 
 them that he has aimed at scrupulous fidelity in the state- 
 ment of facts, and impartiality in estimating their value- 
 and that he has occasionally interwoven in the narrative such 
 moral remarks, and attempted throughout to exhibit such a 
 spirit, as to render history not merely an agreeable exercise 
 to the understanding, but an impressive lesson to the heart. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 General Remarks, 
 Ten periods, . 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 
 
 GENERAL DIVISION. 
 
 
 
 Period I. 
 
 History of the Roman Empire, 
 
 Judea, . 
 
 Parthia, 
 
 Persia, . 
 
 China, 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Period II. 
 
 History of the Roman Empire, continued, 
 
 Persia, continued, : : : 
 
 China, continued, . . . 
 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Ptnocc 111. 
 
 Hist 01 y of the Roman Empire, continued, : 
 
 Kingdom of Italy, 
 
 Persia, continued, 
 
 China, continued, 
 
 Spain, . 
 
 France, 
 
 England, 
 Distinguished. Characters, 
 
 Period IV. 
 
 History of the Arabs or Saracens, 
 
 Eastern or Greek Empire, . 
 
 Kingdom of Italy, continued, 
 
 Spain, continued, 
 
 France, continued, . 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Period V. 
 
 History of the New Western Empire, 
 
 France, continued, . 
 
 Italy, continued, . 
 
 Spain, continued; 
 
 Germany, 
 
 England, continued. 
 
 Eastern Empire, continued, 
 
 China, continued, 
 
 Saracens, continued, 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Period VI. 
 
 Crusades, : 
 
 > History of France, continued, . 
 
 S England, continued, , 
 
 > Germany, continued, 
 Eastern Empire, continued, 
 Saracens, continued, . 
 
 China, continued, 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 10 
 41 
 
 44 
 45 
 46 
 47 
 
 61 
 6$ 
 07 
 67 
 
 69 
 76 
 78 
 78 
 79 
 80 
 81 
 83 
 
 84 
 89 
 SO 
 92 
 92 
 96 
 
 98 
 102 
 105 
 106 
 107 
 111 
 119 
 120 
 120 
 122 
 
 125 
 143 
 146 
 156 
 
 169 
 100 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Period VH. 
 History of the Turkish Empire, 
 
 Italian States, continue^ 
 
 France, continued, . 
 
 England, continued, 
 
 Germany, continued, 
 
 China, continued, 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 Period VJU 
 History of the Turkish Empire, continued, . 
 
 Italian States, continued, . . 
 
 France, continued, . . 
 
 England, continued, 
 
 Germany, continued, , . 
 
 Spain, continued, . , 
 
 Holland, . : . : 
 
 America, .... 
 Distinguished Characters, . 
 
 Period I3L 
 
 flutory of France, continued, . . 
 
 Great Britain, continued,' . 
 
 Germany, continued, . . 
 
 Spain, continued, . . . 
 
 Turkish Empire, continued, . 
 
 British Colonies in North America, 
 Russia, . . . . 
 
 Sweden, .... 
 Distinguished Characters, . . . 
 
 Period X. 
 
 History >f Sweden, continued, . 
 
 Prussia, . . i 
 
 Germany, continued, 
 
 Poland, . . , 
 
 Russia, continued, . . 
 
 England, continued, 
 
 France, continued, 
 
 Italian States, continued, 
 
 Spain, continued, 
 
 Netherlands, continued, 
 
 Turkish Empire, continued, 
 
 China, continued^ 
 
 Persia, continued, 
 
 India, 
 
 United States, 
 
 South America, 
 Distinguished Characters, 
 
 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Feudal System, 
 
 Chivalry, 
 
 Romances, 
 
 Pilgrimages, 
 
 Manners and Character of the Gothic or Scandinavian nations, . 
 
 Learning and Arts, ........ 
 
 Discoveries and Inventions, ... 
 
 Incidents and Curious Particulars, ... 
 
 Present state of several Nations in Agriculture, Roads, Conveyances, Intereourse, 
 
 Education, Trade, Manufactures, &c, . , 
 
 Christian Church, . . , 
 
 164 
 165 
 167 
 171 
 178 
 181 
 182 
 
 185 
 1S7 
 
 189 
 195 
 207 
 210 
 211 
 213 
 213 
 
 224 
 230 
 246 
 248 
 250 
 252 
 259 
 261 
 263 
 
 271 
 273 
 277 
 283 
 286 
 292 
 299 
 313 
 313 
 315 
 316 
 318 
 318 
 319 
 321 
 343 
 344 
 
 360 
 363 
 376 
 377 
 378 
 381 
 394 
 400 
 
 404 
 
 412 
 
MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SKC. 1. Writers who have divided History into Ancient 
 and Modern, are not agreed as to the most convenient sepa- 
 rating- line between them. Some have taken the subversion 
 of the Western Empire of the Romans as the dividing 
 period ; and others the establishment of the New Empire of 
 the West, under Charlemagne. We however agree with a 
 third, and probably a more numerous class, who adopt the 
 commencement of the Christian Era as the line of separa- 
 tion. In this there is an evident propriety. 
 
 2. It is the epoch from which civilized nations reckon time, 
 both backwards to the beginning of creation, and forwards to 
 the end of the world. Add to this, the event (the birth of 
 Christ) that forms this era, is the most important of events 
 It has had a commanding influence upon all subsequent his- 
 tory. It has altered the aspect of all human affairs, and 
 it will alter them more and more, as Christianity becomes ex- 
 tended. The state of the civilized world was also singular. 
 A change had taken place in the establishment of a mighty 
 despotism, which was destined to oppress the nations, through 
 many successive generations. 
 
 The period from which we commence Modern History, cannot 
 be contemplated with too deep an interest. It was a remarkable era 
 in Divine Providence. " The fullness of the time was come" the 
 ancient order of things was drawing to a close, and new scenes in 
 the moral world, werfrhenceforth to be presented to the view of mar 
 kind. It is therefore associated with our most solemn thoughts of 
 the dispensations of the Supreme Being towards his creatures. It 
 is the period whence we date the commencement of the spiritual re- 
 novation of the world. 
 
 The state of the world, in a political point of view, also deserves 
 consideration. The principal nations were reduced under one head. 
 Wars and dissentions, of long continuance and infinite ferocity, ha- 
 ving terminated in one most formidable power, the whole earth en- 
 joyed an unheard of calm. Mankind, for a short time, tasted the 
 sweets of peace, though in servitude. One man was master of 
 
U MODERN HISTORY, 
 
 the lives and fortunes of all the rest, and therefore even the spirit ul 
 conquest could scarcely desire more. 
 
 3. The authenticity and the abundance of the materials 
 of modern history, will be hailed with peculiar satisfaction by 
 the inquirer after truth. A considerable portion of ancient 
 history is plunged into darkness and uncertainty, from a va- 
 riety of causes. And the scantiness, in some instances, of 
 the materials from which it is drawn, is often perplexing 
 Hut both the ecclesiastical and civil records of modern histo- 
 r y, illustrate, with desirable fullness, the state of the times, 
 It must be owned, however, that the rage of the barbarians 
 who subverted the Roman Empire, has deprived us of somes 
 means of information which we should otherwise have pos- 
 sessed. But it is wonderful, *after all, that so many monu- 
 ments of the earlier periods of modern history, have conic 
 down to us. 
 
 The causes that have operated to render some portions of an- 
 cient history obscure, are such as the lapse of numerous ages; a se- 
 ries of great revolutions, in consequence of which the memory of 
 many events was lost ; the fury of barbarians, by which numerous 
 monuments of early times have been destroyed ; and more than all 
 the rest, the designed or accidental destruction of libraries. 
 
 Some noble collections of books perished before the Christian era, 
 particularly the celebrated library of Alexandria. This library was 
 founded by Ptolemy Philadclphus, about 284 years B. (1, and con- 
 sisted of a vast collection of records, histories, poems, and othei 
 works. The number of volumes was reckoned at 400.000, and the) 
 might have been as many as were in all the world beside. Beforb 
 the art of printing, books were comparatively scarce ; and of some, 
 there might have been no other copies than those contained in this 
 library. It perished in the flames of Alexandria, when Julius Caesar 
 took that city. 
 
 In later ages, large libraries have been destroyed, particularly the 
 same library at Alexandria after it was revived, and collections had 
 been made during several centuries. In the latter instance 700,000 
 volumes perished. But books by this time had been much more 
 multiplied, and though numerous destructions took place, many have 
 survived the wrecks of ages, 
 
 GENERAL DIVISION. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY may be divided into ten periods. They have 
 each their peculiar characteristic, by which they may be always re- 
 membered, and by which distinct views of the subject are designed 
 to be imparted to the mind, 
 
 PERIOD I, will extend from the Nativity of Jesus Chnst ? 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 lo the reign of Constantine the Great, 306 years A. 0. This 
 is the period of the Ten Persecutions of Christians. 
 
 PERIOD II, will extend from the reign of Constantine the 
 Great, 306 years A. C., to the Extinction of the Western 
 Empire, 476 years A. C. This is the period of the Nor- 
 thern Invasions. 
 
 PERIOD III, will extend from the Extinction of the Wes- 
 tern Empire, 476 years A. C., to the Flight of Mahomet, 
 622 years A. C. This is the period of the Justinian Code } 
 and the Wars of Belisarius. 
 
 PERIOD IV, will extend from the Flight of Mahomet, 622 
 years A. C., to the Crowning of Charlemagne at Rome, 800 
 years A. C. This is the period of the Establishment of the 
 Saracen Dominion. 
 
 PERIOD V, will extend from the Crowning of Charle- 
 magne at Rome, 800 years A. C., to the First Crusade, 1 095 
 years A. C. This is the period of the New Western Em- 
 pire. 
 
 PERIOD VI, will extend from the First Crusade, 1095 
 years A. C., to the Founding of the Turkish Empire, 1299 
 years A. C. This is the period of the Crusades. 
 
 PERIOD VII, will extend from the Founding of the Tui- 
 kish Empire, 1299 years A. C., to the Taking of Constanti- 
 nople, 1453 years A. C. This is the period of the Papal 
 Schism. 
 
 PERIOD VIII, will extend from the Taking of Constan- 
 tinople, 1453 years A. C., to the Edict of Nantes, (Nantzf) 
 1598 years A. C. This is the period of the Reformation. 
 
 PERIOD IX, will extend from the Edict of Nantes, 1598 
 years A. C., to the Death of Charles XIT, of Sweden, 1718 
 years A. C. This is the period of the English Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 PERIOD X, will extend from the Death of Charles XII, 
 of Sweden, 1718 years A. C., to the final Restoration of the 
 Bourbons, 1815 years A. C. This is the period of the Ame- 
 rican and French Revolutions. 
 
10 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD 1. 
 
 PERIOD I. 
 
 The period of the Ten Persecutions of Christians^ extend 
 ing from the Nativity of Jesus Christ, to the Reign 
 of Const antine the Great, 306 A. C. 
 
 THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 
 
 SEC. 1. The great event with which this period properly 
 commences, is the BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST. It belongs to 
 the Roman History, only from the fnct that Judca, the coun- 
 try of Our Saviour, was held in subjection to Rome. It is 
 strictly an event of the Jewish History, and is hereafter to be 
 more fully noticed under that head. 
 
 Here it may he mentioned only, that the Birth of Jesus oc- 
 curred, according to the common reckoning, in the 31st year of 
 die reign of Augustus, 752 years after tlie building of Rome, 
 and in the 195th Olympiad, under the consulship of Caius Ju- 
 lius Caesar. It is the" general opinion of the learned, how- 
 ever, that our Saviour was born four years earlier than this 
 date, viz. in the 27th of Augustus, and that the common 
 reckoning or era is a mistake. 
 
 According to this opinion, Jesus, in the year 1, A. C.. (the 
 vulgar date) was really four years old. 
 
 It is a circumstance worthy of remark, that the temple of Janus, 
 at Rome, which was always open in time of war, and shut only du- 
 ring peace, was shut at the period of our Saviour's birth, and that, 
 for the third instance only, during the space of more than 700 years. 
 
 2. Rome had been an empire in the more proper sense of 
 the word, from the beginning of the reign of Augustus. At 
 the time of the nativity of Christ, the empire was at the me- 
 ridian of its splendour, or perhaps a little past it. Most of the 
 nations had bowed to the Roman yoke ; and luxury and the 
 arts poured in upon the queen of cities. 
 
 It had been for some years the most powerful dominion of 
 the ancient world, and continued thus to be for several suc- 
 ceeding centuries. The times, however, were degenerate, 
 and the real strength of the Roman empire, if it had not be- 
 gun to diminish at this epoch, was certainly not greater than 
 during the last days of the republic. A few nations after- 
 wards were added to its sway, but these rather weakened than 
 augmented the power of Rome. The wide extent of its do- 
 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. II 
 
 minions, we shall hereafter see, was one of the causes of its 
 decline and downfall. 
 
 But the pomp and glory of so great a monarchy, continu- 
 ed long after the seeds of weakness and decay were sown. 
 Distant nations admired and dreaded the splendid spectacle. 
 Ambassadors from every region daily arrived at Rome, to do ho- 
 mage to her greatness, or to seek her friendship and assistance. 
 
 3. Augustus, who first established a despotism over the 
 Roman people, died 14 years after the birth of Christ. The 
 events which took place between the birth of Christ and the 
 death of Augustus, pertaining to the Romans, were neither 
 many nor important. 
 
 During this interval, Augustus adopted Tiberius, and fi- 
 nally associated him in the empire. Archelaus, king of Ju- 
 dea, was deposed, and that country became strictly a Roman 
 province. Germanicus, grandson of Augustus, successfully 
 commanded in Pannonia, and Q,. Yarus was signally defeat- 
 ed by the Germans, with the loss of three Roman legions. 
 
 4. Luxury and the arts having enervated the Roman peo- 
 ple, and the former civil wars and the consequent calamities 
 having paved the way for a different order of things, in the 
 quiet establishment of despotism under Augustus, their fate 
 from this time was fixed. He found no difficulty in riveting 
 their chains, and for long ages, a series of despots, most of 
 them ( monsters of vice and cruelty, ruled with a rod of iron, 
 this once liberty-loving people, and mistress of nations. 
 
 Amidst the refinements and elegancies of modern times, con- 
 nected with our ideas of the progressive improvement of society, we 
 are perhaps inclined to overlook and undervalue the ages of antiqui- 
 ty. Many seem to forget what scenes of brightness and grandeur 
 have illumined the nations before us, and how mournfully those 
 scenes are departed. 
 
 The pensive, contemplative mind, however, does justice to such a 
 subject ; and no instance of human greatness of old, strikes such a 
 *nind more forcibly, than that of the proud empire of Rome, under 
 tier Ceesars. The memorial is both pleasant and mournful to the 
 soul. The mixture of misery with its splendour, renders it, if any 
 thing, mors touching and impressive. 
 
 5. Tiberius, who had been named in the will of Augus- 
 tus as his successor, immediately assumed the government, 
 14 years A. C. He was the son of* Augustus's wife, Livia, 
 by a former husband, and had distinguished himself in war. 
 
 During the first eight or nine years of his reign, he put on 
 
12 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 the appearance of justice and moderation, practising the most 
 consummate dissimulation. His vicious and tyrannical disposi- 
 tion was indulged during this time in a very covert manner ; but 
 afterwards it was openly manifested, and carried to a most ter- 
 rible extreme. His cruelties and debaucheries were enormous. 
 The first objects of his suspicions were Agrippa Posthu- 
 mus, a grandson of Augustus, whom he ordered to be execu- 
 ted in compliance with the pretended will of that emperor ; 
 and the accomplished Germanicus, his nephew and distin- 
 guished general, whom he caused to be secretly poisoned. The 
 Roman people indulged in unbounded sorrow, upon the death 
 of Germanicus. 
 
 Afterwards, when he gave a loose to his passions, the best 
 blood in Rome flowed. By means of Sejanus, a Roman 
 knight whom he took into his confidence, and who exceeded 
 even Tiberius in dissimulation, he exercised the most shock- 
 ing cruelties towards his subjects. Sejanus first fell a victim 
 to his crimes, in attempting to assume the government him 
 self; and a few years after Tiberius was strangled or poison 
 ed by one of his officers. 
 
 From the 12th year of his reign, Tiberius was persuaded by Se 
 janus to abandon Rome, and to retire to the island of Caprea, as a 
 more convenient place for the indulgence of his indolence and de- 
 baucheries. His gloomy and cruel disposition also followed him 
 there, and by means of this base minion, he perpetrated all manner 
 of crimes. 
 
 At this time he was 67 years old, and the unpleasantness of his 
 person comported with the deformity of his mind. He was quite 
 bald in front ; his face was disgustingly ulcerated, and covered over 
 with plasters; his body was bent forward, while its unnatural tallness 
 and leanness increased its ugliness. He now gave himself up to every 
 excess. He spent whole nights in eating and drinking, and he ap- 
 pointed two of his table companions to the first posts of the empire, for 
 no other merit, than that of having sat up with him two days and two 
 nights, without interruption. These he called his friends of all hours. 
 
 His libidinous indulgences were still more detestable, and the most 
 eminent women of Koine were obliged to sacrifice to him their virtue 
 and honour. 
 
 His jealousy, which fastened on persons of the highest distinction, 
 induced him to condemn them to death on the slightest pretences! 
 Indeed to such an extent were legalized murders carried, that he be- 
 gan to grow weary of particular executions, and therefore gave or- 
 ders that all the accused should be put to death together, without 
 further examination. The whole city of Rome was filled with 
 el aughter and mourning. The place of execution was a horrible scene 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 13 
 
 dead bodies putrifying lay heaped on each other, while even the friends 
 of the wretched convicts were denied the satisfaction of weeping. 
 
 In putting to death sixteen out of twenty senators whom he had 
 chosen for his council, he uttered a sentiment never to be forgot- 
 ten in the records of human cruelty. " Let them hate me, so long 
 as they obey me." This monster often satisfied his eyes, with the 
 tortures of the wretches who were put to death before him ; and in 
 the days of Suetonius, the rock was still shown from which he or- 
 dered such as displeased him to be thrown headlong. 
 
 He died in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and twenty-third 
 of his reign. 37 A. C. 
 
 6. At this time the Romans were arrived at the highest 
 pitch of effeminacy and vice. The wealth of almost every 
 nation in the empire, having long circulated through the 
 city, brought with it the luxuries peculiar to each country. 
 Rome was one vast mass of pollution, and sensuality. It 
 was thought a refinement upon pleasure to make it unnatu- 
 ral. Abating their genius, there never was a more detesta- 
 ble people, than the Romans at this epoch, and indeed, du- 
 ring the continuance of the empire. Cruelty and lust were 
 Essential ingredients in the Roman character. 
 
 It was a burst of joy, says Chateaubriand, which Tiberius was 
 unable to repress, on finding the Roman people and senate sunk 
 below even the baseness of his own heart. 
 
 Again, according to this writer, death formed an essential part of 
 the festivities of the Romans. It was introduced as a contrast, and 
 for the purpose of giving a zest to the pleasures of life. Gladiators, 
 courtezans, and musicians, were procured to enliven entertainments. 
 A Roman on quitting a haunt of infamous pleasure, went to enjoy 
 the spectacle of a wild beast devouring human victims, and quaffing 
 their blood. 
 
 7. Caligula had been adopted by Tiberius for his heir and 
 successor in the empire. He was the son of Germanicus, 
 and grand-nephew of Tiberius, and so called from Caliga, 
 a short buskin which he wore, in imitation of the common 
 sentinels. He commenced his reign immediately on the 
 death of Tiberius, 37 years A. C. and at his accession, was 
 popular from the virtues of his father. 
 
 He commenced his reign with a show of clemency and 
 moderation. He restored some of the forms of the republic 
 which his predecessor had entirely disregarded, and he abol- 
 ished arbitrary prosecutions for crimes of state. But tyranni- 
 cal by nature, in less than eight months he acted out his 
 real disposition, in cruelties, extortions, and impieties, which 
 
 surpassed even those of Tiberius. 
 
 2 
 
14 M0BERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 Joining absurdity and extravagance to vice, lie became 
 supremely contemptible, as well as detestable. Indeed, his 
 follies and absurdities were peculiar to himself, so that accord- 
 ing to an idea of Seneca, he was one of those productions of 
 nature, in which there was the greatest possible combination 
 of vice and power. He died by assassination, in the fourth 
 year of his reign and 29th of his age. A, C. 41 . 
 
 Among the cruelties of this imperial monster, were his murder 
 of Gemellus his kinsman, of Silemis his father-in-law, of Grecinus 
 a senator of noted integrity, who refused to witness falsely against 
 Silenus ; afterwards, his killing many of the senate, and then citing 
 them to appear as if they had killed themselves ; indeed, the sacri- 
 fice of crowds of victims to his avarice, or suspicion. 
 
 He condemned many persons of the highest quality to dig in the 
 mines, and to repair the high-ways, for ridiculing his profusion. 
 He cast great numbers of old and infirm men, and poor decrepid 
 housekeepers, to wild beasts, in order to free the state from such un- 
 serviceable citizens. He frequently had men racked before him 
 while he sat at table, ironically pitying their misfortunes, and blam- 
 ing their executioner. And as the height of insane cruelty, he once 
 expressed the wish " that all the Roman people had but one neck, 
 that he might dispatch them at a single blow." 
 
 His impieties, and the depravation of his appetites, made him 
 still more a disgrace to human nature. He claimed divine honours, 
 and caused temples to be built and sacrifices to be offered to him- 
 self, as a God. He caused the heads of the statues of Jupiter and 
 some other gods to be struck off, and his own to be put in their 
 places. He employed many inventions to imitate thunder, ana 
 would frequently defy Jupiter, crying out in a sentence of Homer 
 " Do you conquer me or I will conquer you." Scarcely any lady 
 of quality in Rome escaped his depraved solicitations. He com- 
 mitted incest with his three sisters, two of whom he prostituted to 
 his vile companions, and then banished them, as adulteresses and 
 conspirators against his person. 
 
 His follies and prodigality completed the infamy of his charac- 
 ter. The luxuries of the former emperors were trifling, compared 
 to his. He invented dishes of immense value, and had even jewels 
 dissolved among his sauces. He sometimes had services of pure 
 gold, instead of meat, presented before his guests ; observing, "that a 
 man should be an economist or an emperor." 
 
 For his favorite horse Incitatus, he built a stable of marble, and 
 a manger of ivory; and appointed it a house, furniture, and a 
 kitchen, in order to a respectful entertainment of its visitors. Some- 
 times indeed, the emperor invited Incitatus to his own table ; and it 
 is said that he would have appointed it to the consulship, had he 
 not been prevented by death. 
 
 These and a thousand other follies, particularly the building of a 
 bridge three miles and a half across an arm of the sea in a ridicu- 
 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 15 
 
 lous manner, and which the first etorm annihilated, constituted such 
 a drain upon the public resources, as hecame exceedingly oppressive. 
 6f a fortune of 18,000,000 sterling left by Tiberius, none remained 
 in a space little beyond one year. He of course put in practice all 
 kinds of rapine and extortion. Professor Heeren remarks, that 
 " he was more pernicious to the state by his insane prodigality, 
 than by his savage cruelty." 
 
 Against such a wretch, we naturally look for treason and conspiracies. 
 After several attempts, his death was at length accomplished by Cassius 
 Cherea, tribune of the pratorian bands, who was an ardent lover of 
 freedom. Leagued with a number of conspirators, he met the em- 
 peror in a little vaulted gallery that led to one of his baths, and 
 struck him to the ground, crying out, " tyrant, think upon this." 
 He was immediately dispatched by the other conspirators, who 
 rushed in and pierced him with thirty wounds. 
 
 8. A temporary confusion followed the death of Caligula, 
 and in this crisis of affairs, the senate attempted to restore 
 the republic. But the spirit of Roman liberty had fled ; the 
 populace, and in general the army, opposed the design. 
 Claudius at this juncture, having been accidentally found 
 in a lurking place, to which he had repaired through fear, 
 some of the praetorian guards proclaimed him emperor, at 
 the moment he expected nothing but death ; 41 A. C. 
 Claudius was the uncle of Caligula, and grand son of Mark 
 Antony and Octavia, the sister of Augustus. 
 
 Claudius was a man below mediocrity in understanding 
 and education ; and his capacity for business was even con- 
 temptible. He became almost of course infamous for his vi- 
 ces, arid the dupe of his associates and even of his domestics. 
 Many were the cruelties committed during his reign, though 
 they seem to have been suggested principally by his wicked 
 directors, among whom was the notorious Mes^alina, his wife. 
 
 The stupidity of Claudius was such, that he was alike indifferent, 
 whatever was done, and often was he so operated upon by his fears, 
 that he would consent to any act however unjust. His own family 
 on one pretence or another was almost exterminated, and great num- 
 bers of others fell a sacrifice to the jealousy of Messalina and her 
 minions, who ruled him at will. The historian, Suetonius, assures 
 us, that there were no less than thirty-five Senators and above three 
 hundred knights, executed in his reign. 
 
 One enterprise of importance marked his reign, and that 
 was his expedition into Britain, 43 A. C. He undertook to 
 reduce the island, and after visiting it in person, left his gene- 
 rals, Plautius and Vespasian, to prosecute a war, which waa 
 carried on for several years with various success. The Silures 
 

 16 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 or inhabitants of South Wales, under their king, Caractacus, 
 (Caradoc,) made a spirited resistance, though without avail in 
 the end. Their king was led captive to Rome. 
 
 Messalina advanced in boldness as in profligacy, but her 
 excesses became the occasion of her destruction. The em- 
 peror was persuaded to put her to death for her shameless in- 
 fidelity to him. Afterwards he married Agrippina, the daugh- 
 ter of his brother Germanicus, who had poisoned her former 
 husband, and who at length poisoned him. 
 
 Making every effort to secure the succession to the empire 
 to her son Domitius Aenobarbus, (called Nero,) she prevail- 
 ed on Claudius to adopt him, and then effecting the death of 
 her husband, she opened the way to the throne for one, who 
 was destined to exceed in wickedness, if that were possible, 
 any that went before him. Claudius was put to death in the 
 fifteenth year of his reign and sixty -third of his age. 
 
 Among the illustrious sufferers in the reign of Claudius, were 
 Petus and his faithful Arria. whose story ought not to be passed over. 
 Cecina Petus associated in the revolt of Camillus, had endeavoured 
 to escape into Dalmatia. Being apprehended, he was conveyed in 
 a ship to Rome. Arria, who had been long the partner of his affec- 
 tions and misfortunes, entreated his keepers, to be taken in the same 
 vessel. 
 
 " It is usual," said she, " to grant a man of his quality a few slaves 
 to dress, and undress, and attend him ; but I will perform all these 
 offices, and save you the trouble of a more numerous retinue." Her 
 fidelity, however, could not prevail. She therefore hired a fisher- 
 man's bark, and thus kept company with the ship in which her hus- 
 band was conveyed, through the voyage. 
 
 They had an only son, equally beautiful and virtuous. This youth 
 died at the time his father was confined to his bed, by a dangerous 
 disorder. However, the affectionate Arria concealed her son's death, 
 and in her visits to her husband, manifested her usual cheerfulness. 
 Being asked how her son did, she replied that he was calm, and only 
 left her husband's chamber to give vent to her tears. 
 
 When Petus was condemned to die by his own hands, Arria 
 used every art to inspire him with resolution ; and at length finding 
 him continue timid and wavering, she took the poinard, and stabbing 
 herself in his presence, presented it to him saying, " it gives me no 
 pain, my Petus." 
 
 9. Rome at this era contained nearly seven millions inhabi 
 tants, a number so prodigious that nothing but the best evi- 
 dence could prevent our doubt of its accuracy. Corruption 
 and luxury were excessive. The Roman military spirit, 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 17 
 
 though much relaxed, still continued to awe mankind, by the 
 terror of its name. 
 
 10. Nero Claudius, (the name he assumed,) the son of 
 Agrippina, succeeded to the empire (54 A. C.) under favora- 
 ble circumstances, and like his predecessors, for a short time, 
 promised to govern with moderation and justice. So well 
 did he conceal his innate depravity, that scarcely any sus- 
 pected that his virtues were feigned. 
 
 The care of his education had been entrusted to Seneca, 
 the famous philosopher, though he seemed not to have pro- 
 fited under his instructor any otherwise than to become af- 
 fected and pedantic. While, however, he was controled by 
 Seneca, and Burrhuss captain of the preetorian guards, a wor- 
 thy and experienced officer, Nero appeared just and humane ; 
 but he could not long restrain the feelings of his base nature. 
 
 At the expiration of five years, he broke over all the bounds 
 of dece-ncy and moderation, and pursued a course of conduct 
 exceeding in puerility, levity, ferocity, and tyranny, what- 
 ever had been done before him. He became one of the most 
 odious characters recorded in history. His flagitiousness was 
 manifested in the murder of his mother, his wife Octavia, 
 his tutor Seneca, and Lucan the poet, and Burrhuss his bene- 
 factor ; in extirpating many of the principal families of 
 Rome on suspicion of treason ; in setting the city on fire, 
 charging the crime on the Christians, and then punishing 
 them with unheard of tortures ; and in unnumbered other 
 acts in which he outraged reason, and nature itself. 
 
 His meanness and puerility almost surpass belief, and 
 Rome contained not another so despicable a wretch in the 
 character of an actor, musician or gladiator. At length hav- 
 ing become an object of perfect hatred and contempt, a re- 
 bellion of his subjects headed by Yindex, an illustrious Gaul, 
 and Galba who commanded in Spain, crushed this imperial 
 monster, in the thirtieth year of his age, after a reign of four- 
 teen years, A. C. 69. Too cowardly to kill himself, he died 
 by the hand of a slave, just as he was on the point of being 
 taken, arid delivered up to public justice. 
 
 The burning of Rome by Nero was an act of mere wantonness. 
 Some one happening to say in his presence, that the world might be 
 burnt when he was dead, "Nay," replied Nero, "let it be burnt 
 while I am living." Accordingly, as most historians report, he set ft 
 on fire, and standing upon a high tower, he indulged the pleasure $ 
 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 fancying it a representation of the burning of Troy. The confla- 
 gration continued nine days, and a great part of the city was con- 
 sumed. 
 
 A conspiracy formed against him by Piso, but which was prema- 
 turely discovered, opened a train of suspicions, that almost turned 
 Rome into a field of blood. All who were implicated or suspected 
 of being so, he executed without mercy. It was at this time that 
 Seneca and Lucan suffered. 
 
 No master was secure from the vengeance of his slaves, nor even 
 parents from the baser attempts of their children. Not only 
 throughout Rome, but the whole surrounding country, bodies of sol- 
 diers were seen in pursuit of the suspected and the guilty ; whole 
 crowds of wretches loaded with chains, were led every day to the 
 gates of the palace, to wait their sentence from the tyrant's own lips, 
 who always presided at the tortures in person, attended by Tigelli- 
 nus, one of the most abandoned men in Rome, but now his principal 
 minister. 
 
 " The principal reason why the despotism of Nero and his pre- 
 decessors was so quietly borne by the nation, lay in the fact, that a 
 great part of them were fed by the emperors. From the monthly 
 distribution of corn of the times of the republic, there now sprang 
 up the extraordinary congiaria (gifts in corn or money) and vi- 
 cerationes (distributions of raw flesh.) The times of tyranny 
 were generally the golden days of the rabble." 
 
 During the reign of Nero, the Britons, under their queen 
 Boadicea revolted, and defeated the Romans with the loss of 
 70,000 men. The latter, however, avenged this loss at length 
 by the slaughter of 80,000 Britons, which completely broke 
 the British spirit and power. 
 
 A war was also carried on against the Parthians, under 
 the conduct of Corbulo, who obtained many victories over 
 them. About this time also, 67 A. C., the Jews, who had 
 revolted under the tyranny of Florus the Roman governor, 
 were massacred in great numbers. 
 
 11. Galba, who was associated with Vindex, in the in- 
 surrection which issued in the destruction of Nero, succeeded 
 the latter in the empire 68 A. C. Vindex, at the commence- 
 ment of his revolt, generously proclaimed Galba emperor, 
 and after the death of Nero, both the senate and the legions 
 under his command, sanctioned this measure. 
 
 Before his elevation mankind thought well of Galba. His 
 descent was illustrious. His reputation as a commander 
 v tood high, and no stain was cast on his courage or virtue. 
 Compared with his predecessors, he was certainly a respecta- 
 ble emperor. In seeking to accomplish two important 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE 19 
 
 iects, viz. ? the punishment of the enormous vices then preva- 
 lent, and the replenishing of the treasury, he was unduly 
 severe ; and as he was naturally parsimonious, he became 
 an object of contempt and ridicule. 
 
 It was impolitic in Galba, to think of making the Roman people 
 pass at once from the extreme of luxury to that of sobriety and 
 economy. The state was too much corrupted to admit of such an 
 immediate and total change. The emperor's intentions, however, 
 should have shielded him from reproach ; and had he not suffered 
 his assistants to abuse his confidence, and had he been a little more 
 equal, moderate, and conciliatory in his administration, he would 
 have been as well thought of when an emperor, as he was when a 
 private person. 
 
 It is mentioned as an instance of his severity, that upon some dis- 
 respectful treatment of him from a certain body of his subjects, he 
 ordered a body of horse attending him to ride in among them, and 
 thus killed 7000 of them, and afterwards decimated the survivors. 
 
 His parsimony is indicated by the following circumstances. He 
 once groaned upon having an expensive soup served up for him at 
 his table. To a steward for his fidelity he presented a plate of 
 beans. And a famous player upon the flute, named Canus, having 
 greatly delighted him, he drew out his purse and gave him five- 
 pence, telling him it was private and not public money. His popu- 
 larity sunk by such ill-timed parsimony. Through his love of 
 money, some notorious villains purchased their safety. 
 
 Galba reigned only seven months. He perished in the 
 seventy-third year of his age, in consequence of the attempt 
 of Otho, one of his generals, to obtain the throne. Otho ex- 
 pected to be adopted by Galba for his successor ; but the 
 emperor, discarding all favouritism, sought the good of the 
 empire by nominating the virtuous Piso. Otho consequent- 
 ly had recourse to arms, and thus accomplished the death both 
 of Galba and Piso. 
 
 12. Otho was now raised to the throne, having received 
 from the senate the titles usually given to the emperors, 69 
 A. C. He began his reign with several signal acts of mercy 
 and of justice. The character of this prince, an unusual oc- 
 currence, was improved by advancement; in a private station 
 he was all that was detestable ; but as an emperor he ap- 
 peared courageous, benevolent, and humane. 
 
 The good course, however, which he had marked out for 
 himself, was soon terminated. He reigned only ninety-five 
 days. Vitelhus, who had been proclaimed emperor by his 
 army in Germany, gave Otho battle at a place near Mantua, 
 
20 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 where the army of the latter was defeated, and he in a fit of 
 despair ended his life hy his own hand, 69 A. C. 
 
 Otho was descended from the ancient kings of Etruria. 
 
 It has been observed that tl*e last moments of Otho's life were 
 those of a philosopher. He comforted his soldiers who lamented 
 his fortune, and he expressed his concern for their safety, when they 
 earnestly solicited to pay him the last friendly offices before he stab- 
 bed himself; and he observed that it was better for one man to die, 
 than that all should be involved in ruin for his obstinacy. 
 
 No circumstance, however, can excuse the crime of suicide, a 
 vice which was awfully prevalent among the Romans. 
 
 13. Vitellius, upon his success, assumed the government 
 69 A. C., but he retained it only eight months. This wretch 
 was not more given to cruelty, than to the infamous indul- 
 gence of his appetites. Like Nero, he abandoned himself to 
 every species of fiagitiousness and excess. 
 
 He perished justly. Vespasian, who at this time com- 
 manded the Roman army in Egypt, was proclaimed emperor 
 by his legions. Entering Italy, a great part of the country 
 submittted to his arms, and even Vitellius meanly capitu- 
 lated to save his life, hy a resignation of the empire. This 
 act of cowardice rousing the indignation of the people, he 
 was compelled to oppose Vespasian by force, but without 
 effect. One of the generals of the conqueror took possession 
 of Rome ; and Vitellius, falling into the hands- of a party oi 
 the enemy, was ignominiously put to death. 
 
 Instances of the cruel disposition of this emperor are the follow- 
 ing. Going to visit one of his associates who was in a violent fever, 
 he mingled poison with his water, and delivered it to him with his$ 
 own hands, in order to obtain his possessions. He never pardoned 
 money-lenders who presumed to demand payment of his former 
 debts ; but taking away their lives he both cancelled their claims., 
 and succeeded to their estate. 
 
 A Roman knight being dragged away to execution, and crying 
 out that he had made the emperor his heir, Vitellius demanded to 
 see the will, where finding himself joint inheritor with another, he 
 ordered both to be executed, that he might enjoy the legacy alone. 
 
 Gluttony, however, was his predominant vice. In order to be able 
 to renew his meals at pleasure, he brought himself to an habit of 
 vomiting. His entertainments were prodigiously expensive ; but 
 oftener to others, than to himself. It has been remarked that had 
 he reigned long, the whole empire would not have been sufficient to 
 maintain his table. 
 
 In one particular dish, did this imperial glutton out-do all the for- 
 mer profusion of the most luxurious Romans. This was of such 
 magnitude as to be called the shield of Minerva, and was filled with 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 a medley, made from the air-bladders of the fish called scarr 1 , the 
 brains of pheasants and woodcocks, the tongues of the most costly 
 birds, and the spawn of lampreys brought from the Carpathian sea. 
 14. Vespasian, having been declared emperor, by the 
 unanimous consent of the senate and the army, 70 A. C. 
 was received with the greatest joy on his arrival at Rome. 
 Though of mean descent, he deserved the purple, and reign- 
 ed during ten years, with great popularity. He was distin- 
 guished by clemency, affability, and a simple, frugal mode of 
 life. His frugality, however, bordered upon avarice, which 
 was the principal defect of his character. 
 
 In his administration of government, he acted under the 
 forms of the republic, and even restored the senate to its de- 
 liberative rights. The famous war against the Jews, was 
 terminated during the reign of Vespasian, by the arms of his 
 son Titus. After this, the empire was in profound peace, and 
 the emperor, having associated Titus in the government, soon 
 departed this life, to the universal regret of the Roman peo- 
 ple, in the 70th year of his age, 79 A. C. 
 
 It was some time before Vespasian could give security and 
 peace to the empire. When this object was effected, he began to 
 correct the abuses which had grown up under the tyranny of his 
 predecessors. He restrained the licentiousness of the army degra- 
 ded such senators as were unworthy of their station abridged the 
 tedious processes in the courts of justice re-edified such parts of 
 the city as had suffered in the late commotions and extended his 
 paternal care over all parts of the empire. 
 
 Vespasian was liberal in the encouragement of learning and the 
 arts. He was particularly kind to Josephus, the Jewish historian. 
 Quintillian and Pliny, who flourished in his reign, were highly es- 
 teemed by him ; and indeed the professors of every liberal art or 
 science, were sure to experience his bounty. 
 
 He died by disease, a death quite unusual with the masters of 
 Rome. Taken with an indisposition at Campania, which from the 
 beginning he declared would be fatal, he cried out in the spirit of pa- 
 ganism, " Methinks I am going to be a god." When brought to the 
 last extremity, and perceiving that he was about to expire, he decla- 
 red that an emperor ought to die standing; and therefore raising him- 
 self upon his feet, he breathed his last in the arms of his supporters. 
 
 15, Titus succeeded to the empire upon the death of his 
 father, 79 A. C. His character is celebrated as that of a 
 highly humane, just and generous prince. He so devoted 
 himself to acts of beneficence, that recollecting one evening 
 that he nad done none during the day, he exclaimed, " O, my 
 friends, I have lost a day !" His reign was a short, but pros 
 
22 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PEJ 
 
 He died in his 41st 
 
 hav 
 
 perous and happy one 
 
 reigned but little more than two years. His brother Domi- 
 
 tian was suspected as being the author of his death. 
 
 Before he came to the throne, his character was thought not to 
 be unexceptionable ; but whatever vices he had indulged in, he 
 seems to have abandoned upon that event. It is related as an in- 
 stance of the government of his passions, that he relinquished the 
 hand of his beloved Berenice, sister to king Agrippa, a woman ol 
 the greatest beauty, and the most refined allurements. Knowing 
 that the connection with her was disagreeable to the Roman people, 
 he conquered his affections, and sent her awa}^ notwithstanding 
 their mutual affection, and all her arts. 
 
 He was so tender of the lives of his subjects, that he took upon 
 him the office of High Priest, in order to keep his hands undefiled 
 with blood. He so little regarded such as censured or abused him, 
 that he was heard to say, " When I do nothing worthy of censure, 
 why should I be displeased at it ?" 
 
 During his reign, Rome was three days on fire, without intermis- 
 sien ; and this was followed by a plague, in which 10,000 person? 
 were buried in a day. Titus, from his own resources, repaired the 
 devastations of the city, and in all respects acted as a father to.his 
 people in their calamities. About this time the towns of Campania 
 were destroyed* by an eruption of Vesuvius. Upon this occasion 
 Pliny, the naturalist, lost his life, by venturing too near the volcano. 
 
 When Titus was taken ill, he retired into the country of the Sa- 
 bines, to his father's house. There his indisposition was increased 
 by a burning fever. Modestly lifting his eyes to heaven, though 
 with a spirit which Christianity cannot approve, and without the 
 hope it inspires, he complained of the severity of his fate, which 
 was about to remove him from the world, where he had been em- 
 ployed in making a grateful people happy. 
 
 Dornitian has incurred the suspicion of hastening his brother's 
 end, by ordering him to be placed, during his agony, in a tub full of 
 snow, where he expired. 
 
 15-| Domitian, upon the death of his brother, assumed the 
 purple, 81 A. C. The beginning of his reign promised a con- 
 tinuance of their happiness to the Roman people. But the 
 scene soon changed, and Domitian became a most execrable 
 villain and tyrant. He condemned to death many of the 
 most illustrious Romans, and witnessed, with the most fero- 
 cious pleasure, the agonies of his victims. He caused him- 
 self to be styled God and Lord, in all the papers that were 
 presented to him. Though not destitute of learning himself, 
 he banished the philosophers from Rome. 
 
 His reign was an era of prodigality and luxury, as well as 
 of inhumanity and baseness. The people were loaded with 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 23 
 
 insupportable taxes, to furnish spectacles and games for their 
 amusement. His leisure was spent in the most degrading 
 pursuits. One of the most constant occupations of his pri- 
 vate hours, was the catching and killing of fl ies. 
 
 In his reign occurred the second great persecution of the 
 Christians, (that under Nero being the first) in which 40,000 
 of that profession were destroyed. 
 
 His general, Agricola, met with signal success in the ex- 
 pedition against Britain, though Domitian derived iio renown, 
 but rather disgrace from it, in consequence of his ungrateful 
 treatment of Agricola. After a reign of 15 years, he was 
 assassinated at the instigation of his wife. 
 
 $ To the senate and nobility, Domitian was particularly hostile, 
 frequently threatening to extirpate them all. He delighted to ex- 
 pose them both to terror and ridicule. He once assembled the au- 
 gust body of the senate, to know in what vessel a turbot might be 
 most conveniently dressed. 
 
 At another time, inviting them to a public entertainment, he received 
 them all very formally at the entrance of his palace, and introduced 
 them into a large gloomy hall, hung with black, and lighted with a 
 few glimmering tapers. All around nothing was to be seen but cof- 
 fins,- with the name of each of the senators written upon them, and 
 other frightful objects, and instruments of execution. 
 
 While the company beheld all these preparations with silent 
 agony, on a sudden, a number of men burst into the room, clothed 
 in black, with drawn swords and flaming torches, and after they 
 had for some time terrified the guests, a message from the emperor, 
 gave the company leave to retire. 
 
 His death had been predicted by the astrologers. This circum- 
 stance gave him the most tormenting inquietude. His jealousies 
 increasing with a sense of his guilt, he was afraid by day and by 
 night ; and in proportion to his fears, he became more cruel. His 
 stern air and fiery visage, directed and added poignancy to the tor- 
 tures of his enemies. The gallery in which he was accustomed to 
 walk, he ordered to be set round with a pellucid stone, which served 
 as a mirror, to reflect the persons of all such as approached him from 
 behind. But happily all his precautions were unavailing. 
 
 "The fall of Domitian," says Heeren," confirms the result of uni* 
 versal experience, that a tyrant has little to fear from the people, 
 out so much the more from individuals, whose throats are in dan- 
 ger." 
 
 His wife Domitia, having accidently discovered that her name 
 was on the list of those whom he intended to put to death, at once 
 concerted measures to secure her safety by the destruction of the 
 emperor. Engaging some of the officers of his household, and others 
 who were also on the proscribed list, to enter into her plan, she had 
 the good fortune soon t learn, that he was dispatched at midnight 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 in one of the most secret recesses of his palace, whither he had re- 
 tired to rest. 
 
 The twelve Caesars, as they have been denominated in 
 history, ended with Domitian. In this number, however, 
 Julius Csesai is included, although Augustus was the first 
 emperor strictly so called, and Nero was the last emperor of 
 the Augustan family. 
 
 16. Nerva was elected emperor by the senate, upon the 
 death of Domitian, 96 A. C. He was the first Roman 
 emperor of foreign extraction, (being a native of Crete), and 
 chosen on account of his virtues. His advanced age and the 
 clemency of his disposition, with perhaps a want, of energy, 
 unfitted him to stem the torrent of corruption, and to cure 
 the disorders of the empire. He however, adopted the ex- 
 cellent Trajan as his successor, and thus rendered a service 
 to mankind which his administration otherwise could never 
 have accomplished. He died 98 A. C. in the seventy-se- 
 cond year of his age, having reigned sixteen months. 
 
 During his short reign, Nerva made several good laws and regu- 
 lations, and in every respect conducted himself like an indulgent fa- 
 ther to his people. No statues would he permit to be erected to 
 his memory, and he converted into money, such of Domitian's as 
 had been spared by the senate. He sold many rich robes, and 
 much of the splendid furniture of the palace, and retrenched seve- 
 ral unreasonable expenses at court, yet he was not at all avaricious 
 of money. 
 
 The following is a striking instance of his lenity. He had so- 
 lemnly sworn that no senator of Rome should be put to death by 
 his command, during his reign, from any cause whatever. 
 
 This oath he observed with such sanctity, that when two sena- 
 tors had conspired bis death, he sent for them, and carried them 
 with him to the public theatre. There presenting each a dagger, 
 he desired them to strike, as he was determined not to ward off the 
 blow. 
 
 17. Trajan, now in the possession of the throne, 98 A. C. 
 was a native of Seville in Spain. He proved to be one of 
 Rome's best sovereigns, splendid, warlike, munificent, cour- 
 teous, and modest. The few vices he possessed were scarcely 
 noticed amidst the blaze of his virtues, and the fame of his 
 exploits. This, perhaps, is an instance of human infirmity 
 in the estimation of character, since no vice should pass un- 
 condemned. It is a matter of deep regret, that his equity, 
 so visible in other respects, should be implicated by his con- 
 duct towards the Christians, whom he suffered to be mo- 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 25 
 
 Jested. The thud great persecution of them took place during 1 
 fiis reign. 
 
 The boundaries of the empire were greatly enlarged by 
 the victories of Trajan, in Dacia and the East. They never 
 were so extensive, either before or after his time. The em- 
 pire, however, was not improved by these conquests ; it soon 
 lost them, for the conquered countries immediately re-appeared 
 in arms, and at length effected their independence. 
 
 Learning and learned men were signally encouraged by the 
 emperor's liberality. His public works are also much cele- 
 brated. By his direction, the column still to be seen un- 
 der the name of Trajan's column, was erected. It is one of 
 the most remarkable monuments of ancient Rome. He died 
 after a reign of nineteen years, at the age of sixty-three, 
 
 118 A. C. 
 
 It was a characteristic of Trajan, that he so little feared his 
 enemies, that he could scarcely be induced to suppose he had any. 
 Being once told that his favorite, Sura, was false to him ; Trajan, 
 to show how much he relied upon his fidelity, went in his ordinary 
 manner to sup with him. There he commanded Sura's surgeon to 
 be brought, whom he ordered to take off the hair about his eye- 
 brows. He then made the barber shave his beard, after which, he 
 went unconcerned into the bath as usual. The next day, when 
 Sura's accusers were renewing their complaints ; Trajan informed 
 them how he had spent the night, remarking, that "if Sura, had any 
 designs against his life, he had then the fairest opportunity." 
 
 The first war in which the emperor was engaged, was with the 
 Dacians, who, in the reign of Domitian, had committed numerous 
 ravages upon the provinces. Trajan, suddenly appearing in arms 
 on the frontiers of their country, awed them at once into a treaty of 
 peace. As, however, this was soon after violated, he entered the 
 hostile territory, and obtained a complete victory, though with a 
 prodigious slaughter of his troops; and Dacia became a Roman 
 province. At his return to Rome he entered the city in triumph ; 
 and the rejoicings for his victories lasted for the space of one hundred 
 and twenty days. 
 
 Trajan aferwards turned his arms eastward and speedily reduced 
 Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Assyria, and took Ctesiphon, the capi- 
 tal of the Parthian empire. At length, sailing down the Persian 
 gulph, he entered the Indian ocean, conquering even the Indies , 
 part of which he annexed to the Roman empire. This enterprise, 
 which, at one time, he intended to pursue to the confines of the 
 earth, he was obliged to relinquish on account of the inconveniences 
 
 of increasing age. 
 
 Preparing to return to his capital in a style of unparalleled mag- 
 nificence, he was unable from infirmity to reach home ; and he died 
 
 3 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 in the city of Seleucia, having refused to nominate a successor, lest 
 he should adopt a person that was unworthy. 
 
 It may serve to show how highly Trajan was esteemed by his 
 subjects, that it was the practice, during two hundred years in 
 blessing his successors, to wish them " the fortune of Augustus, and 
 the goodness of Trajan." 
 
 18. Adrian succeeded Trajan 118 years A. C. The 
 wife of Trajan forged a will in the emperor's name, declar- 
 ing Adrian his successor. This designation was supported 
 by the army, and Adrian ventured to assume the govern- 
 ment. This emperor was a nephew of Trajan, and in most 
 respects worthy of being his successor. He chose to cultivate 
 rather the arts of peace than war, and judging that the limits 
 of the empire were too extensive, he abandoned all the con- 
 quests of Trajan, and bounded the eastern provinces by the 
 river Euphrates. He was, however, remarkably expert in 
 military discipline. 
 
 Daring an expedition of thirteen years, he visited in per- 
 son all the provinces of his empire, and dispensed wherever 
 he went the blessings of peace, justice, and order. In his ca- 
 pacity as a sovereign, he rendered important services to his 
 subjects in private life, however, it is said that his virtues 
 were mingled with an alloy of vices, arising chiefly from ir- 
 resolution. He indulged in vanity, envy, and detraction, in a 
 degree which was too manifest to be palliated in a person of 
 his exalted station. His virtues, however, were predominant, 
 and Rome had few better emperors. His general knowledge, 
 and his taste in the arts, were highly honourable in a sovereign. 
 He died in the seventy-second year of his age, A. C. 138. 
 
 Among his exploits, it is known that when he came to Britain, 
 he built a wall of wood and earth, between the modern towns of 
 Carlisle and Newcastle, eighty miles in length, to protect the Britons 
 from the incursions of the Caledonians. In a war with the Jews, 
 he killed in battle five hundred and eighty thousand of that people 
 who had become rebellious, and built a city on the ruins of Jerusa- 
 em which he called Aelia Capitolina. In performing his long 
 marches with his army, Adrian generally travelled on foot, and went 
 without any covering on his head. 
 
 His character was in many respects extraordinary, and none of 
 the Roman emperors excell cd him in variety of endowments. He was 
 highly skilful in all the exercises both of body and mind. He was an 
 author, orator, mathematician, musician and painter. His memory 
 was so retentive, that he recollected every incident of his life, and 
 he knew all the soldiers of his army by name. 
 
 He was the first emperor who wore a long heard, a fashion which 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 27 
 
 he adopted to hide the warts on his face. His successor followed 
 his example for the sake of ornament. 
 
 Though Adrian aimed at universal reputation, he strictly attended 
 to the duties of his station. Through his cares he began to fail in 
 health and strength, and adopting for his successor Titus Antoninus, 
 he sought the repose which he needed. His bodily infirmities how- 
 ever, daily increased, and his pain becoming nearly insupportable, 
 he vehemently desired death. Antoninus with difficulty persuaded 
 him to sustain life, though the emperor frequently cried out in his 
 agonies, " How miserable a thing is it to seek death, and not to find 
 it." Alas ! how pointed is the moral, that no station, however ex- 
 alted, can exempt one from the infirmities of life and the sting of 
 death. As he was expiring, the emperor repeated the following 
 lines, as translated into English. 
 
 O fleeting spirit, wand'ring fire, 
 
 That long has warmed my tender breast, 
 Wilt thou no more my frame inspire ? 
 
 No more a pleasing cheerful guest ') 
 Whither, ah ! whither art thou flying ? 
 
 To what dark, undiscovered shore 'I 
 Thou seemest all trembling, shivering, dying, 
 
 And wit and humour are no more. 
 
 His reign was a prosperous one of twenty-two years. He died 139 
 A. C. aged seventy-two. 
 
 19. Titus Antoninus, sumamed Pius, having been adopt- 
 ed by Adrian, succeeded to the empire 138 A. C. His vir- 
 tues were an ornament to human nature, and conferred innu- 
 merable blessings on mankind. He preferred peace to con- 
 quest, and yet whenever war became necessary, he carried 
 it on with vigour and success. He was conspicuous for jus- 
 tice and clemency, and his love of the religion of his country. 
 
 His reign was marked by few events, as the reigns of 
 peaceable monarchs usually are. The most remarkable for- 
 eign occurrences were the enlargement of the province of 
 Britain by the conquests of Urbicus, and the suppression of 
 some forminable rebellions in Germany, Dacia, and the East. 
 He died at the age of seventy-four, having reigned twenty- 
 two years. A. C. 161. 
 
 Such was the munificence of Antoninus, that in cases of famine 
 or inundation, he supplied with his own money the wants of the 
 sufferers. Such were his humanity and love of peace, that when 
 told of conquering heroes, he said with Scipio, that " he preferred 
 the life and preservation of one subject to the death of an hundred 
 enemies !" His regard of the Christians was extraordinary for a 
 heathen emperor. He declared that " if any should proceed to dis- 
 turb them on account of their religion, such should undergo the 
 same punishment which was intended against the accused." A de- 
 
28 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 grec of persecution nevertheless took place, contrary to the princi 
 pies of the emperor. 
 
 He was a distinguished rewarder of learned men, whom he invi 
 ted from all parts of the world, and raised to wealth and honour 
 Among the rest, he sent for Apollonius the famous stoic philosopher, 
 to instruct his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, whom he had previous 
 ly married to his daughter. 
 
 Apollonius being arrived 8t Rome, the emperor desired his atten 
 dance : but the philosopher arrogantly answered that it was the 
 scholar's duty to wait upon the master, and not the master's to wait 
 upon the scholar. To this reply, Antoninus only returned with a 
 smile, " that it was surprising how Apollonius, who made no difficul- 
 ty in coming from Greece to Rome, should think it so hard to walk 
 from one part of Rome to the other," and immediately sent Marcus 
 Aurelius to him. 
 
 In the midst of his labours in rendering his subjects happy, he was 
 seized with a lingering illness, which terminated in death in the 
 seventy-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-third of .his reign. 
 
 20. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the adopted son of Pius, 
 now came to the throne, 161 A. C. His name before was 
 Annius Verus, and he. together with Lucius Verus, his too- 
 ther, had been designated by Adrian to succeed to the govern- 
 ment, whenever Antoninus Pius should decease. Pius con- 
 firmed the adoption of Marcus, without once naming Lucius 
 Verus. Marcus, however, upon assuming the empire, admit- 
 ted his brother as a partner in the administration. 
 
 They w r ere perfectly opposite in character; Marcus Aurelius 
 being as much distinguished for his energy and virtue, as 
 Verus was for imbecility, meanness, and vice. Aurelius was 
 in every respect equal to his predecessor, and was even more 
 conspicuous for his attachment to philosophy. This, as the 
 stoics professed it, he has admirably taught and illustrated in 
 his Meditations. 
 
 In the wars which were carried on during this joint reign, 
 the worthless Verus brought disgrace upon the Roman name, 
 wherever he commanded. The Parthians, however, were 
 repulsed by the legions of the empire, and a rebellion of the 
 Germans was subdued. 
 
 After the death of Verus, which happily soon took place, 
 Aurelius directed all his energies for the improvement and 
 happiness of his empire. For purposes of beneficence he 
 visited the remotest corners of the Roman world. He died 
 at length in Pannonia, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and 
 nineteenth of his reign, A. G. 180. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 It was an infelicity of the otherwise admirable reign of 
 Aurelius, that the Christians at one time were violently perse- 
 cuted. The fanatical Pagan priests were, however, the im- 
 mediate instruments in this persecution, inasmuch as they 
 ascribed to the Christians the various calamities which the 
 empire endured, under the excesses of Verus, the attacks of 
 the barbarians, and the devastations occasioned by earth- 
 quakes, famines, pestilences, and inundations. 
 
 Aurelius loved retirement and philosophical contemplation, ami 
 improved for mental cultivation and enjoyment, all the leisure h J 
 could command. That, however, was far less than his wishes d c, 
 tated. The disturbances in the empire called him frequently into 
 the field, and until the death of his colleague, he suffered no small 
 inquietude on his account. He was, however, successful in his mili- 
 tary excursions. 
 
 One deliverance which he and his army experienced on a certain 
 occasion, borders on the miraculous. In a contest with the barba- 
 rians beyond the Danube, the Roman legions unexpectedly, through 
 the artifice of the enemy, found themselves inclosed in a place where 
 they could neither fight, nor retreat. In this situation they became 
 at length totally disheartened, from their long continued fatigue, the 
 excessive heat of the place, and their violent thirst. 
 
 In these suffering circumstances, while sorrow and despair were 
 depicted on every brow, Aurelius ran through the ranks, and used 
 every effort to rekindle their hopes and courage. But all was in 
 vain. At this crisis, and just as the barbarians were ready to follow 
 them, we are told that the solemn prayers of a Christian legion, 
 then serving among them, produced such a shower of rain as instant- 
 ly revived the fainting army. From the same clouds, was discharged 
 such a terrible storm of hail with thunder against the enemy, as dis- 
 mayed them, and made them an easy prey to the refreshed and in- 
 spirited Romans. 
 
 These circumstances are related by pagan as well as Christian 
 writers, only with this difference, that the latter ascribe the victory 
 to their own prayers, the former to the prayers of their emperor 
 Aurelius, however, it seems, was favourably impressed in regard to 
 the Christians, since he immediately relaxed the persecution against 
 them. 
 
 Some other particulars will be related respecting Aurelius, in our 
 biographical sketches. 
 
 Upon the death of Aurelius the empire evidently declined. 
 The emperors who succeeded were generally a weak or 
 vicious race. The colossal size of the empire caused it to 
 sink by its own weight. Enemies on its borders oppressed 
 it from without, and tumults and factions paralized it within ; 
 patriotism and genius were becoming rare, and corruption 
 
 pervaded all orders of the community. 
 
 3* 
 
SO MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD 1. 
 
 At the period of Trajan's death, the empire comprehend 
 ed the greater part of Britain, all Spain, France, the Ne 
 therlands, Italy, part of Germany, Egypt, Barbary, Bile- 
 dulgerid, Turkey in Europe and in Asia, and Persia. At 
 the demise of Aurelius, it Avas a little diminished in size, but 
 still too large to be preserved entire, amidst the profligacy of 
 he times. 
 
 21. Commodus, the son of Aurelius, had been nominated 
 by his father to succeed him, and he accordingly now mounted 
 the throne, 180 A. C. He had nothing but the merits of his 
 father to commend him to the Roman people. He inherited 
 the disposition of his infamous mother, Faustina, rather than 
 of Aurelius. The change from the reign of the father to 
 the son was indeed a most gloomy one. It is a singular fact, 
 that the most detestable of all the emperors was the son of 
 the best. 
 
 Commodus was given to low vices and mean pursuits--- 
 was fond of the sports of the circus and amphitheatre, the 
 hunting of wild beasts, and the combats of boxers and gla- 
 diators. His administration of the government was entirely 
 weak, contemptible, and tyrannical. He perished by assas- 
 sination, in the thirty-second year of his age, and the thir- 
 teenth year of his reign, 193 A. C. 
 
 It had been happy for himself and mankind, had Commodus cul- 
 tivated his mind, as he did his body, (for he was wonderfully expert 
 in all corporeal exercises :) but he was averse to every rational and 
 liberal pursuit. He spent the day in feasting, and the night in the 
 vilest debaucheries. 
 
 His cruelty combined with avarice and levity, cannot be too strong- 
 ly held up for the detestation of mankind. If any person desired 
 to be revenged on an enemy, by bargaining with Commodus for a 
 sum of money, he was permitted to destroy him in such a manner 
 as he chose. He commanded a person to be thrown among wild 
 beasts, for reading the life of Caligula in Suetonius. He would 
 sometimes, in a frolic, cut off men's noses, under a pretence of shav- 
 ing their beards ; yet he was himself so jealous of mankind, that he 
 was obliged to be his own barber ; or as some have said, he used to 
 burn his beard, after the example of Dionysius, the tyrant. 
 
 In imitating Hercules with his club and lion's skin, he would fu- 
 riously fall upon a company of beggars in the streets, and beat them 
 to death ; having first dressed them up like giants and monsters, and 
 giving them sponges to throw at him, instead of stones. 
 
 In such a manner did this wretch spend his time, while the trou- 
 bles of his empire were daily increasing, ari'l its strength and 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 3 . 
 
 tories were diminishing by frequent warfares on the frontiers. He 
 narrowly escaped destruction several times, from his personal exas- 
 perated foes. But he was destined at length justly to fall. His 
 favourite concubine, Marcia, who accidentally discovered the em- 
 peror's determination to put her to death, with other conspirators, 
 found the means of destroying him, partly by poison and partly by 
 strangling. 
 
 22. Pertinax, who had been fixed upon by the conspirators 
 as the successor of Commodus, was joyfully proclaimed by 
 the praetorian guards, 193 A. C. Originally he was the son 
 of an enfranchised slave, but rose to esteem by his virtues 
 and military talents. Applying himself to the correction of 
 abuses with too unsparing and rash a hand, he alienated the 
 affections of a corrupted people, and was deposed and mur- 
 dered by the same guards that had placed him on the throne, 
 after a reign of only three months, aged sixty-eight years. 
 The loss which the empire felt in the death of such a man 
 is greater than can be well conceived. 
 
 23. Didius Julianus, next succeeded to the empire 193 A. 
 C., having purchased it of the praetorian guards, who put it 
 up to the highest bidder. At the same time, several com- 
 manders in the distant provinces, were each proclaimed by 
 their respective forces. These, however, lost their lives ex- 
 cept Septimius Severus, who marched to Rome and seized 
 the government. Didius was hereupon deposed and put to 
 death by the senate in the fifth month of his reign. 
 
 Didius presents a striking instance of the cupidity of the hu- 
 man mind for power, and of the infelicities that attend it. He was 
 a man of consular rank, and the richest citizen of Rome. Hearing 
 the singular proclamation of the praetorian guards, and charmed 
 with the prospect of unbounded dominion, he hastened to the camp, 
 and bid the largest price for the empire. He gave to each soldier 
 (10,000 in number) the sum of 6250 drachmas, which amounts to 
 nearly 9,000,000 dollars, in the whole. 
 
 From this period he was exposed to disappointment, mortifica- 
 tion, insult, and danger. Indulging his ease and his avaricious dis- 
 position, he soon offended those who made him emperor. He was 
 contemptuously treated at home, while two or more generals in the 
 provinces abroad, disclaimed his authority. Upon the approach of 
 Severus, he could raise no forces to meet him. He was nearly dis- 
 tracted by the multiplicity of counsels, and finally his perplexity 
 and distress became extreme and overwhelming. 
 
 The senate, at this crisis, perceiving his timidity and irresolution, 
 resolved to abandon him, and to proclaim Severus. His death then 
 was no longer problematical ; and though he persisted that he 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 a right to enjoy his purchase for the natural period of his life, as he 
 had been guilty of no crime, all did not avail. The executioners, 
 obliging him to stretch his neck forward according to custom, im- 
 mediately struck off his head. 
 
 24. Septimius Severus was now at the head of the Roman 
 world, 193 A. C. He was an African by birth, and possessed 
 a restless activity with an unbounded share of ambition. 
 He was endowed with a hardihood and decision of character, 
 which fitted him for any enterprise. His military talents 
 were conspicuous, and the credit of the Roman arms was 
 sustained during his reign. In his administration of govern- 
 ment he was generally wise and equitable, though highly 
 despotic. 
 
 In his expedition into England, he built a stone wall ex- 
 tending from Solway Frith to the German Ocean, nearly on 
 a parallel with that of Adrian. Severus died at York in 
 England, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, after a reign of 
 eighteen years, 211 A. C. He left the empire to his two 
 sons Caracalla and Geta, whose dispositions gave the em- 
 peror the greatest inquietude. 
 
 The first act of Sever us, even before he entered Rome, was to 
 degrade the praetorian soldiers, whose irregularity had already be- 
 come too conspicuous. These he stript of their title, and banished 
 one hundred miles from the city. He soon after engaged in a terri- 
 ble conflict with Niger, his competitor in the East, whom he finally 
 conquered on the plains of Issus. Albinus also, his other competi- 
 tor, who commanded in Britain, was soon after conquered in battle ; 
 in one of the severest engagements recorded in the Roman history. 
 It was fought in Gaul, and lasted from morning till night, without 
 any apparent advantage on either side. It was decided at length by 
 a body of reserve, in favour of Severus. 
 
 His activity and love of conquest led him into the East, where he 
 signalised his arms, and whence he returned in triumph to Rome. 
 Having escaped a conspiracy formed by Plautian, to whom he had 
 committed his domestic policy, he spent a considerable time in visit- 
 ing the cities of Italy ; and finally in affording protection to all parts 
 of his empire, he made an expedition into Britain. The wall which 
 he here built was eight feet broad and twelve feet high, planted with 
 towers at a mile's distance from each other, and communicating by 
 pipes of brass in the wall, which conveyed intelligence from one 
 garrison to another with incredible dispatch. 
 
 Having given peace to the island, and secured it against the irrup- 
 tions of the Caledonians, he began to feel the effects of age and 
 fatigue ; but he was more broken down by the irreclaimable life of 
 Caracalla. Calling for the urn in which his ashes were to be en- 
 closed, he moralized on his melancholy condition in me following 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 33 
 
 remark. " Little urn," said he, " thou shalt now contain what the 
 world could not contain." It is recorded that he hastened his death 
 by purposely loading his stomach with food, in his weak state. 
 
 25. Caracalla and Geta were now established on the 
 throne, 211 A. C. ' Their association in the empire created 
 a mutual enmity, and indeed they were very unlike in native 
 character. Caracalla was fierce and cruel to an extreme 
 degree. Geta was mild and merciful. The former resolv- 
 ing to reign alone, seized an opportunity to murder Geta in 
 the arms of his mother. During his reign of six years, he 
 committed a continued series of atrocities. He was taken off 
 by assassination, 217 A. C. 
 
 Within this short period the empirb was every day declin- 
 ing ; the soldiers were entirely masters of every election ; 
 and both discipline in the army, and subordination in the 
 state, were almost destroyed. 
 
 The worst qualities of the worst emperors centered in this impe- 
 rial wretch. He slew his friend Lretius, his own wife Plautina, and 
 Papinian, the renowned civilian, for refusing to write in vindication 
 of his cruelty that upright man answering the emperor's request 
 by observing, " that it was much easier to commit a parricide than 
 .o defend it." 
 
 He commanded all the governors to be slain, whom his brother 
 ^ad appointed, and destroyed not less than 2000 of his adherents. 
 Upon a certain occasion, he ordered his soldiers to fall upon a crowd- 
 id audience in the theatre, only for discountenancing a charioteer, 
 whom he happened to favour. 
 
 As might be expected, he was harrassed with awful terrors. He 
 feared the day of his death, and that day was fast approaching. One 
 Martial, a centurion of the guards, was prevailed upon by a higher 
 officer, Macrinus, to give the emperor his death-wound, on a con- 
 venient occasion, which was readily seized, and thus the world was 
 freed from a monster, who was not only infinitely unfit to govern 
 an empire, but was unworthy to live. 
 
 26. Macrinus, who instigated Caracalla's death, was pro- 
 claimed emperor, 217 A. C. Little is recorded respecting 
 him. He was a person of obscure birth, and was deemed 
 severe by the soldiery, who had now become so licentious, 
 that they could scarcely bear the gentlest corrections. His 
 attempts at discipline, together with the artifices of the grand- 
 mother of Heliogabalus, alienated from him the affections of 
 the army, and he lost his life in the struggle to retain his 
 power, after a reign of only fourteen months, 218 A. C. 
 
 27. Heliogabalus was, by the army, raised to the throne 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 when only fourteen years of age. The appointment of the 
 army, as usual, influenced the decisions of the senate and 
 citizens of Rome. This emperor proved to be another mon- 
 ster of wickedness of the same rank with Nero, Cornmodus, 
 and Caracalla. He lived to be only eighteen years of age, 
 and yet lived long enough to hasten the fall of the empire, 
 and to cover his name with eternal infamy. He was mur- 
 dered in the fourth year of his reign, 222 A. C. 
 
 Heliogabalus was a natural son of Caracalla, a beautiful youth, 
 and loved by the army. Surrounded by flatterers, he soon yielded 
 himself to their directions. His short life was but a tissue of effe- 
 minacy, lust, folly, and extravagance. Some parts of his conduct 
 were too indecent here to be described. 
 
 In four years he married six wives, and divorced them all. He 
 even assumed the dress and circumstances of a woman, and marri- 
 ed one of his officers. After that he took for husband, one Hierocles, 
 a slave, whom he suffered to beat him severely when guilty of any 
 excess, all which he endured with great patience, saying, that it was 
 the duty of a wife to submit to her husband. 
 
 His prodigality and epicurism were boundless. His supper 
 generally cost six thousand crowns, and often sixty thousand. He 
 always dressed in cloth of gold and purple, enriched with precious 
 stones, and never twice put on the same habit. Whenever he took 
 horse, all the way between his apartment and the place of mount- 
 ing, was covered with gold and silver dust strewn at his approach. 
 
 His cruelties were equal to his licentiousness. He often invited 
 the most common of the people to share in his feasts, and made 
 them sit down on large bellows full of wind, which by sudden ex- 
 haustion, threw the guests on the ground, and left them a prey to 
 wild beasts. It is even said he endeavored to foretel the secrets of 
 futurity, by inspecting the entrails of young men sacrificed ; and 
 that he chose for this horrid purpose, the most beautiful youths 
 throughout Italy. 
 
 These are a few of the thousand excesses, follies, and atrocities of 
 a mad and vicious boy, who, with the possession of unlimited rule, 
 could do as he pleased. 
 
 Being persuaded by his grandmother Maesa, he adopted Alexan- 
 der his cousin-german as his successor ; but indignant that the af- 
 fections of his army were bestowed upon the latter, he meditated 
 revenge. His soldiers, however, perceiving his intention, took an 
 opportunity to secure his person, and having dispatched him, treated 
 his body with the greatest indignity, and consigned it at length to 
 the Tyber. 
 
 28. Alexander Severus was declared emperor 222 A. C 
 He was a prince of a kind, beneficent, and energetic charac- 
 ter, and highly accomplished in learning and the arts. Every 
 way calculated to make his subjects happy, he was greatly 
 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 35 
 
 honoured and esteemed by them. He was conspicuous also for 
 his military talents, and for the defeat of the Persians and 
 others during his reign. He thus restored the empire to its 
 former limits : but this exertion of its remaining strength, 
 rather hastened than delayed its decline. 
 
 He was cut off by a mutiny among his own soldiers in the 
 fourteenth year of his reign, and the twenty -ninth of his age, 
 at the instigation of Maximinus, his successor, 235 A. C. 
 
 As a specimen of his virtuous character we may mention, that 
 he ever loved good men, and severely reproved the lewd and infa- 
 mous. His remark is in point, when he decided a contest between 
 the Christians and a company of cooks and vinters, about a piece of 
 ground, which the one claimed as a place of public worship, and the 
 other for exercising their respective trades. " It is better that God 
 be worshiped there in any manner, than that the place should be put 
 wo the uses of drunkenness or debauchery." 
 
 At the age of sixteen, when he ascended the throne, he had all 
 the premature wisdom of age. His judgment was solid, and his 
 talents were various. He was an excellent mathematician, geometri- 
 cian, and musician. His taste in painting, sculpture and poetry was 
 admirable. 
 
 The first part of his reign was spent in a reformation of the abu- 
 ses of his predecessors ; particularly in restoring the senators to their 
 rank and influence. His first expedition, in the tenth year of his 
 reign, was against the Parthians and Persians^ whom he opposed 
 with a powerful army. In one decisive engagement, he routed the 
 Persians with great slaughter. About the same time, several of his 
 generals obtained signal victories, over various nations then at war 
 with the empire. 
 
 His manner of living was like that of the meanest sentinel ; when- 
 ever he dined or supped, he sat with his tent open, that all men might 
 be witnesses of his abstemiousness. He was at one time instructed 
 by the famous Origen in the principles of Christianity ; though it 
 does not appear that he embraced that religion. 
 
 29. Maximinus, who was accessary to the murder of Sevems, 
 ascended the throne upon this event, 235 A. C. He was the 
 son of a Thracian shepherd, and is represented by historians 
 as a man of gigantic stature and Herculean strength. He was 
 full eight feet in height, and perfectly symmetrical in form. 
 
 He rose by degrees into power ; but though meritorious 
 before his elevation, as a sovereign he was brutal and ferocious. 
 He warred with the Germans, and wasted their country to 
 the extent of four hundred and fifty miles, converting it al- 
 most into a desert. His cruelties soon aroused the Roman 
 people against him, and he was finally assassinated by his 
 own soldiers in his tent, after a reign of three years, 238 A. C. 
 
36 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD I. 
 
 During the period of his power, the two Gordians, fathei 
 and son were proclaimed emperors, but these soon perished 
 The senate then proclaimed Pupienus and Balbinus, who 
 survived Maximinus. These measures were dictated by the 
 anxiety which the Romans felt, to free themselves from that 
 tyrant. 
 
 Maximinus is said to have delighted in acts of the greatest bar- 
 arity, and no less than four hundred persons lost their lives, on the 
 false suspicion of a conspiracy against his life. He caused to be re- 
 moved from his sight or assassinated, many noble Romans, who, as 
 he suspected, despised him, on account of his mean origin. 
 
 When he was apprised of the acts of the senate, appointing 
 others to the supreme power, he raved and howled like a wild beast, 
 and almost destroyed himself by beating his head against the walls 
 of his palace. His fury, however, at length gave way to a spirit 
 of revenge ; but his bloody machinations were soon stopped. His 
 guards having been corrupted, murdered him while sleeping in his 
 tent, as he was too formidable an object to be attacked while awake. 
 
 Owing to his size, his strength was prodigious. He alone could 
 draw a full loaded wagon. With a blow of his fist he could break 
 the teeth in a horse's mouth, and with a kick of h .s foot could break 
 its thigh. His voracity was proportioned to his size and strength. 
 He generally ate forty pounds of flesh every ds"^, and drank six 
 gallons of wine. 
 
 The Preetorian soldiers who were enemies to Pupienus and 
 Balbinus, soon embraced an opportunity of despatching them 
 both, and accidentally meeting Gordian, grandson to one of 
 the former Gordians, they proclaimed him emperor. The 
 senate and people had been too long controlled by the army, 
 on the subject of nominating the emperors, to withhold their 
 consent in the present instance. 
 
 30. Gordian accordingly assumed the empire 238 years 
 A. C. He was no more than sixteen years old at this time, 
 and was a prince of very considerable merit. The Goths, 
 and also the Persians, who had invaded the confines of the 
 empire on different sides, were repulsed by his arms. 
 
 Towards the latter part of his reign, Philip, an Arabian, 
 was chosen praetorian preefect, under whose administration the 
 people began to be discontented. This state of things Philip 
 fostered, till the odium against the emperor so far increased, 
 that the prefect ventured to order his execution, with a 
 view to his own preferment, an object which he accomplish- 
 ed. Gorclian's reign was a period of nearly six years. 
 
 Gordian was a man so fond of learning, that he had collected 
 62,000 books in his private library. 
 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 37 
 
 31. Philip having acquired the empire 244 A. G., by the 
 murder of his benefactor, reigned five years, and then waa 
 himself assassinated, while marching against Decius. 
 
 Philip was an Arabian by birth, and received, in the manner of 
 his death, a righteous retribution, on account of his own nefarious 
 conduct in gaining the sceptre. 
 
 32. Decius, whom Philip had appointed to command a 
 revolted army, had been proclaimed before the emperor's 
 death. Upon that event he began to assume the functions of 
 
 government 249 A. C. His activity and wisdom would have 
 stayed the progress of decay in the empire, if any human 
 means could effect that object. But the tendency to this 
 state of things was irretrievable and fatal. 
 
 The profligacy and luxury of the times, the disputes be- 
 tween the Pagans and Christians, and the beginning irrup- 
 tions of the barbarous nations from without, were enfeebling 
 the empire beyond remedy. 
 
 Decius reigned but two years and six months, having been 
 cut off, in a war with the Goths, by the treachery of Gallus, 
 his general. 
 
 33. Gallus, raised to the throne 251 A. C., by that part of 
 the army which survived a defeat he had himself occasioned, 
 reigned but two years and four months. He was a vicious 
 sovereign, and during his reign the empire suffered incalcula- 
 ble misery. He perished in a civil war, in which Aemilianus, 
 his general, opposed him, and was victorious. 
 
 It was in the time of Gallus, that a dreadful pestilence spread 
 over the earth, threatening almost to depopulate it. 
 
 34. Valerian, a commander of one of the armies of the em* 
 pire, succeeded to the throne 254 A. C., contrary to the ex- 
 pectations of Aemilianus. In a war with the Persians, having 
 been taken prisoner, he suffered unheard of hardships and in- 
 sult, and at length w T as put to death in the most cruel manner, 
 
 Sapor, the Persian king, happened to secure the person of Vale- 
 rian. We are told that he always used the emperor as a footstool 
 Tor mounting his horse, and that he often observed, "such an attitude 
 was the best statue that could be erected in honour of his victory." 
 
 The manner of Valerian's death is almost too horrid to be men 
 tioned. His eyes were first plucked out, and afterwards he was flay 
 ed alive, when his skin was dyed red, and exposed in a temple. He 
 was seven years a prisoner. 
 
 35. Gallienus. son of Valerian, was chosen emperor 26C 
 
 4 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 A. C. He promised to avenge the insults and death of his 
 father ; but after his elevation, he thought only of his own 
 base pleasures, while the empire was attacked without, and 
 distracted within. Thirty pretenders were at one time con- 
 tending for the dominion of the state. Gallienus suffered a 
 violent death. 
 
 36. Upon the death of Gallienus, Flavius Claudius was 
 invested with the purple, 268 A. C., agreeably to the wishes 
 of the army, and the whole Roman people. He was an ac- 
 tive, wise, and good prince ; but unhappily his reign was 
 short, being less than two years. He died a natural death, 
 which was more frequently the lot of the virtuous, than of the 
 profligate emperors. 
 
 Claudius opposed with success the Goths, Heruli, &c. who had 
 invaded the empire on the north, in one instance destroying an army 
 of 300,000 men ; and he likewise overthrew the Germans, who had 
 reared the standard of revolt. His energy stayed, for a short time, 
 the decline of the empire. 
 
 37. The army made choice of Aurelian as emperor, 270 
 A. C. His parentage was obscure, but he was esteemed the 
 most valiant commander of his age. After his elevation, his 
 time was passed in repressing the irruptions of the barbarians, 
 and particularly in carrying on a war with Zenobia, a prin- 
 cess of Palmyra, commonly styled the Q,ueen of the East, 
 whom he conquered, and brought captive to Rome. With 
 great courage and military talents, he was cruel. He fell in 
 a conspiracy which was raised against him by some of his 
 subjects. 
 
 His strength was said to be so great, that in one single engage- 
 ment, he killed 40 of the enemy with his own hand, and above 900 
 at different times. The degeneracy of his people seemed almost to 
 justify his severities, in punishing offenders ; but it is said that when 
 ne was about to sign certain edicts against the Christians, who were 
 an inoffensive people, he was deterred from the act, by a thunder-bolt, 
 which fell so near his person, that his escape was thought to be mi- 
 raculous. 
 
 38. Several months elapsed before a new emperor was 
 elected. At length Tacitus was prevailed upon to take the 
 reins of government, 275 A. C. He was a man of great me- 
 rit, but unfortunately to the empire, he died of a fever after a 
 reign of only six months, at the age of 75. 
 
 39. His successor was Probus, though a minority in the 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 39 
 
 ( * 
 
 army chose Florian, a brother of Tacitus. Florian enjoyed 
 this distinction but two months ; for upon the establishment 
 of Probus in the empire, he sought a voluntary death. 
 
 Probus possessed uncommon activity, courage, and integri- 
 ty, and was constantly engaged in war with the barbarian?, 
 and in suppressing the numerous factions which arose in his 
 dominions. Offending his soldiers by obliging them to drain 
 an extensive fen in Sirmium, his native place, he was slain 
 in a conspiracy which they had formed against him, 282 
 A. C. 
 
 Probus was born of noble parentage, and was early distinguish- 
 ed by his excellent qualities. He was frequently the first man that, 
 in besieging towns, scaled the walls, or that burst into the enemy's 
 camp. ' 
 
 His energy and virtue, great as they were, could scarcely present 
 a sufficient barrier to the tide of calamities that rushed upon the em- 
 pire. In a war, however, with the Germans in Gaul, he slew 400,000 
 men ; and at various times repulsed many other enemies, particular- 
 ly the Sarmatians, Goths and Blemii. The last were a people who 
 had left the forests of Ethiopia, and possessed themselves of Arabia 
 and Judea. 
 
 Among those of his subjects who had rebelled against him, was 
 Bonosus, who was remarkable as given to intoxication. The rebel 
 being overcome, hanged himself in despair. Probus seeing him im- 
 mediately after this event, pointed to his body, and with great hu- 
 mour observed, " There hangs, not a man, but a bottle." 
 
 40. Cams, praetorian prsefect to the deceased emperor, wag 
 chosen by the army to succeed him 282 A. C. He associated 
 with him in command, his two sons, Carinus and Numerian. 
 Carus, and his son Numerian, were worthy of the empire, 
 but Carinus was given to vice. Their reign, however, was 
 only of two years' continuance. Carus was smitten by a 
 flash of lightning, in his tent, and his sons were killed soon 
 after Numerian by an act of treachery, Carinus in a con- 
 test with Diocletian, who had been chosen emperor. 
 
 Numerian was so affected by the death of his father, that through 
 excess of weeping, he brought on a disorder in his eyes, in conse- 
 quence of which he was obliged to be carried in a close litter. In 
 this situation he was murdered by his ambitious father-in-laAV, Aper, 
 who was soon cut off by the hand of Diocletian. 
 
 41. Diocletian began his reign in 284 A. C., and two years 
 afterwards, associated with himself in the empire his general 
 Maximian. Under their united auspices, the enemies of 
 Rome were frequently repulsed. At the expiration of about 
 
40 MODERN HISTORY.- PERIOD I. 
 
 eight years from that time, they took two colleagues, Galerius 
 and Constantius ; and bestowed upon each the title of Osesar. 
 
 This state of things was novel. There was a four fold 
 division of the government, with two emperors and two Cee- 
 sars at its head, each having a nominal supremacy. Diocle- 
 tian, however, was the master spirit that moved and controlled 
 the whole. In this state, the government was administered 
 a few years, when strange to relate the two emperors resigned 
 their authority into the hands of the two Ceesars, and retired 
 into private life 304 A. C. 
 
 Diocletian seems to have been sincere in his abdication, as 
 he contentedly spent eight or nine years in rural privacy, and 
 in cultivating his garden. Maximian soon began to be dis- 
 contented, arid made several attempts, but in vain, to resume 
 his former powers. His intrigues in Britain, where Constan- 
 tine and his son Constantine resided, cost him his life. Di- 
 ocletian died about 312 A. C. Maximian perished 310 A. C. 
 
 Diocletian's parentage was mean. According to some lie was the 
 son of a scrivener; and according to others, of a slave. When 
 elected to the empire he was forty years old, and owed his exalta- 
 tion entirely to his merit, having passed through the various grada- 
 tions of office, with sagacity, courage, and success. He chose Ga- 
 lerius for his associate, giving him the title of Caesar, with a view 
 to secure his aid in opposing Narses, the king of Persia and Parthia, 
 who had invaded Mesopotamia. In this enterprise they met with sig- 
 nal success. Other enemies they subdued, except the northern na- 
 tions, who, though repulsed and slaughtered in incredible numbers, 
 were ever ready to embrace fresh opportunities of renewing hostilities. 
 
 Diocletian, after his abdication of the empire, retired to his native 
 country, Dalmatia, where he built a magnificent palace for his ac- 
 commodation, near the town of Salona. Here he led a secure and 
 quiet life. When some of his friends attempted to persuade him to 
 resume the empire, he replied, " that if they knew his present hap- 
 piness, they would rather endeavour to imitate than disturb it." 
 
 Maximian was a native of Sirmium, in Pannonia, and was adopt- 
 ed by Diocletian as emperor, on account of his courage and 
 fidelity. He defeated many enemies of his country, though his 
 arms in Britain were unsuccessful. He adopted Constantius as 
 Ca3sar, with a view to oppose the claims of Carausius, a principal 
 commander in Britain, who had proclaimed himself emperor. 
 
 42. When Diocletian and Maximian resigned their power, 
 Constantius and Galerius were universally acknowledged 
 304 A. C. Constantius governed the western parts of the 
 empire. Galerius the eastern. They took in with them two 
 partners, so that the empire was again under the guidance of 
 
 
JUDEA. 41 
 
 four persons, all invested with supreme authority ; each having 
 his distinct department. Severus and Maximian were the 
 persons who were created Caesars. 
 
 Constantius w r as a worthy character, Galerius was the re- 
 verse. Constantius died at York, in Britain, 306 A. C., leav- 
 ing his son Constantino as his successor. Galerius died four 
 years afterwards of an extraordinary incurable disease. He 
 had instigated Diocletian to persecute the Christians. 
 
 The western parts of the empire, or the dominion of Constantius, 
 consisted of Italy, Sicily, the greatest part of Africa, together with 
 Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Germany. The eastern parts, or the do- 
 minion of Galerius, consisted of Illyricum, Pannonia, Thrace, Ma- 
 cedonia, all the provinces of Greece, and the lesser Asia, together 
 with Egypt, Syria, Judea, and all other oriental countries. 
 
 An anecdote of the following kind is related of Constantius : 
 when he was persuaded to displace all the Christian officers of his 
 household ; though he would not suffer the Christians to be injured, 
 he sent away in disgrace the few that complied, alleging, "that 
 those who were not true to their God, would never be faithful to 
 their prince." 
 
 43. From the commencement to the close of the present 
 period, persecutions of the Christians more or less prevailed 
 in the empire. At times, this unoffending class of the Ro- 
 man subjects suffered inan extreme degree, from the edicts 
 of the emperors. Historians have usually reckoned ten ge- 
 neral persecutions of the Christians. The names of the em- 
 perors, under whom these persecutions were experienced, 
 were the following : Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Antoninus, 
 Severus. Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, and Dio- 
 cletian. 
 
 Most of these emperors persecuted the Christians from 
 malignity, and for the gratification of their cruel dispositions. 
 Others did it, (though their conduct was- indefensible,) from 
 ignorance or prejudice, aided by the spirit of the age, and 
 the common corruption of our nature. 
 
 As this period is named from the persecutions which the pro- 
 fessors of Christianity endured under the Roman emperors, it 
 might seem proper here, to enter into some details on this subject. 
 But a few of these will be included in an article on ecclesiastical 
 history, to be embodied in the present volume. 
 
 JUDEA. 
 
 44. JUDEA, already under the sway of Rome, became a 
 province of the empire 6 A. C. upon the banishment of Ar- 
 
 4* 
 
42 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 chelaus, eldest son of Herod the Great. It was at the com- 
 mencement of this period, that the birth of our blessed Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, as before noticed in the Roman history, took 
 place. Herod, in addition to all his other crimes shed the 
 blood of the children of Bethlehem, in the hope that the in- 
 fant Jesus would fall among them. He died miserably, soon 
 'after this transaction. 
 
 In the reign of Herod, the sceptre, agreeably to ancient prophecy, 
 having departed from Judah, by the control which the Romans had 
 over the government, Jesus Christ was born in the year of the world 
 4000. This has already been explained. We use, however, the 
 vulgar era (4004) and assign the subsequent events according to that 
 calculation. The mistake supposed to be made by the ancient chro- 
 nologers has been too far sanctioned by Time, to be now remedied. 
 
 His birth, which was announced by angels to the shepherds of 
 Bethlehem, and which brought the eastern magi to worship him, 
 exceedingly troubled Herod and the principal Jews, who became 
 apprehensive of new wars and commotions. After finding out the 
 place of his nativity, (viz. Bethlehem,) Herod determined on his 
 death, by destroying all the children of that place and of its vicinity, 
 " from two years old and under." 
 
 The providence of God, however, had removed the holy child be- 
 yond his reach, inasmuch as his parents had fled with him, in the 
 mean time, into Egypt. Herod's death, soon occurring, they return- 
 ed from Egypt, and dwelt in Nazareth, a city of Galilee. 
 
 It is not our design to detail events here, which more properly be- 
 long to ecclesiastical history. We would only say, that after a labo- 
 rious and useful life, in the third year of his ministry, and in the 
 thirty-third of his age, Jesus Christ expiated human transgression, 
 by his death on the cross. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, the 
 Roman governor, upon a false accusation brought against him by his 
 own countrymen, the Jews. 
 
 This glorious personage, who was " God manifest in the flesh," 
 came into the world to save his people from their sins. In his hu- 
 man nature he was lineally descended from David, though the fami- 
 ly at the period of his birth, had become obscure and reduced to 
 poverty. The effects of his appearance in the world were from the 
 beginning, decisive. The holy system which he taught, considering 
 the hostility of man to truth and piety, was diffused with great rapi- 
 dity, under the ministry of the apostles. Reformation of moral 
 character was its aim, object and result. Its effects have ever been 
 great, and such they will be to the end of time. 
 
 The civil affairs of the Jews, from the commencement of 
 this era to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus Vespasian, 
 are too unimportant to be particularly described. A brief 
 summary of them follows. 
 
 Archelaus, under whom Judea became in form a Rorcan pro- 
 
JUDKA. 43 
 
 vince, possessed only a tetrarch}^, or the fourth part of the kingdom 
 of Jewry. The rest of the country was divided into three more te- 
 trarohies, which were those of Galilee and Petraea possessed by Herod 
 Antipatas ; that of Iturrea possessed by Philip, another son of Herod ; 
 and that of Abilene possessed by Eysanias, who being afterwards 
 banished into Gaul, had his province governed by Pontius Pilate. 
 
 The successor of Arch elans was Herod II. named Antipas, who 
 man ied his brother Philip's wife. This was the incestuous marriage 
 on account of which John the Baptist reproved Herod, as mentioned 
 in the New Testament. It was in the time of this Herod that our 
 Saviour's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, occurred. 
 
 Herod II. was succeeded by his son Herod the Great. Caligula, 
 the emperor of Rome, at that time invested him with the tetrarcby 
 of his uncle Philip, and conferred on him the title of king. The 
 other tetrarchies fell to his possession shortly afterwards. It was 
 this Herod who caused the apostle James to be martyred, the apostle 
 Peter to be imprisoned, and was himself smitten by an angel and 
 devoured by worms. 
 
 His son Agrippa Minor, succeeded, and was the last king of Jew- 
 ry. It was before him, that the apostle Paul pleaded in defence of 
 the gospel. 
 
 45. During the reign of Agrippa Minor, Jerusalem was 
 attacked by Titus (Vespasian) 70 A. D. The cause of this 
 attack originated in the commotions and insurrections of the 
 Jews, which were frequent about this time. This miserable 
 people had suffered greatty, from the injustice and extortion 
 practised upon them by the agents of the Roman govern- 
 ment, and they consequently rose in rebellion. 
 
 A signal vengeance fell upon their heads. Jerusalem was 
 beseiged, and one million of people are said to have perished 
 on the occasion. To such distress were the Jews reduced by 
 famine, that mothers murdered their children for food. The 
 people suffered greatly in other parts of Judea ; and though 
 numbers remained in their native land, vast multitudes were 
 dispersed over the face of the earth, on which they have ever 
 since been wanderers. 
 
 The reader of the Bible will see in these events, a re- 
 markable fulfilment of the predictions of the ancient prophets 
 and of our Saviour ; and he w r ill also learn the evil and dan- 
 ger of despising divine admonitions, and abasing religious 
 privileges. The Jews are to this day a witness of the truth 
 of scripture. 
 
 Nero, who was emperor when the war with the Jews commenc- 
 ed, entrusted the management of it to his general, Vespasian, who, 
 accompanied by his son Titus, and a powerful army, arrived in Sy- 
 
44 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 
 ria, 67 A. C. Vespasian soon after being chosen emperor, left orders 
 with his son Titus, to contitme the war, while he himself set out for 
 Rome. 
 
 Titus prosecuted the enterprise with diligence, and besieging 
 Jerusalem, he took it within a few months, after an obstinate resist- 
 ance on the part of its inhabitants. Twice, during the siege, Titus 
 offered them very favourable terms, but so infatuated were they, that 
 hey not only refused his offers, but insulted at length his messenger, 
 Flavius Josephus, in the most wanton and virulent manner. 
 
 After this conduct, there remained no more mercy for the Jews. 
 Titus caused the hands of those who had voluntarily sought shelter 
 in the Roman camp, to be cut off, and sent them back to the city, 
 and others he crucified in the sight of their countrymen. Famine, 
 in the mean time, was performing its dreadful work within the 
 walls. When Titus entered the city he gave it up to be plundered 
 by the soldiers, and most of its inhabitants were put to the sword. 
 
 In pursuance of this general order, the city was destroyed to its 
 foundations, and even the ruins of the temple were demolished, 
 Josephus says that the number of prisoners taken during the whole 
 time of the war was ninety-seven thousand ; and the number killed 
 in the city during the same period, amounted, as before stated, to 
 one million. The Jews, who remained in the country, now paid 
 tribute to the Romans, and were entirely subject to their laws. 
 
 46. After this event Jerusalem was partially rebuilt, and in 
 118 the inhabitants attempted again to rebel, but were speedily 
 overcome. Adrian, the emperor, incensed at the conduct of 
 this stubborn people, resolved to level their city with the earth, 
 that is to say, those new buildings erected by the Jews, and 
 to sow salt in the ground, on which the place had stood 
 Thus was fulfilled a prophecy of our Saviour, \vho fore- 
 told, that neither in the city nor in the temple, should one 
 stone be left upon another. This therefore may be called 
 the final destruction of Jerusalem, which took place 47 years 
 after that of Titus. 
 
 Adrian, however, soon built the city over anew, and called 
 it Aelia Capitolina. It was a short lived change, for when 
 the empress Helena, the mother of Constantino the Great, 
 visited the city, she found it in a forlorn and ruinous state. 
 
 PARTHIA. 
 
 47. The PARTHIAN empire at the beginning of this period, 
 continued under the sway of the first branch of the Arsaci- 
 dse. Phraates TV. then possessed the throne. Three sove- 
 reigns succeeded him, when after short reigns, the second 
 branch of the Arsacidae commenced. 
 
PERSIA. 45 
 
 Verones I. was the last of the three sovereigns of the first branch. 
 He had been dispatched from Rome, where he was a hostage, to 
 reign over the Parthians, who had invited him to be their king j 
 but affecting the Roman dress and manners he incurred the dislike 
 of his people, and was driven from the throne, to make room for 
 Artabanus, of the royal family of Media. 
 
 48. The second branch of the Arsacidse commenced 18 
 years A. C. under Artabanus III. It lasted nearly two 
 hundred years under thirteen sovereigns. The Romans oc- 
 casionally defeated the Parthians and made them tributary, 
 but could never keep them long under the yoke. To the his- 
 tory of the Parthian kings, we attach very little importance. 
 The empire was at length restored to the Persians after they 
 had been subject to the princes of Parthia for the space of 
 four hundred and seventy-five years. 
 
 Artabanus V, the last of this branch, having refused to give his 
 daughter in marriage to the emperor Caracalla, the Romans entered 
 Parthia and destroyed many cities ; but Macrinus, the successor of 
 Caracalla, after a hard fought battle, concluded a peace with the 
 Parthians. Artabanus was killed in battle by Artaxares, a Persian, 
 who, revolting from the Parthians, restored the empire to Persia. 
 The subsequent details belong to the Persian history. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 49. After the PERSIANS had been subject to the Parthians 
 during four hundred and seventy-five years, from the time 
 that they passed from under the Macedonian yoke, Artax- 
 ares, an ignoble but courageous Persian, excited a revolt 
 among his countrymen, which terminated in the restoration 
 of the Persian empire. 223 A. C. 
 
 Artaxares having accomplished his design, and ascended 
 the throne, assumed the pompous title of king of kings, and 
 asserted his right to all the provinces of the ancient empire, 
 which were now under the authority of the Romans. War 
 therefore ensued between these two powers, and the Per- 
 sians were terribly defeated in a single battle by Alexander 
 Severus. They soon however regained the ground they had 
 lost. 
 
 Artaxares was followed by a series of princes, the most 
 conspicuous of whom during this period was Sapores I. who 
 was his immediate successor. The dynasty which Artaxares 
 founded, is known in history under the name of Sassanittae, 
 from Sassan, his father. 
 
46 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 Of Sapores, it is recorded that he conquered several cities in Syria 
 and Mesopotamia, from the Romans, which however were /recov- 
 ered by the youngest Gordian ; that in 258 he captured Antioch, 
 penetrating into Cappadocia, and besieging Caesara, which being 
 taken through treachery, almost all the inhabitants were slain, and 
 the city reduced to ashes. The next year the emperor Valerian 
 having advanced into the east, was taken prisoner, and treated with 
 the greatest cruelty, as has already been described. Sapores, after 
 considerable reverse of fortune, having becomeodionstohis subjects 
 for his cruelties, was assassinated by the Satraps. 
 
 Hormisdas II. was the last prince of this period. He enjoyed a 
 peaceful reign. After his death, the lords of the country seized his 
 son and confined him in a tower, because he threatened to cause them 
 all to be flayed alive, for not rising in token of obedience to him 
 at a royal banquet, on a day when he returned from hunting. The 
 queen being pregnant, the magi, by placing the crown upon her 
 own person, affected to crown the prince, who, they persuaded 
 themselves, would be born of her. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 50. In the history of CHINA, the fifth dynasty which com- 
 menced about 200 years before the Christian era, terminated 
 during the present period, viz. in the year 221 A. C. It is 
 called the dynasty of Han, and lasted four hundred and 
 twenty-four years, under twenty-five emperors The head of 
 this dynasty was Lien-pang, a soldier, who, overcoming the 
 last emperor, and ascending the throne, took the name of 
 
 Kao-Tsou. 
 
 Kao-Tsou reigned with clemency and moderation. In his 
 reign, paper, ink, and hair pencils, still used in China instead of pens, 
 were invented. He was one of the few emperors who governed for 
 themselves. Under the rest, the eunuchs obtained great authority. 
 
 Vuti, one of the princes of this family, was a great encourager of 
 learning, and ordered the morality of Confucius to be taught in the 
 public schools. He fell under the powjr of a strong delusion, in 
 endeavouring to discover a liquor whirji would make him immor- 
 tal. 
 
 The sixth dynasty began 221 A. C.; and ended 265 
 A. C. It is called the dynasty of Heou-Han, and lasted forty- 
 four years. China at this time was divided into three empires, 
 under three branches of the dynasty of Han. The various 
 parts terminated at different periods, although the whole be- 
 came reunited at length under the seventh dynasty in 265. 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 47 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period I. 
 
 1. Livy, the prince of Roman historians. 
 
 2. Ovid, a distinguished Roman poet. 
 
 3. Tibullus, a famous elegiac poet of Rome. 
 
 4. Strabo, a, celebrated geographer and historian. 
 
 5. Seneca, a Roman moralist and philosopher. 
 
 6. Lucan, a Roman epic poet. 
 
 7. Pliny, (the elder) the earliest writer on natural history 
 whose works are extant. 
 
 8. Quintilian, an eminent Roman advocate and rhetori- 
 cian. 
 
 9. Tacitus, an eminent philosophic historian. 
 
 10. Plutarch, the principal biographer of antiquity. 
 
 11. Juvenal, an eminent satirical poet. 
 
 12. M. Antoninus, a Roman emperor and philosophical wri- 
 ter. 
 
 ' f learned Christian writers, commonly cal- 
 
 ' led fathers. 
 15. Cyprian, 
 
 1. Livy was a native of Padua, but passed the greatest part of his 
 life at Naples and Rome, particularly at the court of Augustus. Of 
 his life not much is known, yet his fame was so universally spread, 
 even in his life time, tnat an inhabitant of Gades, now Cadiz, travel- 
 led all the way to Rome, merely to see the man whose writings had 
 given him so much pleasure. Livy died at Padua in his sixty-se- 
 venth year, A. C. 17. 
 
 This writer is principally known by his history of the Roman em- 
 pire. It originally consisted of 140 books, of which only 35 are ex- 
 tant. In this work he is always great clear, spirited, bold, and 
 masterly in description. The high rank which he holds among his- 
 torians will probably never be disputed. He often copied from his 
 contemporaries and predecessors, and especially from Polybius. 
 
 2. Ovid was born at Sulmo, on the 20th of March, about 43 years 
 B. C. His father intended him for the bar; but though his pro- 
 gress in the study of eloquence was great, yet nothing could divert 
 him from paying his court to the muses. Every thing he wrote 
 was expressed in poetical numbers. His name soon became known, 
 and the great geniuses of the age honoured him with their notice, and 
 some of them with their correspondence. Augustus also patronized 
 him with the utmost liberality. 
 
 The days of his prosperity were not many. For some cause. 
 which is not ascertained, the emperor banished him to a place named 
 Tomos on the Euxine Sea. Here he spent the remainder of his life, 
 and he spent it in unmanly repining and impatience. He offered 
 the most abject flattery to Augustus, but both he and his successor 
 
48 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 Tiberius were inexorable. Ovid died in the 7th or 8th year of his 
 banishment. 
 
 The poems which he left behind him have, the most of them, sur- 
 vived to the present time. They are characterized by sweetness and 
 elegance, though often debased by indelicacy of expression. Ovid 
 every where paints nature with the hand of a master. His Fasti, a 
 part of which is lost, are thought to be the best written of all his 
 poems. It is known that the poems of Ovid were favourites with the 
 great English bard, John Milton. 
 
 3. Tibullus was a Roman Knight. He at first engaged in the 
 toils of war; but dissatisfied with such a life, he afterwards gave 
 himself up to literary ease, and to the pleasures of an enervating Ita- 
 lian climate. His favorite study was the writing of love verses. In 
 these elegant trifles he shewed himself an accomplished poet. Four 
 books of elegies are all that remain of his compositions. They are' 
 so beautiful in language, and so pure in sentiment, that Tibullus is 
 deservedly ranked as the prince of elegiac poets. 
 
 4. Strabo was a native of Amasia, and died 25 years A.. C. His 
 geographical work, divided into 17 books, is the only composition of 
 his remaining. This is just!)' considered an elegant, classical, and 
 learned work. It is written in Greek, and contains an account of 
 the most celebrated places and countries of the world. Strabo tra- 
 velled through most of the regions he has described, in quest of ac- 
 curate information. Among his books which have been lost, are 
 historical commentaries. 
 
 5. Seneca (Lucius Annaeus) was bora at Cordova, in Spain. He 
 became early distinguished for uncommon abilities, and acquired at 
 the bar, the reputation of an eloquent pleader ; but he relinquished 
 this road to fame, and became a candidate for public employments. 
 He obtained the office of qua?stor, but by a shameful indiscretion, 
 having incurred the displeasure of Caligula, he was banished to the 
 island of Corsica. In five years he was recalled by the empress 
 Agrippina, to superintend the education of her son Nero, which of- 
 fice he discharged with honor. 
 
 Nero becoming impatient of the restraint, which his preceptor im- 
 posed upon his vicious inclinations, pretended that Seneca had con- 
 spired with Piso against his life, and sent a messenger to Seneca to 
 acquaint him that he must die ; permitting him to choose the manner 
 of his death. The philosopher received the mandate with cheerful- 
 ness, and ordered the veins of his legs and arms to be opened. The 
 blood however flowed slowly poison and the warm bath were 
 therefore resorted to : but being without effect, he was at last smoth- 
 ered in the vapour of a stove. His death took place in his seventy- 
 second year, 65 A. C. 
 
 6. Lucan was a native of Corduba, and nephew of Seneca. He 
 early went to Rome, where his rising talents procured him the favour 
 of Nero. He had the imprudence, however, to enter into a poetical 
 contest with his imperial patron, and obtaining an easy victory, a? 
 might have been expected, he ever afterwards was an object of the 
 emperor's hatred. The insults to which the poet was continually 
 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 49 
 
 exposed, provoked his resentment to such a degree, that he joined 
 Pisu in his conspiracy against that monster. The discovery of the 
 plot, of course, consigned him to death. He died a young man, be- 
 ing only in his 26th year. 
 
 Of his works, his Pharfalia only remains. This poem celebrates 
 the wars of Caesar and Pompey, and is unfinished. It has been va- 
 riously estimated. The moral grandeur of its sentiments has been 
 generally acknowledged, but some think him more of an orator than 
 a poet. 
 
 7. Pliny (the elder) was bora at Verona, of a noble family. He 
 was distinguished in civil life, as well in scientific pursuits. To his 
 public duties he attended through the day, but the night he devoted 
 to study. He lost no time by idleness or dissipation. Every mo- 
 ment that could be spared from business was occupied in the cultiva- 
 tion of his mind. He turned his attention more particularly to Nature. 
 
 His work on Natural History, comprised in 37 books, is full 01 
 erudition. It takes in a wide range of topics, and is written in an 
 interesting and sprightly manner, although the style possesses not 
 the graces of the Augustan age. He wrote one hundred and sixty 
 volumes of remarks and annotations on the various authors whom 
 he had read, but these have not reached us. 
 
 His love of knowledge cost him his life. An eruption of Vesu- 
 vius happening at the time when he lay atMisenum, where he com- 
 manded a fleet, he was induced to approach the mountain, for the 
 purpose of making his observations on the interesting phenomenon. 
 While thus occupied, he was overtaken by the burning lava which 
 poured from the volcano, and suffocated and scorched, he soon per- 
 ished. This memorable event happened in the 79th year of the Chris- 
 tian era. 
 
 8. Quintilian was a native of Spain. After twenty years labo- 
 rious employment in teaching rhetoric, and in pleading at the bar at 
 Rome, he retired to enjoy the fruits of his labours and industry. 
 Here he dedicated his time to the study of literature, and to com- 
 position. His success as an author, and the favours of the emperor 
 Domitian, afforded him a high delight. But no situation is perfect- 
 ly happy the death of his wife and two sons, filled him with almost 
 inconsolable grief. He died 95 A. C. 
 
 His Institutions, in 12 books, is the most perfect system of ora- 
 tor}'- extant. In this work, he delineates that which goes to consti- 
 tute a perfect orator, together with all the preparation necessary. 
 This work remained undiscovered until the fifteenth century. 
 
 9. Tacitus was the son of a Roman knight, and born in the reign 
 of Nero. His genius and talents procured him the favour of several 
 emperors in succession, and he was raised at last to the consular 
 dignity. He was not destitute of distinction as an orator, but he is 
 i.'hiefly known to mankind as an historian. A peculiar friendship 
 existed between him and Pliny, though the one was sternly partial 
 to a republican government, and the other was a great admirer of 
 imperial power. 
 
 The compositions of Tacitus were contained in thirty books, of 
 
 5 
 
50 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD I. 
 
 which there now remain only twenty-one. Of these, his Annals in- 
 clude sixteen, and his History of the Roman Emperors five, Taci- 
 tus has many excellencies of style. Its most striking characteiistic. 
 perhaps, is conciseness. He has great force and depth of thought, 
 and is candid and impartial in his statements. In his biographical 
 sketches, he displays an uncommon knowledge of human nature. 
 The History of the Reign of Tiberius, is his masterpiece. Some 
 have complained of him as being obscure. 
 
 10. Plutarch was a native of Chseronea. He died at an advanced 
 age, in his native place, about the 140th year A. C. Having travel- 
 led in quest of knowledge through Egypt and Greece, he retired to 
 Rome, where he opened a school, with great reputation. Trajan, 
 who admired his abilities, honoured him with the office of consul, 
 and with the government of Illyricum. 
 
 After the death of his imperial patron, he removed from Rome to 
 Chacronea; in which delightful retirement, he composed the great- 
 est part of his works. His Lives of Illustrious Men, is the most 
 esteemed of his productions. His precision and fidelity are remark- 
 able. In his style, he is energetic and animated ; though distin- 
 guished neither for purity nor elegance. Sometimes he is too cir- 
 cumstantial ; yet, on the whole, he has been pronounced to be the 
 most entertaining and instructive of al] the writers of ancient history. 
 
 11. Juvenal was born at Aquinum, in Italy, and died in the reign 
 of Trajan, 128 A. C., at an advanced age. He came early to Rome, 
 where he applied himself at first to declamation, and afterwards to 
 the writing of satires. 
 
 Sixteen of these pieces are extant. In them, he is an animated, 
 severe, and bold reprover of vice, and displays also much humour. 
 He, however, defeats his object, in a great measure, by the gross- 
 ness and indecency of his manner. His correctness in delineation 
 is the result of experience and age. He has been called, with some 
 reason perhaps, the last of the Roman poets. 
 
 12. M. Antoninus, whose history has been given before, was born 
 at Rome, in the 121st year of the Christian era, and died on an ex- 
 pedition against the Marcomanni, in the nineteenth year of his reign. 
 He was a prince of great talents and virtue. His death was reg/eN 
 ted by mankind as a public loss, and the greatest honour was paid 
 to his memory. According to the superstition of the times, he was 
 ranked among the gods, and in almost every house his statue was 
 found. 
 
 His book of Meditations has been much admired by scholars and 
 philosophers. 
 
 13. Tertullian lived at Carthage, and flourished in the reigns of 
 Severus and Caracalla. He was originally a pagan, but afterwards 
 embraced Christianity, and became one of its ablest defenders. His 
 writings evince that he possessed a lively imagination, fervid elo- 
 quence, strength of reasoning, and a considerable acquaintance with 
 style. His Apology for the Christians, and his Prescriptions, are the 
 best esteemed of his numerous works. The historian Gibbon, calls 
 him the " stern" Tertullian. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 51 
 
 14. Origen was born at Alexandria, about the year 185, and died 
 m 254, having been presbyter of that city. He wrote in Greek. He 
 was much celebrated for his parts and learning. He was endowed 
 with unaffected humility and modesty, and was extremely rigid in 
 following the Christian rules. In the sixty-ninth year of his age, he 
 suftered martyrdom. His works are many, and include a number 
 of homilies, commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, and different trea- 
 tises, besides his Hexapla. This last work first gave the hint for 
 the compilation of our polyglot Bibles. Mosheim calls him the lu- 
 minary of the Christian world, during the age in which he lived ; 
 but observes, that he failed in justness of judgment, and was given to 
 the Platonic philosophy. 
 
 15. Cyprian w?s a native and a bishop of Carthage. He was 
 born about the beginning of the third century, of heathen parents, 
 but became a convert to Christianity, and was a principal father of 
 the church. To be more devoted to purity and study, he is said to 
 have abandoned his wife; and, as a proof of his charity, he dis- 
 tributed his goods to the poor. He wrote eighty-one letters, besides 
 several treatises, and rendered his works valuable, by the informa- 
 tion he conveys respecting the discipline of the ancient church. 
 
 He was beheaded as a martyr, at Carthage, September 14, 258 
 A. C. Moshiem speaks of him as possessing the most eminent abili- 
 ties and flowing eloquence, but rather too attentive to the ornaments 
 *)f rhetoric. 
 
 PERIOD II. 
 
 The period of the Northern Invasions, extending, from the 
 Reign of Constantino the Great, 306 years A. C. to 
 the Extinction of the Western Empire, 476 years A. C. 
 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 SEC. 1. The empire of Rome, as has already appeared, 
 had been for several years under the sway of a number 
 of masters, on all of whom the harden of government 
 equally devolved. At the time when Constantine was pro- 
 claimed in Britain 306 A. C. upon the death of his father 
 Constantius, the two Csesars, Severua and Maximin, had 
 already been proclaimed 305 A. C.- Maxentius 7 son ofMax- 
 imian, had about the same time, 306 A. C., declared himself. 
 The next Year Lirinius was created emperor by Galerius, 
 who had never willingly owned Constantine. These were 
 Constantino's competitors, and in the course of a few years 
 lie lived to see them either destroyed in various ways, or 
 overcome in battle, and himself remaining the sole master of 
 the Roman world. 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 Constantine has been styled the first Christian emperor. 
 Whatever may have been his real character, as far as religion is 
 concerned, it is certain that he stopped the persecutions of the 
 Christians that he publicly favoured Christianity defend- 
 ed it against its enemies, and tolerated the profession of it in the 
 empire. Indeed, under his auspices it became the religion 
 of the state, and that great change in the Roman govern- 
 ment took place, which, from a persecuting, made it a protect- 
 ing power. For the influence which Christianity exerted 
 over the public conduct of this emperor, a cause has been as- 
 signed, possessing a miraculous character, viz. : his seeing a 
 pillar of light in the heavens in the form of a cross, bearing 
 the inscription "By this conquer." 
 
 Whether this were a real sight, or a mere imagination, it is 
 asserted in the records of the times, as an undoubted fact ; 
 and if it were such, we may readily account for the part 
 which Constantine acted, even should we be forced to doubt 
 the integrity of his religious principles. 
 
 The first exploits of Constantine were directed against the Franks, 
 who had then overrun Gaul. It was in 311 or 312, when he was 
 inarching against Maxentius, and reflecting on the mutability of the 
 world, and the opinions which then divided the attention of man- 
 kind, that he saw the pillar of light mentioned above, This was in 
 the latter part of the day, and on the following night, Jesus Christ 
 is said to have appeared to him with the same sign. 
 
 In consequence of these appearances, the emperor caused a royai 
 standard 10 be made, bearing a figure similar to that he had seen, 
 and commanded that it should be carried before him in his wars. 
 Soon espousing the cause of Christianity, he entered Italy, and ad- 
 vancing towards the gates of Rome, he attacked and defeated Max- 
 entius, who. in attempting an escape, was drowned in the Tiber. 
 The next day Constantine was received into the city as a deliverer. 
 
 In 314, a war was kindled between Constantine and Licinius, but 
 it soon ended in a peace. Nine years afterwards, hostilities broke 
 out again, when Licinius after two defeats was obliged to abdicate, 
 leaving the government to Constantine alone. 
 
 2. The administration of Constantine varied very much, 
 in the different periods of his life. It was far more com- 
 mendable at the beginning, than it at length became. Mia 
 natural temper was severe and cruel, ami the Litter part of 
 his reign was marked by several act> of intolerant zeal, and 
 sanguinary rigour. In protecting and countenancing the 
 Christian religion he deserves our approbation, although 
 must be acknowledged that he brought it into too close an al 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE, 53 
 
 Ikmce with the civil power, to consist with its highest pros- 
 perity. 
 
 The character of Constantino has been the subject of extravagant 
 eulogy, or violent censure, according as friends or foes have been 
 Concerned in drawing it. We shall do well perhaps to strike the 
 balance between the different representations the prejudices of the 
 cotemporary pagans against it we should little regard, nor should 
 we think too much of the panegyric which was resorted to for its 
 vindication, by the professed Christians of his day. It was- a highly 
 mixed character which he possessed. 
 
 This emperor was the author of an essential change in the 
 Roman alfairs, in another respect besides that of religion. In 
 transferring the seat of the empire from Rome to Constantino- 
 ple, he affected its condition during the remainder of its ex- 
 istence. This step accelerated the destruction of the decay- 
 ing fabric. His motives in this project cannot be accurately 
 determined whether they had reference to ideas of policy 
 and advantage, or purely to. resentment on account of affronts 
 received at Rome Whatever they were, his- own reputation 
 and the public interests were injured. 
 
 The effect of tin's measure 7 though not immediately felt, 
 was at length fatal. After the government was apportioned 
 among the emperor's sons, there was such a division of the 
 forces of the empire, that the northern barbarians, who 
 fought with superior numbers, and had been hitherto re- 
 pulsed, now began to prevail and to encroach on the pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 In an expedition against the Persians, Constantine died at 
 Nicomedia, in the thirtieth year of his reign, and sixty-third 
 of his age. 
 
 The new seat of empire is said to have been pointed out in the 
 following manner Constantine had made choice of a situation at 
 Chalcedon, in Asia Minor ; but it seems, in laying out the ground- 
 plot, an eagle caught up the line and flew with it over to Byzantium, 
 a city which lay upon the opposite side of the Bosphorus. 
 
 Here, therefore, it was deemed expedient to fix the seat of empire; 
 and Constantine, after having built a capitol, an amphitheatre, 
 many churches and other public works, and many magnificent edi- 
 fices, and after having dedicated the city to the God of martyrs, re- 
 paired thither, with his whole court. 
 
 From this period to the reigns of Honorius and Arcadius, 
 when the empire was divided into two distinct sovereignties, 
 the histories of Rome and Constantinople are necessarily 
 blended. 
 
 5* 
 
54 MODERN HISTORF. PERIOD I. 
 
 3. The Roman world had long been composed of discord 
 ant parts, and the work of corruption and dissolution was ai 
 this time making a rapid progress. The immense mass wad 
 kept together for a period longer, only by the vigorous exer- 
 tion of despotism. The fabric naturally tottered to its fall, 
 when the Pagan principles of religion, which constituted an 
 essential part of its foundation, were removed. The-arm of 
 power then supplied the props that upheld it, and this, more 
 emphatically than was ever the case before. 
 
 The Roman armies at this era, were debased by the intermixture 
 of Scythians, Goths, Germans, and other barbarous tribes ; and Con- 
 stantine, from a timid policy of guarding against mutinies of the 
 troops, reduced the legion from its ancient complement of 5000 ami 
 upwards, to 1000 or 1500. 
 
 4. Before his death, Constantine had settled the empire on 
 five princes his three sons and two nephews. His sons were 
 Constantine II., Constans, and Constantius II. The nephews, 
 who were Ceesars, Avere n-unecl Dalmatius, and Annibalianus. 
 Their sovereignty commmencecl 337 A. C. 
 
 Immediately upon the accesssion of these princes, Con- 
 stantius contrived to destroy the two Caesars, with five others 
 
 / / 
 
 of his cousins and two of his uncles. Soon after this, Con- 
 stantine entered into a contention with Constans, and was 
 killed : and Constans in a few years perished in attempting 
 to quell a revolt among his subjects. Constantius. therefore, 
 remained in the possession of the whole empire. He reigned 
 twenty-four years in misfortune and dishonour. 
 
 Domestic broils, and insurrections of the troops, had left the west- 
 ern frontiers of the empire exposed to the barbarians. The Franks, 
 Saxons, AJemanni, and Sarmatians had devastated the fine countries 
 on the Rhine, and the Persians had kept up a succession of wars in 
 the eastern provinces. At first Constantius obliged the Persians to 
 retire ; but he was afterwards overcome in nine signal battles. 
 
 His cousin Julian, he created Caesar, but afterwards regarding him 
 with jealousy, and hearing that he was proclaimed emperor, Con- 
 stantius marched against him. but died on the road. He had reach- 
 ed his 45th year. In person he was diminutive, but capable ^f 
 exertion when occasion required; he was temperate, but extremely 
 uxorious ; and in a word, inherited the defects without the abilities 
 of his father. He was much engaged in theological controversy, 
 but his religious principles or character cannot inspire us with any 
 great respect. 
 
 5. Julian, commonly called the apostate, on account of his 
 relapsing into paganism from a Christian education, was 
 
 i 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 55 
 
 acknowledged by the senate, 361 A. C. His army had pre- 
 viously proclaimed him emperor, much against his will ; but 
 the insult he received from Constantius, who exacted submis- 
 sion to himself as the supreme head, determined him to assert 
 his claims by force of arms. After due preparation and 
 vigorous efforts, he was happily released from this necessity, 
 oy the death of Constantius. 
 
 Julian had already restored the glory of the Reman arms 
 by repressing the. invasions of the barbarians. He was noj 
 without several noble traits, and was fitted by kn AY ledge ana 
 energy to govern a great people. His enmity against the 
 holy religion of Jesus, was deservedly his greatest defect. 
 To this he added bigotry in favour of paganism, supersti- 
 tion, and no small share of a foolish credulity. He was ad- 
 dicted to the studies of magic and astrology. 
 
 He immediately began the reformation of abuses of various 
 kinds, but declared in favour of paganism, re-opened the tem- 
 ples, and without directly persecuting, did much to injure 
 Christians and their cause. In 363, he attempted to rebuild 
 the temple at Jerusalem ; but certain miraculous appearances, 
 it is said, prevented the execution of his design. During the 
 same year, in a war with the Persians", while pursuing a vic- 
 torious course, and in a successful engagement, he received a 
 mortal wound. He had reigned but three years, and lived 
 thirty -one. 
 
 $ The cunning and the malire of Julian, appeared, in treating the 
 Christians with contempt. He removed them, as visionaries, from 
 all employments of public trust. He refused them the benefit of 
 the laws to decide their differences,, because their religion forbade 
 a contentious spirit; and they were debarred the studies of literature 
 and philosophy, as this would subject them to the perusal of pagan 
 authors. 
 
 Julian, like many others opposed to Christianity, employed wit 
 and ridicule against this religion ; for he was an author as well as a 
 warrior. It is said in apology for him, that he used these weapon 
 in self-defence that lie was first lampooned by the Christians. 
 However that may be, religion is a subject too sacred to be treated 
 in that manner. One of his works against the Christians, was Mi- 
 sopliogon, or beard hater. 
 
 His Caesars is the most famous of his compositions, being a satire 
 upon all the Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Constantine. 
 This philosophical fabie, according to Gibbon, is "one of the most 
 agreeable and instructive productions of ancient wit." 
 
 His last moments were spent in conversation with a pnilosopher 
 
56 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 on the immortality of the soul he expressed his expectation of 
 being united with heaven, and with the stars,* which was one of 
 his astrological vagaries, and he breathed his last without indicating 
 the least sorrow for his fate, or the suddenness of his death. 
 
 His attempt to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, was made with a 
 view to furnish a specious argument against prophecy, and of course 
 the truth of revelation. The prodigies on the occasion, which prevent- 
 ed the completion of the work, are attested by contemporary writers, 
 such as Amrnianus Marcellinus, and Gregory Naziar.zen. This 
 article of history has been the subject of much dispute. But whether 
 we allow or not that the prodigies, such as earthquakes and balls of 
 fire, happened, to the annoyance of the workmen and to the destruc- 
 tion of their commenced work, it is evident that something prevented 
 the work, for the temple was never rebuilt, and thus our Saviour's 
 prophecy remains as yet unsuspected. " Jerusalem is to be trodden 
 down of the Gentiles till the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled." 
 
 6. On the death of Julian, the race of Constantius Clorus 
 became extinct, and the Roman world was without a head, 
 and without an heir. In this situation, the army finally fixed 
 on Jovian, a Pannonian, and the emperor's first domestic, as 
 his successor, 363 A, C. Jovian made peace with the Per- 
 sians, by the cession of five provinces ; for on J ulian's death 
 the army was brought to the brink of destruction) and by 
 such a sacrifice only could he save it and himself. 
 
 This emperor applied himself to restore tranquillity to the 
 Church. He displayed the banner of the cross, and reversed 
 the edicts of Julian respecting Christianity. His reign, which 
 continued only seven months, was mild and equitable. He 
 died suddenly at the age of thirty-three years. 
 
 While Jovian was on his march to secure the palace of Constan- 
 tinople, his wife with an imperial train hastened to meet him, car- 
 rying with her their infant son. The moment of embracing liei 
 husband seemed to be at hand : but the distressing news of his death 
 which was immediately communicated to her, most cruelly disap- 
 pointed her hopes. He had died the night before, as some report, by 
 suffocation from the vapour of charcoal. 
 
 7. Yalentinian I., after a delay of a few days was elected 
 emperor by the army. 364 A. C. One month after, he asso- 
 ciated his brother Valens, in the empire, and gave him the 
 eastern provinces. From this period, the division of the em- 
 pire into Eastern and Western, became fixed and permanent. 
 
 * This was in agreement with the doctrine of Pythagoras and Plato, which 
 seems to exclude any personal or conscious immortality. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 57 
 
 The empire, however, was still considered as one body. On 
 the East, the Persians were making inroads. The West 
 was continually invaded by the northern barbarians. The 
 latter were repelled by the emperor in many successful bat- 
 ties, lie favoured the Christian religion, and his domestic 
 administration was equitable and wise. His temper, howe- 
 ver, was violent. He died on an expedition against the Ale- 
 manni, 367 A. C. 
 
 It is said that the barbarians against whom he had last taken 
 arms, had provoked him beyond all endurance, so that when their 
 ambassadors came to sue for mercy, his anger was raised to such a 
 height, and his tones and gestures were so violent, that he ruptured 
 a blood vessel, and expired on the -spot. 
 
 In the East, Valens held a weak and inefficient sceptre. 
 Engaged in the Arian heresy which he favoured, he threw 
 the provinces into confusion and contention, and at the same 
 time exposed his dominions to the inroads of the barbarians, 
 who came under the profession of friends and allies. He 
 died in 1578 A. C. 
 
 These were the Goths who emigrated from Scandinavia, 
 and who, together with several other barbarous nations, will 
 soon be described in this account of the Roman empire, since 
 they are so intimately connected with its destiny. 
 
 In 376, Valens permitted vast hordes of the Goths, who had been 
 driven out of their country by the Huns, to settle in Thrace Here, 
 however, they soon plundered the very country conceded to them as 
 an asylum. The emperor hastened to oppose them, but he was de- 
 feated in the famous battle of Adrianoplc, two thirds of his army 
 having been cut to pieces. 
 
 Being himself wounded, he was. carried into a cottage, where on 
 the same day he was burnt alive by the barbarians, who set fire to 
 the cottage, without knowing that it contained the emperor of the 
 East. 
 
 8. Gratian, a son of Valentinian, succeeded his father, 
 367 A. C. He soon became possessor of the whole empire, by 
 the death of Valens. Upon this event, he took Theodosius 
 as his associate, on whom he conferred the eastern provin- 
 ces. He began to reign in his 17th year, and died at the 
 a#e of 24 years. He was a well disposed prince, but defi- 
 cient in energy of character. 
 
 Gratian undertook to destroy the remains of paganism; but 
 Rome, at the time, happening to be afflicted by a severe famine, the 
 favourers of that superstition ascribed the calamity to the wrath ol 
 
58 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 the gods. A general dissatisfaction ensued, and Maximus, who 
 commanded in Britain, taking advantage of this state of things, cau- 
 sed himself to he proclaimed emperor. Gratian inarching into Gaul 
 to oppose him, was deserted by his soldiers, and killed at Lyons, 371 
 A. C. 
 
 9. Valentinian II. was the successor of his hi other Gra- 
 tian. Being dispossessed hy Maximus, he took refuge with 
 Theodosius, who was then reigning in the East, and who 
 restored him to the throne. From that time he ruled with 
 justice. After wearing the crown for several years, he was 
 strangled hy a Gaul named Arbogastus, who had assumed 
 an authority over his sovereign, 392 A. C. The tyrant Eu- 
 geiiius, whom the Gaul caused to be proclaimed on this oc- 
 casion, was defeated and put to death by Theodosius. 
 
 10. In the East, after the death of Valens, Theodosius 
 succeeded to the throne, 379 A. C. He was deservedly sur- 
 named the Great. The barbarians he repelled with success, 
 and lie secured the prosperity of his people by wise and salu- 
 tary laws. It was during his reign, that Christianity obtain- 
 ed the entire ascendency over paganism, as the religion of 
 the Roman people. 
 
 After the death of Valentinian IT., the whole empire came 
 into possession of Theodosius ; and he was the last who reign- 
 ed over both the East and West. Previously to his decease, 
 he divided the empire between his two sons, assigning the 
 West to Honorius, and the East to Arcadms. Prom this 
 era they became two distinct empires, and will be treated of 
 separately. 
 
 Theodosius the Great, was the son of Count Theodosius, a very 
 able general, who had been beheaded by the order of Gratian. To 
 atone for his hi justice, Gratian chose the Count's son as his colleague, 
 and gave him the East for his portion. A few days after his elec- 
 tion, he gained a signal victory over the Goths, who immediately 
 sued for peace. 
 
 In the year 390, Theodosius cruelly punished the inhabitants of 
 Thessaloniea, who had killed their governor on a certain occasion, 
 by sending his soldiers against the place, and putting 7000 to the 
 sword. Such, however, was the influence of St. Ambrose, that lie 
 obliged the emperor, by a public penance, to expiate his crime. 
 
 In religion, Theodosius espoused the orthodox party. His faith 
 is said to have been confirmed by an argument adapted to the mean- 
 est capacity. He had conferred on Arcadius, his eldest son, the ti 
 tie of Augustus ; and the two princes were seated on a throne to re- 
 ceive the homage of their subjects. Among others who offered their 
 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 59 
 
 homage, was Amphilnchius, bisliop of Icenhim. He, however, ap- 
 proached Theodosius alone with reverence, the son he accosted with 
 familiarity. 
 
 The monarch, offended by the conduct of the bishop, gave orders 
 that he should be thrust from his presence ; but while the guards 
 were engaged in this act, the good bishop exclaimed, " Such is the 
 treatment, O emperor ! which the king of heaven has prepared for 
 those impious men who affect to worship the Father, but refuse to 
 acknowledge the co-equal dignity of his divine Son." 
 
 This declaration had the effect of propitiating the emperor, and 
 fixing his mind more strongly than before, in the faith. 
 
 11. The Roman empire had now become excessively 
 weakened by its umvieldly extent, and had already suffered 
 much from the incursions of its barbarous neighbours. It 
 was, however, destined to suffer far more in the end, from the 
 {ast named source. Its separation into two empires, favoured 
 the projects of the barbarians, who, from this period, poured in 
 like a torrent, upon these cultivated regions. The Western 
 empire in a few years was completely overwhelmed. 
 
 A short account of the barbarous nations, who acted so con- 
 spicuous a part in this tragedy, seems to be demanded in this 
 place. 
 
 The Huns were a fierce and savage nation, at first in- 
 habiting the vast deserts which border China on the north. 
 A part of them, owing, it is said, to civil Avars, retired to the 
 westward, and settled to the north of the Caspian sea, near 
 the source of the river Ural. 
 
 From thence, 376 A. C.. advancing towards the Palus Maeotis 
 (sra of Asof) under Balamir, their chief, they subdued the Alains, 
 and forced such of them as were capable of bearing arms to join 
 them; tiie remainder they put to death. With this accession of 
 strength and numbers, they fell upon the Ostrogoths and Visogoths, 
 and having driven them away from their country, took possession 
 of it themselves. This was a region extending from the Tanais to 
 the Danube. Their subsequent history, we shall find identified with 
 the Roman affairs. 
 
 The Alains inhabited the north of Asiatic Sarmatia, and 
 were known to the Romans in the time of Pompey. Under 
 the first emperors, they several times invaded the frontier 
 provinces. 
 
 Those of them who escaped the arms of the Huns, pushed their 
 way towards Pannoma, whence advancing still further to the west, 
 they united with the Suevi and the Vandals, and continuing their 
 migrations, they finally settled in Lusitania, now Portugal, where in 
 477, they were conquered by the Visogoths. 
 
60 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 The Vandab issued from Scandinavia, now Sweden, airl 
 crossing the Baltic, first settled in a part of Germany. On 
 account of increasing numbers, they again emigrated, and 
 taking their course eastward, possessed themselves of the 
 country towards the Tanais, whence they made several in- 
 cursions upon the Roman provinces. 
 
 They at length formed a junction with the Suevi and Alains, find 
 marched into Spain, apart of which they settled, and called after their 
 name, Vandalusia or Andalusia. Their history downward, is pursued 
 in that of the Romans. 
 
 The Goths came originally from Scandinavia. They first 
 settled in Pomerania, whence advancing towards the east, 
 they took up their abode to the north of the lake Meeotis. 
 Here they were divided into Yisogoths, or Goths of the West, 
 and Ostrogoths, or Goths of the East. 
 
 Being overcome by the Huns, they were forced to abandon their 
 last settlement, and a part of them took refuge in Pannonbi, where 
 they remained till they formed the new kingdom of Italy, hereafter 
 to be mentioned. 
 
 The Heruli also, originated in Scandinavia. They first emi- 
 grated towards the East, and settled on the borders of the 
 lake Meeotis. They afterward returned towards the West. 
 
 It is said that coming to the ocean, they embarked for Thule, one 
 of the Shetland islands, or, as others suppose, what is now called 
 Iceland, where they finally settled. As we shall soon learn, the first 
 sovereign of the new kingdom of Italy was a chief of the Heruli. 
 
 The Gepidas were another Scandinavian tribe. They 
 first planted themselves on the Vistula, whence they advan- 
 ced east towards the Tanais. 
 
 Here being subdued by Attila, the Hun, they served under him 
 in his expedition to Gaul. Upon his death, they shook off the yoke. 
 They were finally destroyed by the Lombards. 
 
 The Suevi were a warlike nation of Germany, inhabiting 
 that part of it in which Berlin is now situated. They were 
 great wanderers, and often changed their habitations. 
 
 In 406, they entered Gaul with the Alains and Vandals, with 
 whom they passed into Spain, in a part of which *.hey established a 
 monarchy. This was afterwards destroyed by the Visogoths. 
 
 The Bursrundians first inhabited what now constitutes the 
 
 o 
 
 kingdom of Prussia. From this country they were afterwards 
 expelled by the Gepidse. They frequently crossed the Rhine, 
 and invaded Gaul, and brought trouble on the empire. 
 
 There were other minor tribes of barbarians, of which no 
 particular account need be here given. They were such as 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 61 
 
 the Bulgari, Alemanni, Venedi, &c. Other rude nations also, 
 who followed in the train of these conquerors, will be noticed 
 at the proper time. 
 
 12. In the Western Empire, Honorius, who held the sceptre 
 by the appointment of his father, Theodosius, proved him- 
 self a degenerate son. Stilicho, a famous warrior, had been 
 appointed guardian or minister to Honorius, during the mino- 
 rity of the latter ; and it was owing to the vigour of the min- 
 ister, and not at all to the merits of the emperor, that the 
 barbarians of the north were repelled for such a length of time. 
 
 Alaric, king of the Goths, had penetrated into Italy, but 
 was defeated by Stilicho near Pollentia, 403 A. C. But this 
 able general, having, through the baseness of the emperor, 
 been afterwards beheaded, 408 A. C., Alaric again advanced 
 and beseiged Rome. The promise of a large sum of gold 
 delayed his purposes of vengeance. As, however, it was ne- 
 ver fulfilled, Alaric took the city, and committed some part of 
 it to the flames, 410 A. C. 
 
 The pillage lasted six days, and multitudes of its inhabi- 
 tants were massacred. During the space of more than six 
 hundred years, Rome had not been violated by the presence 
 of a foreign enemy ; and even long before, as well as during 
 that period, her power had been feared abroad. 
 
 The weakness of Honorius, among other causes, encouraged the 
 attack of the barbarians upon the empire. From the wilds of Scan- 
 dinavia, that northern hive, as it has been fitly called, as well as from 
 the east, they issued in almost incredible numbers. Previously to 
 their descent upon Italy, the Goths, under Alaric, had spread their 
 devastations quite to the borders of the eastern capital, and through 
 the classic fields of Greece. 
 
 Stilicho made a stand against the invaders. While they boseiged 
 Asta, where the forces of Honorius had taken refuge, Stilicho cut 
 his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of that place, and 
 thus rescued the emperor. The Goths afterwards pitching their 
 camp in the vicinity of Pollentia, were suddenly attacked by Stilicho, 
 and several thousands of them were slain. Among the captives was 
 the wife of Alaric, who was compelled to implore the clemency of 
 the victor. The Goths, however, were but partially checked in con- 
 sequence of this victory. 
 
 Stilicho might, perhaps, have delayed for sometime the fall of the 
 empire, but his plans were frustrated by the machinations of his ri- 
 vals, and he fell a victim to the suspicions of the ungrateful emperor, 
 408 A. C. 
 
 Alaric had long stood in a menacing attitude, and now prepared 
 10 complete his designs upon Italy. About this time, vast numbers 
 
62 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 of Goths pouring down upon Germany, forced the nations whom 
 they dispossessed, to fall upon Italy. "These joined their arms to 
 those of Alaric, who made an attack on Rome. 
 
 He met with success ; and this great city, which had so long been 
 the terror of the world, was sacked, plundered and partially burnt, 
 410 A. C., by the savage tribes of Germany and Scylhia. The popu- 
 lation of Rome, at this time, might amount to 1,200,000 men ; but 
 the nobles w r ere wholly sunk in luxury and effeminacy, and the 
 populace had become exceedingly debased, by the manumission of 
 slaves or the influx of foreigners. They were nothing more than 
 the shadow of their ancestors in bravery and spirit. Hence the suc- 
 cess of the arms of the barbarian. 
 
 The catastrophe which Rome experienced, was hastened also by 
 famine. War had prevented the cultivation of the lands, and the 
 ports being blocked up, the citizens were reduced to the greatest ex- 
 tremities human flesh was publicly sold. 
 
 Treachery completed. the work. The Salarian gate was opened 
 at midnight, by some of the Romans themselves, and the enemy 
 rushed in. The scene was dreadful ; for although the conqueror, in 
 his magnanimity had given orders that none except the armed 
 should be killed, great numbers of citizens were put to death, and 
 larger numbers still, were reduced from affluence to want and cap 
 tivity. Though the city was pillaged and set on fire, it is thought 
 that few, comparatively, of its magnificent edifices were destroyed. 
 
 Alaric now prepared to invade Sicily and Africa, but 
 death suddenly put an end to his ambitious projects. He 
 died after a short illness. Honorius, instead of improving 
 this opportunity to recover his lost provinces, entered into a 
 treaty with Ataulfus, Alaric's successor, gave him in mar- 
 riage his sister, Placidia, and ceded to him a portion of Spain. 
 By these and other acts, Honorius suffered the empire, by 
 degrees, to pass from the dominion of the Romans. Ho 
 norius continued to reign till the year 422. 
 
 13. Valentinian III. was crowned two years after the 
 death of Honorius, 424 A. C. He was the son of Constan- 
 tius, a general of Honorius, and during seven months, an as- 
 sociate with him in the government. In 439, the emperor 
 ,ost his dominions in Africa, hy the revolt of Count Boniface, 
 who delivered that part of the empire to the Vandals. 
 
 Aetius, a general of Valentinian, being jealous of Boniface, by 
 means of his artifices drew the latter into a revolt, and was em- 
 ployed on the part of the empire to punish him on this account. 
 Boniface defeated the first army that was sent against him ; but dis- 
 trusting his strength to cope singly with his enemies, he was in- 
 duced to call in the assistance of Genseric, king of the Vandals. The 
 measure, however, was ruinous to his cause. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 63 
 
 The Vandal having thus obtained a footing in Africa, which he 
 greatly desired, could riot be prevailed on afterwards, by the offer of 
 large sums of money, to retreat. Although the compact between 
 the two generals was, that they should divide Africa between them, 
 Genseric occupied the whole country, except three cities, and these 
 he soon took. 
 
 Shutting up Boniface in Carthage, he compelled him, at the ex 
 piration of a year, to surrender ; and the Roman general experienced 
 the mortification of beholding all Africa, which he had once saved, 
 ravaged in the most wanton manner by the barbarians whose assist- 
 ance he had invited. The kingdcm which Genseric thus establish- 
 ed, did not last quite a century. 
 
 The other provinces of the empire were protected against 
 the invasion of the barbarians, by Aetius. The Huns, at this 
 time, had begun to make their ravages in the empire. Under 
 Attila, their leader, in 445, they first overran Illyricum, 
 Thrace, Dacia, and Meesia,and laid the Romans under tribute. 
 Soon afterwards, with an army of 500,000 men, Attila in- 
 vaded Gaul, and threatened the destruction of the em- 
 pire. The forces of the Romans, under Aetius, met him in 
 battle, on the plains of Chalons, and defeating him, with the 
 loss of 160,000 men, checked his progress for a time. 
 
 Not long after, however, he invaded Italy, and Valentin- 
 ian being shut up in Rome, by the arms of the barbarian, 
 was compelled to purchase a peace. Attila dying suddenly, 
 in the midst of his successes, the empire of the West was 
 saved from immediate destruction. 
 
 The march of the Huns was extremely desolating. To their 
 leader, Attila, the victims of his ambition have given the expressive 
 appellation of "The Scourge of God." He first invaded the East, 
 which he ravaged at pleasure; its emperor, Theodosius, being dis- 
 posed rather to conciliate his favour by a tribute, than to attempt 
 his expulsion by force of arms. Disdaining so mean spirited an 
 enemy, he turned to the West ; where his appearance has already 
 been described. His body was secretly buried, enclosed in three 
 coffins, the first of gold, the second of silver, and the third of iron. 
 The men who dug his grave were put to death, lest they should re- 
 veal the place of his burial. 
 
 Aetius, whose military talents had been so serviceable to 
 the empire, soon fell a victim to the jealousy of the eunuch 
 Heraclius, and Valentinian stabbed him with his own hand. 
 The next year the emperor himself was assassinated. 
 
 14. Maximus II. who had instigated the murder of Yal- 
 entinian, was proclaimed, 455 A. C. He married Eudoxia 
 
64 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 the widow of his predecessor, to whom he imprudently re- 
 vealed his guilt in the assassination of the emperor. To re- 
 venge this deed, she called in the assistance of Genseric. 
 king of the Vandals. Upon his arrival, Maximus fled, but 
 he met the vengeance of his people, who stoned him to death, 
 on account of his cowardice. 
 
 Maximus was a Roman senator of the Ancian family, and was in- 
 cited to the destruction of Valentinian, by the dishonour which the 
 latter had cast upon his wife. However respectable Maximus was 
 in private life, his abilities were inadequate to stay the fall of the em- 
 pire, had he been longer continued. 
 
 Eudoxia had reason to repent of her imprudence. The 
 call upon Genseric for aid, well comported with his private, 
 sinister aims. After he had landed in Italy, with an army 
 of Moors and Vandals, he took Rome, delivered it up to pil- 
 lage during several days, destroyed many of the monument? 
 of ancient genius, and conveyed the empress and her two 
 daughters back with him in triumph to Carthage. 
 
 15. From the death of Maximus, 455 A. G. there was a 
 succession of eight emperors, during twenty years ; at the 
 expiration of which, as we shall soon learn, the empire ter- 
 minated. Little more than their names can be mentioned 
 below. 
 
 Avitus was acknowledged in Gaul by his troops. Having crea- 
 ted Ricimer, a Roman senator, general of hi? armies, the latter soon 
 entered into a conspiracy against his benefactor ; and Avitus, at first 
 arrested and deposed, at last died while on the road to Italy, 457 
 A. C. Ricimer, though an able commander, was a savage and tur- 
 bulent demagogue. 
 
 Majorian was proclaimed after the deposition of Avitus. He 
 made an unsuccessful attempt against the kingdom of the Vandals 
 in Africa. This emperor published several wise laws for the refor- 
 mation of abuses, but the reputation which he acquired for wisdom 
 and virtue, excited the jealousy of Ricimer, who deposed and slew 
 him, 461 A. C. 
 
 Severus III. was created emperor by Ricimer, who governed un- 
 der his name. Ricimer, after the expiration of four years, found it 
 convenient to poison the nominal master of himself and the empire. 
 
 Athemius was called to the empire by the united suffrages of 
 the senate, the army, and the people, in 467. To attach Ricimer to 
 his interest, who was become extremely formidable, he gave him. 
 his daughter in marriage. Ricimer, however, soon having a dif- 
 ference with his father-in-law, besieged and pillaged Rome. Du- 
 ring this transaction the emperor was murdered. 
 
 Olvbrius, who was sent with an army by Leo, emperor of the 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 65 
 
 East, lo protect Athemhis against Ricimer, was seduced by the lat- 
 ter and proclaimed emperor, but died three months after. 472. 
 
 Glycerus, an obscure soldier, favoured by a Burgundian prince, 
 assumed the title of emperor at Ravenna ; but Leo had conferred it 
 on Julius Nepos, who took Glycerus prisoner, and caused him to be 
 consecrated bishop of Salona, 473. 
 
 Julius Nepos was proclaimed at Rome 474. The next year, Ores- 
 tes, aPannonian, whom he sent into Gaul, revolted, and besieged the 
 emperor in Ravenna. Nepos escape A. into Dalmatia, where at the 
 end of five years he was assassinated. 
 
 Augustulus son of Orestes was made emperor by his father. 
 After a reign of eleven months, he was taken prisoner by Odoacer 
 king of the Keruli, and sent into Campania, where he lived in a 
 private station. 
 
 16. In the Eastern Empire, after its final separation from 
 the West, in the time of Theodosius, 395 A. C., there were 
 transactions which deserve our notice. Theodosius, as we 
 have seen, assigned the East to his son Arcadius. This 
 prince was then eighteen years of age, and he proved to be 
 both weak and dissolute. He suffered himself to be governed 
 by favourites, and at length by Eudoxia, his empress, who 
 made it her great object to plunder the revenues of the state. 
 
 17. Thedosius II. son of Arcadius, succeeded to the em- 
 pire 408. He has the reputation of having been a prince of 
 mild disposition, and piety of conduct, but otherwise desti- 
 tute of those qualities that are essential to a sovereign. But 
 liis deficiencies were supplied by the genius and address of 
 nis sister, Pulcheria, who aided in the administration of the 
 the government. The latter part of his life was greatly dis- 
 turbed by the invasions of the Barbarians. 
 
 Pulcheria, whose talents for government were extraordinary, 
 sought to strengthen her influence and power, by securing for her 
 brother a companion in marriage, who, as she hoped, would ever be 
 grateful to her benefactress. The person on whom her choice, as 
 well as that of Tlieodosius, fell, was the beautiful and learned Athe- 
 nais. 
 
 Chance had made her known to Pulcheria. She was the daughter 
 of an Athenian philosopher, who had taken the greatest care of her 
 education. Such was his conviction of her entire accomplishment 
 in every respect, that in the disposition of his property, he left his 
 two sons the whole of it, except one hundred pieces of gold, with 
 the declaration that " her own good fortune would be sufficient for 
 her." 
 
 With a view to obtain her just share of the inheritance from her 
 brothers, after she had tried the forms of law in vain, the Athenian 
 maiden came to claim the interference and protection of Pulcheria. 
 
66 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 at Constantinople. Her sense and merit highly pleased the princess, 
 
 nnd in connection with her charms, won the heart of Theouosius. 
 
 In 431 she embraced Christianity, and was baptised by the name of 
 
 Eudocia, and the same year was united to the emperor in marriage. 
 
 She treated her brothers with singular magnanimity, raising them 
 
 to the rank of consuls and prefects, and though she at length lost 
 
 the affections of Theodosius on an imputation of infidelity, and 
 
 hose to retire to Jerusalem, she ever protested that she was wholly 
 
 nnocent. She died about 460, ten years after the death of her 
 
 husband. 
 
 18. Marcian, a native of Thrace, was called to the throne 
 by Pulcheria 450, whose hand also he received in marriage. 
 After a reign of seven years, he departed this life, while pre- 
 paring for a war against Genseric, king of the Vandals. 
 
 Marcian possessed some eminent qualities, as is evinced by his 
 reply to Attila when the latter claimed the annual tribute, consented 
 to by Theodosius. " I have," said he, " gold for my friends, and 
 iron for my enemies." 
 
 19. Leo I., also a native of Thrace, was called to the em- 
 pire on the death of Marcian 457 A. C. He reigned till 
 nearly the period of the destruction of the Western empire. 
 He had some domestic enemies, who gave him trouble ; though 
 he finally crushed Asper, through whose influence he had 
 been raised to the throne, and who at length revolted against 
 his master. During the latter part of his reign, his domi- 
 nions were much ravaged by the Goths. He died a natural 
 death, at an advanced age, 474 A. C. 
 
 Leo 1st has been greatly praised by some historians, and cen- 
 sured by others. An instance of his temperate firmness in resisting 
 the oppression of his patron Asper, is recorded as follows: 
 
 Asper had presumed to reproach him with a breach of promise, 
 in regard to a certain appointment. " It is not proper," said he, in- 
 solently shaking the purple, " that the man who is invested with 
 this garment, should be guilty of a falsehood." " Nor is it proper,'' 
 retorted Leo, " that a prince should be compelled to resign his own 
 
 judgment and the public interest, to the pleasure of a subject." 
 
 * 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 20. Of PERSIA, during this period, we have only to say in 
 general, that it was governed successively by eight princes, of 
 whom Sapores II. was the most distinguished ; that at the 
 beginning, and towards the conclusion of the period, the na- 
 tion warred against the Romans ; but that through the inter- 
 mediate space, the most profound peace subsisted between the 
 
CHINA. 67 
 
 two powers. A few particulars respecting some of the Per- 
 sian sovereigns, will appear below. 
 
 Sapores, II., who was crowned before his birth, in the person of 
 his mother, began to persecute the Christians of his dominions in 326. 
 In a few years after, he endeavoured to recover the five provinces 
 yielded b^ his grandfather, Narses, to the Romans, but was terribly 
 defeated by Constantius. After this event, he gained a celebrated 
 battle at Sirigate, in Mesopotamia, and 'took several cities. 
 
 In the war with Julian, in 363, he was pursued into the very 
 heart of his dominions, but was delivered by the death of that em- 
 peror. He died in 380, after a reign of seventy years. His charac- 
 ter was a compound of pride and ferocity. He cruelly persecuted 
 the Christians, during forty years. 
 
 Sapores III., was a wise prince ; he lived at peace with the Ro- 
 mans, and died lamented. Under Isdigartes I., a persecution of the 
 Christians commenced, which continued fifty years, during his reign 
 and that of some of his successors. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 21. During this period, the seventh dynasty of the empe- 
 rors of CHINA terminated ; as also the eighth, a little after the 
 conclusion of the period. 
 
 Under the first of these, the empire, which had been divi 
 ded into three, became united. It continued one hundred and 
 fifty-five years, under fifteen emperors. It is called the di- 
 nasty of Tcin-ou-ti. The eighth was the dynasty of Song. 
 It began under a revolted general, 420 A. C., and lasted fifty- 
 nine years, under eight emperors. 
 
 One of the sovereigns of the 8th dynasty, whose name was Venti, 
 was killed by his own son, and the parricide fell by the hands of 
 his brother. The latter made himself many enemies by the freedom 
 of his speech, for which, in the end, he lost his life. One of his 
 wives, whom he had offended by calling her old, stifled him in his 
 bed. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period II. 
 
 1. Lactantius, an elegant writer, and an able defender of 
 Christianity : sometimes called the Christian Cicero. 
 
 2. Ossian, a Caledonian bard. 
 
 3. Eusebius, an eminent ecclesiastical historian. 
 
 4. Eutropius, a Latin historian and sophist. 
 
 5. Julian, a Roman emperor, an acute, but malignant * 
 fidel philosopher. 
 
 6. Basil, the Great, an eminent father in the church. 
 
68 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD II. 
 
 7. Gregory Nazianzen, a theological and polemical writer. 
 
 8. Olaudian, an elegant Latin poet. 
 
 9. St. Chrysostom, and ) Learned and eloquent ministers 
 
 10. St. Augustine, $ and writers. 
 
 1. Lactantius proved the truth of the Christian religion, and ex- 
 posed the absurdities of paganism. He was the most eloquent of 
 the ecclesiastical Latin writers of his age. His principal works, 
 are his treatises concerning the Divine Wrath, and the Works of" 
 God, and his Divine Institutions. The last, in seven books, is written 
 with uncommon elegance and purity. As a theologian, he had 
 some errors. He died in 325. 
 
 2. Ossian was a rude Caledonian. He is supposed to have flou- 
 rished in the fourth century, and to have been the son of Fingal. 
 He wrote in Gaelic ; and the poems that go by his name, translated 
 by Macpherson, are marked by a simple and sublime wild ness. If 
 they are really Ossian's, he must be considered as the first of the poets 
 of this period. There is, however, strong ground of doubt, in respect 
 to the authenticity of these poems, as a whole. 
 
 3. Eusebius died in 338 A. C. He was bishop of Csesarea, and 
 enjoyed the favour of Constantine. He opposed Arius, although he 
 held to a certain disparity and subordination in the Godhead. He 
 was a man of immense reading, and was greatly versed in ecclesi- 
 astical history and sacred erudition. He distinguished himself by 
 his writings, which consisted of an ecclesiastical history, the life of 
 Constantine, evangelical preparations, and many other treatises, 
 most of which are now lost. 
 
 4. Eutropius lived in the age of Julian, under whom he was a 
 soldier in the war against Persia. He is supposed to have been a 
 Roman Senator. He wrote several works ; but none of them re- 
 main except his Roman History. This was an epitome of the trans- 
 actions of Rome, from the age of Romulus to^the reign of Valens. 
 It is characterised by conciseness and precision/but not by elegance. 
 
 5. Julian, as has been already narrated, was elevated to the throne, 
 361 A. C. He then, although he had been educated according to the 
 principles of the Gospel, publicly disavowed its truths, and offered 
 solemn sacrifices to all the Gods of Ancient Rome. This change of 
 religious opinion, was attributed to the austere manner with which 
 he was instructed in Christianity ; though others ascribe it to his in- 
 tercourse with the philosophers of Athens, and their influence over 
 his mind. From this circumstance, the appellation of apostate, has 
 been attached to him. Some of his writings have been preserved, 
 in which he has shown great powers of ridicule in a bad cause. But 
 we need not repeat the particulars that have already been given, res- 
 pecting his character and writings. 
 
 6. Basil, surnamed the Great, was bishop of Csesarea. He was 
 persecuted by Valens, for refusing to embrace Arianism. Accord- 
 ing to Mosheim, " in point of genius, controversial skill, and a rich 
 and flowing eloquence, he was surpassed by very few of his contem- 
 poraries." He died in 379. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 69 
 
 7. Gregory Nazianzen, was surnamed the divine. He was patri- 
 arch of Constantinople, but the right to that station being disputed, 
 he abandoned it. His birth occurred in 324, and his death in 389. 
 He held an honourable place among the theological and political wri- 
 ters of the times. His writings compare well with those of the Gre- 
 cian orators, in eloquence and variety. His sermons are better 
 adapted to philosophers than common hearers, but are, nevertheless, 
 not wanting in seriousness and devotion. He most ably defended 
 the orthodox faith concerning the Trinity. 
 
 8. Claudian was a native of Alexandria, in Egypt, and flourished 
 in the age of Honorius and Arcadius. His style is not corrupted by 
 the false taste of the age. But although he wrote elegant verses, 
 he depicted no powerful passions, and exhibited no commanding 
 genius. His matter was meagre, but his language was pure, his ex- 
 pressions happy, and his numbers melodious. His best compositions 
 are his poems on Rufinus and Eutropius. 
 
 9. St. Chrysostom, John, was so called on account of his extraor- 
 dinary eloquence. He was born at Antioch, of a noble family, about 
 354, consecrated bishop of Constantinople in 398, and died in 407. 
 His works are voluminous. He was an elegant preacher, and pos- 
 sessed a noble genius. On account of his severity in opposing the 
 corruption of the times, he procured himself many enemies. He was 
 so great a disciplinarian, that he even recommended to private be- 
 lievers, though very injudiciously, the use of outward violence, in re- 
 sisting the wickedness of men. 
 
 10. St. Augustine was bishop of Hippo, in Africa. He led an aus- 
 tere life, and died in his seventy-sixth year, 430 A. C. He distinguish- 
 ed himself by his writings, and his reputation is great, even to this 
 day. He was characterised by a sublime genius, an unintermitted 
 pursuit of truth, an indefatigable application, an invincible patience, 
 a sincere piety, and a subtle and lively wit. The solidity and ac- 
 curacy of his judgment, were not, however, proportionable to his 
 eminent talents in other respects. 
 
 Augustine's book concerning the City of God, has been pronounced 
 to be " a work extremely rich and ample in point of matter, and fill- 
 ed with the most profound and diversified erudition." In all his 
 writings, this father displayed an extensive acquaintance with Pla- 
 to's philosophy. 
 
 PERIOD III. 
 
 The period of the Justinian Code, and of the Wars of 
 Belisarius ; extending from the Extinction of the 
 Western Empire, 476 years A. C., to the flight of 
 Mahomet, 622 years A. C. 
 
 THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 The dark ages, as they have been commonly called, ccmmenced 
 
70 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD III. 
 
 with this period. The human intellect, and the state of society, had 
 for some time previous, been retrograde. But upon the conquest of 
 the Western Empire by the barbarians, the darkness became more 
 especially obvious, and we shall find it prevailing over the nations, 
 though with some intervals of light, nearly 1000 years. It is believ- 
 ed, however, that mankind have been apt to overrate, in some res- 
 pects, the infelicities of the dark ages, and to forget, that after all, 
 strong proofs were at times afforded, of intellectual vigour, and of the 
 high enjoyment of life. A few men of distinguished abilities ap- 
 peared during the present period, though, in general, the age is not 
 to be compared with several that preceded it. 
 
 SEC. 1. We have now to record the melancholy extinction 
 of the Western Empire of the Romans an empire, the most 
 powerful that has ever existed. This event occurred, 476 
 A. C. upon the taking of Rome by Odoacer, prince of the 
 Heruli. Romulus, surnamed Augustulus, was at that time 
 on the throne. Odoacer, having subdued Italy, and taken 
 its capital, spared the life of Augustulus, upon condition of 
 his resigning the empire. 
 
 The empire having been long beset on every side by barbarians, 
 great numbers of them were admitted into the Roman legions, to 
 protect it against the rest. These, in the reign of Augustulus, having 
 revolted, demanded a third part of the lands of Italy, as a settlement 
 for themselves and families. This being refused, they advanced to 
 Rome, under Odoacer, and as conquerors, held the country. 
 
 Odoacer was an officer of the emperor's guards, at the head of the 
 barbarians who had enlisted in the armies. When he had secured 
 Rome, Augustulus, who was a feeble youth, was directed to express 
 his resignation to the senate, while that body, in an epistle to Zeno, 
 emperor of the East, disclaimed the necessity of continuing the im- 
 perial succession in Italy, since, in the submissive language of adula- 
 tion, they observed, "the majesty of the monarch of Constantinople, 
 was sufficient to defend both the East and the West :" at the same 
 time they begged the favour, that the emperor would invest Odoacer 
 with the title of patrician, and the administration of the diocese of 
 Italy. Their request was granted, and to Augustulus, was assigned 
 a splendid income, to support him in a private station. 
 
 Thus the Western Empire of Rome passed from the hands 
 of its ancient masters, into the possession of the barbarians, 
 who had so long harassed it by their invasions. As an em- 
 pire, it had existed more than five hundred years, computing 
 the time from the battle of Actium. The whole period of 
 its duration, from the building of the city, was more than 
 twelve hundred years. 
 
 The ruin of the Roman empire, was the result of its great 
 extent, connected with its moral corruption. The perfections 
 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 71 
 
 of God are concerned in accomplishing, by natural causes, 
 the extinctic n of enormously guilty nations. Rome, having 
 become a mass of luxury, weakness, and profligacy, fell, at 
 last, an easy prey to the barbarous tribes that poured in upon 
 its dominions. 
 
 The Northern invaders did not originate the catastrophe which 
 Rome experienced ; they scarcely hastened it. As much of crime 
 and barbarism as they brought with them, they became, upon their 
 settlement in the south of Europe, as reputable, at least, as the na- 
 tive citizens themselves. Without the agency of these invaders, 
 darkness and barbarism would have visited the Roman world, from 
 the operation of causes within its own bosom ; especially from the 
 extreme profligacy and irreligion which prevailed among all classes. 
 
 While the Roman empire in the West, thus fell into ruins, the sis- 
 ter empire in the East, which appealed to be in a similar situation, 
 not only continued to stand, but even existed for the space of nearly 
 one thousand years more, though in comparative imbecility and de- 
 pression. It existed, notwithstanding it suffered all the internal 
 evils which produce the ruin of a state, and was shaken by all the 
 storms, which burst upon the nations, during the middle ages. 
 This phenomenon, which has not a parallel in the history of the 
 world, may, in some measure, be explained from the almost impreg 
 nable site of its capital alone, in connexion with the despotism, 
 which sometimes remains the last support of fallen nations. 
 
 We shall continue the portion of its history belonging to this 
 period, before we bring into view the new state of things, consequent 
 on the occupation of Italy and the West by the barbarians. The 
 -ecent kingdom which they founded, deserves a separate account. 
 
 2. The Eastern Empire of the Romans, sometimes called 
 the Greek Empire, and the Empire of Constantinople, was 
 at this time, (474 A. C.) under the sway of Zeno, son-in-law 
 to Leo. He was odious, on account of his debauchery ; and 
 after having once fled from his throne, and been restored to it, 
 aad engaged in the suppression of several conspiracies, he 
 met with a miserable end, being buried alive. He reigned 
 about seventeen years. 
 
 Leo II., son of Zeno, and grandson to Leo I., was designed for the 
 empire ; but being of tender age when his grandfather died, Zeno 
 was made regent. But the death of the child, the same year, left 
 Zeno in the possession of the throne. The intrigues of the empress 
 Verina, his mother-in-law, embittered his life, and distracted his 
 reign. She aided one or two of the conspiracies that were carried 
 on against him. 
 
 He came to his end by an awful act of Ariadne, his wife. She 
 loved him not, and profiting by an epileptic fit, to which the emperor 
 was subject, caused him to be precipitately interred. When the 
 
72 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD III. 
 
 sepulchre was opened, a few days after, it was found that Zeno had 
 devoured the flesh off his own arms. 
 
 3. Anastasius, an officer of the palace, marrying the widow 
 of Zeno, was raised to the throne, 491 A. C. He was old 
 at this time, but reigned about twenty-seven years. The 
 beginning of his reign was auspicious, but it was otherwise 
 in the end. He died a natural death, in his eightieth year. 
 
 4. Justin I., the Thracian, ascended the throne after the 
 death of Anastasius. He governed with great prudence. In 
 526, he sent the celebrated Belisarius against the Persians, 
 who had broken the truce subsisting between the two em- 
 pires. The emperor, however, died before the conclusion of 
 the war, having reigned about nine years. 
 
 Justin was the son of a ploughman, and rose by his talents to 
 the first military dignities, before he was chosen emperor. He was 
 so illiterate, however, as to be unable to write his own name, and 
 secured respect, only by the good sense which he manifested in the 
 choice of his counsellors. 
 
 5. Justinian L, nephew of Justin, assumed the reins of 
 government, 527 A. C. His personal character was far from 
 inspiring respect ; but his reign was successful, and he was 
 extremely fortunate in his generals and counsellors. The 
 exploits of his generals, and the production of the code of 
 laws that goes by his name, of which the learned Trebonian 
 was the author, form an era in history. 
 
 Towards the brave and noble Belisarius, the warrior w r ho 
 at first fought his battles, the emperor was ungrateful in the 
 extreme. This great general, by his arms and policy, pre- 
 served his master on his throne, when his expulsion from it 
 was likely to be effected, by the civil factions which raged at 
 Constantinople. He also defeated the Persians in three san- 
 guinary battles, in different years ; destroyed the kingdom of 
 the Vandals in Africa, and recovered that province to the em- 
 pire ; and wrested Italy from its Gothic sovereign, restoring it 
 for a short space of time, to the authority of its ancient masters. 
 
 Italy, however, was once more subdued by the Goths. 
 From this time the fortunes of Belisarius began to change. 
 He was compelled to evacuate Italy, having been more than 
 once recalled, through the emperor's meanness and jealousy. 
 On his final return to Constantinople, his long services were 
 repaid with disgrace, and he was superseded in the command 
 of the armies, by the eunuch Narscs. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 73 
 
 Belisarius, more than any other general during the later periods 
 of the empire, revived the fainting glory of Rome. On the plains 
 of Dara, he defeated the Persians, with great slaughter; and his con- 
 duct, in the sedition of Constantinople, secured the esteem of the 
 emperor. When Justinian, by favouring a certain faction,* had near- 
 ly involved himself in destruction, and was about to seek his safety 
 in flight, Belisarius, amidst the uproar and confusion which pre- 
 vailed, came to the aid of his master. A corps of three thousand 
 veteran troops he led against the populace of Constantinople, and it 
 is computed that no less than thirty thousand persons perished in 
 the carnage. So signal a chastisement had the effect of overawing 
 the infuriated and divided citizens ; and the games of the circus, out 
 of which the contention arose, were, during several years, interdicted. 
 
 The war which Belisarius carried on against the Vandals, in Africa, 
 was marked by signal success ; but no particulars need to be related, 
 except that Belisarius was recalled by the jealousy of Justinian, and 
 that his victories and prompt obedience, secured him: the honours of 
 a triumph. 
 
 In the war against the Gothic power in Italy, 537 A. C. Justinian was 
 equally fortunate through the exploits of his illustrious lieutenant, 
 and equally mean in his conduct towards this hero. The Gothic 
 forces were obliged to retire before the Roman army, upon its land- 
 ing in Sicily and Italy. Resistance was made, but in vain. The fame 
 of Belisarius, had inspired even the degenerate Romans with courage. 
 
 Long before this general reached Rome, the Gothic king had 
 abandoned it ; and though the policy was singular, the latter did it 
 with a view to wrest the city from the hands of Belisarius, at some 
 future time. In the course of a few months, Vitiges, the Gothic 
 king, advanced towards Rome, at the head of one hundred thousand 
 warriors. The inconsiderable army of Belisarius, however, per- 
 formed prodigies of valour, and not only defended Rome, during a 
 long siege, but, with the aid of some reinforcements from the East, 
 obliged the Gothic king to retire, first to Ravenna, and at last to sur- 
 render all the towns and villages of Italy. 
 
 This was no sooner effected, than the jealousy of Justinian re- 
 manded his lieutenant to Constantinople ; nor was the latter allowed 
 the honour of a second triumph. But though the conduct of the 
 emperor towards him was utterly despicable, the admiration of the 
 people was an ample indemnity. 
 
 The valour of Belisarius, at this era, saved the East ; but there is 
 no time to recount his achievements. Suffice it to say, that the 
 necessity of the ernperor, induced him again to appoint Belisarius 
 to the command of Italy, inasmuch as it had been nearly overrun, 
 
 * There were two factions in Constantinople, which were distinguished by a 
 diversity of colour. The support of one or other of these, became necessary, to 
 every candidate for civil or ecclesiastical honors. The greens were attached to 
 the family or sect of Anastasius : the blues were devoted to orthodoxy, and 
 Justinian. The latter, the emperor favoured during five years, though their 
 tumults endangered equally his own safety, and the peace of the city. 
 
 7 
 
74 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD III. 
 
 * 
 
 during this interval, by the arms of the brave and virtuous Totila. 
 No sooner, however, had he a prospect of driving the Gothic king 
 from Italy, than he was called off to some less important warfare, 
 which was intended as a disgrace to him. 
 
 The declining years of the life of this hero, were passed in Con- 
 stantinople ; but even at that late period, they were crowned by a 
 victory, in which he saved the ungrateful Justinian and his capita] 
 from the ravages of the Bulgarians. The unnatural suspicions of 
 the emperor followed him to the grave ; for even in extreme old 
 age, he suffered in his property and comforts, for a time, from the 
 false imputation of conspiracy. 
 
 Narses, who was able in council, was also successful in 
 war. He had the honour of completing the conquest of Ita- 
 ly, by defeating Totila, in a decisive engagement, in which 
 the Gothic king was slain. Under the title of duke, Narses, 
 gaining some other victories, governed Italy with ability for 
 thirteen years. 
 
 Justinian died in his eighty-third year. He would be but 
 little thought of by mankind, were it not for those illustrious 
 men who fought his battles, and presided in his councils. He 
 had the sagacity to perceive their merits, and happy would it 
 have been, had he possessed the magnanimity to reward them. 
 His vices were meanness, vanity, caprice, and tyranny : his 
 virtues were chastity, temperance, vigilance, and studiousness. 
 We pretend not to determine which preponderated. 
 
 Imposing as was his reign, he lived in a miserable age. 
 His subjects were continually afflicted by war, pestilence, and 
 famine. The empire shone out with a degree of brilliancy 
 under his auspices, but after his death it shone no more. Its 
 history, so far as it is necessary to notice it, is henceforth 
 made up, more than ever, of disasters, miseries, and crimes. 
 
 6. Upon the death of Justinian, his nephew, Justin II. 
 ascended the throne, 565 A. C. He was a man of weak in- 
 tellect, and was governed by his consort, Sophia, though his 
 intentions appear to have been good. The troubles and cala- 
 mities which befel his family and empire, threw him into an 
 incurable frenzy. In consequence of this event, Tiberius, his 
 son-in-law, was associated in the empire. It was soon after his 
 elevation, that the Lombards established themselves in Italy. 
 In his reign, not only was Italy lost again to the empire, 
 hut Africa desolated, and the East ravaged by the Persians. 
 The advice which Justin gave to Tiberius, upon the introduction 
 of the latter to the empire, was worthy of any prince. "Love. 
 
ROMAN EMPIRE. 75 
 
 said he, " the people as yourself; cultivate the affections, and main- 
 tain the discipline of the army ; protect the fortunes of the rich, 
 and relieve the necessities of the poor." The last four years of his 
 life were passed in tranquillity. He reigned nine years alone, and 
 four in connexion with Tiberius. 
 
 7. Tiberius, who assumed the name of Constantine, was 
 sole possessor of the throne in 578. His reign was short, 
 but it was rendered glorious by his defeat of the Persians. 
 He was accounted a just, humane, temperate, and brave 
 
 prince, 
 
 On his death-bed, Tiberius bestowed his diadem on his son-in-law, 
 Maurice, who had proved himself an excellent general. 
 
 8. Maurice, a native of Cappadocia, ascended the throne 
 582 A. C. He reigned twenty years, in almost continual 
 turbulence. He chose his predecessors for his model, nor 
 was he destitute of sense and courage, in whatever he under- 
 took for the welfare of his subjects. Avarice is said to have 
 been his great failing ; but it is more probable, that his rigid 
 virtue and economy were net duly appreciated in those cor- 
 rupt times. 
 
 In 602, he obliged his army to take up their winter quar- 
 ters beyond the Danube, upon which a revolt ensued, and 
 Phocas, being proclaimed emperor, advanced to Constantino- 
 ple. Maurice and his children were cruelly slain. 
 After Maurice fell into the hands of Phocas, the jealous and cruel 
 rebel caused the emperor to be dragged from his sanctuary at Chal- 
 cedon, and his five sons to be murdered, one after the other, before 
 his eyes. Maurice bore this agonizing sight with such firmness and 
 resignation, that he repeated, with streaming tears, at every wound, 
 the words of David, "Thou art just, O Lord ! in all thy judgments." 
 When a nurse generously concealed a royal infant, and offered her 
 own to the executioner, Maurice was too rigidly honest not to reveal 
 the deception. The tragic scene was closed with the execution of 
 the emperor himself, who fell on the dead bodies of his children. 
 What sufferings have not princes and their families been often called 
 to sustain sufferings far surpassing the common lot of men ! 
 
 9. Phocas seated himself on the throne 602 A. C. His 
 character was despicable. His empire was ravaged by the 
 Persians, and numerous seditions arose to disturb his peace. 
 At last, Heraclius, governor of Africa, sent his son against 
 him with a fleet, which quickly arrived at Constantinople. 
 The emperor, forsaken by his people, on whom he had inflict- 
 ed all manner of cruelties, was soon beheaded, and his body 
 was treated with the greatest indignity. 
 
76 MODERN HISTORY, PERIOD III. 
 
 The cruelty of Phocas towards the family of his predecessoi 
 knew no bounds. He finally caused the innocent empress, Constan- 
 tina, and her three daughters, to be executed on the same spot where 
 her husband and sons had suffered, three years before. 
 
 10. Heraclius I., was crowned 610 A. C. His reign ex- 
 tended several years into the next succeeding period. The 
 Persians ravaged his empire ; but terribly defeating them in 
 six successive campaigns, he brought them to a peace. He 
 reigned more than thirty years. 
 
 During the last part of his reign, the foundation was laid of the 
 caliphate of the Saracens, under the impostor Mahomet, whose his- 
 tory will claim our attention at the beginning of the next period. 
 
 KINGDOM OF ITALY. 
 
 11. The kingdom which was established on the ruins of 
 the Western Empire of the Romans, is sometimes called the 
 KINGDOM OF ITALY. That country was held and governed, 
 for the most part, by its northern conquerors, through the 
 space of nearly three hundred years. During this time, 
 however, there were several transfers of the sovereignty, from 
 one of the barbarous tribes to another. The Heruli, who 
 conquered the country in 476, held it till 493. It then passed 
 from their hands into the possession of the Goths, or Ostro- 
 goths, who held it till the year 568, when the Lombards seiz- 
 ed and conquered the country. They were masters of the 
 greatest portion of it, a little more than two centuries. The 
 period of which we treat, will carry the history of Italy only 
 through a part of the above named space of time. 
 
 12. The kingdom of the Heruli in Italy, was of short con- 
 tinuance. Odoacer, their king, reigned thirteen years without 
 opposition ; but at the conclusion of that period, Theodoric, 
 king of the Ostrogoths, or Eastern Goths, invaded Italy, and 
 after a struggle of four years, defeated and slew Odoacer, 
 usurping his dominions, 493 A. C. 
 
 In the year 489, Theodoric twice overcame Odoacer in battle ; but 
 being betrayed by one of his general officers, he retired to Pavia, 
 where he was besieged by Odoacer. In his distress, Theodoric called 
 in the assistance of the Visogoths, and gained a third victory in 490. 
 Odoacer, shutting himself up in Ravenna, vigorously defended the 
 place for three years. He was at last forced to enter into a treaty 
 with Theodoric, and obtained a stipulation that his life should be 
 spared. The Gothic monarch, however, perfidiously caused him tc 
 be assassinated. 
 
KINGDOM OF ITALY. 77 
 
 The kingdom of the Ostrogoths (eastern Goths) 
 began, 493. Theodoric, (commonly surnamed the great,) 
 their king, was now acknowledged the sovereign of the coun- 
 try, and fixed his residence at Ravenna. He was an Arian 
 in principle, but protected the Catholics. He reigned about 
 thirty-three years. His administration of government showed 
 him to be an able prince. The people were probably bene- 
 fitted by a change of masters. 
 
 Theodoric, at the age of six years, was given as a hostage to Leo 
 1. and remained thirteen years at Constantinople. He succeeded 
 his father in Pannonia in 475. His success in his invasion of 
 Italy, has already been mentioned. After a few years, his dominions 
 consisted not only of Italy, and Sicily, but also of Dalmatia, 
 Noricum, the two Rhcetias, Pannonia, and Provence. The latter 
 part of his reign was tarnished by cruelty and suspicion. In 
 the indulgence of these propensities, he put to death the celebrated 
 Boethius. 
 
 13. The successors of Theodoric, in the Gothic kingdom 
 of Italy, were seven in number. It was during the reign of 
 several of these monarchs, that the events already related re- 
 specting the invasion and conquest of Italy by Belisarius and 
 Narses, occurred. The best known of the Gothic kings of 
 this country ar-e Theodotus, Vitiges, and Totila. After the 
 death of Theias, the last of them, the Goths endeavoured, 
 under several leaders, to re-establish their dominions, but 
 were subdued by the eunuch, Narses, who administered the 
 government as duke, till 567 A. C. 
 
 14. The kingdom of the Lombards followed, in 568 
 A. C. Alboin, king of this people, was invited into Italy by 
 Narses, to avenge the insult he received from the emperor, 
 Justin II., in his recall. Alboin penetrated into Italy, and 
 was proclaimed its king at the date above mentioned. He 
 reigned but a short time. 
 
 His end was tragical, as it perhaps deserved to be. Having killed 
 Cimimund, king of the Gepidre, in a single combat, he married Ro- 
 semond, that king's beautiful daughter, and made a drinking cup of 
 her father's skull, out of which he obliged his queen to drink. She 
 dissembled her indignant feelings, but applied to two officers for re- 
 venge. One of them had been affronted by the king, and the other 
 she knew was enamoured of her person. These she admitted into 
 the chamber where the king slept, who was Immediately murdered, 
 while she contrived to effect her escape to Ravenna. 
 
 15. During the remainder of the present period, there 
 were four kings, the successors of Alboin, but none of them 
 
 7* 
 
7S MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD III. 
 
 were distinguished. An anarchy, of ten year's continuance 
 took place after the death of one of the kings, during which 
 Italy was governed by thirty dukes. 
 
 Autharis, one of the kings, after his accession, in 584, confirmed 
 
 the dukes in their authority, on condition of their paying him half 
 
 of their revenues, and serving under his command in times of war, 
 
 with troops levied within their respective jurisdictions. This is con- 
 
 idered by some, as the origin of the feudal system. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 16. Seven kings in succession, swayed the sceptre of 
 PERSIA during this period. Of these, Chosroes II., the great, 
 was the most conspicuous. During much of the time, the 
 Persians were at war with the Romans. Sanguinary battles 
 were fought, and provinces were taken and retaken. The 
 Romans at last penetrated into Persia. 
 
 Chosroes II. was a warrior. He repeatedly overcame the Roman 
 generals, and was as often, perhaps, overcome. In one instance, 
 however, he cut to pieces an army of 50,000. The Greek histo- 
 rians, who probably exaggerate the matter, represent him as a fe- 
 rocious monster. He doubtless had the vices of his predecessors, 
 but surpassed them in great qualities. He reigned nearly fifty years. 
 
 Chosroes III., son of Hormisdas, possessed the hateful character 
 of a parricide. He caused his father to be beaten to death. He re- 
 ceived, however, a terrible retribution, in the treatment he expe- 
 rienced from his own son. Siroes, the eldest of his sons, having re- 
 volted, and secured the kingdom, slew all his brothers in his father's 
 presence, cast the latter into a prison, where he caused him to expire 
 in insufferable torture, by being incessantly pricked with the points 
 of arrows. 
 
 Soon after the expiration of the present period, Persia waa 
 invaded by the Saracens, and it was not long before it be- 
 came a part of the empire of the Caliphs. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 17. In the history of CHINA during this period, we find 
 four dynasties of its emperors, from the 9th to the 12th in- 
 clusive. They were of short continuance, and included the 
 reigns of seventeen sovereigns. Several of these appear to 
 have been wise and virtuous men. In the reign of Yang-ti, 
 in 605, many canals were cut through the empire, by which 
 several rivers were united, and great facility given to com- 
 merce. 
 
 One of the sovereigns of the twelfth dynasty, is said to have had a 
 very solid, penetrating mind. He loved his people, and did every 
 
 
SPAIN. 79 
 
 thing in his power to promote their happiness. He built public 
 granaries, which were every year filled with rice and corn, by the 
 opulent, to be distributed among the poor in times of scarcity. He 
 improved their music and eloquence. Against corrupt judges, he 
 was always inexorable ; and excluded from all public employments, 
 those whose rank in life did not render them respectable. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Before the Empire of the West was finally subverted by the 
 Northern Barbarians, some of the nations which once constituted it, 
 had been lost to the empire. This was the case, particularly, with 
 Spain and Britain. Italy, the seat of the empire, and according to 
 the best accounts, France, may date their separate existence, only 
 from the annihilation of the Roman power. After that event, these 
 several nations, and indeed all the rest of western Europe, were de- 
 tached from one another, and held by the native inhabitants, or go- 
 verned by different tribes of the barbarians of the north. We must 
 therefore consider them in their separate sovereignties, according to 
 the eras in which they began to exist independently. We begin 
 with Spain. 
 
 18. SPAIN, while constituting a portion of the Roman 
 empire, was invaded by the Suevi, the Alains, and the Van- 
 dals, about 406 years A.C., and mostly subdued by these bar- 
 barous tribes. Expelling the Romans, they divided the 
 country, a part of which, viz. Vandalasia, or Andalusia, still 
 bears the name of one of these tribes, (the Vandals.) 
 
 The Alains, in 418, were mostly exterminated by the Os- 
 trogoths. The Suevi remained in the possession of the coun- 
 try, under a succession of their kings, till the year 585. The 
 Vandals had early, viz. in 427, passed into Africa, and settled 
 there, upon the invitation of Count Boniface. 
 
 The Visogoths, who entered Spain in 531, conquered the 
 greatest part of the country by the year 585, and erected a 
 monarchy, which existed till 712, when they were subdued by 
 the Saracens, or Moors. 
 
 Spain was anciently called Hesperia or Western, on account of its 
 situation, as being the extreme west known to the ancients. It was 
 called also Iberia, from the river Iber, now the Ebro. The name 
 Hispania, or Spain, is said to be derived from a Phoenician word, 
 Sphavisa, which means, abounding with rabbits ; these animals, ac- 
 cording to Strabo, being very numerous in Spain. 
 
 Its original inhabitants were Celtes, of the same race with those 
 of France, and who passed over from that country into Spain. The 
 fertility of the soil, induced the Phoenicians, who were the earliest 
 navigators, to open a trade with Spain, and they built the city of 
 tvades. now Cadiz. This was about 900 years B. C. 
 
80 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD III. 
 
 This country has been often conquered, both in ancient and more 
 modern times. About 500 years B.*C., it was in part subjugated by 
 the Carthaginians, who held their conquest three centuries. The 
 Romans then succeeded as masters, in whose power it remained six 
 hundred years. From the Romans, as we have already learned, it 
 was wrested by the northern barbarians. These, as we shall see, in 
 the next Period, are destined to be displaced by the followers of 
 Mahomet. 
 
 It is deemed unnecessary to detail any events under the kings oi 
 the barbarous tribes who governed Spain, as they possess scarcely 
 any interest. Euric may he considered as the founder of the Gothic 
 monarchy of this country. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 19. FRANCE, anciently called Gaul, immediately previous* 
 to the dissolution of the Roman Empire of the West, was di- 
 vided between the Romans, Visogoths, Franks, and Burgun- 
 dians. A few years after that event, viz. 581 A. C., Clovis, 
 king of the Franks, obtained, by degrees, possession of the 
 country. He is therefore considered the true founder of the 
 French monarchy, as before him, the Franks held only a few 
 provinces on the right bank of the Rhine. From this people, 
 ancient Gaul, obtained the name of France. The kings who 
 have reigned in France, seem to be divided into four dynas- 
 ties, viz. the Merovingian, the Carlovingian, the Capetian, and 
 the Bourbon. The race of which we are now speaking, the 
 first in order, derived its name from Merovoeus, the grand- 
 father of Clovis, who reigned over that portion of the Franks, 
 who had obtained, in some former age, a settlement in the 
 country. The Merovingian dynasty continued till 752. 
 
 The Franks were supposed to have been of German origin, a 
 to have inhabited the country between the Rhine and the Weser, 
 which now forms part of Holland and Westphalia. Some believe 
 them to have consisted of a mixed multitude of various tribes, living 
 beyond (he Rhine, who, when Germany was invaded by the Romans, 
 united in defence of their common liberty, and styled themselves 
 Franks, i. e. free men. Of the clans into which they were divided, 
 the Salii, and Ansuarii, were the most considerable. Between the 
 years 234 and 254, they made an irruption into Gaul, but were sig- 
 nally overthrown by the Romans under Aurelian, then a military 
 tribune. They finally obtained a footing in that country, about the 
 year 284 A. C. 
 
 Succeeding this event, they had many contentions with the Romans, 
 in which they often conquered, and were, oftener, perhaps, defeated. 
 By the time, however, in which the emperor Constans reigned, they 
 were generally at peace with the Romans, and several of them en- 
 
ENGLAND. 81 
 
 j oyed places of distinction in the armies and at court. The petty 
 sovereigns who preceded Clovis, were Pharamond, who made the Last 
 settlement of the Franks in Gaul, Clodio, Merovceus, and Childericl. 
 
 Clovis made many conquests : first over the Romans in the battle 
 of Soissons: f hen over the king of Thuringia, who had invaded his 
 dominions ; afterwards over the Germans in the battle of Tolbiac ; 
 and finally over the Visogoths under Alaric, when he subdued all the 
 south of Gaul. In his contest with the Germans, 496 A. C., he in- 
 voked the God of Clotilda, a Christian princess, whom he had mar 
 ried three years before. In consequence of his victory, he became 
 professedly a believer, and together with three thousand of his sub- 
 jects, was baptised on Christmas-day, the same year. 
 
 About thirteen years afterwards, he cruelly murdered most of his 
 relatives, which shewed how little influence Christianity had over 
 him. Clovis made Paris the seat of his kingdom. He died, 511. 
 
 Clovis was followed by a series of obscure kings, through 
 the remainder of this period. They need not, therefore, be 
 mentioned particularly. They were, in general, weak and 
 wicked, and plunged the nation into deeper barbarism than 
 it was under during the Roman dominion. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 20. ENGLAND, whose ancient name was Britain, had been 
 abandoned by the Romans fifty years, when the Empire of the 
 West was subverted. In the mean time, the inhabitants, who 
 were left defenceless, suffered from the encroachments of their 
 northern neighbours, thePicts and Scots, and in their distress, 
 solicited several of the warlike tribes of the continent, for assist- 
 ance. The Jutes first arrived for that purpose. These were 
 soon followed by the Angles and Saxons, in 451, from the 
 shores of the Baltic. The object was soon accomplished, for 
 which the Britons had invited them into their country. Their 
 enemy was repulsed ; but they found a more formidable ene- 
 my in their protectors themselves. 
 
 The Saxons, procuring large reinforcements from Germany, 
 turned their arms against the Britons, and took possession of 
 the country. It was not, however, without a long and severe 
 struggle, of nearly one hundred and fifty years, that this con- 
 quest was achieved. The result was, the establishment of 
 seven distinct states, or sovereignties, which were governed, 
 more than two hundred years, by their respective kings. 
 These states are usually called the Heptarchy. 
 
 The island of Britain, before it was known to the Romans, was 
 inhabited by a very rude and uncivilized people. They were either 
 
82 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD III. 
 
 naked, or clothed only with the skins of beasts, having th< bodies 
 painted with various colours. Hence is supposed to be t\ * origin 
 of the name, Britain, which is derived from a British word, brit, sig- 
 nifying painted. The name England was given to the couwry, from 
 the Angles, a tribe of those continental nations, who conquered it in 
 the fifth and sixth centuries. 
 
 The island was originally settled, in all probability, by a colony 
 from Gaul, who were called Celtes or Gaels, the remains of whom 
 are chiefly in Wales, in the highlands of Scotland, and in the north 
 of Ireland. The period of their settlement is quite uncertain. The 
 Phoenicians, indeed, traded very early with the inhabitants of Corn- 
 wall, for copper and tin, but they were unacquainted with the inte- 
 rior of the country. The Romans have given us the earliest authen- 
 tic information respecting it. , This commences with the first inva- 
 sion by Julius Caisar, 55 B. C. 
 
 Cffisar began the dominion of the Romans in Britain ; but the 
 island was subdued, only by degrees, under the Roman leaders who 
 succeeded him. Forty-three years A. C., it was again invaded by 
 the emperor Claudius, whose general, Ostorius, defeated Caractacus, 
 king of the Britons, took him prisoner, and sent him to Rome} in 51. 
 In the reign of Nero, 61 A. C., Suetonius defeated Boadicea, queen of 
 the Iceni, (inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk,) slaying 80,000 men 
 in a single battle. Boadicea, however, had previously obtained 
 several victories over the Romans, by her gallant conduct. She com- 
 mitted suicide, rather than fall into the hands of the conqueror. 
 
 Agricola, who governed Britain in the reigns of Titus, Vespasian, 
 and Domitian, formed a regular plan for subduing the whole island, 
 and rendering the acquisition advantageous to the conquerors. FOJ 
 this purpose he penetrated into Caledonia, (Scotland,) defeated the 
 natives in various encounters, and established a chain of forts be- 
 tween the Friths of Clyde and Forth. 
 
 Suhdirng most of the island, he soon diffused among the Britons a 
 knowledge of the arts of peace. He introduced among them, laws 
 and government; taught them to value the conveniences of life, 
 and reconciled them to the language and manners of their masters. 
 
 To protect the southern inhabitants against the Scots, Adrian, in 
 121, built a wall in the north part of Britain, between the river 
 Tyne, and the Frith of Solway. This was afterwards strengthened 
 with new fortifications, by Severus, in 208. From this period, till 
 the abandonment of Britain by the Romans, in 426, the inhabitants 
 enjoyed uninterrupted tranquillity. 
 
 As has been already mentioned, the Romanized Britons, when left by 
 (heir masters, were thrown into a defenceless state. Their long peace 
 had somewhat enervated them, and they were unable to resist the 
 attacks of their barbarous neighbours on the north. It was Vorti- 
 gern, one of their kings, who invited the German tribes to his pro 
 tection. The latter gladly availed themselves of the opportunity t 
 visit a country long known to them in their piratical voyages to its 
 coasts. Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, were their leaders on thi: 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 83 
 
 occasion, and with only 1600 warriors, in conjunction with the 
 South Britons, they compelled the Scots to retire to their mountains. 
 After the Saxons, from being the protectors, had become the con- 
 querors of Britain, and founded the Heptarchy, history records 
 nothing that is very interesting respecting them, until the time of 
 Egbert the Great, who became sole king of England, in 827. We 
 may therefore pass over the English history, until that period, only 
 remarking that the Saxons, who were partially acquainted with 
 Christianity before, were more fully converted to the faith, by the 
 labours of the monk Augustin, in 597. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period III. 
 
 1. Proclus, a learned Platonist and unbeliever 
 
 2. Boethius, a Roman poet, and Platonic philospher. 
 
 3. Procopius, a Roman historian sometimes denominated 
 the last of the classic writers. 
 
 4. Cassiodorus, the historian of Ravenna, and tutor to 
 Theodoric, the Gothic king. 
 
 5. Belisarius, an heroic and successful general of Jus- 
 tinian. 
 
 6. Gildas, the most ancient British writer extant. 
 
 1. Proclus was born at Constantinople, in 410, and died in 485 
 A. C. He was a philospher among the later Platonists. In the 
 chair of the academy, he taught philosophy with great reputation. 
 Such was his industry, that frequently, in the same day, he pro- 
 nounced five lessons, and composed seven hundred lines. " His sa- 
 gacious mind," says Gibbon, " explored the deepest questions of 
 morals and metaphysics, and he ventured to urge eighteen argu- 
 ments against the Christian doctrine of the creation of the world." 
 This, as might have been expected, proved to be labour hi vain 
 The foundations of truth can be overturned by no human sagacity, 
 however great. 
 
 2. Boethius, who was distinguished both as a poetic and prose 
 writer, was descended from one of the noblest families of Rome. 
 In consequence of having remonstrated, with great spirit, against the 
 tyranny of Theodoric, he was beheaded in prison, by the command 
 of that king, in 524. Boethius wrote many philosophical works, 
 the greater part according to the manner of the logicians ; but his 
 ethic composition, concerning the "Consolation of Philosophy," 
 is his chief performance, and has always been justly admired, 
 both in respect to the matter and the style. Mr. Harris, in his 
 " Hermes," observes, that, " with Boethius, the last remain? of Ro- 
 man dignity may be said to have sunk in the western world :" and 
 Mosheim testifies, that he " shone with the brightest lustre, as a 
 philosopher, an orator, a poet, arid a divine ; and, both in elegance 
 and subtilty of genius, had no equal in the sixth century." 
 
 3. Procopius belonged to Caasarea, in Palestine, and flourished in 
 34. He was secretary to Belisarius, whom he greatly celebrated 
 
84 MODERN HISTORY, PERIOD TV. 
 
 in his History of the Reign of Justinian. This history is dividec 
 into eight books ; two of which give an account of the Persian war, 
 two of the Vandals, and four of the Goths, to the year 553 ; which 
 was afterwards continued in five books, by Agalthias, till 559. The 
 historian is thought to be too severe upon the emperor, though his 
 performance, in other respects, has a high character. Some con- 
 sider him as the last of the Roman classic authors. 
 
 4. Cassiodorus was a man of eminence, in many respects, and 
 called, by way of distinction, " the senator." He united the states- 
 man and author in his character. He was born in Italy, about 463, 
 and died at near one hundred years of age. Mis writings relate 
 chiefly to history, theology, and criticism. He was inferior in abili- 
 ties to Boethius, but still was very respectable. 
 
 5. Belisarias was truly a Roman in spirit, and the greatest gene- 
 ral of his age. His life and exploits have been already told us, as 
 particularly as this work will admit. In a degenerate and effemi- 
 nate age, he put forth an energy, and acquired a fame in war, which 
 would bear a comparison with the first leaders of the most favoured 
 days of the republic. He was, however, as distinguished by his 
 misfortunes as he was by his victories, owing to the ingratitude of 
 Justinian; and he spent his last days, it is said, under the frown of 
 his master, and, as some report, in actual want. 
 
 6. Gildas was a native of Wales. He was surnamed, The Wise. 
 As the most ancient of the British writers, he deserves a notice 
 here. His famous " Epistle," was written A. C. 560, and is a most 
 severe censure of the depravity of the Britons at that time. He 
 has some things well calculated to invite the attention of the learned. 
 
 PERIOD IV. 
 
 The Period of the establishment of the Saracen Domi- 
 nion ; extending from the flight of Mahomet, 622 years 
 A, C. to the crowning of Charlemagne, at Rome, 800 
 years A. C. 
 
 ARABS OR SARACENS. 
 
 During this period, the darkness in Europe very much increased, and 
 the times exhibited 'a melancholy contrast to the former splendid 
 eras of Grecian and Roman refinement and literature. But while 
 the human mind sunk in Europe, it rose in the East, under the 
 auspices of the Saracens, where it was for a short time displayed, 
 not only in the energies of a war] ike superstition, but, at length, in 
 the cultivation of the arts and learning. The history of this people is 
 connected with a remarkable change in the aspect of human affairs. 
 SEC. 1. The Arabs, in all ages, have lived as wander- 
 ers, in a state of independence, and have never been sub- 
 dued by any of the great conquerors of the world, though al- 
 most always at war with their neighbours. They derive 
 
 1 
 
ARABS OR SARACENS. 85 
 
 (heir origin from Tshmael, and, before the time of Mahomet, 
 tiiev professed a religion which was a mixture of idolatry and 
 
 Judaism. 
 
 The name Saracen, which w r as at length applied to most 
 of the Arabian nations, is derived from a tribe that occupied 
 the north-western part of the country. This people, before 
 the time already referred to, had forsaken their deserts, and 
 made themselves useful or formidable (according as their ser- 
 vices were purchased or neglected) to the respective empires 
 of Rome and Persia. 
 
 
 
 Mecca, on the Red Sea, in 569, gave birth to Mahomet, 
 (or Mohammed.) their pretended prophet. In 609, when he 
 was about 40 years old, he began to concert a system of mea- 
 sures, the issue of which, was the establishment of a new re- 
 ligion in the world, and of an empire, which, spreading over 
 many countries, lasted more than six centuries. The reli- 
 gion still remains. 
 
 His impostures were not, at first, well received. The citi- 
 zens of Mecca, even, opposed them. Forsaking his native 
 city, where his life was in jeopardy, he fled to Medina, at the 
 epoch called by the Mahometans, the hegira, or flight, which 
 was in the year 622, and the 54th year of Mahomet's age. 
 By the aid of his disciples at Medina, he returned to Mecca 
 as a conqueror, and making numerous proselytes, he soon 
 became master of Arabia and Syria, was saluted king in 627, 
 and, in the midst of his successes, died suddenly in 632. He 
 left two branches of his family, who became powerful caliphs 
 of Persia and Egypt. 
 
 As Mahomet will be spoken of again, as one of the distinguished 
 characters of this period, it will be unnecessary to add many par- 
 ticulars here, respecting either his life, or the religion of which lie 
 was the founder. Some historians are of the opinion, that he at- 
 tempted only an inconsiderable change in the creed of his coun- 
 trymen, and that the mighty revolution which followed' his efforts, 
 was, in respect to Arabia, almost wholly political. 
 
 In his flight, this bold leader gained Medina with much difficulty, 
 but being well received, he made it the place of his future residence. 
 Besides those who fled with him, and shared his fate, he was soon 
 followed and joined by many of the principal citizens of Mecca. 
 Amongst his followers were Amrou, the future conqueror of Egypt ; 
 Saad, who afterwards overran Persia ; Obeidah, whose fortune it 
 was to subdue Syria and Palestine ; and the very celebrated Kaled 
 Bbsn al Walid. " 
 
 8 
 
86 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD IV. 
 
 Though Mahomet met with some reverses at first, he was no 
 sooner aided by such men as Amrou and Kaled, than he overthrew 
 whatever opposed him. After the submission of Arabia to his arms, 
 the Arabs and Greeks were brought into contact ; and the former 
 were prepared to encroach on the remnant of the Roman empire. 
 
 Mahomet owed his success, in part, to several moral causes, origi- 
 nating in the state of society ; such as the corruption of the true re- 
 ligion, the ignorance of mankind, and the prevailing licentiousness 
 of the times also to the nature of his doctrines, which, among other 
 things, promising a sensual heaven, were suited to the depravity of 
 the heart, and the taste of the voluptuous Asiatics ; and, not least of 
 all, to powerful political revolutions. It happened the same year in 
 which Mahomet left Mecca, that a destructive war, as already men- 
 tioned, took place between the Eastern empire and Persia. Hera- 
 clius, the emperor, in six campaigns, penetrated to the heart of the 
 Persian dominions, almost destroying that power, and greatly weak- 
 ening his own. Neither of them, therefore, were in a condition to 
 resist the torrent, of Arabian fanaticism. Such was the prospect of 
 Mahometanism, when, its author met his fate. 
 
 The followers of this impostor, term their religion Islam, 
 and themselves Musslemen, or Moslems, i. e. true believers. 
 The book containing their creed, which was produced by 
 Mahomet, in successive portions, and which he pretended t<? 
 derive from the angel Gabriel, is called the Koran. Theii 
 priests are called moolahs or imans. Mahomet propagated 
 his religion by the sword, and taught, that to profess any 
 other religion, was a just cause of hatred, and even of murder. 
 
 2. The successors of Mahomet, in the dominion which he 
 established, are called Caliphs, a word which means suc- 
 cessors, or vicars. The first caliph was Abu-beker, the fa- 
 ther of one of the wives of Mahomet. It is said that the im- 
 postor, on his death-bed, appointed Ali, his son-in-law, as hi? 
 successor, but the influence of Abu-bekor with the arm} 7 was 
 such, that lie, by this means, secured the caliphate. 
 
 Thus the foundation was laid for a mighty contention, 
 and over the body of Mahomet arose that schism, which, at 
 this distant period, weakens the power of Mahometanism, and 
 may eventually terminate its very existence. The sects are 
 two, and the ground of dispute is the right of succession ro 
 Mahomet. Their names are Sheas or Shiites, and the Son- 
 nites. The Sheas, who believe in Ali, as the true successor, 
 are chiefly Persians. The Sonnites, who believe in Abu- 
 beker, consist of the inhabitants of East Persia, Arabia, Tur- 
 
ARABS OR SARACENS. 87 
 
 k^y, &c. The Sonnites receive the Koran only, whereas the 
 Sheas adopt the traditions also. 
 
 In respect to conquest, Abu-beker pursued the course of 
 Mahomet, and, with the aid of his general, Kaled, obtained 
 an important victory over the emperor Heraclius, and en- 
 larged the Saracen dominion. He died in the third year of 
 his reign, having bequeathed the sceptre to Omar. 
 
 When the sceptre was offered to Omar, he modestly observed, 
 " that he had no occasion for the place." " But the place lias occa- 
 sion for you, "replied Abu-beker. He died; praying that the God of 
 Mahomet would ratify his choice. It was so far regarded by AH, 
 his rival, that the latter treated him with the respect due to a consti- 
 tuted superior. 
 
 Omar commenced his reign in 633. In one campaign he 
 wrested from the Greek empire, Syria, Phoenicia, Mesopo- 
 tamia, and Chaldea. In the next campaign, the whole em- 
 pire of Persia was brought under the Mahometan yoke. 
 Egypt, Lyhia, and Numidia, were at the same time con- 
 quered by the generals of Omar. 
 
 Amrou, one of his generals, by the order of Omar, destroyed the 
 famous library at Alexandria, consisting of 700,000 volumes. The 
 order of Omar betrayed the ignorance of a savage, and the illibera- 
 lity of a fanatic. " If," said he to Amrou, " these writings agree 
 with the Koran, they are useless, and need not be preserved ; if 
 they disagree, they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed." Omar 
 was finally assassinated. 
 
 Othman succeeded Omar, in 645. He added Bactriana, 
 and a part of Tartary, to the Saracen empire. Upon the 
 death of Othman, Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, was elect- 
 ed to the caliphate. His name is still revered in the east, and 
 by none of the caliphs was he excelled, either in virtue or 
 courage. After a si: )rt but glorious reign of five years, he 
 was assassinated by a Mahometan enthusiast, or reformer. He 
 had removed the seat of the caliphate from Mecca to Cuja, on 
 the Euphrates. 
 
 Ali married Fatema. the daughter of Mahomet, but Ayesha, the 
 widow of the prophet, and daughter of Abu-beker, bore an immortal 
 hatred against the husband and posterity of Fatema. In a battle 
 which Ali fought with a superior number of rebels, who were ani- 
 mated by the counsels of Ayesha, he was entirely victorious. 
 Ayesha, it is -said, had seventy men, who held the bridle of her 
 camel, successively killed or wounded ; and the cage or litter in 
 which she sat, was stuck throughout with javelins and darts. 
 
 3. Within less than half a century, the Saracens reared a 
 
88 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IV. 
 
 powerful empire, and were formidable to all the nations 
 around them. In 100 years, their dominion extended from 
 India to the Atlantic, comprehending Persia, Syria, Asia 
 Minor, Arabia, and other regions in the east, as also Egypt, 
 North Africa, and Spain. 
 
 Of the race of Omar, already mentioned, there were nine- 
 teen caliphs who reigned in succession ; after which, began 
 the dynasty of the Abassidae, descended from Abbas, tho 
 uncle of Mahomet. Almansor, second caliph of this race, 
 built Bagdad, and made it the seat of the Saracen dominion, 
 in 762 A. C. He introduced the culture of the arts and sci- 
 ences among the Saracens. 
 
 It was during the reign of Almansor, that Abu Hanifa, the 
 founder of the first of the four sects of the oonnites, died in prison at 
 Bagdad. He had been confined there for refusing to be made a 
 judge, declaring that he had rather be punished by men than by 
 God. Being asked why he declined the office, he replied, " If I 
 speak the truth, I am unfit ; but if I tell a lie, a liar is not fit to be a 
 judge." It is said that he read over the Koran 7CGO times, while he 
 was in prison. 
 
 Haroun al Kaschid, a caliph who ascended the throne in 
 785 A. C.. and was contemporary with Charlemagne, was a 
 famous prince, and celebrated patron of letters. His reign is 
 regarded as the Augustan age of Saracen literature. Many 
 of our proverbs arid romances are to be referred to this period. 
 Al Raschid was also a brave and victorious sovereign, and 
 distinguished by equity and benevolence. He died in about 
 809 A. a 
 
 The sciences to which, the Arabians chiefly devoted their 
 attention, were medicine, geome'-y, and astronomy. Poetry, 
 and works of fiction, especially the One Thousand and One 
 Nights, were the products of that period. Literature was cul- 
 tivated also in Africa and Spain, under the auspices of the 
 Saracens. 
 
 Soon after Al Raschid's accession to the Caliphate, he invaded 
 and ravaged a part of the Greek empire, with an army of 135,000 
 men. Having taken the city of Ileraclea, he reduced it to ashes ; 
 a f ter which conquest, he made himself master of several other places. 
 lie then attacked the Island of Cyprus, whose inhabitants suffered 
 extremely from the invasion. The Greek emperor was MO intimi- 
 dated by this success, that he immediately made peace with the 
 caliph, accompanied with a tribute. 
 
 Several interesting anecdotes are related of this caliph, two of 
 which follow. Being once in Egypt, he said to his courtiers. 
 
EASTERN OR GREEK EMPIRE. , 89 
 
 
 
 The king of this country formerly boasted himself to be God ; in 
 consequence, therefore, of such pride, I will confer the government 
 of it on the meanest of my slaves." 
 
 As he was marching one day at the head of his troops, a woman 
 came to him to complain that some of the soldiers had pillaged her 
 house, lie said, " woman, hast thou not read in the Koran, that 
 princes, when they passed with their armies through places, de- 
 stroyed them?" " True," replied she, " but then it is also written in 
 the same hook, that the houses of those princes shall be desolate on 
 account of their acts of injustice." This fearless repartee, was so 
 well liked by the caliph, tliat he forthwith ordered that restitution 
 
 should be made. 
 
 
 
 EASTERN OR GREEK EMPIRE. 
 
 4. The EASTERN EMPIRE, which had alone survived the 
 ruin of the Roman world, retained a portion of its ancient 
 splendour. Tt was destined, however, soon to lose several 
 valuable provinces, as has already appeared, in relating 1 the 
 victorious career of the Saracens. The conquests which 
 Heradius I. made in Persia, were wrested from him by that 
 enthusiastic and warring people. They next deprived the 
 empire of its Syrian and African dependencies. 
 
 During these events, several emperors successively filled 
 the throne of Constantinople, after Heraclius. But very 
 little need be snid concerning any of them. It was in the 
 reign of Constantine III., Pagonatus, that the Saracens, 672 
 A. C. besieged Constantinople for five months, but were 
 obliged to retire. They returned for seven years in succes- 
 sion, but were every time defeated by Callinicus, who in- 
 vented an inextinguishable fire, by which he destroyed their 
 ships. 
 
 The Greek, orliquidfire, was- made principally of naptha, or liquid 
 bitumen, mixed with some sulphur and pitch, extracted from green 
 firs. Water, instead of extinguishing, quickened this powerful 
 agent of destruction. It could be damped only by sand, wine, or 
 vinegar. It was a period of four hundred years, before the secret of 
 its composition was obtained from the Greeks. The Mahometans at 
 length discovered and stole it. It continued to be used in war, down 
 to the middle of the fourteenth century, when gunpowder was in- 
 troduced. 
 
 Justinian IT., who succeeded Constantine in 685, was a 
 second Nero, or Caligula. He ordered, at one time, a general 
 slaughter of the inhabitants of Constantinople, but lie was de 
 throned the saihe clay, and sent into exile with mutilated 
 
 8* 
 
90 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IV. 
 
 
 
 features He recovered his throne by the assistance of the 
 Bulgarians, and exacted a dreadful vengeance on his ene- 
 mies. He was at last beheaded. Some of the emperors who 
 followed during the remainder of this period, were, Leo III., 
 Constantine IV., Leo IV., and Const ant ine V. The first three 
 of these were strongly opposed to images, as used in churches. 
 
 The mother of the last Constantine, was regent during her son's 
 minority. Her name was Irene, and she proved herself a monster 
 of wickedness. She obliged the sons of Constantine IV. to receive 
 the priesthood, and afterwards ordered them to be murdered. She 
 was singularly cruel towards her own son, who, for attempting to 
 govern by himself when of age, was, by her orders, scourged and 
 confined in the interior of the palace. In 790, he was restored to 
 liberty by the people, when he, in his turn, imprisoned his mother, 
 
 Two years after, she was apparently reconciled to Constantine, 
 and by encouraging him in his vices, obtained an unhappy ascend- 
 ency over him. Being rendered odious to his subjects, especially 
 in consequence of repudiating his queen and marrying one of her 
 women, by the advice of Irene, an insurrection took place. This 
 was as she expected ; and afforded a pretext for her cruel machina- 
 tions. Being left with the army in By thinia, she despatched several 
 officers to depose her son. 
 
 Arriving at Constantinople without being suspected of such a 
 design, they put out the emperor's eyes in so barbarous a manner, 
 that he died, three days afterwards, in the most excruciating pain. 
 Irene then remained in possession of the empire fnr five years ; and 
 in order to confirm her authority, she made overtures of marriage to 
 Charlemagne, king of France. Her design, however, being di- 
 vulged, a revolt ensued, in which Nicephorus, great treasurer of the 
 empire, being leader, was proclaimed, and Irene deposed. 
 
 Having thus obtained the purple, and secured the riches of Irene, 
 Nicephorus banished her to the isle of Lesbos, where the want of a 
 decent provision obliged her to earn a scanty subsistence by the la- 
 bours of the distaff. Here this miserable woman died of vexation, 
 having enjoyed her ill-gotten power but six years after the murder 
 of her son. 
 
 KINGDOM OF ITALY. 
 
 5. The KINGDOM OF ITALY, which was formed as 
 already related, continued until nearly the close of the pre- 
 sent period, viz. 774 A. C. It had been fifty years under 
 the sway of the Lombard kings. During the remainder of 
 its existence, (viz. 150 years,) seventeen kings reigned over 
 the country. The principal of these were Cunibert, Luit- 
 prand, Rachisius, Astolphus, and Desiderius or Didier. 
 Luitprand possessed the greatest talents of all the Lombard 
 
KINGDOM OF ITALY. 01 
 
 . 
 
 king's. Under Didier the kingdom of Italy came to an end. 
 He was defeated by Charlemagne, his father-in-law, and 
 Iiaiy was afterwards incorporated into the new empire of the 
 West. 
 
 A few particulars concerning these kings, are as follows. Under 
 Cimibert, Italy was invaded by the duke of Brescia, and they met 
 in battle on the banks of the Adda. Before the battle, a deacon of Pa- 
 via, named Zeno, who bore a great likeness to Cimibert, offered to 
 take his armour and supply his place at the head of the army. 
 Zeno was consequently killed, and Cimibert obtained a signal vic- 
 tory, and afterwards enjoyed a peaceable and happy reign. 
 
 Luitprand availed himself of an opportunity, soon after the com- 
 mencement of his reign, to add to his dominions by conquest. His 
 first efforts were directed against Ravenna, which was betrayed into 
 his- hands. He afterwards took several other cities. The next year, 
 however, Eutychius, exarch of Ravenna, reconquered a great pari 
 of his dominions., with the help of the Venetians, whom Pope Gre- 
 gory II. excited against Luitprand. 
 
 The king, resolving to avenge himself on the Pope, became re- 
 conciled to Eutychius, and they both advanced towards Rome. The 
 Pope, however, met the king, and appeased him by his eloquence. 
 In two successive instances, in his attempts upon the Pope and Rome, 
 he was diverted from his design. 
 
 Rachisius, in 749, five years after the commencement of his 
 reign, under the pretence of some infractions of a treaty with the 
 people of Rome, besieged a city which belonged to the Pope. But 
 the Pope had such influence with him when they met, that the king 
 was persuaded to renounce the world, and retire to the abbey of 
 Monte Cassino. His queen and daughter, at the same time, founded 
 a monastery of nuns, near that abbey, whither they retired and took 
 the veil. 
 
 Astolphus took Ravenna, and seized upon all the dependencies of 
 that principality, not far from the year 750, but soon lost them, by 
 the intervention of Pepin, king of France, who made war upon him. 
 He died in 750, of a fall from his horse. 
 
 Didier, meditating the conquest of Ravenna, sought the protec- 
 tion of the French King, by marrying one of his daughters to 
 Charlemagne, and the other to his brother Carloman. A difference, 
 however, having arisen between Charlemagne and his father-m-Jaw^ 
 the French monarch divorced his wife. Didier highly resented this 
 act. 
 
 Applying to the Pope to favour his projects, and failing in the at- 
 tempt, he attacked the papal territory, and endeavoured to seize on 
 the person of the Roman pontiff. Charlemagne, however, coming 
 seasonably to his assistance, met the Lombard king in battle, and 
 taking possession of his sovereignty, sent the royal family to be con- 
 fined in monasteries in France. The French king thus put an end 
 to the Lombard dominion in Italy, and was hinixSelf declared, by the 
 Pope, king of Italy, and patrician of Rome. 
 
92 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IV. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 6. SPAIN continued under the dominion of the Yisosfoths 
 
 o 
 
 till the year 712. It was then conquered by the Saracens, 
 who invaded the country from Mauritania, in Africa, whence 
 they were called Moors. A small part of the north of Spain, 
 never fell under the dominion of that people. Pelagius, the 
 successor of the Gothic sovereigns, founded there the little 
 kingdom of Asturias, in 718 ; and Garcias Ximenes, that of 
 Navarre, in 758. 
 
 The Saracens, in their descent upon Spain, easily overran the 
 country. They had lately founded, in Africa, the empire of Mo- 
 rocco, which was governed by Muza. viceroy of th caliph Waled 
 Almanisor. Muza sent his general, Tariff, into Spain, who attack- 
 ing Don Rodrigo, or Roderic, the Gothic king, in a decisive baltle, 
 overcame and slew him. The conqnrors succeeded to the sove- 
 reignty. Abdallah, son of Muza, married the widow of lloderic, and 
 thus the two nations formed a perfect union. 
 
 7. Spain, in this manner conquered by the Saracens, was 
 allotted to governors dependent on the viceroy of Africa, till 
 Abdalrahman. the last heir of the family of the Omiades, 
 formed it into an independent kingdom, and fixed his resi- 
 dence at Cordova. This was about the year 756 A. C. 
 
 It may be remarked here, that all (hat part of the kingdom 
 of Spain which was under the dominion of the Moors, em- 
 braced the religion of their conquerors ; but the two northern 
 provinces above named, remained true to the Christian faith. 
 
 Abdalrahman, at Cordova, laid the foundation of a flour- 
 ishing empire, which lasted for a considerable period. He 
 greatly encouraged learning, and thus vied with Haroun Ai 
 Raschid at Bagdad, as a patron of letters. Cordova became 
 renowned as one of the most enlightened spots in Europe, 
 under several succeeding reigns. 
 
 The part of Spain which remained independent of the Moorish 
 yoke- presents little that is important in its history. We may there- 
 fore pass it over with the remark, that its Christian sovereigns be- 
 came rather strengthened than weakened in their power from time 
 to time. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 8. In FRANCE, the weak race of the Merovingian kings 
 continued to hold the sovereignty, till the year 751 A. C. 
 On the death of one of them, viz. Dagobert II., (638) who 
 left two infant sons, the government, during their minority, 
 was assumed by their chief officers, termed Mayors of the 
 
FRANCE. 93 
 
 Palace. Under the management of these ambitious men, 
 the kings of France enjoyed little more than the name. 
 
 In the time of Thierry, grandson of Dagobert II., the ce- 
 lebrated Pepin d'Heristel was mayor of the palace. He re- 
 stricted Thierry, nominally the sovereign of the two great 
 divisions of the Frank monarchy, (Austrasia and Neustria) 
 to a small domain, and ruled France during thirty years with 
 great wisdom. 
 
 The son of Pepin, whose name was Charles Martel, was 
 still more celebrated than his father. Under three kings, he 
 governed France with signal ability, having succeeded to the 
 office of mayor of the Palace. 
 
 After his father Pepin's death, Charles was confined by his mo- 
 ther-in-law, in prison. But escaping thence, he was proclaimed duke 
 of Austrasia, and took possession of the sovereign authority over all 
 the kingdom. He made war several times on Childeric, his first 
 nominal sovereign, and finally secured him as a prisoner. 
 
 9. Charles was victorious over all his domestic foes, and 
 his arms kept in awe the neighbouring nations, whom he fre- 
 quently defeated. But the most signal service which he ren- 
 dered to France, to Europe, and to mankind at large, was 
 his victory over the Saracens, in 732 A. C. These destroying 
 fanatics threatened all Europe with subjugation to the Maho- 
 metan dominion and religion ; and, but for their providential 
 defeat by Charles Martel, might have been, to this day, the 
 masters of the civilized world. 
 
 The Saracens penetrated into France from Spain. They were led 
 by Abderame, a consummate general, who commanded in the name 
 of the caliph, and who soon defeated the duke of Aquitain. After 
 this victory, his desperate bands were about to overrun the king- 
 dom. Here, however, the genius and bravery of Charles rescued 
 the nation from destruction. He brought them to a general action 
 between Poictiers and Tours, and notwithstanding their bravery 
 and numbers, he succeeded in defeating them with immense slaugh- 
 ter. They afterwards rallied in the vicinity of Narbonne, but were 
 again defeated, and at last driven out of the French territory. 
 
 By this event, the terror with which the Saracens had inspired 
 Europe was greatly diminished, and Charles obtained for himself 
 the surname of Martel, or the Hammer. 
 
 After the death of Thierry IV., Charles, without placing 
 another king on the throne, continued to govern as before, 
 with the title of duke of France. After several more victo- 
 ries over his enemies, Charles dying, bequeathed the govern- 
 ment of France, as an undisputed inheritance, to his two sons 
 
94 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IV. 
 
 Pepin le Bref, and Oarloman. As mayors of the palace, the 
 one governed Australia, and the other Neustria and Burgun- 
 dy. The nominal sovereign, at this time, was Childeric III., 
 a weak and insignificant prince. The sole administration 
 devolved at length on Pepin, as Carloman renounced l.he world 
 and became a monk. Pepin, whose talents were powerful, 
 and whose turn of mind was warlike, governed with great 
 efficiency, and conquered several of the neighbouring tribes. 
 In the year 751, he assembled a parliament at Soissons. 
 where he was proclaimed king of France, having first obtain- 
 ed the sanction of Pope Zachary. Childeric was confined in 
 a convent, and thus ended the Merovingian race of kings. 
 The Carlovingian now succeeded. 
 
 Pepin was called Le Bref, or the short, on account of the lowness 
 of his stature, his height being only four and a half feet. Soon after 
 he was crowned, he inarched against the revolted Saxons, whom he 
 defeated ; and pursuing his brother Grippo into Aquitain, he united 
 Septimia, now Languedoc, to the crown. His brother, who was a 
 turbulent spirit, and gave him disquiet, at length perished. Pepin 
 was thus left to pursue without molestation his useful designs. 
 
 10. Having been crowned the second time, by Pope Ste- 
 phen II., in return for this service, Pepin marched against the 
 Lombards, who had invaded the principality of Ravenna, and 
 threatened Rome itself. The Lombards were spared, only 
 by the surrender of Ravenna, which Pepin bestowed on the 
 Holy See. Thus commenced the temporal authority of the 
 popes. 
 
 The Saracens, who stilt possessed a part of the south ol 
 France, were forced by his arms from the country, and thus 
 the limits of his dominions were extended in that quarter. 
 After a splendid and successful reign, he died of a dropsy in 
 the chest, at the age of fifty-three or fifty -four years, 768 A. G. 
 It is related of this monarch, that his diminutive size was compen- 
 sated by an uncommon strength of body. Having been told that 
 several of his courtiers had secretly ridiculed his personal appear- 
 ance, he invited them, on the next day, to attend the spectacle of a 
 fight between a lion and a bull. When the two combatants were let 
 loose, the lion leaped on his adversary, and the bull was in danger 
 of instant destruction. " Is there any among you," exclaimed the 
 king to the courtiers that surrounded him, " who has sufficient re- 
 solution to oblige the lion to let go his hold ?" No one spake. 
 " Mine, then, shall be the task," said Pepin, elevating his voice ; and 
 leaping into the amphitheatre with a drawn sword, he approached 
 the lion, and with a single blow separated the head from the body. 
 
 11. The dominions of Pepin were, at his death, divided 
 
FRANCE. 95 
 
 | 
 
 between his two sons Charles and Carloman. The latter 
 dying 1 two years afterwards, Charles came into possession of 
 the whole kingdom. The exploits and policy of this prince, 
 procured for him the title of Great, which was incorporated 
 with his name, Charlemagne,* as he is known in history. He 
 excelled all the sovereigns of his age, both as a warrior and 
 statesman, although he is said to have been extremely illite- 
 rate. With a great reputation for talent, he has, however 
 descended to us as being deficient in several moral qualities, 
 particularly in humanity. 
 
 His cruelty was exercised chiefly upon the Saxons, with 
 whom he was engaged in war during thirty years. Their 
 bravery and love of freedom gave him infinite trouble. They 
 revolted no less than six times, and were as often reduced by 
 force of arms. As a means of subduing their bold and fero- 
 cious character, he attempted to convert them to Christianity ; 
 but their obstinacy induced him to resort to compulsory pro 
 cesses for this end. Several thousands of them were but- 
 chered on their refusal to receive Christian baptism. 
 
 Besides his success against the Saxons, Charlemagne put 
 an end to the kingdom of the Lombards in Italy, as has al- 
 ready heen narrated ; he successfully encountered the arms 
 of the Saracens : defeated numerous barbarous tribes, and ex- 
 tended his empire beyond the Danube. 
 
 Notwithstanding the short stature of his father, Charlemagne is 
 said to have been seven feet in height, and of a robust constitution. 
 He was no less signalized for activity and vigour of mind. His su- 
 pervision of his dominions was most strict and vigilant. He heard 
 and saw every thing for himself. He discountenanced luxury, en- 
 couraged industry, and sought to elevate the social and intellectua. 
 character of his subjects. 
 
 When he saw any of his courtiers sumptuously dressed, he would 
 invite them to a hunting party, in the course of which he led them 
 into the wilds and forests. On their return, he would not permit 
 them to change their garments which the thorns had torn. Afte~ 
 showing them his uninjured sheepskin cloak, as a contrast to their 
 tattered vestments, he would say, by way of advice or reproach, 
 " Leave silks and finery to women ; the dress of a man is for use, 
 not for show." 
 
 In his wars, Charlemagne met with scarcely a disaster. The only 
 considerable reverse that he ever experienced, was when he was re- 
 crossing the Pyrenees, after conquering Navarre, and a part of Ar- 
 ragon. The rear of his army was then cut to pieces by the Gascons, 
 in the plains of Roncevaux. On this occasion, his nephew, the cele- 
 
 * Charlemagne Charles the Great. 
 
96 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IV. 
 
 
 
 brated champion Roland, lost his life an event which laid the fuiin 
 datum of the u Orlando i-'wioso" of Ariosto. 
 
 As the reign of Charlemagne extends several years into 
 the following period, we shall resume it, at the commence- 
 ment of that period, with a sketch, in the biographical de- 
 partment, of his more private history and character. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period IV. 
 
 1. Mahomet, an Arabian impostor, and founder of the re 
 ligion which is called by his name. 
 
 2. Adhelme, a British theological writer. 
 
 3. Bede. a venerable English historian. 
 
 > O 
 
 4. Charles Mattel, the father of a race of kings, and con 
 queror of the Saracens. 
 
 5. John Damaseenus, a Christian writer, strongly tinctured 
 with the Aristotleian philosophy. 
 
 From the paucity of great men during this period, genius and 
 learning must have been at a low ebb indeed, and the human mind 
 greatly debased and neglected. 
 
 1. Mahomet, as has already been stated, was born at Mecca, in 569 
 A. C. The tribe from which he descended, was that of the Koras- 
 hites, the most noble in Arabia. His immediate ancestors. ^ seem, 
 however, to have been undistinguished ; and though his natural ta- 
 lents were great, it is certain that his education was inconsiderable. 
 He acquired knowledge, but not from books. Intercourse with man- 
 kind had sharpened his faculties, and given him an insight into the 
 human heart 
 
 The steps he took in propagating his religion have already been 
 detailed in part. It may be added, that the main arguments which 
 Mahomet employed to persuade men to embrace this imposture, were 
 promises and threats, wliu*. he knew would work easiest on the 
 minds of the multitude. II s promises related chiefly to paradise, 
 and to the sensual delights to ue enjoyed in that region of pure wa- 
 ters, shady groves, and exquisite fruits. Such a heaven was very 
 taking with the Arabians, whose bodily temperament, habits, and 
 burning climate, led them to contemplate images of this sort with ex- 
 cessive pleasure. 
 
 On the other hand, his threats were peculiarly terrific to this peo- 
 ple. The punishment attending a rejection of his religion, he made 
 to consist of evils, that seemed most insufferable to their feelings. 
 The reprobates would be permitted to drink nothing but putrid and 
 boiling water, nor breathe any, save exceedingly hot winds ; they 
 would dwell forever in continual fire, intensely burning, and be sur- 
 rounded with a black, hot, salt smoke, as with a coverlid, &c. ; and. 
 to fill the measure of their fears, by joining the present with the 0> 
 ture life, he threatened most grievous punishments in this world. 
 
 As it was one of the impostor's dogmas, that his religion might ':3 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACT 
 
 defended and propagated by the sword, he inveiite3<lje doctrine of 
 a rigid fate, to reconcile the minds of the timid, and acftharcjoiir to 
 the brave, under the exigencies of war. He taught that those whc 
 were slain in battle, though they had tarried at home in their houses, 
 must, nevertheless, have died at that very moment, the time of 
 every man's life being before appointed by God, in that unqualified 
 sense ; that is, without reference to means. 
 
 Mahomet was distinguished for the beauty of his person. He had 
 a commanding presence, a majestic aspect, piercing eyes, a flowing 
 beard, and his whole countenance depicted the strong emotions of 
 nis mind. His memory was retentive, his wit easy, and his judg- 
 ment clear and decisive. In his intercourse with society, he observed 
 the forms of that grave and ceremonious politeness, so common to 
 his country. His natural temper may not have been worse than that 
 of many others ; but the imposture which he forced upon mankind, 
 was an instance of most daring impiety and wickedness. 
 
 Mahomet persisted in his religious fraud, or fanaticism, to the last. 
 On his death bed he had asserted, that the angel of death was not 
 allowed to take his soul, till he had respectfully asked the permission 
 of the prophet. The request being granted, Mahomet fell into the 
 agony of dissolution ; he fainted with the violence of pain, but re- 
 covering his spirits in a degree, he raised his eyes upwards, and look- 
 ing steadfastly, uttered with a faltering voice, the last broken, though 
 articulate words, " O God ! pardon my sins. Yes, I come among 
 my fellow-citizens on high ;" and in this manner expired. 
 
 2. Adhelme was the first bishop of Sherbourne, (England.) He 
 is said to have been nephew to Ina, king of the West Saxons. The 
 period of his death was 709. He composed several poems concern- 
 ing the Christian life, but his fancy was quite indifferent. He wrote 
 in Latin, and is reported to be the earliest Englishman who wrote in 
 that tongue. A translator of his writings, speaks of him as pro- 
 foundly versed in Greek, Latin, and Saxon. 
 
 3. Bede, who was surnamed the Venerable, was an English monk. 
 His birth-place was Wearmouth, in the bishopric of Durham, where 
 he was born in 672 or 673. He is celebrated as a writer on Eccle- 
 siastical history. In his youth he studied with great diligence, and 
 soon became eminent for learning. Such was his fame, that he was 
 frequently consulted on various subjects, by scholars from different- 
 parts of the country. 
 
 He published his excellent Ecclesiastical history of England, in 
 731, when he was about fifty-nine years of age. He wrote other 
 works, particularly an epistle to the bishop of York, which exhibits 
 a more curious picture of the state of the church at that time, than 
 is elsewhere to be found. That epistle was the last of Bede's wri- 
 tings. His last sickness, was a consumption, ending in an asthma, 
 which he supported with great firmness. During his weakness, he 
 never remitted the duties of his place, being employed the wnole of 
 the time in instructing the monks. He appears to have been a 
 person of genuine piety. His death was in 735. 
 
 4. Charles Martel was the son of Pepin d'Heristel, and duke of 
 
 9 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IV. 
 
 Austrasia. He succeeded his father as Mayor of the Palace, as has 
 before been stated. That he was a man of great capacity, appears 
 from the record of his exploits. As the progenitor of the Carlo 
 vingian race of kings, and conqueror of the Saracens, when they 
 were upon the point of overrunning all Europe, he is entitled to a 
 very respectful notice in the page of history. Divine Providence 
 seems to have raised him up for a great purpose, in checking the 
 conquering career of the followers of the false prophet. The pro- 
 digious number of 375,000 Saracens, he is said to have defeated and 
 slain. He died in 741. 
 
 5. John Damascenus flourished in the eighth century, dying about 
 the year 750. His birth-place was Damascus. He was liberally 
 educated, and early made great progress in literature. He succeed- 
 ed his father, as counsellor of state to the Saracen Caliph of Damas- 
 cus. Becoming zealous for the forms of religion, and warmly es- 
 pousing the cause of images, he greatly offended Leo Isauricus, the 
 Eastern emperor. 
 
 There is a wild legend of the times, that the emperor caused the 
 hand of Damascenus to be cut off, and that it was miraculously re- 
 placed by the kind interposition of the Virgin Mary. After awhile, 
 he is said to have retired from public affairs, and spent the remain- 
 der of his life in solitude. In this situation he wrote books of divini- 
 ty, of which he left many behind him. He is not generally thought 
 to have been an evangelical writer. Mosheim says that he surpassed 
 all his contemporaries among the Greeks and Orientals, but was su- 
 perstitious, and absorbed in a vain philosophy. 
 
 PERIOD V. 
 
 The Period of the New Western Empire; extending from 
 the Crowning of Charlemagne, 800 A. C., to the First 
 Crusade, 1095 years A. C. 
 
 NEW WESTERN EMPIRE. 
 
 SEC. 1. The New Western Empire, so called, included the 
 dominions of Charlemagne, or the countries of which he was 
 acknowledged as the sovereign, in 800 A. C. It was at this 
 period that the title of Emperor of the West, was conferred 
 upon him. He was established in that august sovereignty, 
 by being crowned at Rome, by Pope Leo III. 
 
 It is thought by some, that had he chosen Rome as the 
 seat of his government, and at death transmitted an undivi- 
 ded dominion to his successor, the fallen empire of the Ro- 
 
HEW WESTERN EMPIRE. 99 
 
 mans might have once more been restored to prosperity and 
 greatness. But Charlemagne had no fixed capital, and divi- 
 ded, even in his life-time, his dominions among his children. 
 
 The countries, included under the title of the New Western 
 Empire, were principally France, Burgundy, Germany, Ita- 
 ly, and a part of Spain. The Empire, as such, continued 
 but a short time. One country after another separated from 
 it under the successors of Charlemagne, and Germany, at last, 
 became the sole seat or representative of the Empire. Bo- 
 fore the expiration of the present Period, the structure reared 
 by the French monarch, was dissolved. After pursuing the 
 few details of the empire as a body, we shall resume our 
 narrative of the individual countries, in their separate or in- 
 dependent state. 
 
 5 The occasion and the manner of the crowning of Charlemagne, 
 wore as follows: 
 
 He was wont to pass annually, from the Pyrenees into Germany, 
 and thence into Italy. In approaching Rome for the last time, the 
 Pope despatched a messenger to meet him with the keys of the Con- 
 fession of St. Peter, and the standard of the city of Rome. From 
 this union of religious and military attributes, it was evident that 
 Charlemagne was on the eve of becoming emperor. 
 
 Accordingly, on Christmas day, which was then the day of the 
 new year, being present at the service of the mass, and on his kners 
 before the altar, the Pope came suddenly behind him, and placed on 
 his head the Crown of the Caesars. This act was followed by loud 
 acclamations among the populace. An august title, which had lain 
 dormant for several centuries, was thus revived, but it did not restore 
 Rome to its ancient splendour, for reasons which were given above. 
 
 Charlemagne lived nearly 14 years after he became Emperor of 
 the West. He died at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the 72d year of his age, 
 and the 46th of his reign. 
 
 2. Charlemagne was succeeded, 814 A. C., by his son, Louis 
 the Debonaire, or the Mild. Of the lawful children of Charle- 
 magne, Louis alone survived his father, and all the imperia] 
 dominions came of course into his hands, except Italy, which 
 the emperor had settled on Bernard, one of his grandsons. 
 
 The reign of Louis was Tiighly calamitous. In 817, lie 
 associated his eldest son, Lothaire, in the empire, and gave 
 Aquitain to Pepin, his second son, and Bavaria to Louis, his 
 third. 
 
 A disagreement occurring between Louis and Bernard, 
 king of Italy, the latter was subdued, and had hi? eyes put 
 out, in consequence of which he died three days after. The 
 
100 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 murder of his nephew affected Louis with such a degree of 
 remorse, that he performed public penance on account of the 
 crime. 
 
 The children of Louis greatly embittered, and even short- 
 ened his life. First quarrelling among themselves, they then 
 attacked their father ; and as he was alternately subdued 
 and restored, his spirits were at length broken, and he died 
 after an inglorious and turbulent reign, 840 A. C. 
 
 Louis had a son by a second wife, named Charles, who, as will 
 soon appear, became king of France upon the death of his father. 
 As a second partition of the empire was made, in order to give a 
 share to this younger son, the other brothers were highly disaffect- 
 ed. This was one occasion of their contention. 
 
 When Louis found his end approaching, he set aside for Lothaire, 
 a sword and a golden sceptre, the emblems of the empire he intend- 
 ed for him, on condition, however, that lie should abide by the parti- 
 tion in favour of Charles. As he did not make any mention of his 
 son, Louis of Bavaria, (Pepin had already deceased,) it was intimated 
 to the old kin,?, that as a Christian, he ought not to leave the world, 
 without bestowing upon Louis his pardon. The dying monarch 
 shook his hoary locks, and pointing to them with emotion, replied, 
 "I pardon him, but you may tell him, that it was he who has brought 
 down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." 
 
 3. Charles, surnamed the Bald, succeeded Louis the mild, 
 in a part of his original dominions, 840 A. C. Soon after 
 his accession, followed the terrible battle of Fontenay, between 
 the three brothers now left, viz. Lothaire, Louis and Charles, 
 in which Charles and Louis were victorious. Lothaire, as 
 the appointed emperor, had wished to obtain the possession of 
 all his father's territories, and refused to allow the partition in 
 favour of Charles. But being overcome in the battle of Fon- 
 tenay, he was obliged to relinquish his pretensions, and to 
 accede to such a division of the empire, as his brothers now 
 made among themselves. 
 
 Lothaire, who preserved the title of emperor, had, assigned 
 to him, Italy, and several of the southern provinces of France, 
 Louis had the whole of Germany. France, including Neus- 
 tria and Aquitain, fell to the lot of Charles. Thus the fine 
 Empire of the West, founded by Charlemagne, was lost to 
 the house of France, by the separation of Germany from 
 that house. Instead of remaining hereditary, the crown be- 
 came elective, after it had passed, as it did finally, into the 
 hands of the Germans. 
 
 The battle of Fontenay was fought with the greatest obstinacy 
 
NEW WESTERN EMPIRE. 101 
 
 Historians agree in stating that 100,000 men perished on that occa- 
 sion. Lothaire fled-to the Saxons, yet laid his plans in such a man- 
 ner as to obtain from his brothers a portion of the empire. 
 
 'In the reign of Charles, France was plundered by the Normans, 
 who had begun their depredations even in the time of Charlemagne. 
 But their progress was then inconsiderable. In 843, however" they 
 sailed up the Seine, and plundered Rouen ; while another fleet en- 
 tered the Loire, and laid waste the country in its vicinity ; the ma- 
 rauders not only securing great quantities of spoil, but carrying 
 men, women and children into captivity. In 845, they entered the 
 Seine again with a fleet, and advanced to Paris. Its inhabitants fled, 
 and the city was burnt. With another fleet they approached to Bor- 
 deaux, and pillaged it. Charles, instead of repressing the incursions 
 of these barbarians with his arms, purchased their forbearance with 
 money. 
 
 (1.) Lothaire, the emperor, died in 855. Before his death, 
 he divided his dominions among his three sons. Louis II. 
 was the son who succeeded him with the title of emperor. 
 He was a brave and virtuous sovereign, and died 875. 
 
 (2.) Louis, to whom Germany was assigned, was a power- 
 ful monarch, and rendered himself formidable to his neigh- 
 bours. He died 876. Upon this event, Charles marched 
 with a large army to seize his dominions, but he was soon 
 defeated by his nephew Carloman, the son of Louis II., ha- 
 ving been first crowned emperor by the Pope. 
 
 (3.) Charles, on the death of Louis II., son of Lothaire, 
 (875) assumed the empire, or, as is said, purchased it from 
 pope John VIII., on condition of holding it as a vassal to the 
 Holy See. This prince, after contending for the space of two 
 years, with the possessors of the other portions of the empire, 
 with various success, died of poison, 877 A. C. His reign 
 must be pronounced, on the whole, to have been a weak and 
 inglorious one. 
 
 He was the first of the French monarchs, who made dig- 
 nities and titles hereditary. Under the distracted reigns of the 
 Carlovingian kings, the grandees obtained great power, and 
 commanded a formidable vassalage. They chose to reside 
 on their territorial possessions, and refused to take any inter- 
 est in the general concerns of the country. Intrenched in 
 their castles and fortresses, they defied the power of the go- 
 vernment, while the country was disturbed and desolated hy 
 their feuds. 
 
 The Empire of the West being now effectually dismem- 
 
 9* 
 
102 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 bered, though there were afterwards temporary junctions oi 
 its different parts, we may properly resume our narrative of 
 the several countries in their separate state. As the power 
 which formed this empire emanated from France, it is natural 
 to speak of this first. Indeed, we have been under the neces 
 sir,y of noticing it already more than the rest. Germany, not 
 Living had a political existence before the era of Charlemagne, 
 will be new on the list of nations. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 4. Louis IT., the Stammerer, succeeded Charles, as 
 king of France, 877 A. C. Nothing of importance occurred 
 during his reign, which was a short one, of only nineteen 
 months. His two sons, Louis III., and Carloman, became 
 joint possessors of the throne upon his death. Their reign 
 was short, but it was characterized by union, vigour, and a 
 degree of success against their enemies, the Normans. They 
 died, the one in 882, and the other in 884. 
 
 Their deaths were each accidental. Louis, in pursuing a young 
 female who fled from him, struck his head against the door, and 
 was killed by the blow. Carloman, who survived him but a short 
 time, in hunting a wild boar, was wounded by a spear which one of 
 his attendants launched against the animal. To save the attendant 
 from the blame that might be attached to the act, Carloman report- 
 ed that he had been wounded by the wild boar. Though he lived 
 several days, he persevered in keeping the cause of his death a 
 secret. 
 
 5. Charles, surnamed the Fat, was chosen by the peers of 
 France to fill the vacant throne, 885. He was brother and 
 successor to Louis II., the German, and son of the Louis, to 
 whom Germany was originally assigned. For a short time, 
 France and Germany were again under the same sway. At 
 the expiration of two years, however, Charles was deposed 
 on account of his cowardice, and the imperial dignity was 
 transferred to Germany. 
 
 The nobility then elected Eudes, count of Paris, to fill 
 the throne, 887, till Charles, a younger brother of Louis III., 
 and Carloman, should attain to the age of manhood. Upon 
 the death of Eudes, Charles, who was surnamed the Simple, 
 was introduced to the sovereignty, 898, but he was deposed 
 by Robert, the brother of Eudes, in 922. Robert was suc- 
 ceeded by Rali'ho, or Rodolph, duke of Burgundy, the year 
 after. 
 
FRANCE. 103 
 
 Charles the Simple, died in prison, 929. He was a weak mo- 
 narch, and despised by his nobles. It is said, however, that in bat- 
 tle, he killed the valiant Robert with his own hand. Upon the death 
 of Charles, Rodolph was in quietpossession of the throne. 
 
 It was during the reign of Charles that the Normans invaded 
 Neustria, which was ceded to them in 911. To Rollo, their chief, 
 the king gave his daughter, Giselle, in marriage. From this peopl 
 the country was called Normandy, and it is from this race of war 
 riors, that we shall trace the future conquerors of England. 
 
 6. Louis IV., the son of Charles the Dimple, was called to 
 the throne of France, in 936. He was surnamed Outremer, 
 or Transmarine, on account of having been brought up in 
 England. During his reign, and that of his successor, Lo- 
 thaire, Hugh the Great, the most powerful lord of France, 
 directed, for the most part, the government. The same situ- 
 ation was held by his son, Hugh Capet, under Louis V., the 
 successor of Lothaire. When Louis died, Hugh, like another 
 Pepin, placed himself on the throne of France. 
 
 The corruption* of these times, and the peculiar uncertainty and 
 infelicity attending the condition of kings, are manifest, from the 
 fact, that both Lothaire and Louis were poisoned by their queens. 
 
 7. Hugh Capet, the head of the third dynasty of kings 
 in France, called the Capetian, began to reign in 987 A. C. 
 He was crowned at Rheims, on the third of July. His 
 administration was marked with ability. He enacted several 
 salutary laws and ordinances, and established his residence 
 in Paris, which had been deserted by his predecessors during 
 more than two hundred years. He delegated a portion of 
 the supreme authority to his son Robert, near the beginning 
 of his reign. 
 
 The true heir to the crown, was Charles of Lorrain, uncle to 
 Louis V. Attempting to secure his rights by force, he was at last 
 betrayed and confined in prison, where he soon died. 
 
 Hugh, either through modesty, or the fear of exciting the jea- 
 lousy of his nobles, never assumed the insignia of royalty. He al- 
 ways, even on great and solemn occasions, appeared in a plain dress 
 and simple style. 
 
 8. Robert, the son of Hugh Capet, succeeded his father in 
 996. Marrying a cousin in the fourth degree. Bertha, who 
 was the daughter of the king of Burgundy, his marriage was 
 annulled, himself excommunicated, and his kingdom put 
 under an interdict by the pope. This was the first instance 
 of such an exercise of the papal authority in France. The 
 distress and confusion that ensued, obliged Robert, \auch 
 
104 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 against his inclinations, to dismiss Bertha, and to expiate hia 
 offence by a solemn penance. 
 
 He soon after married Constantia of Toulouse, who proved 
 to be a vexatious partner, and cruel queen. 
 
 The superstition of the times was seen in the affair of the Pope's 
 interdict. The mass was no longer celebrated ; the sacrament re- 
 fused to the sick ; and the dead left without burial. There were no 
 longer any regulations of police ; and, as all dreaded to approach an 
 excommunicated person, the king was abandoned. He commanded, 
 however, the services of two faithful domestics, who passed through 
 the fire whatever he had touched, and threw to the dogs the refuse 
 of the table. 
 
 The king, in his second marriage, was extremely unhappy. Con- 
 stantia continually tormented him. She caused the king's favourite, 
 grand master of the palace, to be assassinated. She sowed discord 
 between the sons of Robert. And her intolerance in religion was 
 such, that she ordered thousands of a certain sect of heretics to be 
 burned at the stake. 
 
 It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that in the province of Lan- 
 guedoc, where these cruelties were particularly exercised, the pro- 
 testant faith has since constantly predominated over Catholicism. 
 
 Robert is said to have been the first of the French kings who, accord- 
 ing to the superstitions of the vulgar, received the supernatural gift of 
 curing scrofulous affections, thence denominated the king's evil, by 
 touching the sick, and pronouncing these words, " The king touches 
 thee, and may God cure thee." 
 
 9. On the death of the king, his two sons, Henry and Ro- 
 bert, both aspired to the throne. It belonged to Henry, but 
 the infamous Constantia had contrived to create an interest in 
 favour of Robert. After some bloodshed, Henry was invested 
 with the sovereign authority, 1031 A. C. He was an ac- 
 tive sovereign, who knew how to maintain, and even extend 
 his dominion, but he was not always judicious in his en- 
 terprises. 
 
 He subdued several of his rebellious nobles, defeated an army ol 
 a younger brother who had claimed an inheritance in the monarchy, 
 and espoused, for a time, the cause of William of Normandy, against 
 the Norman grandees. He, however, soon attacked the latter a 
 rash step, which laid the foundation of long and disastrous wars. 
 
 About the commencement of Henry's reign, a dreadful famine 
 desolated not only France, but the rest of Europe. The dead were 
 disinterred to serve as food for the living. The passengers were 
 intercepted on the high ways, and carried into the woods to be 
 devoured by the famishing peasantry. In one place, human flesh 
 was publicly exposed for sale ; and in another, an innkeeper mass^ 
 cred the poor during the night, so as to furnish his table for guests 
 
ITALY. 105 
 
 on the following day. The season was such that corn could not be 
 raised, and the want of pasture occasioned the death of cattle. 
 
 10. Henry left the crown to his son Philip I., then seven 
 years old, 1060 A. C., under the regency of Baldwin, count 
 of Flanders. Philip was rather a spectator than an actor in 
 the political events of his reign. He lived beyond the com- 
 mencement of the first crusade, having swayed the sceptre 
 during forty-eight years. His principal war was with Wil- 
 ham of Normandy, now become king of England. From 
 this date commenced a long hostility between the English 
 and French monarchies. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 11. In the division of the Western Empire among the sons 
 of Louis the Debonaire, Italy, as we have seen, was assign- 
 ed to Lothaire, with the title of emperor. His successor, as 
 we have also seen, was Louis II., his son, who died in 875. 
 The succeeding year, Charles the Bald, king of France, was 
 proclaimed king of Italy by a diet at Pavia. But he retain- 
 ed this sovereignty only two years, his death occurring in 877. 
 
 Italy was afterwards ravaged by contending tyrants ; but 
 in 964, Otho, the Great, reunited it to the dominions of the 
 German empire. A series of wars, however, continued dur- 
 ing at least two centuries, occasioned by the invasions of the 
 Normans, and the claims of the emperors, till Italy was di- 
 vided into several independent states. These wars are too 
 unimportant and uninteresting to be noticed in this, or the 
 following period. Italy, therefore, once the mistress of the 
 world, must, for a time, be left out of the records of nations, 
 except as her affairs shall be incidentally noticed in the his- 
 tory of Germany. Her independent sovereignties, formed at 
 different times, as Naples, the estates of the Church, Tusca 
 ny, Parma, Lombardy, the Genoese, and the Venetian territo- 
 ries, may, in some subsequent period, be duly noticed. 
 
 A transaction, in which Otho II., the second German emperor 
 after Italy was re-united to the empire, was engaged, may be here re- 
 lated. Several cities of Italy took occasion to throw off their alle- 
 giance to the emperor. Otho, hearing o/ it, soon entered Italy with 
 an army, and adopted the following most cruel method to punish 
 the authors of the tumults. 
 
 He invited the nobles of Rome to a grand entertainment in the 
 Vatican palace and When the guests had placed themselves at the 
 
106 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 table, he forbade them, under pain of death, to speak or move at 
 what they should hear or see. Instantly they were surrounded by 
 armed men, and while they sat trembling, the emperor composedly 
 ordered the names of those concerned in the late disturbances to be 
 read over, and the guilty to be put to death in the midst of the hall. 
 After the bloody mandate was executed, he was all smiles and com- 
 plaisance to the other guests, during the entertainment. 
 
 It may be recorded here, that it was during the present 
 period, the foundation of the temporal power of the popes 
 was laid. In 1080, Matilda, countess of Tuscany, bequeath- 
 ed a large portion of her dominions to pope Gregory the VII. 
 From that time the popes possessed great power in the states 
 of Europe. Although the emperors (German) asserted their 
 sovereignty over Italy and the popedom, and claimed the 
 absolute right of electing the pope ; yet it was with a con- 
 stant resistance on the part of the Romans, and a general 
 repugnance of the popes, when once established. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 12. The empire of Charlemagne, in Spain, comprised but 
 a small part of that country. Indeed, all that the Christians, 
 (including the native Spaniards and the French,) possessed, 
 constituted only about a fourth of the kingdom, viz., Asturia, 
 part of Castile and Catalonia, Navarre, and Arragon. Cata- 
 lonia and Navarre were subdued by Charlemagne, but his 
 successors seem to have taken no interest in the conquest ; it 
 probably soon reverted back to the Christians of Spain. All 
 the remainder of the Peninsula, including Portugal, was oc- 
 cupied by the Moors. 
 
 Cordova, a luxurious and magnificent city, was the 
 Moorish capital. It was a great school for the sciences, and 
 the resort of the learned from all parts of the world. In the 
 tenth century, their dominions were divided among a num- 
 ber of petty sovereigns, who were constantly at war with 
 one another. Had the Christians availed themselves of this 
 state of things, they might perhaps have then regained the 
 whole kingdom ; but they were unhappily contending among 
 themselves, and it was sometimes the case, that the Christian 
 princes formed alliances with the Moors against one ano- 
 ther. 
 
 Taste and the sciences flourished in Cordova, and the south ol 
 Spain, when the rest of Europe had become involved in barbarism 
 
GERMANY. 107 
 
 and ignorance. Cordova, as the seat of government, enjoyed a 
 splendid period of two hundred years, reckoning from the middle of 
 the eighth, to the middle of the tenth century. During that period, 
 the Moorish portion of Spain boasted of a series of able princes, 
 who gained the palm-over all the nations of the West, both in arts 
 and arms. 
 
 It was only after the Moorish princes became luxurious and effe- 
 minate, that the nation was divided into a number of petty states, 
 the principal of which, were Toledo, Cordova, Valentia, -and Seville. 
 
 To add to the divided state of Spain, both among the Moors and 
 Christians, the country abounded with independent lords, who were 
 warriors and champions by profession, making it their business to 
 decide the quarrels of princes, or to volunteer their service and that 
 of their vassals and attendants, on such occasions. Of this descrip- 
 tion of persons, termed knights-errant, the most distinguished was 
 Rodrigo the Cid, who undertook to conquer the kingdom of New 
 Castile, for his sovereign, Alphonso, king of Old Castile. Of the 
 passion for knight errantry, however, it is proposed to speak in some 
 other place. 
 
 The contentions among the petty kingdoms of Spain need 
 not detain us here, nor will it be expedient to dwell on the 
 subsequent history of Spain, until the expulsion of the Moors, 
 and the union of the whole country under one head, towards 
 the conclusion of the fifteenth century. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 13. Germany was known in ancient times, but it possess- 
 ed no political importance till the era of Charlemagne. Pre- 
 viously, it was a rude and uncivilized country, and fluctuating 
 in its government. Charlemagne may therefore be consider- 
 ed the reviver, if not the founder of the German empire. 
 As a component part of his sovereignty, it has been already 
 noticed so far down as the termination of the short reign, or 
 rather usurpation, of Charles the Bald, of France, in 877. At 
 that period, or perhaps a few years subsequent, it maybe con 
 eidered as having been effectually separated from France; anH 
 of all the dominions of Charlemagne, it has alone descended 
 as an empire, and the representative of the sway which he 
 once held over the nations of the West. The emperor of 
 Germany is to this day, nominally at least, regarded as suc- 
 cessor to the Emperors of Rome. 
 
 Germany, is said to be compounded of the Celtic word ger, 
 brave, and man, signifying a warlike people. In ancient times, it 
 comprehended all the country from the Baltic to Helvetia, and from 
 
108 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 the Rhine to the Vistula. The primitive inhabitants were most pro- 
 bably the Celts. But our information respecting Germany is scanty 
 till the period of the Roman conquests in that country. Some ages 
 before that time, the Goths, or Teutones, had migrated from the 
 eastern part of Europe, along the Euxine, and established them- 
 selves on the shores of the Baltic, in Belgica, in the north of France, 
 and the south of England ; driving the original inhabitants into the 
 northern and western regions.* 
 
 When Rome was in the zenith of its power, Germany seems to 
 have been divided into a number of independent principalities ; but 
 the inhabitants frequently united in the defence of their common li- 
 berty, and many bloody battles established their reputation for bra- 
 very, before they sunk under the power and polic) r of their in- 
 vaders. At length, however, their country was reduced to a state 
 of provincial subjection to the masters of the world ; and upon the 
 decline of the Western Empire of Rome, Germany became a prey to 
 the Franks, and a considerable part of it remained under the do- 
 minion of earls and marquisses, till Charlemagne extended his 
 power, both military and civil, over the whole empire. 
 
 14. The successor of Charles the Bald, was Charles III, 
 called the Fat, after an interregnum of three years, 881 A. C. 
 France was also under his sway at the same time, but he 
 was soon afterwards deposed, and reduced to the greatest ex- 
 tremities. 
 
 15. In 887, Arnold, a natural son of Carloman, and 
 nephew of Charles III., was proclaimed emperor of Germany. 
 In the course of his reign, he defeated the Normans, took 
 Rome, and was crowned there by the pope. His son Louis 
 III., became his successor in 899, when only seven years of 
 age. He was the last emperor descended in the male line from 
 Charlemagne. 
 
 The reign of Louis is said to have been so much agitated by di- 
 visions between the lords and the bishops, that the young emperor 
 died of grief. 
 
 From the death of Louis, the empire became strictly elect- 
 ive, although, during the hereditary succession, the consent of 
 the bishops and grandees had always been asked. 
 
 16. Conrad, duke of Franconia, was elected to fill the 
 vacant throne in 912. He reigned seven years, during which 
 time he quelled several revolts, and purchased peace of the 
 barbarous Hungarians 
 
 The German grandees, who assembled at Worms, first offered 
 the imperial diadem to Otho, duke of Saxony ; but he declining it 
 
 * Webster's Elements, &c. 
 
GERMANY. 109 
 
 on account of his advanced age, persuaded them to appiy the invi- 
 tation to Conrad. The latter was of imperial descent by his mother, 
 who was a daughter of Arnold. During his reign, the affairs ol 
 Germany were conducted with great prudence. 
 
 17. Upon the death of Conrad, the imperial dignity was 
 bestowed on Henry I., surnamed the Fowler. This prince 
 possessed great abilities, and introduced order and good go- 
 vernment among his people. He built and embellished cities, 
 reduced and conciliated many of the revolted lords, and con- 
 quered several tribes, as the Hungarians, Danes, Sclavonians, 
 Bohemians, &c. He added Lorrain to his dominions. 
 
 Great as Henry was as a statesman, he manifested considerable 
 zeal in propagating the Christian faith. A portion of the Vandals 
 whom, he subdued, were, under his auspices, converted to this religion. 
 He maintained no correspondence with the See of Rome, inasmuch 
 as he had been consecrated by his own bishops. 
 
 18. His son Otho I., the great, was elected emperor, 936. 
 He carried on the system of his father, in repressing the usur- 
 pations, of the lords. The conquest of Bohemia he began in 
 938, and finished in 950. In 961 he expelled Berenger II. 
 and his son, Adalbert, from Italy, and caused himself to be 
 crowned at Milan. The next year he was crowned by Pope 
 John XII. and from that time he may be justly styled the 
 emperor of the Romans. John afterwards revolted against 
 him, but was soon deposed. 
 
 Otho was the greatest prince of his time. After an active 
 and commendable reign of thirty years, he died of an apo- 
 plectic disorder, in 972. His remains were interred in the 
 cathedral church of Magdebourg, where his tomb may be 
 still distinguished by a Latin inscription. 
 
 Otho owed his ascendancy in Italy to the disorders and crimes of 
 the Papacy. Being invited into that country by the Pope and the 
 Italian states, while they were contending with Berenger, he defeat- 
 ed the latter, and in return for the honours which the Pope conferred 
 upon him, he confirmed the donations made to the Holy See by 
 Pepin, Charlemagne, and Louis the Debonaire. 
 
 The treachery of the Pope, (John XII.) obliged the emperor, in 
 two or three successive instances, to visit Italy to compose the dis- 
 orders that took place. The last time, he executed exemplary ven- 
 geance on his enemies, by hanging one half of the senate. Calling 
 together the Lateran Council, he created a new Pope, and obtained 
 from the assembled bishops, a solemn acknowledgment of the abso- 
 lute right of the emperor to elect to the papacy, to give the investi- 
 ture of the crown of Italy, and to nominate to all vacant bishoprics. 
 
 The power of parental affection is strikingly exhibited in the fol- 
 
 10 
 
110 MODERN HISTORY.-^-PERIOD V. 
 
 lowing incident of Otho's life. Ludolphus, his son, had engaged in 
 an unnatural revolt, which produced some serious hostilities, and 
 occasioned the destruction of the city of Ratisbon ; but after some 
 time, the prince was made sensible of his error, and seized an op- 
 portunity while the emperor was hunting, to throw himself at his 
 feet, and implore his clemency. " Have pity," said he, " upon your 
 misguided child, who returns, like the prodigal son, to his father. If 
 you permit him to live after having deserved death, he will as- 
 suredly repent of his folly and ingratitude, and the residue of his 
 life shall be spent in the faithful discharge of filial duty." To this af- 
 fecting appeal, Otho could reply only by a flood of tears and a pa- 
 ternal embrace ; but when his agitation subsided, he assured the 
 penitent of his warmest favour, and generously pardoned all his 
 adherents. 
 
 19. Otho II., surnamed the Sanguinary, succeeded his 
 father in 973, during whose reign, and that of several others, 
 nothing of importance occurred. The names of the sovereigns 
 who followed, down to Henry IV., are Otho III., St. Henry, 
 Conrad II., and Henry III. They occupied a period of about 
 eighty-three years. 
 
 20. Henry IV., the Great, succeeded his father at the age 
 of six years, in 1056. He maintained a perpetual struggle 
 with the popes, who insisted, that only the cardinals should 
 elect the bishop of Rome. It was the lot of this emperor to 
 experience a large share of papal insolence and tyranny. 
 After a spirited contest with Pope Gregory VII., during 
 which, the pope was twice his prisoner, and the emperor as 
 often excommunicated and deposed, Henry fell, at last, the 
 victim of ecclesiastical vengeance. At the instigation of 
 Pope Urban II., the two sons of the emperor, Conrad and 
 Henry, rebelled against their father, and to such an extremity 
 was he reduced, through their barbarity and the pope's act of 
 excommunication, that he could scarcely obtain the means of 
 subsistence. 
 
 His sufferings were terminated by death soon after the ex- 
 piration of the present period, viz. in 1106, he having lived 
 sixty-four years, and reigned forty-eight. Henry, .in his 
 youth, was vicious to an uncommon extent, and gave up 
 himself freely to the indulgence of his passions. Misfortune, 
 afterwards, abated his sensual excesses, if it did not thorough- 
 ly reform his character. He lived to acknowledge, that " the 
 hand of the Lord had touched him." On the whole, he was 
 
ENGLAND. Ill 
 
 endowed with many excellent qualities courage, clemency, 
 liberality, and, finally, with contrition and resignation. 
 
 The insolent treatment he received from the Pope, appears from 
 the following. On one occasion, he set out for Italy, with his wife 
 and infant, in order to humble himself at the foot of his holiness. 
 On his arrival at the place where the Pope was, he was admitted 
 within the outer gate, and informed that he must expect no favour 
 until he should have fasted three days, standing from meaning to 
 evening, barefooted amid the snow, and then implored forgiveness 
 for his offences. This penance was literally performed, notwith- 
 standing the fatigue of the journey, and on the fourth day he re- 
 ceived an absolution. 
 
 The liberality of Henry's disposition was such, that he is said to 
 \ave entertained the sick, the lame, and the blind, at his own table, 
 %nd even to have lodged them in his own apartment, that he might 
 ^e at hand to minister to their necessities. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Saxon Kings. Norman Family. 
 
 21. England, which had been divided into seven distinct 
 sovereignties during more than two centuries, became one 
 entire kingdom, in 827 A. 0. This change was effected by 
 the prudence and valour of Egbert, prince of the West Sax- 
 ons, who inhabited that part of the heptarchy, which was 
 called Wessex and Sussex. 
 
 The occasion which offered for the conquest and union of 
 the heptarchy, arose from the fact, that Egbert alone remain- 
 ed of the descendants of the Saxon conquerors of Britain ; 
 he, therefore, naturally looked to the dominion of the several 
 states, as a sort of right ; nor did he hesitate to claim it, also, 
 with his sword. Success attended his undertaking, and four 
 hundred years after the arrival of the Saxons in Britain, 
 were they united into one powerful kingdom. 
 
 22 The English, who were so happily united under Eg- 
 bert, enjoyed their prosperity but a short period. The pirati- 
 cal Danes, or Normans, who had molested the English coasts 
 for fifty years, now became still more troublesome. During 
 the life of Egbert, they twice attempted an invasion, but were 
 repulsed with much slaughter. 
 
 The death of Egbert, and the character of his successor, 
 Ethel wolf, a prince of a very yielding disposition, encouraged 
 the Danes to multiply their depredations. They were often 
 
118 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 defeated, but could not be expelled. By his will, Ethelwolf 
 divided England between his two eldest sons Ethelbald 
 and Ethelbert. Alfred, afterwards so illustrious, was a young 
 er son. 
 
 It was Ethelwolf who, through facility of disposition, not only 
 granted to the priesthood a perpetual right to tithes, but exempted 
 it from all services and imposts. 
 
 The reign of Ethelbald and Ethelbert was short, com- 
 mencing in 857, and ending in 866. To Ethelred, a third 
 brother, the sceptre was bequeathed. He died bravely, in 
 battle against the Danes, and then the immortal Alfred suc- 
 ceeded, in 872. 
 
 23. This prince, who was only twenty-two years of age, 
 when he ascended the throne, found his kingdom in a most 
 miserable condition. It was scourged and afflicted by an- 
 archy, domestic barbarism, and foreign aggression. By his 
 efforts, however, he succeeded in raising it to an eminence 
 and happiness, surpassing what might have been expected at 
 that period. His talents, virtues, and character, were of the 
 highest order, and have justly endeared his name and 
 memory to the bosom of every Englishman. The institu 
 tions which he founded are, to this day, the glory of the Bri 
 tish realm. 
 
 He patronised learning and the arts encouraged manu 
 factures and commerce appropriated a seventh of his reve 
 nue to restore the ruined cities, castles, palaces, monasteries- 
 founded or revived the university of Oxford divided Eng- 
 land into counties and hundreds took a survey of the coun- 
 try, and formed a code of laws, which, though now lost, is 
 generally deemed the origin of the common law. 
 
 The wisdom of his civil institutions may be seen in his division 
 of the country. This plan was resorted to with a view to restore 
 the order which the violence and rapacity of the Danes had sub- 
 verted. Besides a division into counties and hundreds, there were 
 the smaller divisions of tithings. Ten householders formed a tith- 
 ing, who were answerable for each other's conduct, and over 
 whom a headborough was appointed to preside. Every man was 
 registered in some tithing, and none could change his habitation, 
 without a certificate from the headborough. 
 
 In the decision of differences, the headborough, also called tith- 
 ing-man, summoned his tithing to assist him. In affairs of great 
 moment, or in controversies between the members of different tith- 
 mgs, the cause was brought before4he court of the hundred, which 
 
ENGLAND, l!3 
 
 was assembled every four weeks. Here we may trace the origin of 
 juries. Twelve freeholders, sworn to do impartial justice, tried the 
 cause in this court. The county court, which met twice a year, 
 and consisted of the freeholders of the county, was superior to that 
 of the hundred, from which it received appeals. Here disputes be- 
 tween the inhabitants of different hundreds were settled. The ulti- 
 mate appeal from these several courts, lay to the king in council. 
 
 The reign of Alfred was signalized by his contest with the 
 Danes. Within the space of one year, he defeated them in 
 *ight battles ; but a new irruption of their countrymen, forced 
 him to solicit a peace, which these pirates frequently inter- 
 rupted by fresh hostilities. At this juncture, Alfred was com- 
 pelled to secure his person by retreating into an obscure part 
 of the country. Here he continued, disguised in the habit 
 of a peasant, for many months, until the disorders in the Da- 
 nish army offered a fair opportunity for attacking them. This 
 he embraced with great effect. Instead of cutting them off en- 
 tirely, as he might have done, lie incorporated many of them 
 with his English subjects. It was after these exploits, that he 
 turned his attention, as already mentioned, to the internal 
 improvements of his kingdom. He died in the full vigour 
 of his age and faculties, after a glorious reign of twenty-nine 
 years, and was justly surnamed the Great. 
 
 Alfred having perceived the remissness of the enemy, from whose 
 pursuit he had secreted himself, ventured at length to quit his retire- 
 ment. With a few of his retainers, he had made some sudden and par- 
 tial attacks on the Danes ; but before he attempted to assemble his 
 subjects generally in arms, he was determined to explore the state of 
 the enemy. . His skill as a harper procured him admission into their 
 camp. Having been introduced to Guthrum, their prince, he played 
 before him in his tent. Here he witnessed their supineness. 
 
 Encouraged by what he had seen, he sent private emissaries to 
 the most considerable of his friends, and summoned them to meet 
 him with their retainers, at a certain place. The English crowded 
 around the standard of a monarch whom they so fondly loved, and 
 before their ardour could cool, he led them victoriously against the 
 enemies of their country. 
 
 24. Edward, surnamed the Elder, succeeded his father Al- 
 fred, in 901. He lived in a stormy period, being continually 
 molested by the Northumbrian Danes ; yet he was generally 
 successful in his wars, and his administration of government 
 was honourable to his character. He reigned twenty-four 
 years. 
 
 Ethelwald, a younger son of Alfred, inherited his father's passioa 
 
 10* 
 
114 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 for letters, and lived a private life a happy turn and destiny lor 
 the son of a prince. 
 
 25. Athelstan, a natural son of Edward, succeeded him, 
 925. He was an able and popular sovereign, and opposed 
 with success the Northumbrian Danes, Welsh, Scots, &c. 
 He encouraged navigation, by conferring the rank of thane, 
 or gentleman, on every merchant who had made three voy- 
 ages to the Mediterranean on his own account. His reign 
 was of sixteen years continuance. 
 
 He effected the laudable design of translating the Scriptures into 
 the Saxon tongue, which appears to have been the earliest version 
 of that book into the language of Britain. 
 
 26. Edmund, a legitimate son of Edward, next ascended 
 the throne, 941. He reigned about five years, having perish- 
 ed by the hand of Leolf, a notorious robber. 
 
 Edred, a brother of Edmund, became his successor, 946. 
 In this prince, was the singular mixture of courage and su- 
 perstition. His courage he manifested in reducing to obe- 
 dience the Northumbrian Danes his superstition, in becom- 
 ing the dupe of the famous Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury. 
 He abandoned his conscience to this deceiver. 
 
 Dunstan invented several marvellous legends of his conflicts with 
 the devil pretended piety, but possessed an inordinate ambition 
 and was at last canonized as a saint. 
 
 27. Edwy, a nephew of Edred, now filled the throne of 
 the Saxon kings of England, 955. By marrying within the 
 degrees of affinity prohibited by the canon law, he and his 
 beautiful princess Elgiva, both became objects of monkish per- 
 secution. 
 
 Archbishop Odo, with a band of soldiers, seized Elgiva, burned 
 her face with a hot iron, and forcibly carried her into Ireland. 
 When afterwards she attempted to return to the arms of her hus- 
 band, she was secured by this detestable ecclesiastic, and by his 
 order so mutilated, that she died in a few days in the sharpest torment. 
 
 28. Edgar, the younger brother of Edwy, succeeded to the 
 throne, 959. His reign lasted sixteen years. His private 
 character was detestable, on account of his licentiousness ; but 
 energy and success distinguished his public administrations. 
 He promoted the inhuman and fanatical Dunstan to the arch- 
 bishopric of Canterbury, and paying that prelate a forced ho- 
 mage, he was able to carry into effect his various plans of go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Edgar obtained his wife Elfrida, in the following manner. She 
 
ENGLAND. 115 
 
 was a daughter of the Earl of Devonshire, and the greatest beauty 
 of the English court. Edgar designing to marry her if her charms 
 were found answerable to report, sent his favourite, Athelwold, to 
 visit her, and bring him an account of her person. 
 
 The courtiers fidelity was overcome by the beauty of Elfrida, 
 and with a view to secure her for himself, he gave an unfavoura- 
 ble account to the king, at the same time intimating that she would 
 on the whole be an advantageous match for himself, on account of 
 her riches and birth. The king forwarded his favourite's views, and 
 he obtained the hand of the fair damsel. 
 
 The truth, however, soon came to the ears of the king, and inform- 
 ing Atholwold that he would like to be introduced to Elfrida, and 
 the courtier being afraid to decline the honour, he had an opportu- 
 nity, of witnessing with his own eyes, the loveliness of her person. 
 Atholwold, in the mean time, had been obliged, in the hope of saving 
 his wife, to reveal the whole transaction to her, and besought her to 
 disguise her beauty on the occasion. 
 
 She, however, resenting the artifice by which she had lost a crown, 
 purposely sought to captivate the king by a display of her person, 
 and easily succeeded. Edgar soon al'ter embraced an opportunity 
 in hunting, of stabbing Athelwold, and reaped the fruit of his 
 crime in the possession of the enchanting fair one. 
 
 29. The reign of Edward, son of Edgar, by his first wife, 
 was short and uninteresting. He perished by assassination, 
 which was instigated by his step-mother Elfrida, 978. 
 
 Ethelrecl II., son of Edgar, by Elfrida, was placed on the 
 throne at the age of eleven. His surname was Unready, the 
 reproachful epithet of his weakness. His hatred of the Danes, 
 who again molested England, was so great, that he ordered 
 a massacre of all those of that people who had been retained 
 as mercenaries in his army. This barbarous mandate was 
 strictly executed. 
 
 The Danes at home, however, resolved OR vengeance, and 
 accordingly under Svveyn, their king, they invaded and rava- 
 ged the country. London was saved from destruction, only 
 by the payment of a tribute. The weak Ethelred fleeing to 
 Normandy, the English nobility were ashamed of their prince, 
 and in despair of relief, offered the kingdom to Sweyn. 
 
 The Dane, however, died soon afterwards, and Ethelred 
 was restored ; but Canute, the son of Sweyn, asserted his 
 claims to the crown by force of arms. He was opposed by 
 Edmund, son of Ethelred, with various success. 
 
 In the mean time, Ethelred died, after a long and inglorious 
 reign, and Edmund succeeded to the government, 1016. In 
 
116 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD V. 
 
 the war which he carried on with Canute, he was obliged, at 
 length, to divide his kingdom with the latter. But he sur- 
 vived this treaty only a month, having been cut off by the 
 treachery of his brother-in-law, Edric. 
 
 Edmund was surnamed Ironside, from his strength and valour ; 
 but though he put forth every effort, he could not save his realm. 
 He left two children, who, however, never succeeded to the throne. 
 
 Canute became sole 1 monarch, upon the death of Edmund, 
 in 1017, and proved to be the most powerful sovereign of his 
 time. He was surnamed the Great, and possessed eminent 
 abilities. He was terrible in his resentments, but an impar- 
 tial dispenser of justice. 
 
 In the distribution of justice, he made no distinction between the 
 Danes and English ; he restored the Saxon customs, and gradually 
 incorporated the victors with the vanquished. His mind was affected 
 with religious considerations towards the close of life, and he became 
 alarmed in view of the crimes he had committed, (for he had put 
 many of his subjects to death without cause,) but his piety was of 
 that superstitious kind, which displayed itself in building churches 
 and endowing monasteries, the great virtues of those ages. 
 
 30. Of the three sons whom Canute left, two ruled in suc- 
 cession over England, viz. Harold, surnamed Harefoot, from 
 his speed in running, who reigned only four years, and Har- 
 dicanute, who reigned but a few months. 
 
 Upon the death of the latter, the English freed themselves 
 from the Danish yoke, and restored the Saxon line in Ed- 
 ward, a younger son of Ethelred, 1041. He was entitled the 
 Confessor, and reigned twenty-five years without merit of 
 any kind, unless it were his ability to conciliate the esteem 
 of the monks. Having no children, and wishing to defeat 
 the views of Harold, the son of the Earl of Godwin, an as- 
 pirant to the throne, he appointed his kinsman, William, Duke 
 of Normandy, his successor. Edward was the last of the 
 Saxon kings of England. 
 
 Ed ward united all the laws of England in one body, called the 
 Common Law. He was the first king of England, who pretended 
 to cure the king's evil by his touch, a practice which was continued 
 till the Hanover succession. 
 
 31. On the death of Edward, Harold actually took posses- 
 sion of the throne, but William determined to secure it as his 
 rightful inheritance. His preparations were very formidable, 
 and he was aided in this romantic age, by majay sovereign 
 
 
ENGLAND. 117 
 
 princes, and a vast body of nobility from the different king- 
 doms on the continent. 
 
 With an army of 60,000 men, he set sail for the English 
 coast. Harold, with nearly the same number of soldiers, met 
 him, and was defeated and slain in the field of Hastings. 
 The English army was nearly destroyed, while the Normans 
 lost about 15,000 men. William, from this time styled the 
 Conqueror, soon assumed the prerogatives of sovereignty, 
 1066 A. C. The princes of the Norman family ruled till the 
 time of Henry II. 
 
 William's administration of government was marked with 
 ability, and in general, with success. In consequence of the 
 discontent often manifested by his English subjects, he began 
 10 treat them too much as a conquered people, and the natural 
 tyranny of his disposition increased by the commotions in 
 which this policy involved him. Hence his measures were 
 frequently arbitrary and cruel. 
 
 He alienated the minds of the conquered, by conferring on 
 his Norman followers, all the important places in the govern- 
 ment ; by causing the Norman language to be the vehicle of 
 the church service, and also of judicial proceedings ; by re- 
 serving to himself the exclusive privilege of killing game 
 throughout the kingdom, and by depopulating a tract ot 
 country about thirty miles round, in order to form a forest. 
 
 He was the author ofseveral other regulations of an inauspicious 
 nature, some of which were greatly vexatious to the people. He 
 introduced the feudal system ; substituted the murderous practice of 
 single combat for the trial by jury ; compelled the people to rake 
 up their fires, and put out their lights at the sound of the curfew 
 bell ; and he made it a greater crime to destroy an animal, than to 
 murder -a man. One useful act of his reign, was a survey of all the 
 lands and estates of the kingdom, with an estimate of their value, an 
 enumeration of every class of inhabitants who lived on them, and 
 other important specifications. This record is called the Doomsday- 
 book, which is still in being. 
 
 The children of William brought on him no small share 
 of trouble. His eldest son Robert, attempted to wrest from 
 him the sovereignty of Maine, and his foreign subjects assist- 
 ed the rebel. The king led against them an army of the 
 English, and during the battle was on the point of being kill- 
 ed in a rencounter with his son. Soon after, while waging 
 a war with Philip I. of France, who had aided in the rebel- 
 lion, he was accidentally killed by a fall from his horse, 1087. 
 
118 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 
 
 He reigned nearly twenty-one years over England, and be- 
 queathed the sceptre to his second son William. 
 
 William was eminent as a statesman and warrior, and was* 
 at times capable of generous emotions ; but the prominent 
 traits of his character were very unamiable. His pride, am- 
 bition, austerity, and cruelty, both inflicted sufferings on his 
 people, and robbed his own mind of peace. In his adminis- 
 tration, though he was sometimes politic, he erred on the side 
 of severity. 
 
 The person of William, was such as befitted a sovereign, espe- 
 cially in a rude and warlike age. He was tall, majestic, and well 
 proportioned. His strength was so great that scarcely any other 
 person could bend his bow, or wield his -arms. He was, however, 
 near being overcome by the prowess of his son Robert, on a certain 
 occasion. 
 
 While contending with the forces of that rebel, he happened to 
 engage with him in person. They were'mutually unknown to each 
 other, as they were concealed by their armour. Both being vigo- 
 rous and resolute, a fierce combat ensued. Robert at length wound- 
 ed and dismounted his father, nor did he discover who his antago- 
 nist was, till at that instant, in his cry for assistance, William's voice 
 was recognized by his son. 
 
 Struck with remorse and horror, the young prince threw himself 
 at his father's feet, and implored forgiveness, at the same time assist- 
 ing him to mount his own horse. William was implacable at first, 
 but reflecting on his son's generosity, he soon became reconciled to 
 him, and invited him into England. 
 
 32. William II., surnamed Rufus, from his red hair, ascend- 
 ed the throne in 1087. He was destitute of the few virtues 
 of his father, and inherited all his vices. Perfidy, tyranny, 
 and cruelty, were the chief ingredients of his character. Af- 
 ter the defeat of one conspiracy at the beginning, his reign 
 W 7 as a series of despotic acts, which conferred neither peace 
 nor honour on his country. After a reign of thirteen years, 
 he was accidentally shot by Sir Walter Tyrrel, with an ar- 
 row, while hunting in the New Forest. 
 
 Tyrrel, from fear of the consequences, fled to France. The body 
 of William, after several days, was found by the country people, 
 and conveyed in a cart to Winchester, where it was interred. The 
 person who carried the corpse of the king to interment, was named 
 Purkis, and it is remarkable, that some of his decendants, are known, 
 at this very day, to reside near the same spot. 
 
 The chief monuments that perpetuate the name of Rufus, are the 
 Tower, Westminister Hall, and London Bridge. 
 
EASTERN EMPIRE. 119 
 
 EASTERN EMPIRE. 
 
 I 
 
 33. The EASTERN, or GREEKEMPIRE, during the present 
 period, was ruled by thirty-nine emperors, mos.t of them fol- 
 lowing in succession, though in a few instances, two or more 
 ruled at the same time, and jointly. None of them were very 
 distinguished, though a very few were respectable sovereigns. 
 In general they were a weak or vicious race, yet scarcely too 
 degraded to be rulers of the degenerate Romans. A few 
 names will appear below. 
 
 This people, compared with what they had been, were low ; 
 yet still they were on an equality, at least, with the first na- 
 tions of Europe, at that time. Their degeneracy was rather 
 in moral and intellectual qualities, than in external show and 
 consequence. There remained among them much of ancient 
 wealth and splendour. 
 
 In the 10th century, the provinces that still acknowledged the au- 
 thority of the successors of Constantine, had been cast into a new 
 form by the institution of the themes, or military governments. Of 
 these, there were twenty-nine, viz. twelve in Europe, and seventeen in 
 Asia ; but their origin is obscure. The victories of a few of the em- 
 porors had enlarged the boundaries of the Roman name ; but in the 
 eleventh century the prospect was darkened. The relics of Italy 
 were swept away by the Norman adventurers, and the Turks had 
 removed many of the Asiatic props of the empire. Still the spa- 
 cious provinces of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, were obedient to 
 their sceptre, and they possessed Cyprus, Rhodes, and Crete, with 
 the fifty islands of the ^Ggean Sea. 
 
 The subjects of the Byzantine empire, were more dexterous than 
 other nations, and in the support and restoration of the arts, their 
 patient and peaceful temper, and refined taste, are highly to be com- 
 mended. The first demand of the public revenue Avas the pomp 
 and pleasure of the emperors. The coasts and islands of Asia and 
 Europe, were covered with their magnificent villas. The great pa- 
 lace, the centre of imperial residence, was decorated and enlarged 
 by the wealth of successive sovereigns ; and the long series of apart- 
 ments were adorned with a profusion of gold, silver, arid precious 
 stones. 
 
 Of the numerous emperors of this period, whose reigns in general 
 must have been short, the following only can be noticed. 
 
 Basil I., who ascended in 867, was from an obscure family, but 
 proved himself worthy of his elevation. He defeated the Saracens 
 in the east, and in Italy, but could not prevent them from ravaging 
 the Peloponnesus. 
 
 An incident of this emperor's reign is the following. His son, Leo, 
 had oeeii imprisoned on a false accusation of an attempt to assas- 
 
120 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 sinate the emperor. Frequent intercessions were made bj those 
 who believed in the son's innocence, to have him released, till the 
 emperor in his impatience, forbade Leo's name to be mentioned in his 
 hearing. It happened, however, one day, that a parrot which had often 
 heard a regret expressed for the unhappy prince, on a sudden broke 
 out with, " Alas, poor Leo !" in the emperor's presence. Basil, struck 
 with the sounds, was so moved that he consented to his son's libera- 
 tion. 
 
 Nicephorus Phocas possessed the reputation both of a hero and 
 saint. His saintship, however, was only a pretence. He proved his 
 claim to heroism in his wars with the Saracens. He invaded Asia, 
 and overran Mesopotamia. His vices, especially his avarice, render- 
 ed him odious to his subjects. He was assassinated by John Zime- 
 sees, who succeeded him in the empire, and who afterwards met 
 with the same fate. 
 
 Basil II. marched against the kingdom of Bavaria, and finally de- 
 stroyed it. On this occasion, it is related of him, that having taken 
 a great number of prisoners, he divided them into companies of an 
 hundred each, caused all their eyes to be put out, and ordered them 
 to be conducted to their king by a man who had one eye left. This 
 horrible spectacle so affected the king of Bulgaria, that he fainted 
 away, and died two days afterwards. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 34. The thirteenth dynasty of the emperors of CHINA ter- 
 minated during the present period, which included also five 
 other dynasties. The number of emperors was thirty-three. 
 Some of them were very wise men. In the reign of Tai- 
 tsong, of the thirteenth dynasty, Christianity was introduced 
 into a small part of China. 
 
 Tai-tsong was one of the greatest of the Chinese princes. He 
 was wise, frugal, and affable. His ministers attempted to excite in 
 him apprehensions from his too great familiarity with his subjects ; 
 but he replied, " I consider myself in the empire as a father in his 
 family. I cany all my people in my bosom, as if they were my 
 children. What then have I to fear ?" 
 
 Chwang-tsong, of the fifteenth dynasty, from a general, stepped to 
 the throne. As emperor, he preserved his martial habits, lived very 
 frugally, and slept on the bare ground with a bell about his neck to 
 prevent his sleeping too long. He was devout, and all his prayers 
 were offered for the good of his subjects. Block printing was in- 
 vented among the Chinese during his reign. 
 
 SARACENS. 
 
 35. At the commencement of the present period, the SA- 
 RACENS were flourishing in science and the arts. Their mi- 
 litary distinction was perhaps on the wane. Nearly forty 
 
SARACENS. 121 
 
 years had elapsed since the seat of their empire was trans- 
 ferred to Bagdad, and Arabia, in consequence, had lost much 
 of its importance. Many of the chiefs of the interior provin- 
 ces became independent, and withdrew themselves from the 
 civil jurisdiction of the caliph. 
 
 It is supposed, that the Saracens, had they acknowledged only 
 one head, might have established and perpetuated an immense em- 
 pire. But after the extension of their conquests, they were broken 
 up into separate states. Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and India, had, at 
 an early period, their own sovereigns, who, though they paid a reli- 
 gious respect to the caliph of Bagdad, awarded him no temporal 
 submission. Divided among themselves, they were destined ere 
 long to fall. 
 
 36. The principal military expedition of the African Sara- 
 cens in this period, was the invasion of Sicily, and the project- 
 ed conquest of Italy. They actually laid siege to Rome, which 
 was strenuously defended by Pope Leo IV. They were en- 
 tirely repulsed, having their ships dispersed by a storm, and 
 their army cut to pieces, 848. 
 
 37. The house of Abbas, which now enjoyed the caliphate, 
 furnished twenty-two caliphs during this period. These reign- 
 ed in succession, and Bagdad continued to be the seat of their 
 power. In the year 1055, however, Bagdad was taken by the 
 Turks, and the caliphs, from that time, instead of being tem- 
 poral monarchsj became only the supreme pontiffs of the Ma- 
 hometan faith. 
 
 At the time of the first crusade, in the beginning of the 
 nexl period, Arabia was governed by a Turkish sultan, as 
 were Persia, and the greater portion of lesser Asia. 
 
 We can notice only one or two of the caliphs of Bagdad. Adad- 
 odawla was deemed a great prince. He was magnanimous, liberal, 
 prudent, and learned ; but he was also insatiably ambitious. A re- 
 mark which he made when at the point of death, is a melancholy 
 comment on human greatness. With a faultering tongue, he cried, 
 " What have all my riches and prosperity availed me ? My power 
 and authority are now at an end." 
 
 Mahmud Gazai, w r as a famous conqueror. He invaded and con- 
 quered a part of India. The following striking anecdote is related 
 of him by historians. A poor man, who had complained to him 
 that one of his soldiers had driven himself and family out of his 
 house in the night, was told to inform the prince if that occurrence 
 should take place again. The poor man had occasion to inform the 
 prince, who went to the house, and causing the lights to be extin- 
 guished, cut the intruder in pieces. The prince then commanded 
 the flambeaux to be lighted, and after closely inspecting the corpse, 
 
 11 
 
122 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 offered thanks to God, and asked for some refreshment. This being 
 afforded, he ate heartily of the mean fare. 
 
 Being interrogated by his host respecting the reason of his con- 
 duct, he replied, " Ever since your complaint, my mind has been 
 harassed with the thought, that none but one of my own sons would 
 commit such an act of audacity. I had resolved to show him no 
 lenity, and commanded the lights to be put out, that the sight oi 
 him might not affect me ; but on seeing that the criminal was not 
 my son. I returned thanks to the Almighty." 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period V. 
 
 1. Charlemagne, a successful warrior and able sovereign 
 
 2. Photius, a learned Christian writer and philosopher. 
 
 3. Erigena, a Scotch philosopher and learned divine. 
 
 4. Alfred, a wise, learned, and virtuous prince. 
 
 5. Al Razi, an eminent Arabian scholar, and physician. 
 
 6. Avicenna, an Arabian philosopher and physician. 
 
 7. SuidaSj a Greek lexicographer. 
 
 1. Charlemagne, of whom some account has already been given, 
 was king of France, by succession, and emperor of the west, by 
 conquest, in 800. He laid the foundation of the dynasty of the 
 Western Franks. Though his empire did not hold together, long 
 after his death, his successors in the several states of which it had 
 been composed, reigned several centuries, in the line of the Franks. 
 Indeed, this was the case, till the house of Austria was founded. 
 
 Charlemagne was in many respects an admirable sovereign. Ho 
 excelled in war ; and although he was so illiterate that he could 
 not spell his name, he was great in the cabinet, and patronised 
 learning. He invited into France, literary and scientific men from 
 Italy, and from the Britannic Isles. The latter, in those dark ages, 
 preserved more of the light of learning, than any of the western 
 kingdoms. 
 
 His private character has been much eulogized, though it is ac- 
 knowledged that he was sometimes rigid and cruel. He was simple 
 in his manners and dress, and opposed to parade and luxury. Eco- 
 nomy, industry, and plainness, characterised him in a domestic state 
 His daughters were assiduously employed in spinning and house- 
 wifery, and his sons were trained by himself in all manly exercises 
 Except when he held his general assemblies, his dress, table and at- 
 tendants were like those of a private person. 
 
 He was a man of almost incredible activity. Instead of confiding 
 in the reports of others, he personally saw that his orders were ex- 
 ecuted. The condition of his subjects was constantly in his view. 
 In one place, he ordered the repairs of a highway; in another, the 
 construction of a bridge ; and in another, he afforded the necessary 
 aid to agriculture and commerce. Each of the provinces partook 
 in its turn of his benefits. 
 
 Charlemagne founded several seminaries of learning; but the 
 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 123 
 
 Darkness of the times could scarcely be alleviated by all his efforts. 
 He suppressed mendicity, and established a fixed and invariable 
 price for corn. The meanest of his subjects were thus enabled to 
 provide against their wants, and all complaints on this head were 
 banished. After rearing a splendid empire, he departed this life at 
 the age of seventy-one years. 
 
 2. Photius was patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century, 
 and the greatest man of the age in which he lived. He possessed 
 the patriarchate only ten years, during which, hs was exposed to a 
 most turbulent opposition and cabal. He was at last deposed, ana 
 died in a monastery. He deserves a high rank in point of erudi- 
 tion. He was the author of a commentary on the ancient writers, 
 a collection of the canons of the church, epi.stl.es, &c. These are 
 yet valuable on several accounts. In commenting on the scriptures, 
 although he followed reason, rather than authority, he is not on the 
 whole a model fit to be taken. He explained with ability the cate- 
 gories of Aristotle. He died in 886. 
 
 3. Erigena, John Scotus, was born at Ayr, in Scotland, according 
 to some authorities, and was very learned, in a very barbarous age. 
 He was employed by king Alfred to promote learning and the liberal 
 arts. For this purpose he was appointed to preside at Oxford, over 
 the studies of geometry and astronomy in particular. He spent 
 three years in this situation ; but some disputes and disturbances 
 arising at Oxford, he left that place and retired to a monastery at 
 Walinsbury. There he opened a school, but his harshness and se- 
 verity to his scholars so provoked them, that they stabbed him with 
 (he iron bodkins they then .wrote with, in such a manner, that he 
 died, 833. Moshehn speaks of Erigena as an eminent philosopher 
 and learned divine, and as manifesting uncommon sagacity and 
 genius. He wrote a book on Predestination, and translated into 
 Latin four pieces of Dionysius, the Areopagite, and was the author 
 of some other works. 
 
 4. Alfred, so justly surnamed the Great, was born in 849, as is 
 supposed, at Wantage, in Berkshire. He succeeded to the crown on 
 the death of his brother Ethelred in 871 ; but he had scarcely time 
 to attend to the funeral of his brother, before he was obliged to 
 fight for his kingdom and life, with the piratical Danes. His mili- 
 tary exploits, with several other things, have been above related. The 
 particulars which may with propriety be added, are the following. 
 
 Alfred was both a wise and a pious prince. His qualities were 
 most happily blended together, so that no one encroached on ano- 
 ther. He reconciled a most diligent attention to business, with the 
 purest and warmest devotion the severest justice with the most ex- 
 emplary lenity the brightest capacity and inclination for science 
 with the most shining talents for action. He was equally a warrior 
 and a legislator. He united with rich mental endowments, every 
 personal grace and accomplishment. 
 
 The darkness and superstitions of the age, were too powerful for 
 his efforts and institutions. He could not expel them to any great 
 
124 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD V. 
 
 extent. Yet he did considerable to elevate the character of his 
 countrymen, and he aimed at much more. In addition to the schools 
 and seminaries of learning which he founded, he afforded the attrac- 
 tive influence of his own example. 
 
 His time he usually divided into three equal portions one was 
 employed in exercise or the refection of the body -mother in the 
 despatch of business and a third in study and devotion. He con- 
 veyed his instructions to the people in parables, stories, &c. couch- 
 ed in poetry; as he considered these best adapted to their capa- 
 city. He translated the Fables of yEsop, the histories of Orosius 
 and Beda. and Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy. In these 
 various literary enga^'M.ents, he sought the good of his people, as 
 well as his own personal, intellectual improvement. 
 
 5. Al Razi, a name not perhaps well known in European literature, 
 was famous in the Arabian annals; and the Arabians at this era 
 were the most enlightened of the nations. This person is said to 
 have been extremely well versed in all kinds of ancient learning; 
 though he excelled most in physic, and is styled the Phomix of the 
 age. He applied himself to the study of philosophy with such suc- 
 cess, that he made a wonderful pi ogress in every branch of it, and 
 composed a great number of books upon physical and philosophical 
 subjects. He composed 12 books on alchemy, in which he asserted 
 the possibility of a transmutation of metals, and was the first writer 
 on the small-pox. 
 
 He is said to have contracted webs in his eyes by the immoderate 
 eating of beans ; and towards the close of his life, lost both of them 
 by cataracts. He would not permit an.occulist, who came to couch 
 him, to perform the operation, because he could not tell of how 
 many little coats the eye consisted ; saying at the same time, that he 
 was not very desirous of recovering his sight, as he had already seen 
 enough of the world to make him abhor it. He died about the year 935. 
 
 6. Avicenna, who is much celebrated among his countrymen, the 
 Mahometans, was born in the year 980, and died in 1036. The num- 
 ber of his books, including his smaller tracts, is computed at near 
 one hundred, the majority of which are either lost, or unknown 
 in Europe. At the age of ten years, he had made great progress in 
 classical literature. It is said that hft read over Aristotle's metaphy- 
 sics 40 times, got it by heart, but could not understand it. Acciden- 
 tally meeting with a book which treated of the objects of metaphy- 
 sics, he perceived what Aristotle meant, and out of joy at the disco- 
 very, gave alms to the poor. 
 
 7. Suidas flourished between 975 and 1025. His native country 
 is not known. He is the author of a very useful Greek Lexicon 
 The work contains much historical and geographical information. 
 No particulars seem to have been recorded respecting his life, either 
 by himself or by others. He is known only by his book. 
 
THE CRUSADES. 125 
 
 PERIOD VI. 
 
 The period of the Crusades ; extending from the First 
 Cr/tsaf/kj 1095 years A. G Y ., to the founding of the 
 Turkish Empire, 1299 years A. C. 
 
 During this period. we have manifold proofs of the darkness o 
 the times, with a singular mixture of a spirit of adventure, and lofty 
 daring. The age was peculiarly characterised hy the crusades, the 
 passion for pilgrimages, the exploits of chivalry, and the production 
 of romances. Barbarism and turbulence extensively prevailed, while 
 the lights of science were few and dim. In England, however, there 
 was the early dawn of literature. 
 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 SECT. 1. Tu giving an account of the CRUSADES, we include 
 a porti ;n of the history of the principal European nations. For 
 this leason, less of the separate history of those nations will 
 appear during this period, than would otherwise be introdu- 
 ced. The Crusades were common to all Christendom, and 
 all felt a deep interest in them. The other peculiarities of the 
 times, as pilgrimages, chivalry, the feudal system, (fee. since 
 thev belonged to the established customs and institutions of 
 
 */ 
 
 Europe, will be unfolded in the General Views. In the Cru- 
 sades, the political and military history of a great, part of the 
 world is carried on for a long time. 
 
 2. The Crusades were wars undertaken principally during 
 the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, hy the Christian nations 
 of Etirope, on account of religion. They were termed Cru- 
 sades, from the cross which was the badge of the combatants. 
 The object of these wars was the deliverance of Palestine, 
 and particularly the tomb of Jesus Christ from the dominion 
 of the Turks or Mahometans. 
 
 The Turks, or Turcomans, a race of Tartars, having, in 
 1055, taken Bagdad, and thus overturned the empire of the 
 caliphs, came into the possession of tbe countries which these 
 caliphs had governed, and the caliphs themselves, instead of 
 temporal monarchs, became sovereign pontiffs of the Mahome- 
 tan faith. Palestine, and particularly Jerusalem, were of course 
 under the sway of the Turks, and the seat of their religion. 
 
 11* 
 
126 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 Tri this situation of things, the resort of pilgrims to the 
 tomb of our Saviour was attended with much difficulty and 
 danger. While the Saracens held possession of the country, 
 the pilgrims were permitted to have free access to the holy 
 city ; but its new masters, the Turks, were a more wild and 
 ferocious people. They insulted and robbed those fanatical 
 devotees a circumstance, in such an age, of sufficient im- 
 portance to arouse all Europe for the deliverance of Jerusalem 
 from the infidels. The Roman pontiffs were the principal 
 instigators of these desperate adventures. 
 
 In an age of religious enthusiasm, and in an unenlightened state 
 of society, it is not surprising that Judea should have been an object 
 of veneration, or superstitious regard to the Christian world. Here 
 the great events recorded in the sacred scriptures transpired the 
 chosen people of God subsisted through many generations unnum- 
 bered miracles were performed the Mosaic and Christian dispen- 
 sations were set up even God's own Son, the Messiah, lived, suffer- 
 ed, and died. Here prophets and apostles had preached, ^nd writ- 
 ten, and shed their blood in testimony of the truth, and every tenant- 
 ed part, especially the Holy City, was marked by some divine inter- 
 position or manifestation, most dear to the lover of piety. 
 
 A country so hallowed, is capable, even now, of exciting the most 
 delightful associations; and though we are in no danger of attempt- 
 ing any thing like a crusade, yet nothing relating to such a land can 
 be contemplated without deep emotion. What sensations then must 
 have been excited in a deeply enthusiastic and superstitious age ' 
 And much as we smile at their folly, how easily can we account for 
 the ardour which was displayed by unlettered minds and fanatical 
 tempers, on the subject of the crusades ! Connected also, as "was a 
 pilgrimage to the holy land, with the idea of merit, and merit even 
 sufficient to purchase salvation, nothing can be conceived more cal- 
 culated to arouse every honourable and indignant feeling, than the 
 obstructions in the way of such a devotion. It was a hardship not 
 to be endured, that the Christian disciple should be prevented from 
 approaching and musing over, with a sort of adoration, the sepul- 
 chre in which his blessed Redeemer was laid, 
 
 2 There were five* expeditions of the kind here spoken 
 of, which, during nearly two centuries, drained from Europe 
 most of its life-blood and treasures. All western Europe be- 
 came involved in these destructive wars, but the French en 
 tered upon them with more enthusiasm than any other na- 
 tion. 
 
 The first crusade was preached by Peter, commonly styled 
 
 * Some reckon a larger number. 
 
THE CRUSADES. 127 
 
 the hermit. After having sufficiently excited Christendom by 
 his rude eloquence, he found vast multitudes ready to engage 
 in the hazardous undertaking. The jxjpes, however, had 
 for some time contemplated die same design, and Urban II., 
 the reigning pontiff, availed himself of this opportunity of 
 executing his splendid project of arming the whole of Chris- 
 tendom against the Mahometans, through the instrumentality 
 of Peter. Two general councils were called and held on the 
 subject, one at Placentia arid the other at Clermont, and were 
 attended by many thousands. The pope himself harangued 
 the multitude, and offered to all who woidd engage in the ser- 
 vice, plenary indulgence, and full absolution of sins. 
 
 Peter, Avho possessed none of the necessary qualities of a 
 military leader, was placed at the head of this motley crowd 
 of all ages, conditions, and character, amounting to eighty 
 thousand men. They commenced their march towards the 
 Enst, in the spring of 1096, and were soon followed by an 
 addition of two hundred thousand persons of the same pro- 
 miscuous description. They were any thing rather than a 
 regularly appointed army, or efficient military force. Their 
 progress was marked by outrages ; not more than one third 
 of them leached the scene of action ; and those who did, 
 were nearly all cut off in battle on the plain of Nice. 
 
 Peter the Hermit, was a native of Amiens, m Picardy, (France.) 
 He seems to have been the first effectual mover of this mighty, and 
 tt may be properly added, mad project. His own pilgrimage to the 
 tomb of onr Saviour, had made him acquainted with the dangers and 
 vexations to which pilgrims were exposed in Asia, and became the 
 occasion or cause of the enterprise in which he embarked. Fired 
 with a sense of his own wrongs, and those of his fellow pilgrims, 
 he sought the gratification of revenge, or at least, the means oi 
 preventing the recurrence of those evils, in future. For this purpose 
 he travelled from city to city, and from kingdom to kingdom, repre- 
 senting with a rude but pathetic eloquence, the grievances of the 
 pilgrims, and urging the necessity of making a common effort against 
 the common enemy of Christians and their religion. On this sub- 
 ject he exhorted all whom he met, and hesitated not to call on no- 
 bles as well as their vassals the rich as well as the poor. 
 
 His applications of this kind were aided by his personal appear- 
 ance. He was a monk, and exhibited all the austerity of that cha- 
 racter. He was an enthusiast, and displayed more than an enthu- 
 siast's madness. He travelled bare headed, and with naked arms 
 and legs, having only a part of his body covered with a coarse gar- 
 ment. He seemed wasted with fasting, and exhausted with anxiety 
 
128 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 and toil. He bore aloft in his hand a ponderous crucifix, to which 
 he pointed with the most animated gestures ; nor did he restrain his 
 prayers, whatever his situation might be, but poured his whole soul 
 in loud and prolonged supplications in the streets and highways.- 
 
 The body of enthusiasts who crowded arcmnd him \vasi, iunr 
 Princes, noblemen, artisans, peasants, monks, and even \vo.n;-M. ma- 
 nifested equal anxiety to ben 1 their steps to the East, and exji -I l /if 
 infidel hordes from the consecrated land. To the v.ci.ms and aban- 
 doned in character 1> the ambitious and disorderly to robbers, in- 
 cendiaries, murderers, and other offenders, a (it opportun.ty wo.-; pre- 
 sented of procuring the pardon of their sins, and at i,ie same time 
 of indulging in unbounded lust and rapine. 
 
 As Malmsbury curiously observes, "the report, of the council oi 
 Clerniont, wafted a cheering gale over the minds of Christians. 
 There was no nation so remote, no people so retired, as did not re- 
 spond to the papal wishes. This ardent lov not only inspired tiie 
 continental provinces, but the most distant islands and savage coun- 
 tries. The Welshman left his hunting ; the Scotch his fellowship 
 with vermin; the Dane his drinking party ; the Norwegian his raw 
 fish." Robert of Normandy, after mentioning in general terms the 
 contributions of men which France and England made to the holy 
 war, thus singularly mixes other nations : 
 
 " Of Normandy, of Denmark, of Norway, of Bretagne, 
 Of Wales, and of Ireland, of Gascony, and of Spain, 
 Of Provence, and of Saxony, and of Allemagne, 
 Of Scotland, and of Greece, of Rome and Aquitain " 
 
 At this time, " every wonderful event in the natural world was 
 regarded as an indication of the divine will. Meteors and stars 
 pointed at and fell on the road to Jerusalem. The skies were in- 
 volved in perpetual storms, and the blaze and terror of anxious and 
 disordered nature showed the terrific harmony of heaven with the 
 sanguinary fury of earth. Man fully responded to the supposed 
 calls of God. The moral fabric of Europe was convulsed ; the re- 
 lations and charities of life were broken ; society appeared to be 
 dissolved. Persons of every age, rank, and degree, assumed the 
 cross. The prohibition of women from undertaking this journey 
 was passed over in contemptuous silence. They separated them- 
 selves from their husbands where men wanted faith, or resolved to 
 follow them with their helpless infants. Monks, not waiting for the 
 permission of their superiors, threw aside their black mourning 
 gowns, and issued from their cloisters full of the spirit of holy war- 
 riors. They who had devoted themselves to a solitary life, mistook 
 the impulses of passion for divine revelations, and thought that hea- 
 ven had annulled their oaths of retirement. A stamp of virtue was 
 fixed upon every one who embraced the cause ; and many were 
 urged to the semblance of religion, by shame, reproach, and fashion. 
 When families divided, nature and fanaticism contended for the 
 mastery. A wife consented to the departure of her husband, on his 
 vowing to return at the end of three years. Another in whom fear 
 
THE CRUSADES. 129 
 
 was stronger than hope, was lost in violence of grief. The husband 
 wore the semblance of indifference, unmoved by the tears of his wife 
 and the kisses of his children, though his heart reproached him for 
 the sternness of his countenance. On the other hand, fathers led 
 their sons to the place of meeting women blessed the moment of 
 separation from their husbands, or if they lamented, it was from 
 tht cause they were not permitted to share the honours and perils of 
 the expedition. In some instances, the poor rustic shod his oxen 
 like horses, and placed his whole family m a cart, where ,* was 
 amusing to hear the children, on the approach to any large town or 
 castle, inquiiing if the object before them was Jerusalem." 
 
 Such was the disordered rabble that attempted the conquest of 
 Palestine, and such the circumstances under which the expedition 
 commenced. Only a small part of the vast multitude ever reached 
 Asia. From the beginning they were illy provided with necessaries^ 
 and therefore had recourse to acts of rapine. Their progress, so de- 
 structive to the countries through which they passed, was frequently 
 arrested by collision with their inhabitants. The Jews of Germa- 
 ny were the first sufferers ; but it was in Hungary and Bulgaria 
 especially, that the outrages committed by the Crusaders were visit- 
 ed upon their own heads. When they arrived at Constantinople, 
 the emperor, Alexius Commenus, to whom they behaved themselves 
 with the utmost insolence and folly, was not slow to rid himself of 
 his troublesome guests. For this purpose he furnihsed them with 
 every aid which they required, and lent his ships to transport them 
 across the Bosphorus. 
 
 They thence pursued their march, but the Sultan Solyman meet- 
 ing them on the plains of Nice, their numbers were too much redu- 
 ced to offer him any thing else than an easy victory. Of their bones, 
 Solyman erected a pyramid near the city, as a monument of his own 
 fortune, and of their headlong counsels. 
 
 3. A new host, which was the most valuable part of this 
 expedition, arrived in the mean time, at Constantinople, as a 
 general rendezvous. The commanders were experienced 
 generals and men of renown. Among them, were Godfrey 
 of Bouillon, by some called commander in chief ; Baldwin 
 his brother; Robert, duke of Normandy ; Hugh, count of Ver- 
 mandois ; Raymond, count of Thoulouse ; Bohemond, prince 
 of Tarentum ; and Tancred, his cousin. These and other 
 warlike princes and captains, inspired by religious enthu- 
 siasm, or military ardour, pledged themselves to redeem the 
 holy sepulchre from the infidels. The troops, when reviewed 
 in the neighbourhood of Nice, amounted to 100,000 horse, 
 and 600,000 foot, including women and servants. 
 
 Alexius, the eastern emperor, did not suffer them to remain 
 Long at Constantinople ; but after seeking to obtain an as- 
 
130 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD Vi. 
 
 tendency over them as a superior ally, be had the address to 
 accelerate their departure. They at length met the Sara- 
 cens, whom they overpowered hy numbers. Having twice 
 defeated the enemy, they took, a f 'er immense difficulty, losses, 
 
 ''- / ' / 
 
 and delay, (he cities of Nice, Edessn, and Antiocli. 
 
 Constantinople, nt the period when the crusader? met there, was 
 the k-gest and most beautiful city of Europe. The most that re- 
 mained of ancient elegance in manners and in arts, was included in 
 that emporium. It \vas the marl of the world, and the scat of em- 
 pire. Though the Gmeks were degenerate, yet such was the splen- 
 dour of their capital. 
 
 The hardy warriors of the north, beheld with amazement, these 
 scenes of magnificence and wealth, whilst they despised the effemi- 
 nate manners and unwarlike character of the people. On the other 
 hand, the accomplished inhabitants of Constantinople, looked upon 
 the northern warriors as barbarians. They speak of them as illit- 
 erate, fierce, and savage, and as nearly resembling their ancestors, 
 the Goths and Vandals, who overturned the Roman empire. They 
 treated their guests sometimes with respect, but oftener with the 
 most hateful duplicity. 
 
 The gold and artifices of the emperor were emp]oyed not without 
 effect most of the leaders of the Croises taking the oath of fealty 
 to him as their liege lord. He was not averse to the destruction ot 
 his enemy, the Turk ; but the numbers and bravery of the warriors 
 of the north, filled his bosom with jealousy. On various pretences, 
 many of them were cut off in his own territories, and they experi- 
 enced several alternatives of peace and war in the country of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 The characters of the celebrated leaders of the Croises, on this oc- 
 casion, may require a passing notice. Godfrey was endowed by na- 
 ture with her choicest gifts. He possessed all the knowledge of the 
 times; and the gentlest manners were united with the firmest spirit. 
 He was capable of the grandest enterprises; his deportment, was 
 moral, and his piety was fervent. To sum up his character, ,in 
 arms he was a hero in his closet a saint. 
 
 The qualities of Baldwin were not so conspicuous. He was brave 
 indeed, but he was ambitious ; and his courage was stained with sel- 
 fishness, cruelty, and injustice. Hugh, w r ho was brother of the 
 French king, called to his side the armed pilgrims from Flanders, 
 and England, and a part of France. He was a brave and accom- 
 plished cavalier, but undevout, and of a proud deportment. Robert, 
 who was a son of William the Conqueror, entered upon the holy 
 war with a furious and precipitate passion. He was eloquent and 
 skilful, but imprudent, yielding, and voluptuous. 
 
 Bohemond posessed neither religion nor probity ; yet to the eye of 
 the vulgar, he was one of the most devoted soldiers of Christ. He 
 was intriguing, rapacious and versatile. Tancred was a compara- 
 
* 
 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 lively pure and brilliant spirit. He was bold and generous, and would 
 have been humane to all mankind, had it not been for the spirit of 
 ,he age. Raymond was inexorable in his hatred of the Musselmans; 
 pride, selfishness, and avarice tarnished his character. 
 The soldier pilgrims all convened on the plains of Nice. 
 
 "There the wild Crusaders form, 
 
 There assembled Europe stands, 
 Heaven they deem awakes the storm, 
 
 Hell the paynims' blood demands." 
 
 The details of the siege and capture of Nice, and the subsequent 
 operations against Edessa and Antioch, cannot be narrated. Suffice 
 it to say, that Nice fell by means of the policy of Alexius, who had 
 joined the Franks or crusaders. While the 'latter, who had with 
 much difficulty and loss, effected some breaches in the wall, were 
 about to storm anew the repairs, the emperor snatched the victory 
 from their grasp, by secretly proposing more favourable terms to the 
 besieged, than could be expected from an enemy that would enter 
 the city sword in hand. The soldiers clamoured ; while the Latin 
 generals, thinking of greater objects, dissembled their disgust, and 
 endeavoured by fair persuasions to stifle the anger of their troops. 
 
 The conquest of Edessa, beyond the Euphrates, was achieved by 
 a few ambitious and courageous soldiers, who had separated for a 
 time from the main body of the Franks, under the command of 
 Baldwin and Tancred. 
 
 Before Antioch could be reached, some fighting was necessary, and 
 the Christians triumphed much fatigue was to be borne, and here 
 many of them sunk. The horrors of the way, and the heat of a 
 Phrygian summer, were fatal to multitudes. Five hundred perished 
 in one day. Mothers, no longer able to afford sustenance to their 
 infants, exposed their breasts to the swords of the soldiers. Many 
 of the horses perished : the baggage was then placed on the backs 
 of goats, hogs, and dogs. When the crusaders came to a country of 
 streams, they threw themselves without caution into the first river 
 that presented itself, and nature could not support the transition 
 from want to satiety. 
 
 The siege of Antioch was protracted, nor was this wholly sur- 
 prising, considering the state of defence in which the city was 
 placed ; as well as on the other hand, the unskilful operations of the 
 Croiscs, the famine in- their camp, the numerous desertions from 
 among them, and the relaxation of their morals. The Latin chiefs 
 put forth prodigious efforts of valour; but the city was finally taken 
 by stratagem. A traitor delivered it into the hands of the Franks, 
 and 10,000 Turks were massacred. When the thirst of blood was 
 slaked, the assassins turned robbers, and became as mercenary as 
 they had been merciless. They seized all the wealth of the place, 
 and exchanged their fierceness for the more civilized vices of de- 
 bauchery and hypocrisy. While they rioted in unbounded indul 
 gence, they gave God thanks. 
 
 The taking of Ar.tioch was very soon followed by a set battle 
 
132 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 with the Mussel mans ; for the hosts of the Moslem world pitched 
 their tents round the fallen capital. The excesses of the crusaders 
 Avere followed by famine in its every horrid form ; and hud not 
 some superstitious frauds been practised, by which their zeal and 
 courage were re-excited, they would have shrunk from a contest 
 with the formidable army which now opposed them under the ex- 
 citements of religion ; however, they met it, and triumphed in the 
 affray. 
 
 4. The Croises pursued their successes, and after various 
 desertions and delays they penetrated to Jerusalem. Thia 
 venerable city, which had been so often destroyed and rebuilt, 
 was taken by storm after a siege of six \veeks, and the whole 
 of its inhabitants, both Mahometans and Jews, were barba- 
 rously put to the sword, 1099 A. C. The crusaders were by 
 this time reduced to a very inconsiderable number. Of the 
 709.000 that appeared before Nice, 40,000 only encamped 
 around Jerusalem. Of these, only 21,500 were soldiers. In- 
 cluding the rabble of Peter, the possession of Nice, Edessa, 
 and Antioch, had cost the lives of more than 850,000 Euro- 
 peans. 
 
 The victories of the Crusaders were gained with difficulty. 
 After the capture of Antioch, their embarrassments were not a 
 few. Alexius had acted a cowardly and perfidious part. Hugh, 
 count of Verimndois, soon abandoned the holy cause, a*nd returned 
 to France. The march of the Christian forces was purposely 
 delayed several months, by the commanders, although the soldiers 
 were impatient to proceed to Jerusalem. This delay, however, was 
 attended by the most serious evils. Discord prevailed among the 
 princes rapine and theft among the people. A pestilence spread 
 throughout their hosts, which, in a few months, destroyed more 
 than one hundred thousand persons. In the mean time, several 
 wars of ambition were waged, in the neighbouring provinces. Th 
 forces which attacked the town of Marra, were so urged by famin 
 that many of the soldiers turned cannibals, and devoured the fles 
 of their enemies, whom they massacred with the utmost cruelty. 
 
 At length, the Christian warriors set their faces towards the hoi 
 city. When it came in view, every heart glowed with rapture- 
 every eye was suffused with tears. The joy of a moment out 
 weighed years of sorrow. In their heated imaginations, the sepul- 
 chre was redeemed, and the cross triumphed over the crescent, IJut 
 the anticipation of success was much easier than the reality. The 
 most strenuous exertions were necessary, and the enthusiasm and 
 valour of the Christians were carried to the greatest height. After 
 several alternations of partial victory and defeat, the walls of the 
 sacred city were carried, and all Jerusalem was in possession of the 
 champions of the cross. The blood of the Saracens attested the 
 ferocity of the victory, and the price at which their conquest 
 
THE CRUSADES. 133 
 
 obtained. Ten thousand of the vanquished were butchered in the 
 mosque of Omar alone, to which they had fled as a- sacred asylum. 
 In this place, the croises are said to have ridden in the blood of the 
 Saracens up to the knees of their horses. Ten thousand, or accord- 
 ing to some, a much larger number, were massacred in the streets. 
 The Christians* committed these dreadful deeds from principle rather 
 than from passion. It was a horrid principle indeed ; but intoler- 
 ance was unhappily the spirit of the age. 
 
 5. With considerable foresight, the conquerors of Jerusalem 
 established a Christian kingdom in the heart of Palestine. 
 An extension of territory was indispensable to the security of 
 the city from the Mussulman hordes that surrounded it. At 
 the head of this kingdom, Godfrey, the most worthy of the 
 heroes of Christendom, was placed by the suffrages of the 
 Christians. He reigned however but one year, during which 
 time he defeated the sultan with an immense army at Asca- 
 lon. At the expiration of the year, he was compelled to give 
 up his kingdom to the pope's legate. Several kings reigned 
 after him, but their history need not be told. 
 
 An impolitic act of the crusaders, by which their power was 
 weakened, was. at length, the division of Syria and Palestine 
 into four separate states. Having accomplished their object, 
 they began to return to Europe ; but in proportion as they 
 withdrew, the Turks recovered their strength. The crusa- 
 ders, who remained in Asia, found themselves so surrounded 
 by foes, that they were at last obliged to solicit aid from Chris- 
 tendom. 
 
 The fruits of this first crusade ill repaid its immense loss and ex- 
 pense, and were comprised within the small territory of Jerusalem, 
 the dominion of which was bounded by the term of eighty years. 
 The holy war, nevertheless, continued to be recommended by 
 the popa and the clergy with unabated earnestness. It was still re- 
 presented to be the cause of the Son of God, an engagement in which 
 was the most meritorious of all acts, and insured salvation, whether 
 in the success or defeat. 
 
 6. The aid which was needed in the East was socfri afford- 
 ed. Europe sent forth a second crusade in 1147. St. Ber- 
 nard, who was the great oracle of the age, ha/, the influence 
 to excite Louis VII. of France, and Conrad 111. of Germany, 
 to undertake the defence of the kingdom of Jerusalem. Three 
 
 ^j 
 
 hundred thousand of their subjects assumed the cross. The 
 bsue of this enterprise was disastrous in the extreme. 
 
 Manuel, the emperor of the Greeks, gave intelligence of their 
 plans to the Turkish sultan, and provided them with freache- 
 
 12 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 rous guides. The army of Conrad, which took the lead, fell 
 first into the snare. Those who did not perish by hunger in 
 the deserts, fell into the jaws of the Musselmans. Only a 
 tenth part secured their retreat to the army of Louis. Louis, 
 also duped by the Grecian emperor, advanced through the 
 same country to a similar fate. In the defile of a mountain near 
 Laodicea ; his army was totally defeated. 
 
 At Jerusalem, these unfortunate monarchs met to lament 
 their sad reverses of fortune. The feeble remains of the mighty 
 armies which they had led, were joined to the Christian pow 
 ers of Syria, and a fruitless siege of Damascus was the final 
 effort of the second crusade. 
 
 A few particulars may be given respecting the preacher of the se- 
 cond crusade. St. Bernard, by the superiority of his talents, and also 
 ofliis consideration in the eyes of Europe, was far more capable than 
 Peter the Hermit, of exciting enthusiastic emotions. His ardent and 
 religious mind soon disdained the follies of youth ; and casting off the 
 desire of celebrity as a writer of poetry and songs, he wandered in the 
 regions of spiritual reverie, or trod the rough and thorny paths of 
 polemical theology. 
 
 At the age of 23, he embraced the monastic life, and soon after- 
 wards founded the monastery of Clairvaux, in Champaigne. His 
 miraculous eloquence separated sons from their fathers, and husbands 
 from their wives. His earnestness and self-denial in religion, gained 
 him. the reverence of his contemporaries, and in disputes he was 
 appealed to as an incorruptible judge. Such was his austerity, 
 that happening once to fix his eyes on a female face, he immediately 
 reflected that this was a temptation, and running to a pond he leap- 
 ed up to his neck into the water, which was of an icy coldness, to 
 punish himself and vanquish the enemy. 
 
 Such a man was the fit tool of the pope, Eugenius III., who order- 
 ed him to travel through France and Germany, and to preach a 
 plenary indulgence to those who would, under the banners of their 
 kings, bend their way towards the holy land. As Peter had repre- 
 sented the scandal of suffering the sacred places to remain in the 
 hands of the infidels, the eloquent Bernard thundered from the pul- 
 pit the disgrace of allowing a land, which had been recovered from 
 pollution, to sink into it again. This voice raised armies and depo- 
 pulated cities. According to his own expression, " the towns were 
 deserted, or, the only people that were, in them were widows and 
 orphans, whose husbands and fathers were yet living." 
 
 7. The state of the holy land between the second and 
 third crusades deserves a passing notice. A feeble sway was 
 held by most of the chiefs of the kingdom of Jerusalem. The 
 death of Baldwin III., however, was lamented as a public 
 calamity. His successors were Almeric, Baldwin IV., and 
 
 
THE CRUSADES. 135 
 
 Guy de Lusignan. The miseries of war were often expe- 
 rienced from their Musselman enemies. It was daring this 
 period, that the celebrated Saladin, nephew of the Sultan of 
 Egypt, attained the height of his glory, and became lord of that 
 country. He formed the design of recovering Palestine from 
 the Christians. 
 
 8. The occasion of the third crusade was, the success of Sa- 
 iadin against the Latins in Jerusalem. He had previously 
 subdued Tiberias, and received the submission of Acre, Jaffa, 
 and some other places. Jerusalem offered an obstinate resist- 
 ance, but in vain. The city was taken after a siege of a few 
 days, and Guy de Lusignan was made prisoner, 1187 A. G. 
 The conqueror treated the inhabitants with singular clemency. 
 The infidels were now once more established m the city of the 
 prophets. 
 
 The conquered Latins, on being obliged to leave Jerusalem, con- 
 sumed four days in weeping over and embracing the holy sepulchre. 
 The women entreated the conqueror to release to them their fathers, 
 husbands, and brothers. With courteous clemency Saladin released 
 all the prisoners whom they requested, and loaded them With pre- 
 sents. 
 
 9. The conquests effected by the infidels, filled Europe with 
 grief, and almost with despair. The losses occasioned by the 
 former crusades, had rather dismayed the public mind. Small 
 masses of men continued indeed to move towards the East, 
 but it required a degree of management and much exhorta- 
 tion to wake up a general interest in favour of a third crusade. 
 Pope Clement III. at length prevailed on three sovereigns to 
 engage in the holy enterprise. These were Philip Augustus, 
 of France, Richard I., sumamed the Lion-hearted, and Fre- 
 derick Barbarossa, of Germany. 
 
 The forces of Philip and Richard are computed at one hun- 
 dred thousand soldiers ; it does not appear how many follow- 
 ed the standard of Frederick. The latter, in passing through 
 the Greek empire, was prudent and humane, although the 
 haughtiness and duplicity of the emperor Isaac Angelus, sub- 
 jected him to much inconvenience. The Germans defeated 
 the Turks in a general engagement, and took Iconium. But 
 unfortunately, their sovereign lost his life in consequence of 
 bathing in the river Calycadnus. After the death of Barba- 
 rossa, his army dwindled to a small number. 
 
136 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 The English and French, for a short time, proceeded h^ 
 moniously in the career of victory. They took Acre, a place 
 of great strength. Soon, however, the bitter feelings of mi- 
 litary envy and national hatred began to be excited, the con- 
 sequence of which was, that the French monarch returned 
 home, leaving' a portion of his army under the command of 
 Richard. Left alone to sustain the contest, Plantagenet dis- 
 played all the heroism of chivalry. He found himself at the 
 head of nearly thirty thousand French, German, and English 
 soldiers. With this force he defeated the illustrious Saladin, 
 near the plains of Ascalon. Political disturbances in England, 
 made Richard solicitous to return thither, especially, as his 
 ranks were now thinned by disease and famine. With this 
 object in view, he concluded a favourable treaty with his ene- 
 my, and attempted to return to his dominions. In passing 
 through Germany, however, unaccompanied by his troops, he 
 was seized by the order of the duke of Austria, and made 
 prisoner. It was not until after along captivity, and the pay 
 ment of an immense ransom, that he was restored to his na- 
 tive land. Not long after the departure of Richard, Saladh> 
 paid the debt of nature. 
 
 In the treaty which was formed between Richard and Saladin, 
 the Christian monarch, and the sultan of Egypt, interchanged ex- 
 pressions of esteem. The grasping of each other's hands, was the 
 only and sufficient pledge of fidelity. A truce was agreed upon for 
 three years and eight months ; the fort of Ascalon was to be destroy- 
 ed ; but Jaffa and Tyre, with the country between them, were to be 
 surrendered to the Christians. 
 
 In leaving Palestine, Richard, with his queen, embarked in a ship; 
 but the violence of a tempest dispersed his fleet, and so shat- 
 tered the vessel he was in, that it became impossible for him to 
 reach England in that way. He then made for Germany ; but his 
 person was endangered as he travelled the country, since the fact of 
 his being there became known to some of his enemies. After va- 
 rious escapes, he arrived at a town near Vienna. Two individuals 
 only were with him. one of whom was a boy, who understood the 
 German language. 
 
 The party were too harassed to proceed. The German boy was 
 sent to the market-place to purchase provisions. Through the libe- 
 rality of his master, he was so neatly and elegantly dressed, that the 
 people could not but notice him. The consequence was that he was 
 questioned, and giving unsatisfactory answers, he was seized and 
 scourged. Being at length threatened with the cutting out of his 
 tongue, if he did not tell the truth, he was obliged reluctantly to dis 
 close the secret of the real quality of his master. 
 
THE CRUSADES. 137 
 
 Richard was immediately secured, and though at first treated 
 with respect, was soon confined in prison. Being sold at length to 
 che emperor, Henry VI. removed him to a castle in the Tyrol. But 
 the strongest walls are not sufficiently secure for the feors of a ty- 
 rant. Armed men were sent into his chamber, and commanded to 
 watch him with the utmost strictness. 
 
 Here, sometimes, the royal captive calmed his angry soul, by sing- 
 ing the warlike deeds of the heroes of romance. At other times, he 
 diverted melancholy by the composition of poems. Occasionally, 
 he forgot his misfortunes, and the apparent negligence of his friends. 
 His native hilarity conquered the bitterness of his spirit ; he laugh- 
 ed at the frequent intoxication of his gaolers, he sported the keen- 
 ness of his wit, and in the boisterousness of his merriment, displayed 
 his personal strength and agility. 
 
 At the request of his mother, the queen Eleanora, the Pope inter- 
 fered for his release ; and, after a trial on some pretended crime, it 
 was concluded to ransom the English monarch, as though he had 
 been a prisoner of war, the English people paying about 150,000 
 marks of silver to the German emperor. 
 
 10. By the energy of Richard, Palestine was saved from 
 becoming a Mussulman colony i and so much of the sea coast 
 was in the hands of the Christians, and so enfeebled was the 
 enemy, that it was safe to commence hostilities, whenever 
 Europe should again pour forth her religious and military fa- 
 natics. This event was not long delayed, notwithstanding 
 the infinite losses and sufferings, which had hitherto resulted 
 from the crusades. 
 
 A fourth crusade was fitted out in 1202, by Baldwin, count 
 of Flanders, who collected an army of the Flemish and 
 French, professedly to attack the Mahometans, though it 
 seems to have found another enemv. Like the other crusa- 
 
 / 
 
 ders, he made the eastern Christians first feel the effect of 
 European adventure and military enthusiasm. Indeed, his 
 efforts ended here ; for, arriving at Constantinople, at a time 
 when there was a dispute for the succession, his interference 
 afforded the occasion of plundering the city, and securing the 
 possession of the imperial throne of the East. The Venetians 
 lent their vessels for the enterprise, and participated in it. 
 
 Some historians reckon a crusade anterior to the war carried on 
 by Baldwin, denominating his the fifth. There were expeditions 
 from Germany in the intermediate time ; but it may be doubtful 
 whether they deserve the name of a distinct crusade. Indeed, there 
 were so many different expeditions, some public and others private, 
 that, the designation of a certain number of separate crusades, seems 
 *omewhat arbitrary. According to the common accounts, we have 
 
 12* 
 
138 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 assigned the name of the fourth crusade, to the expedition of which 
 the count of Flanders was the leader. 
 
 The third crusade was created by the ordinary influence of papal 
 power and royal authority ; but the fourth sprang from genuine 
 fanaticism. Fv t lk, who was worthy of companionship with Ber- 
 nard, became a preacher distinguished by the vehemence with which 
 he declaimed against certain vices of the age. With his celebrity, 
 increased his desire to be generally useful to mankind. The natu- 
 ral consequence in that superstitious age, was, that he turned his 
 eye towards the east, and assumed the cross. The copious matter 
 of his sermons was the war with the infidels. Around the man 
 of God, all classes thronged, and thousands were eager to assume 
 the insignia of holy warriors. Nor was Pope Innocent III. inactive 
 in the cause, having required the various temporal and spiritual 
 chiefs of Christendom to take up arms for the defence of Palestine, 
 or at least to send him considerable succours of men and money. 
 
 Application having been made to the Venetians for the loan oi 
 their ships, and the Venetians themselves desiring to embark in the 
 enterprise, the croises at length set sail for Constantinople. That 
 proud city, once the sister and rival of Rome, was fallen so low, 
 that the aid of the western barbarians was invoked by a claimant to 
 the throne of the Caesars. In his behalf, war against the Greek em- 
 pire was resolved on, and Constantinople was made the point of 
 attack. The particulars of the assault need not be given, but it is 
 a striking account drawn up by an old writer, that when the inva- 
 ders, at the distance of three leagues, beheld the city, " the magni- 
 tude and splendour of Constantinople awed the courage of the 
 bravest ; and not without reason, for never since the creation of the 
 world, had so bold an enterprise been undertaken by so small a 
 force." The Greeks made a display of numbers and strength, but 
 the nerves and soul of war were not in them. The partisans of the 
 usurper, Alexius, made only a feeble defence, and soon abandoned 
 the city to its fate. The city was captured, and the young Alexius 
 sat on the throne. 
 
 After one or two revolutions in the government, the allied army 
 of French and Venetians, who had been paid the tribute which they 
 required, and had been kept in the vicinity of Constantinople, deter- 
 mined to seize the city on their own account. This, after a severe 
 struggle, was effected ; and a severe struggle it ought to have been 
 on the part of the invaders, when only 20.000 men captured the 
 largest city in the world. There were 400,000 men capable of bear- 
 ing arms in Constantinople. The excesses of the barbarians were 
 enormous. To their eternal infamy, they destroyed most of the re- 
 mains of the noble monuments of genius, in the sculpture and sta- 
 tuary of the Pagan world. In no conquered city, it is thought, was 
 there ever obtained so much booty. One historian remarks, that the 
 gold and silver, the silk, the gems, and precious stones, and alJ 
 those things which are accounted riches, were found in more abuu 
 dance than all the Latin world could furnish." 
 
THE CRUSADES. 139 
 
 11. Baldwin, as the reward of his success against the capi- 
 tal of the East, was invested with the Roman purple, 1204 
 But he was dethroned and murdered, after a reign of a few 
 months. The Imperial dominions were shared among the 
 principal leaders ; the Venetians obtained the Isle of Candia, 
 as their portion. By the acquisition of Constantinople, the 
 injuries of the crusaders were avenged ; and, for the present 
 they looked for no other conquest. The dominion of the La- 
 lins, however, lasted but fifty-seven years. Few events on 
 die page of history have been equally curious and interesting, 
 with the establishment of this people in the city of Constan- 
 tine. 
 
 12. In the former part of the thirteenth century, succeed- 
 ing the crusade against the Greek empire, several expeditions 
 were fitted out against the Musselmans. In these, the Ger- 
 mans, Hungarians, French, English, and Italians, were prin- 
 cipally concerned. Their object seems to have been, not so 
 much Palestine, as Egypt. Success crowned their efforts at 
 first, and one of the expeditions, under the duke of Austria, 
 captured Darnietta, an event which filled the Musselman em- 
 pire with alarm ; but the mortality of the country, and the 
 return of many of the European soldiers, with other causes, 
 finally rendered the acquisitions of the crusaders, in that coun- 
 try, of no avail, and the unbelievers still retained their power. 
 
 13. The fifth and last of these extraordinary expeditions 
 against the infidel world, was led by Louis IX. of France, 
 There had been previously a few smaller adventures, espe- 
 cially by the English, who had the good fortune to redeem 
 the holy sepulchre. But it was soon lost, and the fears of the 
 Christian world were in a degree aroused. It was, however, 
 obvious that the crusading spirit in Europe had at length be- 
 gun to languish, and it would at this crisis have entirely died 
 away, had not Louis felt the strong stirrings of fanaticism and 
 chivalry. He kept it alive a few years, after which, this folly 
 of a dark and barbarous age was heard of no more. 
 
 The warlike heroism and religious devotion of the French 
 monarch, commanded the reverence of mankind. Indeed, in 
 many respects, he was an amiable and estimable prince, though 
 deeply imbued with the unworthy superstition of the times. 
 His efforts preserved to the Christians, for a time, the land of 
 Palestine, which was m danger, not from the Saracens, but 
 
140 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD IV. 
 
 from the Tartars. This fierce people were then pouring over 
 the face of Asia. 
 
 Louis spent three years in preparation, when he set out for 
 Palestine, with his queen, three brothers, and a powerful train 
 of French knights, 1248 A. C. He had greatly encouraged 
 the fainting hearts, of the Christians in Palestine, by the men 
 and troops he had sent thither before his own departure. The 
 invasion of Egypt was his first object. Here, he lost one half 
 of his army by sickness, was defeated in battle, and fell a 
 prisoner into the hands of his enemy. 
 
 After ransoming himself and his followers, he proceeded to 
 the Holy Land, in which he continued a considerable time. 
 On his return, to France, he devoted himself, wisely, to the 
 regular cares of government, during thirteen years, and would 
 probably have long continued useful and happy, had not the 
 mad spirit of crusading seized him again., In obedience to 
 its dictates, he embarked on a crusade against the Moors in 
 Africa. In this adventure, he and the greater part of his 
 army perished, in consequence of a pestilence. Louis has 
 been honoured with the title of saint. 
 
 History records, that on the subject of crusading, the mind oJ 
 Louis was influenced by the following circumstance. Agreeably to 
 the temper of the times, he had vowed, whilst afflicted by a severe 
 illness, that in case of recovery he would travel to the holy land. 
 In the delirium of his fever he had beheld an engagement between 
 the Christians and the Saracens ; the infidels were victorious, and 
 the brave king of a valiant nation fancied himself called upon to 
 avenge the defeat. 
 
 The following incident indicated the king's zeal for a crusade. 
 One night, during the Christmas festival, Louis caused magnificent 
 crosses, fabricated by goldsmiths, to be sewn on the new dresses, 
 which, as usual upon such occasions, had been bestowed upon the 
 courtiers. The next day the cavaliers were surprised at the religious 
 ornaments that had been affixed to their cloaks ; piety and loyalty 
 combined to prevent them from renouncing the honours which had 
 been thrust upon them, and the good king obtained the title of the 
 hunter for pilgrims <\nd fisher of men. 
 
 Louis could have adopted the lines of a French rhymer of the 
 thirteenth century. 
 
 " Lo, now the fruitful hour at hand ! 
 
 To thec the precious boon is given, 
 
 For Paynims waste the holy land, 
 
 And spoil the heritage of heaven. 
 
 Shall we such faithless works behold, 
 
 With craven courage slack and cold 1 
 
 How elijo, but to the Giver's praise, 
 
 May we devote our wealth and days. 
 
THE CRUSADES. 141 
 
 The French, on landing in Egypt, captured Damietta ; but the 
 rashness of the Count d'Artois was the means of checking 
 them in the career of victory. Sad reverses soon ensued, and 
 though Louis defended himself with the greatest bravery, he was 
 obliged to yield to the enemy. Being taken prisoner with his army, 
 he offered for his own ransom the city of Damietta, and for the de- 
 liverance of his soldiers 500,000 livres. One fifth part of the latter 
 was remitted through the generosity of the sultan. 
 
 In Louis' second expedition against the infidels, he was joined by 
 the English ; so that his force amounted to sixty thousand men. 
 Mis fleet being driven into Sardinia, a change was made in the de- 
 sign of the pilgrim hero, and an attack upon the Musselman Moors 
 of Africa was fixed upon. Pestilence, however, prevented the me- 
 ditated blow, and the great stay of the crusades fell. 
 
 The English portion of the forces, which had not reached Africa, 
 when the death of Louis took place, made their way to Palestine, 
 under the conduct of Prince Edward. Feats of arms were per- 
 formed; but the Turks were fast overunning the holy land, and 
 with the capture of Acre, by that adventurous people, was connected 
 the final loss of a country, on which the eyes of fanatical Europe 
 had been fastened for more than two hundred years. 
 
 14. Among the causes of the decline and cessation of the 
 fanatical military spirit of Europe, may be enumerated the 
 following, viz. the decrease of the moral influence of the popes, 
 and the increase of their tyranny, which the people were loth 
 to bear the avarice of the popes and priests, in converting to 
 their own purposes the funds which were raised to support the 
 holy wars the consequent unwillingness of the people to be 
 taxed the scandal which was cast on the crusades, when 
 many of the soldiers of the cross were diverted from their re- 
 ligious purpose, to promote the secular objects of the court of 
 Rome and most of all, the increasing conviction on the part 
 of the people, that no lasting conquest of Palestine could be 
 made by the sovereigns of Europe. These causes were too 
 powerful even for the deep darkness and superstition of the 
 age, ambition, love of military achievement, and desire of 
 plunder. 
 
 15. Various opinions have been formed and maintained 
 respecting the tendency and effects of the crusades. By some, 
 they are thought to have benefitted Europe on the whole- 
 by others, they are supposed to have been positively disadvan- 
 tageous. We incline to the latter opinion. They who look 
 upon the crusades in a favourable light in respect to their con 
 sequences, nevertheless admit, that the} 7 were immediately 
 
142 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 
 
 distressing and pernicious. It is in the final result that they 
 imagine the crusades to have been beneficial on the whole. 
 In the final result, it has been maintained that they improved 
 the political condition, the manners and customs, the naviga- 
 tion and commerce, the literature, and the religion of Europe, 
 
 That there was a very gradual amelioration of the wes- 
 tern nations in the above particulars, is admitted. But this 
 was a state of things, which it is natural to believe, time 
 might have produced, aided as it was by other causes. In 
 deed, from the nature of the convulsions which attended, or ra- 
 ther constituted the crusades, it is certain that they must have 
 tended to retard the progress of society, learning, and religion, 
 so far as they produced any effect? That they were not pro- 
 ductive of any good, in any shape, it would be hazardous to 
 assert. But providence can overrule the greatest evil, so that 
 it shall be less evil than it would otherwise be ; and our point 
 is made out, if the evil flowing from the crusades overbalan- 
 ces the good, in quality or amount. 
 
 Let any one who doubts this, reflect that the crusades 
 \vere the offspring of a dark and ignorant age that they 
 were kindled by the false fires of fanaticism and superstition, 
 and moreover, were perverted, if so base a project could be 
 perverted, by ambition, love of military renown, and a savage 
 desire of plunder. They agitated, convulsed, and distressed 
 Europe, and every family in Europe, for two centuries. They 
 drained that portion of the globe of men and money, to an in- 
 supportable degree. The bones of two millions of Europeans 
 were entombed in Asia, or whitened her plains. The trea- 
 sures that were expended are past computation. Under the 
 sacred name of religion, every crime and every folly was me- 
 ditated and committed. The path of the fanatical warriors 
 of the west was every where marked with blood. They were 
 too stupid and too superstitious to regard with complacency 
 or with a desire of imitation, those superior modes of life and 
 specimens of genius which they met with in their excursions 
 into the East. They even laid their sacrilegious hands on the 
 monuments of ancient art, which chance or bravery put into 
 their power, and in the repeated conflagrations of Constanti- 
 nople, they rejoiced to see, in many instances, the destruction 
 of those works, the remains of which the world has since 
 been proud to own. 
 
FRANCE. . 143 
 
 They err, who count it glorious to subdue 
 By conquest far and wide, to over-run 
 Large countries, and in field great battles win, 
 Great cities by assaults : what do these worthies, 
 But rob and spoil, burn, slaughter and enslave 
 Peaceable nations. * * * 
 
 " A view of the heroic ages of Christianity," says an interesting 
 historian, "in regard to their grand and general results, is a useful 
 and important, though a melancholy employment. The Crusades 
 retarded the inarch of civilization, thickened the clouds of ignorance 
 and superstition, and encouraged intolerance, cruelty and fierceness. 
 Religion lost its mildness and charity ; and war its mitigating quali- 
 ties of honour and courtesy. Such were the bitter fruits of the Ho- 
 ly Wars. We can follow with sympathy, both the deluded fanatic, 
 and the noble adventurer in arms, in their wanderings and marches 
 through foreign regions, braving the most frightful dangers, patient 
 in toil, invincible in military spirit. So visionary was the object, so 
 apparently remote from selfish relations, that their fanaticism wears 
 a character of generous virtue. The picture, however, becomes 
 darkened, and nature recoils with horror from their cruelties, and 
 with shame from their habitual folly and senselessness." 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 16. In 1108 the throne of Prance was ascended by Louis 
 VI., surnamed the fat, son of Philip I. He carried on a war 
 with Henry I. of England, but was not successful. The 
 English defeated his army at the battle of Brenneville, 1119 
 A. C. He was an accomplished and energetic sovereign. 
 
 In Louis' flight after the battle, an Englishman seized his horse's 
 bridle, exclaiming, " the king is taken." u The king is never taken," 
 said Louis, "not even in a game of chess," and then struck his ene- 
 my dead at his feet. 
 
 17. Louis VII., the young, succeeded his father in 1137. 
 The extent of his reign was 46 years. He quarrelled with 
 the Pope about the nomination of an archbishop, and had 
 his kingdom put under an interdict. He was very unsuc- 
 cessfully engaged in the holy wars, and in consequence of 
 having divorced his queen, heiress of the great dutchy of 
 Guienne, who soon married Henry Plantagenet, (afterwards 
 Henry II. of England) he lost one fifth part of the French 
 monarchy, including the provinces before held by the En- 
 glish. 
 
 Louis was educated in an Abbey, and the Abbeys at this period 
 produced several distinguished men, among whom were Suger, his 
 minister, a man of great political sagacity ; St. Bernard, whose agen- 
 
144 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 cy in the second crusade has already appeared ; and Abelard, who 
 story remains to be told. 
 
 In conformity to the spirit of the age, and his own education, Louis 
 made several pilgrimages, and among others visited the tomb of Tho- 
 mas a Becket, at Canterbury. In one of these pilgrimages he died, 
 His tomb, in the abbey of Barbeau, was opened in 1556, by Charlet 
 IX., and the body found in a high state of preservation. On the fin 
 gers were several gold rings, which, having been taken off, were 
 worn by Charles, together with a gold chain, which was found in 
 the tomb. 
 
 18. The son of Louis, Philip II., surnamed Augustus, 
 ascended the throne in 1180. ' His reign was a long one also, 
 being 43 years. Since the days of Charlemagne, France 
 had seen no sovereign so ambitious and enterprising in war, 
 as Philip. The most signal events of his reign, were his 
 expulsion of the Jews from France ; his engagement in the 
 third crusade, with Richard COBUU de Lion ; his invasion ol 
 Normandy during Richard's absence ; his victory over Otho 
 IV., emperor of Germany ; and the offer of the crown of 
 England to him for his son Louis, by the English barons 
 
 His engagement in the third crusade has already appeared. On 
 the return of Richard to England, a disastrous war ensued between 
 him and Philip, the English king determining to punish him for 
 seizing Normandy. Richard, dying during the prosecution of this 
 war, was succeeded by his brother John, whose pretensions to the 
 crown of England were, however, disputed by his nephew, Arthur, 
 aided by Philip. Arthur having been made prisoner, and put to 
 death by his inhuman uncle, the latter was summoned by Philip, to 
 appear in his quality as duke of Normandy, before a tribunal of his 
 peers. On his refusal, Philip attacked and subdued several of the 
 French provinces that were then held by the English, and united 
 Normandy to the crown of France, 300 years after it had been detach- 
 ed from it by the incapacity of Charles the simple. 
 
 From the reign of Philip, may be dated the Inquisition, 
 which was first established in France, whence it found its 
 way into Italy, Spain, and Portugal. 
 
 19. Louis VIII., surnamed the Lion, mounted the throne 
 of his father in 1223, and died in 1226. He was a man of 
 valour, and hence his surname. He took all the possessions 
 of the English on the continent, as far as the Garonne. His 
 character was that of a persecutor. 
 
 Louis prosecuted a barbarous crusade against certain sectaries in 
 Languedoc and Gascony, who presumed to attack the dogmas 01 
 the Church of Rome. At the siege of Avignon, he was poisoned 
 by the count of Champaign. 
 
FRANCE. 145 
 
 20. Louis IX. 5 styled Saint Louis, became king at the age 
 of twelve years, in 1226, under the regency of his mother. 
 Louis possessed many excellent qualities was pious, upright, 
 and benevolent. His single fault was fanaticism ; though in 
 every thing he did, the purity of his motive was conspicuous. 
 He conferred a considerable benefit on his country, notwith- 
 standing the errors into which his fanatical spirit led him. 
 With Henry III. of England, he waged a successful war. 
 
 An account has been given of the two crusades in which he was 
 so unfortunately engaged, and in the last of which he perished. 
 
 Henry III. demanded the provinces which, it seems, Louis' father 
 nad promised to restore. A tender was made of Poitou, and of the 
 best part of Normandy ; but this did not satisfy Henry, who resolv- 
 ed to try the issue of a battle, in which he was defeated. 
 
 21. Philip III., surnamed the Bold, succeeded his father in 
 1270. His surname, it is thought, was not well deserved. 
 He was the dupe of the artifices of his courtiers, and had no 
 predominant trait, except a passion for amassing wealth. He 
 brought back from Africa the miserable remains of his 
 father's army. He died on his return from an expedition 
 against Peter III., of Arragon, who had usurped the kingdom 
 of Sicily, and through whose instigation, eight thousand 
 Frenchmen were massacred in that island. 
 
 Charles of Anjou, uncle of Philip, had lately become king of 
 Sicily, and acted the tyrant towards its inhabitants. By a deed of 
 cruelty towards a brother of the wife of Peter, he made the latter 
 his enemy. Peter, in revenge, excited the Sicilians to revolt and 
 murder. All the French of the island were, by a previous concert, 
 butchered in cool blood, on the evening of Easterday. Philip un- 
 dertook to avenge this massacre, but the general failure of the ex- 
 pedition, afflicted the French king so much, that he fell into a de- 
 cay, of which he died. 
 
 22. Philip IV., the Fair, ascended the throne of his an- 
 cestors, in 1285. He was remarkable for his personal beauty 
 and accomplishments. His disposition, however, was sin- 
 gularly contrasted with his features and form. He was am- 
 bitious, deceitful, perfidious and cruel. Refusing to obey the 
 summons of the Roman pontiff, Boniface VIIL, to march 
 against the Saracens, he was excommunicated, and his king- 
 dom laid under an interdict. A severe contest ensued, the 
 result of which was the humiliation of the Pope, and even- 
 tually his death. 
 
 In 1314, Philip suppressed the order of the Knights Temp- 
 
 13 
 
146 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 lars, from a desire, it was thought, to obtain their immense 
 wealth. 
 
 The haughty Boniface, in a bull, had declared, that " the Vicar of 
 Christ is vested with full authority over the kings and kingdoms of 
 the earth." Philip, in return for the indignity put upon him, de- 
 nounced Boniface as an impostor, heretic, and simoniac, and declar- 
 ed the see of Rome vacant. He contrived also, by means of a trusty 
 agent, to seize the person of the pope. The persons concerned in 
 the transaction, caused his holiness to ride on a horse without sad- 
 dle or bridle, with his face turned towards his tail. He was, how- 
 ever, rescued at length ; but the loss of his immense treasures, 
 while he was retained from his palace, threw him into a frenzy 
 that killed hin* 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 23. Norman family , Plantagenets. The throne of Eng- 
 lar-i, on the death of Rufus, was secured by his younger 
 oroiher, Henry I., surnamed Beauclerc, or the Scholar, 1100. 
 The rightful heir was Robert, an older brother ; but as he 
 was absent on a crusade, Henry availed himself of so favoura- 
 ble an opportunity to fill the vacant throne. 
 
 Robert, who was duke of Normandy, soon arrived in Eng- 
 land to claim his right ; but he was prevailed upon to forego 
 it, by the offer of a sum of money. Still, Henry was not 
 satisfied, but ere long invaded Normandy ; and at last defeat- 
 ed Robert, brought him prisoner to England, caused his 
 eyes to be burned out, and confined him for life, in a castle 
 in Wales. 
 
 The injustice -with which he had treated ,'tobert, seems to 
 have been visited upon him by the hand of Providence, in 
 the calamities of his after life ; particularly in the death of his 
 only son, who was drowned on his passage from Normandy 
 to England. 
 
 Henry was one of the most accomplished of the English 
 sovereigns brave, affable, and learned ; but his conduct in 
 many instances, shewed that he was wanting in moderation, 
 purity, and gratitude. 
 
 Henry married a Saxon princess, Matilda great grand-daughter 
 of Edmund Ironside, and thus united the Saxon and Norman olnod. 
 This circumstance endeared him to the English, and procured then- 
 support. 
 
 The story of the death of Henry's son, w. <>se name was William, 
 i* briefly the following. The captain ar seamen of the vessel iy 
 
ENGLAND. 14i 
 
 which he set sail for England, becoming intoxicated, carelessly struck 
 her upon a rock. She foundered immediately, but William was 
 saved by being put into a long-boat. He had already got clear of 
 the wreck, when hearing the cries of his natural sister, the countess 
 of Perche, he ordered the seamen to row back, in hopes of saving 
 her. But the numbers who then err wded in, soon sunk the boat ; 
 and the prince with all his retinue perished. 
 
 The effect of the news on Henry was melancholy indeed. Ho 
 fainted away, and during the remainder of his life, was never known 
 to smile. 
 
 24. Henry's cousin, Stephen, earl of Blois, was crowned 
 king of England, 1135. His popularity enabled him to usurp 
 the throne, when of right it belonged to the empress Matilda. 
 or Maud, and her son Henry. 
 
 Matilda first married Henry V., emperor of Germany afterwards 
 Henry Plantagenet, earl of Anjou. By the latter she had several 
 children, of whom Henry was the oldest. 
 
 In behalf of Matilda, the earl of Gloucester, natural bro- 
 ther of the empress, took up arms against Stephen, defeated 
 him in the battle of Lincoln, and made him prisoner. But 
 ihe fortune of war soon turned against Gloucester. He was 
 defeated in the battle of Winchester, and taken prisoner, 
 but was exchanged for the king. 
 
 Four years after this event, young prince Henry, son of 
 Maud, invaded England ; but the great men on both sides, 
 (earing the consequences of a battle, compelled the rival 
 princes to a negociation. The succession was secured to 
 Henry, after the death of Stephen. This event taking place 
 the next year, Henry became king. 
 
 Stephen was well calculated to be an efficient sovereign ; 
 but he reigned under unfavourable circumstances, and his 
 elevation brought suffering on himself and his people. Dur- 
 ing his whole reign, England was rent with civil broils. 
 
 From the beginning, Stephen dreaded Robert, earl of Glouces- 
 ter, a man of honour. and abilities, and zealously attached to Maud. 
 He took, indeed, the oath of fealty to Stephen ; but he took it with 
 the reserve, that the king should never invade any of his rights or 
 dignities. This was an example for others ; and many of the cler- 
 gy and nobility, as the price of submission, required the right of 
 fortifying their castles. England was soon filled with fortresses, 
 and the power of the aristocracy rose to a formidable height. 
 
 25. Henry II. succeeded to the throne in 1154. He was 
 the first of the Plantagenets who wielded the sceptre, till 
 the time of Henry IV. In him was mingled the 
 
148 MODEB X HISTORY.- -PERIOD VI. 
 
 of the Saxon kings >f England, and of the Norman family 
 He was the most powerful monarch of Christendom. His do 
 minions were more sxtensive than those of any of his pre- 
 decessors, as, in addition to England, he owned by inheritance 
 and by marriage, nearly one half of France, and afterwards 
 claimed Ireland by conquest. 
 
 Happy in the affections of his people, he had the prospect 
 of a prosperous reign ; but though England owed her first 
 permanent improvements in arts, laws, government, and civil 
 liberty, to his measures, he was personally subjected to many 
 calamities. A most serious misfortune, was his contention 
 with Thomas k Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. This 
 arrogant ecclesiastic, a man of great talents and greater am- 
 bition, availed himself of the authority of his station, to ex- 
 alt the spiritual power above the crown ; and when the king 
 undertook the reformation of the clergy, and to limit their 
 prerogatives, he met with the most determined opposition from 
 Becket. In the course of the contention, the ecclesiastic was 
 killed. The horror excited in Henry's mind by this event, 
 aided by the agitation into which England was thrown, led 
 him to perform the most humiliating penance at the tomb of 
 the saint. 
 
 Becket was first promoted by the king, to the dignity of chan- 
 ceUor of England, to which station his talents and learning entitled 
 him. Henry afterwards appointed him to fill the high place of me- 
 tropolitan, falsely supposing that from his gr.y and splendid turn, he 
 would not be attached to ecclesiastical priv : /eges. But no sooner was 
 he in his new situation, than he affected personally the greatest aus- 
 terity, and recited continually; prayers and pious lectures, maintain- 
 ing his ancient pomp only ir nis retinue and attendants. In all this, 
 his determination to exalt tl>: spiritual power, was visible to sagacious 
 observers. 
 
 That power was already 'oo great. The ecclesiastics of that age 
 had renounced all imn te Late subjection to the magistrate ; and as 
 many of them were of low character, they committed the most de- 
 testable crimes with impunity. They were charged even with the 
 foulest murders. The attempts of the king to put this order of men 
 into a better state, resulted in what are called the Constitutions of 
 Clarendon. These were the decisions of a general council of the 
 nobility and prelates at Clarendon, in which, the limits between the 
 civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, are distinctly marked, and which, 
 by the king's influence, were framed so as to favour his prerogatives. 
 
 The clergy, generally, professed to submit to these decisions, but 
 Becket stood aloof: and though at length he took oath to observe 
 them, it was by no means in good faith. He repented of his tempo- 
 
ENGLAND 149 
 
 rary subjection, and endeavoured to influence the other bishops to 
 follow his steps. Henry, however, made him feel the royal power, 
 Dy Ihe confiscation of his property on some pretence. This act, 
 Becket resented, by excommunicating the king's chief ministers, and 
 abrogating the constitutions of Clarendon. On some further instance 
 of his arrogance, the king was so vehemently agitated, that he ex- 
 claimed, almost in reproaches, against his servants, whose " want oi 
 zeal," he said, "left him exposed to the machinations of that un 
 grateful and imperious prelate." Four knights of his household, 
 taking these passionate expressions to be a hint for the primate' 
 death, instantly agreed among themselves, to avenge their prince's 
 quarrel ; and pursuing Becket, found him, slenderly attended, in the 
 cathedral of St. Benedict, and there, before the altar, clove his head 
 with many blows. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the consternation of the king upon this 
 event, and with a view to avert the resentment of the pope, he sub- 
 mitted to the most humiliating treatment, even to the scourging of 
 his naked body, by the monks. 
 
 Endless were the panegyrics on the virtues of Becket ; k U the 
 miracles wrought by his relics, were more numerous, more .14. tu- 
 lous, and more impudently attested, than those which ever mlod ihe 
 legend of any confessor or martyr. He was canonized ; a jubilee 
 was established for celebrating his merits ; and innumerable pilgrim- 
 ages were made to his tomb. In one year, 100,000 pilgrims are said 
 to have resorted thither. 
 
 An important event in the reign of Henry, was the con- 
 quest of Ireland. He seized the opportunity of making war 
 on the island, when one of its petty chiefs, expelled by his 
 sovereign, sought his protection. Henry's arms were success- 
 ful, and the island was formally annexed to the English crown, 
 in 1172. From that time, however, for some centuries, there 
 was little intercom /e between the kingdoms ; nor was the 
 island ever considered as fully subdued, till the reign of Eli- 
 zabeth, and of her successor, James I. 
 
 The Irish were an early civilized people, and among the first of 
 the nations of the West, who embraced the Christian religion. But 
 by the frequent invasions of the Danes, and their own domestic com- 
 motions, they were replunged into barbarism, for many ages. In the 
 twelfth century, the kingdom was divided into five separate sove- 
 reignties, but these were subdivided among a vast number of petty 
 chiefs. 
 
 Henry divided Ireland into counties, appointed sheriffs in each, 
 and introduced the laws of England into a part of it ; the rest of 
 the kingdom being regulated by their ancient laws, till the reign of 
 Edward I., when, at the request of the nation, the English laws were 
 extended to the whole kingdom. 
 
 Henry, much as he accomplished for the welfare of JH 
 
 13* 
 
150 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 realm, was seldom exempt from calamity for a long time to 
 gether. His last years were particularly .unhappy. Tht> 
 fault, however, was in a great measure his own. His illicit 
 passion for Rosamond, whose extraordinary beauty made 
 her the theme of many a ballad and romance, excited the 
 resentment of his queen Eleanora, through whose means, 
 three of his sons rebelled against him. Europe beheld with 
 astonishment these sons, scarcely beyond the age of boy- 
 hood, engaged in a series of efforts to wrest the sceptre from 
 so potent a prince as Henry. They were, however, aided 
 by the king of France. The contest began in Henry's French 
 territories. He soon crushed his enemies there ; then return- 
 ing to England, and obtaining a victory over the Scots, who 
 had embraced the cause of the young princes, he immediate- 
 ly restored tranquillity to the country. He was not suffered 
 long to rest ; his unnatural sons, though leniently treated, re- 
 volted again, joined by John, his fourth and favourite son. 
 Henry, distracted with care, and overcome with the ingrati- 
 tude of his children, died of a broken heart, in the fifty- 
 eighth year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign. 
 
 Two of his sons, Henry and Geoffrey, died suddenly while en- 
 gaged in their rebellion. The force of parental affection, is remark- 
 ably exemplified in Henry's death, and, to the honour of the king, 
 deserves notice. When the son was seized with a fever, he was 
 conscious of his approaching dissolution, and sent a message to his 
 father, with a humble confession of his faults, and entreated the 
 favour of a visit. The king was not very distant, but apprehensive 
 that his sickness was feigned, durst not trust himself in his hands. 
 But when he received intelligence of his death, he was overcome 
 with grief ; he fainted away, accused his own hard-heartedness, and 
 lamented that he had deprived his son of the opportunity of pour- 
 ing out his soul in the bosom of an affectionate and reconciled father. 
 
 His son Richard associated his youngest brother, John, in the last 
 insurrection. When the unhappy father heard this, already sinking 
 in cares and sorrows, he broke out into expressions of the utmost 
 despair ; cursed the day of his birth, and loaded his ungrateful chil- 
 dren with maledictions which he never would recall. 
 
 Henry II., was one of the ablest of the English kings. His 
 reign was also highly beneficial to his subjects. He was en- 
 dowed with a natural sensibility, which his long experience 
 of the ingratitude of man never impaired. But his licentious- 
 ness \vas too apparent, and his enmities too durable. His 
 person was of a middle stature, strong and well proportioned, 
 his countenance engaging, and his elocution easy. 
 
ENGLAND. 15] 
 
 26. Richard I., the Lion-hearted, succeeded his father in 
 1189. He possessed a most heroic nature, and rivalled the 
 heroes of Greece, in warlike enterprises. His disposition was 
 open and generous, but at the same time, ambitious, haughty, 
 and cruel. He spent most of his reign in the mad project of 
 the crusades, which have already been described, and particu- 
 larly the part which was acted by this chivalric king. After 
 an absence of nine years, he reached England, but died within 
 a few, months, having first pardoned his traitorous brother 
 John, and attempted to avenge the wrongs he had received 
 from Philip of France. His foreign and distant wars exhaust- 
 ed the resources of his country. 
 
 27. John, surnamed Lackland, succeeded his brother upon 
 the decease of the latter. His reign commenced in 1199, and 
 continued to 1216 A. C. It was marked with the most dis- 
 gusting tyranny and crime. 
 
 He received his surname from the loss of his territories in France, 
 of which he was stripped by the French king. The latter supported 
 the pretensions of Arthur, John's nephew, whom John finally mur- 
 dered. 
 
 Early in his reign, he made the pope his enemy, by ap- 
 propriating to his own purposes, some of the treasures of the 
 church, and he met with the full extent of the papal ven- 
 geance. At first obstinate, he was finally intimidated into 
 submission. His kingdom was put under an interdict, him- 
 self excommunicated, and after several personal concessions, 
 he engaged to hold his kingdom tributary to the Holy See. 
 By this conduct he incurred the deep hatred and contempt 
 of his people. 
 
 So greatly did the court of Rome triumph over him, that John did 
 homage to Pandulf, the pope's legate, in the most abject manner, 
 and paid part of the tribute which he owed for his kingdom, while 
 the legate, in the haughtiness of sacerdotal power, trampled on the 
 money, as an earnest of the subjection of the kingdom. 
 
 The subjects of John, treated with such indignity, and even 
 sold, felt it necessary to vindicate their rights. The barons, 
 under the command of Langton, the primate, assembled, and 
 binding themselves by an oath, to a concert of measures, de- 
 manded from the king a ratification of a charter of privileges, 
 granted by Henry I. The king was highly exasperated; and 
 refused the demand, till resort was had to the sword. Desert- 
 ed by his people, he was obliged most reluctantly to yield a 
 
152 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 compliance. At Runnymede, where he met his barons, 
 signed, on the 19th of June, 1215, that famous deed called 
 Magna Charta, (the Great Charter.) which has had so pro- 
 pitious an effect on the liberty of Englishmen. It secured 
 important rights to all classes of his subjects, though some ot 
 its stipulations, from the change of manners and institutions, 
 appear at this day trivial or ridiculous. 
 
 The charter consisted of fourteen specifications, of which, two or 
 three, the most important, were that no aids or subsidies should be 
 allowed to be levied from the subjects, unless in a few special' cases, 
 without the consent of the great council that no person shall be 
 tried on suspicion alone, but on the evidence of lawful witnesses 
 and that no person shall be tried or punished, but by the judgment ol 
 his peers and the law of the land. 
 
 John granted at the same time, the Charter of the Forest, which 
 abolished the royal privilege of killing game" over all the kingdom, 
 and restored to the lawful proprietors their woods, which they 
 were allowed to enclose for their own private purposes. 
 
 The king, forced into these measures against his will, medi- 
 tated a dreadful revenge against his barons, by the aid of fo- 
 reign mercenaries, and began to lay his own realm waste 
 with fire and sword. But, at a critical time, when Louis, the 
 eldest son of Philip of France, had arrived in England, to 
 assist the barons, with the expectation of receiving the crown 
 himself, John suddenly died. Louis was obliged to return to 
 France, and the succession was settled on Henry, the son of 
 John, a boy of nine years of age. 
 
 In the person of John, the English were scourged with a tyrant, 
 more odious and capricious than any other of their sovereigns, be- 
 fore or since. To tyranny, he added cowardice, levity, licentious- 
 ness, ingratitude, and treachery. His vices were, however, made, 
 providentially, the occasion of great blessings to his subjects, in the 
 enjoyment of a portion of liberty, which they wrested from his 
 weakness. 
 
 28. Henry III. began his reign in 1216, the earl of Pem- 
 broke being appointed protector during the king's minority 
 His disposition, which was easy and fickle, led him and his 
 subjects into numerous difficulties and disasters. The weak- 
 ness of his understanding scarcely preserved him from con- 
 tempt, and joining profusion with oppressive exactions, and 
 lavishing his favours on foreigners, he displeased both the no- 
 bility and the populace. His reign was as unhappy as it was 
 protracted, being marked with many bloody contentions. 
 
ENGLAND. 153 
 
 Henry, though in general a mild and merciful prince, 3, et violated 
 the great charter in confiscating the estates of some of the obnoxious 
 nobles, without a trial by their peers. When remonstrated with on 
 the subject, he replied, " Why should I observe this charter, which 
 is neglected by all my grandees, both prelates and nobility ?" to 
 which it was justly returned, " You ought, sir, to set them the ex- 
 ample." 
 
 Henry's imprudent measures encouraged Simon de Mont- 
 fort, earl of Leicester, to attempt to wrest the sceptre from 
 the feeble hand which held it. He succeeded in part ; and 
 as the consequence of a battle, he took both the king and his 
 son Edward, prisoners. But through the interference of the 
 parliament, which Leicester summoned, he deemed it prudent 
 to release the prince, who was no sooner set at liberty, than he 
 took the field against the usurper, and gained over him the 
 famous battle of Evesham. In this battle Leicester was kill- 
 ed, and the gallant Edward enjoyed the happiness of repla- 
 cing his father on the throne. 
 
 Leicester had assumed the character of regent, after having com- 
 pelled the king to resign the regal power. In the parliament which 
 was called, he summoned two knights from each shire, and deputies 
 from the principal boroughs. From this era, is dated the commence- 
 ment of the House of Commons. Deputies representing the boroughs, 
 had not before constituted a portion of the national council. 
 
 In the battle which took place between Prince Edward and Lei- 
 cester, the rebels, who still retained the old king, had purposely pla- 
 ced him in the front of the battle. Being clad in armour, and there- 
 by not known by his friends, he received a wound, and was in dan- 
 ger of his life ; but crying out " I am Henry of Winchester, your 
 king," he was rescued from impending death. 
 
 Edward, afterwards, sought and revived the glory of the 
 English name, in the land of Palestine ; but the kingdom 
 suffered most severely in the mean time, under the imbecile 
 reign of the aged monarch ; the barons oppressing the com- 
 mon people, and the populace of London returning to their 
 accustomed licentiousness. The death of Henry, after a 
 reign of more than 55 years, left the kingdom in more vigor- 
 ous hands. 
 
 29. Edward I., (Longshanks) was crowned in 1272. His 
 first object was to correct the disorders which the civil com- 
 motions had introduced. In this work, he let loose the whole 
 rigour of his justice on the Jews, who had been accused of 
 adulterating the public coin. Multitudes of them lost their 
 lives, or their property and homes. 
 
154 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 Edward's next project was the conquest of Wales. He in- 
 vaded the country with a force too great to he resisted ; and 
 after killing Llewellyn, the Welsh prince, and the flower of 
 his warriors, he received the submission of the Welsh nobili- 
 ty, 1283. From this period Wales has been united to Eng- 
 land, and the English laws established throughout the princi- 
 pality. 
 
 It is said that Edward, in order to conciliate the Welsh, gave 
 them for a prince, his own son, who was born in their country. The 
 title of Prince of Wales, has ever since descended to the eldest sons 
 of the English kings. 
 
 The Welsh, inhabiting the western part of the island of Great 
 Britain, were the descendants of that portion of the ancient Britons, 
 who had escaped the Roman and Saxon conquests, and preserved 
 their liberty, laws, manners, and language. The occasion of Ed- 
 ward's attack upon this people, was their prince's refusal to perfuTQ 
 the customary homage to the English crown. 
 
 The next project of Edward, was the conquest of Scotland. 
 Great success attended his arms at different times, but he was 
 never able to effect a total and final conquest of that part of 
 the island. As the history of England and Scotland is so in- 
 timately connected, a brief account of the latter, to the time 
 at which we are now arrived, will be in place below, and 
 will supersede the necessity of a separate narrative. 
 
 The northern part of the island was anciently called Caledonia, 
 from a word which is said to have signified a forest, or mountainous 
 country. Subsequently, and at an early period, it received the name 
 of Scotia, or Scotland ; and then it derived it from the Scots, who 
 originally lived in the north of Ireland. The name Scot, is probably 
 the same as Scuth, or Scythian the people being emigrants from 
 the Baltic countries. 
 
 The history of Scotland, before the reign of Malcom III., is ob- 
 scure, and in a degree uncertain. This prince, by the defeat of Mac- 
 beth, the murderer of his father Duncan, succeeded to the throne in 
 1057. A war which took place between him and William the Con- 
 queror, was equally disastrous to both kingdoms. He prolonged the 
 contest with Rufus, the son of William, with credit to his bravery ; 
 while to the virtues of his queen, Margaret, his kingdom, in its do- 
 mestic policy, owed a degree of civilization scarcely known in those 
 untutored ages. 
 
 Under his successors, Alexander I., a spirited prince, and David 
 I., a most excellent sovereign, Scotland successfully defended itself 
 against the English, and, under the latter king, onquered the whole 
 earldom of Northumberland ; but the defeat of William I., (the Li- 
 on) was disastrous to the kingdom, since he was taken prisoner by 
 Henry II.. and, as the piice of his release, was compelled to do ho- 
 
ENGLAND. 155 
 
 mage for his whole kingdom. This obligation, however. Richard I. 
 generously discharged. 
 
 Alexander III., dying without male issue, in 1285. Bruce and Bali- 
 ol. descendants of David I., by the female line, were competitor? for 
 the crown. Edward was chosen umpire of the contest, and on this 
 ground, arrogated to himself the feudal sovereignty of the kingdom. 
 He took possession of the country, and adjudged the crown to Bali- 
 ol, on the condition of his doing homage to him, as liege lord. Ba- 
 iiol, however, soon renounced his allegiance, but was compelled at 
 length by the English monarch, to abdicate the throne ; the latter 
 having defeated him with great slaughter, in the battle of Dunbar. 
 
 The war commenced by Edward against the Scots, did 
 not terminate during his life time. It continued 70 years, 
 and involved both countries in all the miseries of bloodshed. 
 Edward twice defeated the facets and took possession of their 
 country, and twice they re-asserted their liberties ; once under 
 the heroic but unfortunate William Wallace, and once under 
 the gallant and more fortunate Robert Bruce, the Scottish 
 king. As Edward was preparing to invade Scotland the 
 third time, with an immense army, he suddenly sickened and 
 died, at Carlisle, in the 35t v year of his reign, and the 69th 
 of his age. He was removed for interment to Westminster 
 Abbey.* 
 
 The conduct of Wallace was a remarkable instance of heroism. 
 A few patriots, only, joined him at first, but his successes finally 
 brought large numbers to his standard. While Edward was absent, 
 and engaged in war on the continent, Wallace attacked his troops in 
 a desperate engagement at Stirling, and obtained a complete victory. 
 
 The disaffection of the Scotch nobles, who envied Wallace his dis- 
 tinction as governor of the country, under Baliol, again exposed them 
 to the attack of the English. Edward, in person, defeated them 
 with an immpnse loss, in the battle of Falkirk. After a fruitless re- 
 sistance, the Scots submitted to Edward ; and the heroic Wallace, 
 eventually betrayed, and carried in chains to London, was condemn- 
 ed as a rebel, and infamously executed on Tower-hill, to the lasting 
 dishonour of the English king. 
 
 Robert Bruce, grandson of the Bruce who was the competitor of 
 Baliol, redeemed the honour of his country. Resenting its humili- 
 ation, he set up the standard of war. The genius of the nation then 
 roused itself. Bruce was solemnly crowned at Scone, 1306, and fu- 
 riously attacking the English, who were dispersed in their quarters, 
 he again expelled them the kingdom. It was immediately after v 
 that Edward died, on his way to Scotland. 
 
 * The tomb of this king was opened in 1774, when Ms body was found un- 
 consumed. 
 
156 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 Edward was an able prince, and excelled both as a warrior 
 and statesman. The wisdom of his political measures is es- 
 pecially conspicuous. In moral qualities, however, he wag 
 far from being an example fit for imitation. Ambition, a 
 spirit of revenge, and an unfeeling heart, too plainly charac- 
 terized him. 
 
 Under his reign, the Constitution of England gradually 
 advanced. He passed a statute which declared that no tax 
 or impost should be levied without the consent of lords and 
 commons. He ratified magna-charta on several occasions ; 
 and henceforward this fundamental law began to be regard 
 ed as sacred and inviolable, while parliaments have been held 
 in regular succession. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 30. Germany, during this period, enjoyed but little trail 
 quillity. The contest between the Empire and the Papal 
 See, continued under a succession of emperors and popes, 
 but ended commonly in favour of the latter. The treat- 
 ment which some of the emperors received from the popes, 
 was extremely humiliating. Frederick I., (Barbarossa) a 
 prince of high spirit, after indignantly denying the suprema- 
 cy of Alexander III., and refusing the customary homage, 
 was finally compelled to kiss the feet of his Holiness, and ap- 
 pease him by a large cession of territory. Henry VI., while 
 doing homage on his knees, had kis imperial crown kicked 
 oil' by pope Celestinus, who, however, made some amends 
 for this indignity, by the gift of Naples and Sicily. Henry 
 had expelled the Normans from these places, and they now 
 became appendages of the empire, 1194. 
 
 The claims of the popes upon the empire, rose to such a 
 height, that in the begining of the thirteenth century, In- 
 nocent HI., established the powers of the popedom on a settled 
 basis, and obtained a positive acknowledgment of the papal 
 supremacy, or the right irreversibly to confer the crow r n of 
 the empire. 
 
 It was a consequence of the contentions between the im- 
 perial and papal powers, to divide the states of Italy, several 
 of which belonged to the empire, into two violent factions, 
 by which Italy was so long devastated. These were known 
 
EASTERN EMPIRE. 157 
 
 by the name of the Guelphs,* and Ghibellines, the former 
 nuimiaining the cause of the popes, the latter that of the 
 emperors. Frederic II., carried on an opposition to four suc- 
 cessive popes ; but though he was excommunicated and de- 
 posed, he kept possession of his .throne, and exercised his 
 authority with a commendable firmness. On his death, 1250, 
 the empire began to wane, and confusion and anarchy pre- 
 vailed till the election of Rodolph of Hapsburgh, in 1273. 
 
 During the latter part of the period above referred to, there was 
 a nominal sovereign, viz., Alphonso X., king of Castile, who was 
 elected emperor, but who, detained at home, neglected the affairs of 
 Germany. 
 
 No laws were then observed ; no order was maintained ; but 
 murder, theft, and rapine, were committed with impunity, and the 
 constitutions of the empire were totally neglected. Sanguinary 
 wars resulted from the feuds of private noblemen; bishops and 
 clergymen, forgetful of their sacred character, embrued their hands 
 in blood, for the augmentation of their benefices ; commerce was 
 almost annihilated ; and travelling could not be performed with any 
 safety. 
 
 In the history of Germany, during the present period, few other 
 occurrences are worthy of notice. The following anecdote may be 
 worth recording. One of the favourites of Henry VI., observed to 
 lim that he fatigued himself too much with giving audience, which 
 ^frequently interfered with his regular meals. Henry replied, " that 
 although a private man was at liberty to eat when he pleased, a 
 prince ought not to sit down to table, till he had discussed the affairs 
 of his people." 
 
 The reign of Lotharius was rendered remarkable, by some ex- 
 cessive heats in Germany, which withered the corn and fruits of 
 the earth, dried up the most considerable rivers, and occasioned a 
 dreadful mortality among the cattle. 
 
 EASTERN EMPIRE. 
 
 31. The affairs of the Eastern Empire were, in part, nar- 
 rated in the history of the crusades. Little, therefore, needs 
 be added to this record, in respect f.o the present period. The 
 outward splendour of the empire was yet considerable, but the 
 progress of decay was obvious. The Greeks manifested 
 their cunning, and sometimes their treachery, in their treat- 
 ment of the crusaders. The emperors, though on many ac- 
 
 * The family now on the throne of Great Britain bear the surname of 
 Gueiph, and are descended from the Guelphs here spoken of. 
 
 14 
 
\ 
 
 158 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 counts they wished success to the crusaders, yet dreaded their 
 power, and hetween these two passions, the soldiers of the 
 cross became the dupes and the victims of their policy. The 
 weakness of the empire was seen, when Constantinople, its 
 capital, was taken by a handful of French and Venetian 
 crusaders, and held in subjection nearly sixty years. 
 
 Within the limits of the present period, about nine empe- 
 rors sat on the throne of the East, besides the five French or 
 Latin emperors who reigned at Constantinople. During the 
 reign of the latter, four Greek emperors reigned at Nice, over 
 the remainder of the empire. 
 
 It was under Michael Palseologus, 1261, that Constantino- 
 ple was recovered by the Greeks from its Latin conquerors. 
 When the former and ancient sovereigns of the city deter- 
 mined to retake the seat of the empire, Pakeologus was found 
 possessed of the requisite ambition. Favoured by circumstan- 
 ces, and skilful in the application of means, he accomplished 
 the object ; and the second seat of the venerable Roman do- 
 minion was destined yet longer, to be held by the successors 
 of the great Constantine. 
 
 The designs of Palreologus were promoted by the Genoese, the 
 rivals of the Venetians. The Latins had been gradually driven 
 from their last possessions in Thrace ; and at a time when the bra- 
 vest of the French and Venetians were absent from the city, a 
 general of Palceologus advanced in the night to its gates. He suc- 
 ceeded in entering it, partly by a subterranean passage into the 
 centre of the <;ity. Baldwin, the Latin emperor, in dismay, escap- 
 ing to the sea-shore, was conveyed to Italy, and spent the remainder 
 of his life in vainly attempting to rouse the Catholic powers to 
 join in his restoration. 
 
 No names besides Paloeologus are much distinguished, except 
 those of Alexis Comnenus, and his son John Alexis. The one was 
 an able and politic sovereign, as his management of the crusaders 
 abundantly evinced. The other, with talent, united moral worth, 
 and seemed by his virtues to revive the age of Marcus Antoninus. 
 
 The lamentable end of a cruel usurper named Andronicus, is worth 
 recording, as it shews how much the wicked, in death, sometimes 
 feel that they need the divine mercy. The butcheries of Androni- 
 cus had wearied the patience of the citizens of Constantinople. 
 They rose en-masse against him, headed by Isaac Angelus. In their 
 rage* the populace tore from him successively his teeth, his hair, an 
 eye, and a hand ; and being suspended for three days, every person 
 who could reach the public enemy, inflicted on him some mark o{ 
 ingenious or brutal cruelty, till at length two Italians, out of mere} 
 or rage, plunging their swords into his body, released him from al 
 
SARACENS. 159 
 
 human punishment. During this long and excruciating torture, 
 ' Lord have mercy on me," and " Why wilt tliou break a bruised 
 , :" : vvt're tue only words that escaped his mouth. Our pity for 
 the man, seems almost to absorb our hatred of the tyrant 
 
 SARACENS. 
 
 , 32. The empire of the SARACENS, before the conclusion of 
 this period, was destined to be no more. Their history is 
 partly involved in the details of the crusades. The ener- 
 gies of fanatic Europe, were exerted against the followers of 
 the prophet, with some intervals, nearly two centuries, and 
 terrible was the destruction of life on both sides. The king 
 dom of Jerusalem, under Christian sovereigns, which origi- 
 nated from the crusades, lasted not quite a century and a 
 half. The Saracens, on recovering this domain, held it, how- 
 ever, but a short time. In a few years after, the Tartars from 
 the east swept over the regions which the Saracens had con- 
 quered, and blotted out their name from the list of empires. 
 
 This event occurred 1258 years A. C. From the close of 
 our last period to the termination of their dominion, ten ca- 
 liphs of the house of Abbas, reigned at Bagdad. The last 
 of the caliphs was Mostasem, who was put to death at the 
 time the city was captured. The Tartars were led by Ha- 
 laku, their general, who after a few assaults, took Bagdad, 
 which contained immense riches, and gave it up seven days 
 to be pillaged by his troops. 
 
 A few particulars may be noticed concerning some of the 
 caliphs. 
 
 Of one, named Mohammed, it is said, that he quitted life with such 
 extreme regret, that when about dying-, he ordered his troops, his 
 court, and all his treasures, to pass before him, as it were in a view ; 
 and after he had considered all these objects, observed, " how is it 
 possible that a power so formidable as mine, is not able to diminish 
 the weight of my disorder one single grain, nor to prolong my life 
 only for a moment." He then concluded his reflection with the fol- 
 lowing remarkable words. " Unhappy is the person who spends 
 his time in amassing those things which he must leave, and does 
 not maKe the principal object of regard, that Being in whom all 
 things are to be found." 
 
 The reign of Al Moktafi must have been remarkable for justice. 
 This the following anecdote may prove. A man convicted of ca- 
 lumny, was sent by him to prison. One of his noble 5 offered to give 
 him two thousand pieces of gold coin for his release, to which the 
 
160 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 caliph replied, "pnt another ir^n. guilty of the same crime, in rtw 
 power.and 1 wil; . and ; lor I am exiiTiiidy anxious 
 
 to ek'ar my dominions of these pe*ts of society." 
 
 The later caliphs, in the decline of the Saracen empire, were not 
 the warlike sovereigns that their predecessors had been. They 
 thought only of securing their ease and pleasure. Mostasem, above 
 spoken of, exceeded all the caliphs in ostentation and pride. When 
 he appeared in public, he usually wore a veil, the more effectually 
 to attract the respect of the people, whom he considered as un- 
 worthy to look at him. On those occasions, nothing could exceed 
 the eagerness of the multitude to see him, by crowding the streets, 
 and hiring the windows and balconies, at the most exorbitant prices. 
 The manner of his death was degrading and distressing in the ex- 
 treme, and Hulaki designed it as a punishment of his pride 
 Through the same streets, and exposed to the view of the same po 
 pulace, the cruel Tartar caused the wretched caliph to be dragged 
 confined in a leather bag, till he expired. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 33. In the history of CHINA, the present period includes a 
 part both of the nineteenth and twentieth of the dynasties of 
 her emperors. The whole of the nineteenth comprised se- 
 venteen emperors. It was during this period that the cele- 
 brated Genghis Khan, and his successors, established their 
 dominion in China. Heading the Mogul Tartars, who inha- 
 bited a desert and inhospitable region, Genghis Khan, in 
 1209, entered China, poured over the northern provinces, and 
 compelled them to submit to his authority. Kublay, his son, 
 called by the Chinese, Houpilay, entered on his father's con- 
 quests in this country, and reigned for a time over the 
 northern provinces. 
 
 Li-tsong, and his three sons and a nephew, in succession, 
 were the last sovereigns of the nineteenth dynasty, and reigned 
 over the southern part of the empire. It is said that Kublay 
 (more probably a descendant of his) brought the whole of the 
 country into subjection in 1280, and that with the nineteenth 
 dynasty, ended, in fact, the Chinese dominion until the year 
 1357 
 
 Kublay had the wisdom and prudence to govern the 
 Chinese according to their ancient laws and customs. This 
 procedure, together with the general excellence of his charac- 
 ter, entirely reconciled the people to the Tartar sway, so far 
 as they were brought under it. 
 
 The Mogul Tartars, who conquered China, were a wandering 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 161 
 
 race, and given to arms. The extent and rapidity of their con- 
 quests have rarely been equalled in history. In the beginning of the 
 thirteenth century, Genghis Khan overran, besides China, already 
 mentioned, India, Persia, and Asiatic Russia. Batou/jan, one of his 
 sons, ravaged the western nations to the frontiers of Germany. But 
 Genghis and his sons were not the only conquerors who arose from 
 among this people. From the vast tract of country inhabited by the 
 Tartars, have sprung the conquerors who produced all the great re- 
 volutions in Asia. Besides the personages just named, the Turks, 
 who are a race of Tartars, overwhelmed the empire of the caliphs. 
 Mahmouc), a Tartar, conquered Persia, and a great part of India, in 
 the tenth century. After Genghis, as we shall hereafter see, Tamer- 
 lane, the scourge of the Turks, subdued a great part of Asia, and 
 Baber, a remote descendant of Tamerlane, conquered all the region 
 between Samarcand and Agra, in the empire of the Mogul. The 
 descendants of those conquerors now reign in India, Persia, and 
 China. 
 
 Distinguished characters in Period VI. 
 
 1. Abelard, a scholastic divine. 
 
 2. Walter de Mapes, a poet, the Anacreon of the twelfth 
 century. 
 
 3. Averrces, an Arabian philosopher and physician. 
 
 4. Genghis Khan, a Mogul, conqueror of Asia. 
 
 5. Matthew Paris, an early English historian. 
 
 6. Th. Aquinas, a celebrated teacher of School Divinity. 
 
 7. Roger Bacon, an eminent English philosopher. 
 
 1. Abelard, was born in Brittany, 1079, and became celebrated for 
 his learning and misfortunes. He was one of the most eminent di- 
 vines of the twelfth century, though his conduct ill agreed with his 
 sacred profession. He was criminally vain of his personal and 
 mental accomplishments, but his most notorious failings relate to 
 his conduct towards Heloise. With the most consummate art, he 
 gained the favours of that beautiful and accomplished female, to 
 their mutual dishonour. They were soon afterwards married in 
 private, to pacify her uncle and family, though she never would 
 acknowledge the union, inasmuch as she preferred the name of a 
 mistress, to that of a wife. Their subsequent conduct eventually ex- 
 cited the indignation of her friends to such a degree, that they 
 hired certain ruffians to maim his person in the most shameful 
 manner. 
 
 In the oratory of the Paraclete which Abelard built, the unfor- 
 tunate Heloise finally found a refuge, where she spent her days 
 with her sister nuns. She retained her affection for Abelard, though - 
 tie returned it with a coldness and indifference, which cannot but 
 sxcite our indignation. Whilst he languished during the decline of 
 life, under the unmanly vengeance of the uncle of Heloise, he forgot 
 that she, once virtuous, had sacrificed her name, honour, and 'hap- 
 
 14* 
 
162 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VI. 
 
 piness, to his, passion. The poem of Pope, in which he celebrates 
 the loves of Abelard and Heloise, is a brilliant, but corrupting pro- 
 duction, and not even the bard can soften the features of deformity, 
 which mark the character of Abelard in this particular. 
 
 The writings of Abelard, are mostly on subjects of theology or 
 logic. 
 
 2. Walter de Mapes, was chaplain to Henry IT. Under king John 
 he was made canon of Salisbury, precentor of Lincoln, and arch- 
 deacon of Oxford. He wrote in Latin, and in a satirical style. 
 Some of his verses are still read and admired for their sprightliness. 
 He imitated the gay humour of Anacreon. He was a facetious 
 companion. 
 
 3. Averroes was born at Cordnba. where his father was judge un- 
 der the emperor of Morocco. His knowledge of law, divinity, math- 
 ematics, and astrology, was very extensive, and to this was added 
 the theory, rather than the practice, of medicine. After being pro- 
 fessor in the university of Morocco, he was called away to succeed 
 his father in the office of Judge in Corduba, and soon after, he was 
 invested with the same powers in Morocco and Mauritania. 
 
 His authority and talents procured him enemies, who envied and 
 calumniated him, and through their efforts he was, for a time, sus- 
 pended and degraded, on a charge of heresy. He was, however, 
 restored at length to all his honours. He died at Morocco, 1206. 
 
 In his private life, Averroes was regular, and devoted much of his 
 time to philosophical pursuits. He was particularly fond of Aristo- 
 tle, on whose works he wrote commentaries. His modical works 
 are scarce, and above mediocrity ; and of his numerous verses on 
 amorous and light subjects, very few remain. 
 
 4. Genghis Khan, was son of a khan of the Moguls, and born 
 1163. He began to reign at the age of 13, but on account of a re- 
 volt of his subjects, he fled for safety to Aventi-Khan, a Tartar 
 prince, whom he supported on his throne, and whose daughter he 
 married. But the jealousy of Aventi obliged him to escape a se- 
 cond time, and being pursued by Aventi and his son, he defeated 
 them both, and their army revolting to him, he soon increased it. 
 
 From this occurrence, he became a renowned conqueror. In the 
 space of 28 years he subdued the greater part of Asia, and render- 
 ed himself as famous for his skill in government, as for the valour 
 of his arms. He died in 1227, leaving his vast dominions, which 
 extended 1800 leagues in length, and 1000 in breadth, properly divi- 
 ded among his four sons. 
 
 5. Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk, was a universal scholar, 
 and in that dark age, confessedly possessed reit. and astonishing 
 erudition. He is chiefly celebrated as a historian, though not un- 
 known as an orator and poet. His abilities and well known integri- 
 ty, fitted him for the work in which he so zealously engaged, of re- 
 forming the monasteries, and re-establishing the ancient purity of 
 church discipline, even in opposition to the papal power. His great 
 production was "Historia Major," in two parts, from the creation to 
 William the Conqueror, and from the Conqueror to the year 1250, 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 163 
 
 With Henry III. he was familiarly acquainted ; yet his account of 
 the reign of that prince, seems not to be at all tinged with flattery, 
 or sullied with any violation of historic truth. 
 
 6. Th. Aquinas, called the angelical doctor, was of a noble family, 
 descended from the kings of Arragon and Sicily. His inclination to 
 embrace an ecclesiastical life, was strongly opposed by his mother. 
 She even confined him two years in her castle. But escaping from 
 her custody, he found the means of improving himself by study, and 
 it was not long before he appeared at Paris, reading public lectures 
 to an applauding audience. On his return to Italy, he became di- 
 vinity professor to several universities, and at last settled at Naples, 
 where he led a chaste and devout life. 
 
 Gregory X. invited him to the Council of Lyons, to read the book 
 which he had written against the Greeks, but he died on the way to 
 join the pontilT, near Terraciria, 7th March, 1274, in his 50th year. 
 Aquinas left a vast number of works, mostly upon theological snb- 
 jcts, which prove him to have been a man of extensive erudition. 
 There is, however, in his writings, very little of sound, useful, or ex- 
 perimental views of religious truth. 
 
 7. Roger Bacon was born in 1214, near Ilchester, of a respectable 
 family, and became a monk of the Franciscan order. A strong, in- 
 quisitive mind, soon raised him to consequence ; and as he was libe- 
 rally supported in his pursuits by his friends, he made a most rapid 
 advancement in science and philosophy. His attainments becoming 
 far above the comprehensions of his age, he was suspected and am;- 
 sed of magic. The monks of his order, actuated by jealousy 
 envy, contrive 1 ;! to have his works rejected from their library, and in 
 prevent him from reading lectures to the students. He was f 
 imprisoned, and during- 10 years was left to pursue his studk-s in s 
 
 y confinement. Within this period, he composed his "Opus 
 Majlis," or his Great Work. After being released from prison by 
 the interference of his friends, he spent the remainder of his life in 
 academical repose, at Oxford. lie died at the age of 80 years. 
 
 To the comprehensive mind of Uoger Bacon, many of the disco- 
 veries, which have been made by the genius and toil of later ages, 
 were known. His knowledge of mathematics and natural philoso- 
 phy, was profound. He discovered the error in the calendar, and 
 his plan for correcting it was adopted by Gregory XIII. He wa=* 
 acquainted with the structure of an air pump, with the laws of op 
 tics, and with the power of glasses. His acquaintance with chemis- 
 try was extensive. He gave such a description of gunpowder, that 
 it is evident he was its inventor. In his writings, which amounted 
 to above eighty treatises, some of which are published, and .some 
 preserved in manuscript, in the libraries of Europe, he uses an ele- 
 gant and nervous style, and was always accurate in his observations 
 on nature 
 
164 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 PERIOD VII. 
 
 TJie period of the Papal Schism ; extending from the 
 founding' of the Turkish Empire, 1299 years A. C*., to 
 the taking of Constantinople, 1453 years A. C. 
 
 TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 SECT. 1. The EMPIRE of the TURKS, claims the notice of 
 history, from the important consequences connected with its 
 eventual establishment, on the ruin of the Grecian sovereign- 
 ty. The power of this people is felt on the soil of classical 
 antiquity, and until lately, it extended itself over nearly the 
 whole of it, in the south east of Europe. Their establishment 
 as a separate empire, is an event which took place in 1299 
 A. C.. under Ottoman or Othman, the first Sultan. 
 
 The Turks derive their origin from the Avares, a tribe of the 
 Huns who dwelt in Great Tartary, till forced by the Huns of the 
 south, to abandon their country, when they divided into several bo- 
 dies, each of which taking a different direction, settled, some around 
 the Caspian Sea, some in Pannonia, and others in Asia Minor. 
 
 The last colony, known under the name of the Seljukide Turks, 
 founded an empire in Asia Minor, about the year 1070, and their 
 chief took the title of Sultan of Iconium, a town of Lycaonia, \vhcre 
 he fixed his residence. In 1294, this empire was destroyed by the 
 Moguls, and the emirs or governors of most of the provinces became 
 independent. The Turks embraced Mahometanism long before the 
 time of Othman, as we gather from the history of the Crusades. 
 
 Othman was an emir under the last sultan of Iconium. 
 Forming the scheme of raising a new empire from that which 
 was just overthrown, he engaged the assistance of several other 
 emirs, and seized Iconium. He soon fixed the seat of his 
 government at Byrsa, the chief town of By thin ia, and as- 
 sumed the title of Sultan. From tins time the Turks were 
 known as the Ottoman race and sovereignly. 
 
 By degrees, they encroached on the borders of the Greek 
 empire, and were prevented from subverting it at an early 
 stage, only by the necessity of defending themselves against 
 the victorious Tamerlane. Their principal sovereigns, during 
 this period, after Othman, were Orchan, Amurat I.,Bajazet I., 
 
 Mahomet I., and Amurat II. 
 
 In the reign of Orchan, the Turks crossed the Hellespont on 
 rafts, took Gallipoli, the key of Europe, penetrated into Thrace, and 
 
ITALIAN STATES, 165 
 
 thp foundation of the Turkish power in Europe. Orohan cre- 
 the order of Janizaries, Uiough as they were more completely or- 
 unui/ed by his successor, Amurat, this institution is generally attri- 
 buted to the latter. 
 
 Bajazet I., the successor of Amurat, purposed to besiege the capi- 
 tal of the Greek empire in form, but he was suddenly forced to de- 
 fend himself against Tamerlane. Tamerlane, or Timer-bek, was a 
 prince of the Ushec Tartars, and a descendant from Gengiskan. 
 Having conquered Persia and most of the East, he was invited by the 
 enemies of Bajazet, to protect them against the Ottoman power. He 
 gladly accepted the invitation, and having met the Turk, he totally 
 defeated him, and made him prisoner. The battle of Angoria, where 
 the chieftains fought, is a famous one in history. Nearly 1,000,000 
 -of men were engaged in this battle, and 300,000 were slain. The 
 victorious career of the Turks was suspended by this event. Baja- 
 zet was shut up in an iron cage, in which he destroyed himself. 
 
 Under Amurat II., the Turks resumed the project of taking Con- 
 stantinople, but did not succeed. This prince had devoted himself 
 to retirement and study, but some violation of a treaty, led him into 
 a war with the Poles, in which he was signally victorious. He left 
 his dominions to his son Mahomet II., surnamed the G'eat, known 
 in history as the final subverter of the Eastern empire. 
 
 ITALIAN STATES. 
 
 2. ITALY, in the separate STATES of which it consisted 
 during this period, and subsequently, appears again on the 
 page of history. The principal states were Venice, Florence, 
 Naples, Sicily, the possessions of the Church, Genoa, Par- 
 ma; and a few others. Most of these sovereignties had been 
 previously founded, but they existed in their most flourishing 
 condition, during the present period. 
 
 3. Venice had become considerable in the ninth century. 
 Afterward, in the year 1084, the eastern emperor, Alexius, 
 confirmed to the Venetians, Istria, Dalmatia, and Croatia, 
 which had been conquered by their arms. They subdued 
 also Verano, Padua, and other Italian States, in 1405. On 
 the death of the king of Epirus, they acquired that Island 
 in addition. The Venetians, for a long time, were the prin- 
 cipal merchants of the world, but their trade was greatly 
 diminished by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, in 
 1497. During the latter part of this period, in consequence 
 of their wars with the Turks, they lost many of their pos- 
 sessions. 
 
 Tiie following incident in the Venetian* history, deserves a par- 
 ticular notice. Ziani, the thirty-ninth doge, or chief magistrate of 
 
166 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 the republic, was involved in a w.r with FrHeric Barharossa. 
 whose persecution the Pope had retired to Venice. The -a is 
 
 dispatched embassadors to the emperor, who answers I t ;;>m m a 
 rage, that if their doge did not instantly deliver up the Pope, lnuuui 
 hand and foot, he would be terribly revenged, would bring his army 
 before their city, and fix his victorious standard in their market 
 place, which should float in the blood of its citizens. 
 
 The embassadors returned with this awful message, and it \vas 
 agreed to equip a fleet with all expedition, and prepare for repelling 
 the emperor's meditated vengeance. While the Venetians were thus 
 employed, Otho, the Emperor's son, entered the gulf with seventy- 
 five gallies, and was making sail to the city. The doge, with haste, 
 met this fleet, with the few ships which were fit to put to sea, and in 
 a dreadful battle took and destroyed forty-eight of the enemy's ves- 
 sels, and returned in triumph to Venice. From this time was con- 
 tinued the ceremony of marrying the sea. The Pope going out to 
 meet the victorious doge, presented him with a ring, saying, "Take, 
 Ziani, this ring, and give it Jo the sea, as a testimony of your do- 
 minion. Let your successors annually perform the same ceremony, 
 that posterity may know your valour has purchased the prerogative, 
 and subjected this element, even as a husband subjecteth his wife." 
 
 4. Florence, which was the capital of Tuscany, early rose 
 into notice. It became a republic in the thirteenth century. 
 and maintained its independence during 1 two or three centu- 
 ries. It was distinguished, by the revival of Grecian litera- 
 ture, and the cultivation of the arts, in the fifteenth century. 
 Before the close of this period, the family of the Medicib 
 arose, and shed a splendour on the republic of letters. 
 
 5. Naples, just before the beginning of the present era, was 
 entered by Charles, duke of Anjou, who became its king, as 
 well as of Sicily. These countries were frequently united in 
 one government, and as often separated from each other. 
 They were the seat of long wars between the French and 
 Germans on the one part, and the Spaniards on the other. 
 But the latter at length obtained possession of the kingdoms. 
 
 6. The Estates of the Church, which include the middle 
 portions of Italy, were, during the present period, greatly in- 
 volved in controversies. The rival claims for superiority be- 
 tween the popes and emperors, still continued. Henry VII., 
 the successor of Albert, triumphantly fought his way to Rome, 
 where, in a solemn manner, he received the crown, and im- 
 posed a tribute on the states of the Church. He was sud- 
 denly destroyed, it was supposed, by papal vengeance. 
 
 It was in his time, that the remarkable event took place, by 
 which the seat of the popedom was changed from Rome to 
 
FRANCE. 167 
 
 Avignon. This was done by pope Clement Y., 1309, on ac- 
 count of being so much molested by the imperial faction. In 
 the absence of this pope from Rome, Nicholas Rienzi, a man 
 of mean parentage, but of great abilities, aspired to the su- 
 preme authority, in 1347. He retained the dominion of this 
 portion of Italy, for a year ; but was afterwards sacrificed to 
 1.1 ic fury of the people. In the year 1377, the holy see was 
 removed back to Rome, by pope Gregory IX. After his 
 death, the citizens of Avignon and Rome contended for the 
 freedom of election. Three separate factions of the French 
 and Italian cardinals, having elected three separate popes, the 
 emperor Sigismund judged this division of the Church to be 
 a fit occasion for his interference, to reconcile all differences, 
 and establish his own supremacy. 
 
 In 1414, he summoned a general council at Constance, 
 and ended the dispute by deposing all the three pontiffs, and 
 naming a fourth, Martin Colonna. Historians call this di- 
 vision of the papacy, the great schism of the west. 
 
 7. Genoa, the ancient Liguria, became a republic in 953. 
 The Genoese were afterwards involved in civil commotions, 
 which so weakened them, that they were obliged to shelter 
 themselves under the protection of the duke of Milan. They 
 continually revolted to the French, and returned again to 
 subjection to the Milanese, till, in the next succeeding period, 
 Andrew Doria restored liberty to his native country. 
 
 The Genoese, next to the Venetians, were, for 200 years, the most 
 commercial people in Europe. The city of Genoa, was afterwards 
 r elebrated as the birth place of the great Columbus. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Capetian Race. Branch of Valois. 
 
 8. The successor of Philip the Fair, on the throne of 
 France, was Louis X. surnamed Hutin, (the wrangler,) 
 1314. He was a prince of a weak and irresolute character, 
 and reigned but a tew months. A son, born after his death, 
 was acknowledged, but lived only four days. Upon this 
 event, Philip V. the Long, brother of Louis, succeeded to the 
 throne. His was a short reign of five years. 
 
 Philip V. was notorious for his persecution of the Jews, and, in 
 general, of all foreigners who resided within his dominion, and re- 
 
168 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. ' 
 
 fused to embrace Christianity. The Jews were accused of having 
 poisoned the wells and springs x)f water. 
 
 0. Philip leaving DO other than female issue, was succeed- 
 ed, 1322, by his brother, Charles IV., the Fair. His reign 
 was unfortunately short, for he was a wise and upright 
 prince. He left no son behind him. 
 
 According to the Salic law, no Yemale succeeds to the French 
 throne. 
 
 10. The throne now devolved on Philip VI. of Valois, 
 cousin to the late km<r, 1328. Edward 111. of England. 
 
 o/ o / 
 
 however, claimed it in right of his mother, Isabella, who 
 was a daughter of Philip the Fair. He enforced his claim 
 by arms ; but Philip being acknowledged and supported by 
 the French nation, retained the sceptre, notwithstanding the 
 loss of the famous battle of Cressy, and the capture of Ca- 
 lais. In the celebrated wars which these rival pretensions 
 created, the English were at first victorious. 
 
 Philip was vain, obstinate, and of a limited capacity, and 
 died after a reign of twenty-two years. 
 
 In the midst of his losses, Philip was gratified with the cession of 
 the province of Dauphine ; the condition of which was, that the 
 eldest son, the presumptive heir of the crown, should be styled Dau- 
 phin, and bear the arms of the province. 
 
 It was in the reign of this prince, that a general plague, surpass- 
 ing in its horrors whatever besides the remotest history can furnish, 
 ravaged, in the space of eighteen months, not only France, but 
 every part of the known world. It broke out in the northern pro- 
 vinces of China, and swept over Asia, Africa, and Europe. In the 
 places through which it passed, it cut down two thirds of the inhab- 
 itants. This calamity had been preceded by terrific earthquakes, 
 which swallowed up whole cities. 
 
 llJohn 1L, surnamed the Good, succeeded his father, 1350. 
 He was a most unfortunate prince. Taking the field with 
 60,000 men, against the Black Prince, he was defeated by 
 the latter with a far inferior number, in the signal battle of 
 Poictiersj and made prisoner. 
 
 lie was carried in triumph to London, and, after having been de 
 taincd in captivity four years, was permitted to return to France 
 upon ceding several important places to the English. He, however 
 visited London again, on account, as is supposed, of a passion which 
 he had conceived for the countess of Salisbury, lie died very sooi 
 afterwards. 
 
 12. The Dauphin assumed the administration, during tht 
 captivity of the king ; and, on the death of the latter, succeed 
 to the throne, under the name of Charles Y. the Wise 
 
FRANCE. 169 
 
 Had it not been for this prince, France would most probably 
 have fallen under the domination of England. During his 
 reign, the French re-conquered almost all the- places taken by 
 the English. This prince possessed a vigourous mind, but a 
 delicate constitution of body, and was suddenly carried off in 
 his forty-seventh year. He was one of the best of the French 
 sovereigns, a patron of literature, and a sagacious statesman. 
 He possessed a library of several hundred volumes ; which 
 was extremely large for the age. 
 
 It was through Du Guesclin, a celebrated general, whom the 
 king raised to be Constable of France, that the French, after having 
 been beaten by the English during thirty years, began to beat the 
 latter in turn. 
 
 13. Charles VI., styled the Well Beloved, succeeded to the 
 kingdom, 1380. He first made war on the Flemings, whom 
 he defeated in the battle of Rosebeck. A formidable inva- 
 sion, of which the object was the British shore, failed, in con- 
 sequence of a tempest that dispersed and wrecked his ships. 
 During this reign, a civil war occurred betAveen the houses of 
 Orleans and Burgundy, the cause of which pertained to the 
 regency. Charles had fallen into a state of insanity, which, 
 of course, rendered a regency necessary. In the midst of the 
 contention, and of the miseries which it inflicted on France, 
 Henry V. of England, invaded the country, and gained the 
 memorable battle of Agincourt. The consequence of this 
 victory, and other advantages gained by Henry, was the ac- 
 knowledgment of his right to the French throne, on the death 
 of Charles. These sovereigns died soon after, and within 
 two months of each other. 
 
 Charles was a weak prince, and his insanity reduced him almost 
 to idiotism. 
 
 The fleet which was fitted out for the invasion of England, con- 
 sisted of 1287 sail, of which, sixty were ships of the line. In the 
 centre was a wooden city, having a diameter of 3000 paces, pro- 
 vided with towers and bastions, and constructed over boats fastened 
 together. It was so contrived as to be put together, or taken to 
 pieces, in a day ; and was intended to furnish lodgings for the troops, 
 when they should be landed. The wreck only, of this singular city, 
 reached the British shore. 
 
 Cards were invented in the reign of Charles VI., to amuse that 
 monarch, and to relieve him from the melancholy which followed 
 his alienation of mind. 
 
 14. Charles VII.. surnamed the Victorious, was crowned at 
 Poictiers, 1422, while, at the same time, the infant Henry 
 
 15 
 
170 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 VI., was crowned at Paris, through the agency of the duke 
 of Bedford, the English regent of France. This competi- 
 tion issued in war. The first great military operation uu 
 dertaken by the English, was the siege of Orleans, a place of 
 the utmost importance. And here a transaction occurred, 
 which is one of the most wonderful on record. This was the 
 raising of the siege, and the consequent deliverance of France 
 from the grasp of English power, by means of Joan of Arc, 
 otherwise called the Maid of Orleans. The enthusiasm which 
 she inspired at this juncture, by pretending to a divine com- 
 mission, and by her singular and courageous appearance at 
 the head of the French troops, rendered them invincible. 
 
 Joan was a young country girl, of twenty-seven years, a domestic 
 of a tavernkeeper. Presenting herself to the council of Charles, 
 who had fled in despair to Dauphine, she declared that God had, in 
 a revelation, apprised her that the royal troops would force the ene- 
 my to retire from the siege. An assembly of divines pronounced 
 her mission to be supernatural; and, at her own request, she was 
 clothed like a man, and, in complete armour, headed the troops. 
 A white palfrey bore her gaily to the scene of combat; while on 
 her banner was displayed the image of our blessed Saviour. The 
 English, raising the siege of Orleans, fled befpre her. The hopes of 
 the nation were raised, as if by a miracle, and other conquests suc- 
 ceeded. The impulse which her heroism excited, enabled Charles 
 to extend his triumphs to the banks of the Seine. 
 
 As a recompense for her important services, she was ennobled by 
 Criarles, together with the whole of her family, and their heirs and 
 descendants. After she had effected the object of the mission, she 
 requested leave to retire, but she was retained in the service, from 
 the belief that it would be benefited by her presence. At the siege 
 of Compeigne, not long after, she was made prisoner ; and being 
 tried by the English for sorcery, she was condemned to be burned. 
 This sentence, which is an eternal disgrace to the judges who pre- 
 sided at the trial, was barbarously put into execution. When led to 
 the stake, the heroic maid, overcome by her emotions, burst into 
 tears. To prolong her tortures, a scaffolding of plaster had been 
 contrived, with so great an elevation, that the flames required a con- 
 siderable time to penetrate to her body, which was gradually con- 
 sumed. 
 
 The tide of fortune turning against the English, they lost 
 many of the French provinces ; and, after the battle of For- 
 migny, which was gained by Charles, they lost Paris itself. 
 In the southern dominions, however, the French arms were 
 pardized, for a time, by the brave Talbot, an illustrious Eng- 
 lish warrior. His deatb, and the fatal disputes between the 
 
ENGLAND. 17] 
 
 houses of York and Lancaster, placed the whole of . the 
 French monarchy, with the exception of Calais and Greignes, 
 under the dominion of Charles, 1450. 
 
 The death of this prince was hastened by the imdutiful and un- 
 natural conduct of his son, the Dauphin. The latter formed a plot to 
 cut off his father by poison. This was discovered ; but the king was 
 so haunted by the idea of treachery and poison, that he could not be 
 prevailed on to receive that degree of nourishment, which was ne- 
 cessary to support life. 
 
 The Pragmatic Sanction originated in his reign, in a general as- 
 sembly of the clergy and nobility, representing the Gallican church. 
 Its aim was, to check the despotism of the popes. The superiority 
 of the assemblies of the clergy over the See of Rome, formed the 
 basis of its regulations. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Family of Plantagenet. Branch of Lancaster. 
 
 14 Edward II., surnamed of Caernarvon, from the 
 place of his birth, ascended the throne in 1307. He was the 
 opposite of his father in character and disposition, being weak, 
 indolent, and destitute of penetration in selecting his advi- 
 sers. Yet his inoffensive disposition, joined with his misfor- 
 tunes, entitles him to respect, as well as commiseration. He 
 made war on the Scots, but was terribly defeated by Robert 
 Bruce, in the battle of Bannockburn. In consequence of this 
 battle, the latter was established on the throne of Scotland, 
 1314. Edward was unfortunate in all his connexions. His 
 queen, Isabella, sister of the French king, was an ambitious 
 and worthless woman, and his favourites were equally de- 
 tested by the people, and injurious to their sovereign. Edward, 
 at la,st, fell a victim to his Avife's cruelty and lust, and misera- 
 bly perished. 
 
 It was in obedience to his father's dying request, that Edward in- 
 vaded Scotland. He marched at the head of one hundred thousand 
 men. Bruce met this immense force with only thirty thousand. 
 The army of the latter was however advantageously situated. A hill 
 covered his right flank, a morass his left, and to screen his front, he 
 had dug deep pits, planted them with stakes, and covered them with 
 turf. The English, confident in their superior numbers, rushed for- 
 ward without precaution. Their cavalry was entangled in the pits, 
 their ranks were broken, and the Scottish horse, pouring through the 
 openings, scattered on every side slaughter and dismay. The En- 
 glish threw down their arms and fled, and were pursued to the gates 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 of Berwick. The defeat of Edward sunk him in the estimation o; 
 his subjects. 
 
 The most famous of his favourites, were Gaveston, and the two 
 Spencers, father and son. The queen, who persuaded the king to 
 recal them after they had been banished by parliament, at length 
 fixed her affections on Mortimer, a powerful baron. A breach soon 
 followed between her and the Spencers, and going over to France 
 with her paramour, she found the means to form such a party in 
 England, that on her return with some French troops, she made her 
 husband prisoner, and forced him to abdicate his crown in favour ol 
 his son, then fourteen years of age. While he was in prison, he 
 was put to death by the keepers, who, with infinite barbarity, thrust 
 a red hot iron into his bowels, until he was internally consumed. 
 These wretches were instigated by Mortimer and the queen. 
 
 15. Edward III., succeeded his father, 1327, under the 
 regency of Isabella and Mortimer. But to such a regency, 
 he would not submit. At the age of eighteen, lie assumed 
 the reins of government, hanged Mortimer at Tyburn, and 
 confined the queen, his mother, for life. 
 
 The conquest of Scotland soon became an object of ambi- 
 tion, and marching to the north with a large army, he van- 
 quished the Scots at Halidown Hill, with little loss on the 
 side of England. 
 
 On the death of Charles the Fair, in 1328, Edward, having 
 a claim to the throne of France, as being the son of Isabella, 
 the sister of the deceased king, and first in female succession, 
 prepared to assert his claim (since the French rejected it) by 
 the fortune of arms. For this purpose, he invaded France 
 in 1339, and from that time to 1360, war raged furiously be- 
 tween the two countries, with only occasional suspensions. 
 
 During this long contention, were fought the famous battles 
 of Oressy, in 1346, and Poictier;, in 1356. The battle of 
 Cressy was fought between Philip, the French king, on the 
 one side, and Edward and his son, the Black Prince, on the 
 other. The army of Philip amounted to one hundred thousand 
 men, that of the English, only to thirty thousand. The bat- 
 tle ol' Poictiers was fought between the Black Prince, and 
 King John of France. The former commanded only six- 
 teen thousand men, while the army of the latter amounted to 
 sixty thousand. Notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, 
 the English obtained a decided victory in both engagements. 
 The heroism of the Black Prince has rendered his name ever 
 famous in the annals of war. 
 
ENGLAND. 173 
 
 In the battle of Cressy, there fell, by a moderate computation, 
 twelve hundred French knights, fourteen hundred gentlemen, four 
 thousand men-at-arms, besides about thirty thousand of an inferior 
 rank. The action seems no less remarkable for the small loss sus- 
 tained by the English, than for the prodigious slaughter of the French. 
 Ymong "the former, there only fell one esquire, and three knights, 
 jid an inconsiderable number of private men. 
 
 In the battle of Poictiers, the French king was taken prisoner, 
 
 nd afterwards was led by the Prince of Wales, in triumph, to Lon- 
 
 ton. He was treated with the greatest courtesy by his conqueror. 
 
 Edward, during his absence in France, left his queen, Philippa, with 
 'he care of the realm. Attacked by the Scots, who invaded England 
 soon after the battle of Cressy, she entirely defeated them near Dur- 
 nam. David, their king, who had expelled Edward Baliol from the 
 throne, was unable to effect his escape from the field, and thus he 
 became a captive at the same time with king John in London. 
 
 16. The decline of Edward's life did not correspond with 
 the early part of it. The tide of success turned against him 
 in France, and besides the loss of his dominions abroad, he 
 felt the decay of his authority at home. His age he unwisely 
 devoted to pleasure ; and to complete his disappointment, the 
 Prince of Wales died, after a lingering illness, in his forty- 
 sixth year. Never had king a more illustrious son, and 
 never did a nation have greater cause to felicitate itself in the 
 prospect of having such a model of heroism and virtue for its 
 'sovereign. The old king did not long survive this melancho- 
 ly occurrence. He died in 1377, in the sixty- fifth year of 
 his age, and the fifty-first of his reign. 
 
 The English nation has ever taken pride in its Edward 
 III., and recurred to his reign, as one of the most glorious in 
 its annals. The splendour of his foreign victories, arid the 
 tranquillity and efficiency of his domestic government, stamp 
 the impression of greatness on his mind. But the moral pu- 
 rity of his character, and the justice of his wars with France 
 and Scotland, are more than questionable. 
 
 17. Richard II., son of the Black Prince, succeeded to the 
 throne, 1377, at the age of eleven years. He was unworthy 
 of his great father. Indolence, prodigality, perfidiousness, 
 and sensuality, marked his character. His kingdom suffered 
 from the distractions attending a regal minority. The con- 
 tests for power between his three uncles, the %ukes of Lancas- 
 ter, York, and Gloucester, who secretly directed the affairs of 
 the realm, embroiled all the public measures. An insurrec- 
 
 15* 
 
174 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 tion, headed by Wat Tyler, put the government, for a time, 
 in great jeopardy. While the kingdom was convinced with 
 domestic contests, it was also engaged in hostilities with 
 France and Scotland. At length, during the king's absence 
 in quelling an insurrection in Ireland, Henry of Lancaster 
 rose in open rebellion, and compelled Richard, at his return, 
 to resign the sceptre into his hands. The parliament con- 
 firmed the act, and the king was soon after privately assassi- 
 nated or starved to death. Thus began the contention between 
 the houses of York and Lancaster. 
 
 The finances of the kingdom were exhausted by the wars which 
 were carried on with its foreign enemy. As nothing was obtained 
 by conquest to repair the waste, parliament found it necessary to 
 impose a poll tax of three groats on every person, male and female, 
 above fifteen years of age. But the minds of the people were un- 
 favourably disposed for this measure, and the principles of demo- 
 cracy gaining ground, this distich was frequently in the mouths of 
 the multitude : 
 
 " When Adam delv'd and Eve span, 
 Whore was then the gentleman." 
 
 Besides, the injustice of the tax, to which the poor were obliged to 
 contribute as much as the rich, was apparent to every body. While 
 the character of the measure was viewed in this light, the rigorous 
 manner in which it was enforced, seemed insupportable. 
 
 An incident which occurred, respecting the wanton conduct of a 
 tax-gatherer, in the family of a blacksmith, aroused the public mind, 
 and became the occasion of a wide spread insurrection. The popu- 
 lace flew to arms. The spirit immediately pervaded Essex and the 
 neighbouring counties. The leaders assuming the feigned names of 
 Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, and Hob Carter, committed the most out- 
 rageous violence on such of the nobility and gentry as came in their 
 way. At length, assembling their followers on Blackheath, to the 
 amount of one hundred thousand, they broke into London, demand- 
 ing certain immunities, which were granted, but in parties still con- 
 tinuing to insult and plunder the capital. 
 
 At this juncture, the king, slenderly guarded, met Tyler at the 
 head of a large body of rioters, and entered into conference with 
 him. Tyler ordered his companions to retire, till he should give 
 the signal for attack, and then ventured alone into the midst of tho 
 royal retinue. Here he demeaned himself in so insolent a manner, 
 that Wai worth, the mayor of London, in a fit of indignation, dre~v 
 his sword and brought him to the ground. He was instantly dis- 
 patched by the res}, of the king's attendants. Richard's presence or 
 mind saved himself and them from the meditated revenge of the 
 mutineers. Accosting the enraged multitude with an affable and 
 intrepid countenance, he asked them, "What is the meaning of 
 
ENGLAND. 
 
 your disorder? Are you angry, my good people, that you have 
 lost your leader. I, your king, will be your leader." 
 
 The presence of majesty overawed the multitude, and they im- 
 plicitly followed the king. Leading them into the fields, he peacea- 
 bly dismissed them, with the same charters which had been granted 
 to their fellows. These charters, however, were soon after annulled 
 iu parliament. 
 
 In regard to the death of Richard, after he was deposed and im- 
 prisoned, it was long the prevailing opinion, that his guards fell upon 
 him in the castle of Pontefract, and dispatched him with their hal- 
 berts. But it is more probable, that he was starved to death in 
 prison, for after his body was exposed "in public, no marks of vio- 
 lence were found upon it. 
 
 The particular ground of the controversy between the houses of 
 York and Lancaster, was, that Edmund Mortimer was the true heir 
 to the crown, being descended from Lionel, the second son of Ed- 
 ward III., whereas Henry, duke of Lancaster, who was placed on 
 the throne, was the son of John of Gaunt, the third son of Ed- 
 ward III. 
 
 17-k Henry IV., was the title which the duke of Lancaster 
 assumed, when he came into power. He was surnamed 
 Bolingbroke, and the date of his reign is 1400. He was 
 immediately oppressed by faction and discontent ; and as a 
 righteous retribution, he felt the uneasiness of " the head that 
 wears a crown." A rebellion, raised by the earl of Northum- 
 berland, for placing Mortimer, of the house of York, the true 
 heir, on the throne, first required his attention. The Scotch 
 and the Welch took part with the malcontents, but their 
 united forces were defeated at Shrewsbury, and their leader, 
 young Percy, (Hotspur, so named on account of his fiery 
 temper,) was killed on the field. 
 
 The armies on this occasion were nearly equal in numbers, con- 
 sisting of about twelve thousand men, each ; and rarely was there a 
 battle in those times, where the shock was more terrible or more 
 constant. Henry exposed his person to all the dangers of the field. 
 His gallant son, the prince of Wales, who afterwards so signalized 
 himself by his military exploits, urged on the fight with the utmost 
 intrepidity, and even a wound which he received in the face with an 
 arrow, could not oblige him lo retire. On the other side, Percy and 
 Douglas, terrible narno 5 , supported their ancient renown. But while 
 the armies were contending in the most furious manner, the death 
 of Percy, by an unknown hand, decided the victory, and the ad- 
 herents of the king won the day. 
 
 18. A second rebellion, headed by the archbishop of York, 
 was quelled by the capital punishment of its author. In the 
 reign of this prince, the secular arm was unrighteously ex- 
 
176 MODERN HISTORY PER TOD VII. 
 
 tended against the followers of Wickliffe ; and history records 
 the shameful fact, that Henry IV. was the first English mo- 
 narch, that made the religion of his subjects, an offence to be 
 expiated by the faggot and the scaffold. 
 
 The latter part of his life was embittered by the extreme 
 profligacy of his son Henry, prince of Wales, who afterwards 
 nobly discarded the vices and follies of his youth. 
 
 The following particular merits a recital. One of his abandoned 
 companions having been indicted before Sir Wm. Gascoigne, the 
 chief justice, the young prince was not ashamed to appear at the 
 bar with the criminal, in order to give him countenance and pro- 
 tection. Finding that his presence did not over-awe the chief jus- 
 tice, he proceeded to insult him on his tribunal. But Gascoigne, 
 mindful of his own dignity, and of the majesty of the laws, ordered 
 the prince to be committed to prison. Henry, sensible of his error, 
 quietly submitted to the order. When the affair was mentioned to 
 his father, he is said to have exclaimed, "Happy is the king who 
 has a magistrate sufficiently courageous to execute the laws upon 
 such an offender ; but still more happy, in having a son willing to 
 submit to such chastisement." 
 
 Henry died, 1413, at the age of forty-six, in the fourteenth 
 year of his reign. Notwithstanding distinguished military 
 talents and political sagacity, he became a most unpopular 
 sovereign. The illegality of his title, may have disaffected 
 his subjects towards his person and his reign. He felt the 
 miseries of guilt, and became suspicious and jealous. In re- 
 ligion, he was bigotted and intolerant. 
 
 19. His son, Henry V., ascended the throne in 1413. He 
 laid aside his dissvlute habits, as already intimated, and in- 
 formed the companions of his pleasures, that they must enter 
 on a similar reformation, if they would secure his favour. He 
 also received the wise ministers of his father, who had checked 
 his riots, with all the marks of esteem and confidence. 
 
 Henry early asserted by arms, the English claim to France. 
 Taking advantage of disorders in that kingdom, he invaded 
 it with an army of about thirty thousand men, and with 
 half that number, defeated the French army, amounting to 
 sixty thousand men, on the plains of Agincomt. His own 
 loss did not exceed five hundred men. while that of the French 
 an.aunted to twenty-two thousand in killed and prisoners. 
 
 Henry drew up his army on a narrow ground, between two 
 woods, to cover each flank, and patiently expected an attack, having 
 been surprised by the sudden appearance of the French, in great 
 
ENGLAND. 177 
 
 force, when his own army had been greatly reduced by sickness and 
 fatigue. Had the French general declined a combat, the English 
 must have relinquished the advantages of their situation ; but the 
 impetuous valour of the nobility, and a vain confidence in superior 
 numbers, brought on an action, which proved to the English so 
 glorious and successful. 
 
 After this battle, returning to England to recruit his forces, 
 he landed again with an army of twenty-five thousand men, 
 and fought his way to Paris. The war between Henry and 
 the French king, was terminated by the treaty of Troyes, 
 1420. Henry then turned his arms with success against the 
 dauphin, who assumed the style and authority of regent. 
 Triumphing signally over his enemy, and realizing most of 
 his wishes, he had nearly reached the summit of human 
 glory. But his end was approaching, and one of the most 
 heroic of the English monarchs, died at the early age of thirty- 
 four years, and after a reign of nine years. 
 
 The treaty of Troyes was made with the Queen mother, and the 
 duke of Burgundy Charles, the French king, being insane. By 
 this treaty it was agreed that he should marry the daughter of 
 Charles, and receive the kingdom of France as her dowry, which, 
 till the death of her father, he should govern as regent. 
 
 Henry was a true hero, and like all heroes, his views of conquest 
 were pernicious in their tendency. Accordingly, England derived 
 from his achievements, rather fame than solid advantage. He was 
 able in the cabinet as well as in the field was magnanimous, 
 generous, and affable, but had more than the bigotry of his father in 
 religion. 
 
 20. Henry VI., at the age of ten months, succeeded his 
 father, in 1422, under the regency of the dukes of Gloucester 
 and Bedford, the former for England, the latter for France. 
 Henry was crowned king of France, at the age of eight 
 years. At this era, in order to complete the conquest of that 
 kingdom, it remained only to capture Orleans. The duke of 
 Bedford, acting as regent of France, had laid siege to the 
 place, but he was obliged to raise it by the valour and good 
 conduct of Joan of Arc, the maid of Orleans. Thus was 
 France saved, and England was afterwards stripped of 
 almost every conquest it had made in that country. 
 
 When arrived at adult years, Henry proved himself to be 
 mild and inoffensive, but deficient in the energy which he- 
 comes a sovereign. He had but a slender capacity. These 
 defects in the king were supplied by his queen, the famous 
 Margaret of Anjou, a woman of great talents, ambition, and 
 
176 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 heroism. She made a conspicuous figure in the wars 
 which distracted his reign. 
 
 The insurrection of Jack Cade, was an event of some im- 
 portance, and was quelled only after considerable bloodshed. 
 
 Jack Cade, a native of Ireland, whose crimes obliged him to retire 
 into France, had assumed the name of Mortimer, and at the head ol 
 20,000 Kentish men, encamped on Blackheath, in this way to Lon- 
 don, in order to obtain a redress of grievances. The city opened its 
 gates to Cade, who for some time maintained great order among hig 
 followers; but at length when he could not prevent them from com- 
 mitting depredations and outrages, the citizens, with the assistan ce 
 of some soldiers, repulsed the rebels with great slaughter. Upon 
 their submission, they received a general pardon, which was after- 
 wards annulled, and both Cade, and many of his followers, were ca- 
 pitally punished for their rebellion. 
 
 The duke of Gloucester, who was heir to the crown hi 
 case the king should die without issue, was the favourite of 
 the nation ; but he had opposed the marriage of Henry with 
 Margaret, and was therefore marked out by the latter for de- 
 struction. He was arrested and sent to prison, where he 
 was founxi dead a few days afterwards. This event, in con- 
 nection with the imbecility of the king, encouraged the 
 Duke of York to assert his claim to the throne. 
 
 The duke of York, who was Richard, son of Lionel, second son of 
 Edward III., was, however, averse to violent measures, and his for- 
 bearance, when appointed lieutenant of the kingdom, though amia- 
 ble and unusual, proved the source of all those furious wars and 
 commotions which ensued ; for the queen at length persuaded 
 Henry to annul the protectorship of Richard, and place the adminis- 
 tration in the hands of the duke of Somerset. Richard then levied 
 an army ; but an account of the wars between the houses of York 
 and Lancaster, properly belongs to the next period. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 21. In the history of the GERMAN EMPIRE, is to be no- 
 ticed, the rise of the House of Austria, which constitutes an 
 important portion of that empire. This event took place in 
 the latter part of the former period, viz. 1274, when Rodol- 
 phus of Hapsbourg, a Swiss baron, was elected emperor of 
 Germany. He owed his elevation to the jealousies of the 
 electoral princes, who could not agree in the choice of any 
 one of themselves. The king of Bohemia, to whom Rodol- 
 phus had been steward of ihe household, could not endure- 
 the supremacy of his former dependent ; and refusing him 
 
GERMANY. 179 
 
 tne customary homage for his Germanic possessions, Rodol- 
 phus stripped him of Austria, which has ever since remained 
 in the family of its conqueror. 
 
 When Rodolphus ascended the throne, he found the 
 empire distracted and almost ruined by anarchy and faction, 
 but lie restored order by his prudence and firmness. He 
 was a prince generally esteemed for his virtues. 
 
 He demolished the retreats of the banditti, that every where in- 
 fested the country, and executed great numbers of the marauders, 
 The following anecdote, among others, is related of him. 
 
 A merchant complaining to him of an innkeeper at Nuremberg 
 who refused to return a sum of money which he had deposited in 
 the hands of the latter, Rodolphus, seeing the innkeeper soon af- 
 terwards, took an opportunity of praising his hat, and proposed 
 an exchange. His proposal was naturally accepted, and he sent 
 the hat as a token to the innkeeper's wife, desiring, in her husband's 
 name, she would deliver to the bearer, the money which a merchant 
 had left in his hands. By this stratagem, the plaintiff recovered 
 his property, and the innkeeper was sentenced to pay a heavy fine. 
 
 Rodolphus had seven beautiful daughters, by means of whom, he 
 contracted alliances, which proved highly advantageous to his pos- 
 terity. He had also seven sons ; but none of these survived him, ex- 
 cept the duke of Austria. In Rodolphus began the good fortune of 
 the house of Austria, of which he was the founder ; a fortune which 
 called forth the observation, " that Venus was even more favourable 
 to them than Mars." 
 
 22. Adolphus of Nassau, was elected the next emperor of 
 Germany, 1291, instead of the duke of Austria, the late em- 
 peror's son ; but proving unworthy, he was deposed, and the 
 duke, named Albert I., was duly raised to the empire, 1298. 
 The pope claimed the empire, but finally acknowledged 
 Albert. 
 
 This prince treated the Swiss with great rigour, contrary 
 to the conduct of his father. Several of the Cantons were 
 his by inheritance, but he formed the design of annexing the 
 whole of the provinces to his dominion, and erecting them 
 into a principality, for one of his sons. The Swiss revolted. 
 The cantons of Schewitz, Uri, and Underwald, which always 
 bad resisted the authority of Austria, combined to assert their 
 freedom ; and a small army of four hundred or five hundred 
 men, defeated an immense host of the Austrians, in the pass 
 of Morgate, 1315. The rest of the Cantons, by degrees, 
 joined the association, and with invincible perseverance, after 
 sixty pitched battles with their enemies, they effected their 
 
180 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII. 
 
 freedom. It was the famous William Tell, who was instru- 
 mental in producing this revolution, and in laying the foun- 
 dation of his country's liberty. 
 
 In so brief an outline of history as is attempted in this work, it 
 will be impossible to include a separate account of every country. 
 Several of the smaller ones must therefore be noticed in the account 
 of others, or be grouped together. As this seems to be a fit place to 
 touch on the affairs of Switzerland, a few particulars may be added. 
 The story of William Tell, deserves a record. In this story is ex- 
 emplified an instance of the lawless tyranny of the governor of 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Geisler, governor of the Canton of Uri, had ordered his hat to bo 
 fixed upon a pole in a certain place, and commanded every passen 
 ger, on pain of death, to pay the same obeisance to it as to himsell 
 Tell, an inhabitant of Uri, indignant at this insulting mark of wanton 
 tyranny, disdained to pay the homage required. TelPs death was 
 determined, and he was condemned to be hanged, unless he should 
 be able to strike with his arrow, an apple placed upon the head of 
 his son. Being an excellent marksman, he accepted the alternative, 
 and providentially cleft the apple without injuring the child. Geisler 
 perceiving another arrow in his belt, asked him for what purpose 
 that was intended. Tell heroically replied, " It was designed for 
 you, if I had killed my son." 
 
 Condemned to perpetual imprisonment in a dungeon for this an- 
 swer, he was bound and thrown, into a boat, that Geisler himself 
 might convey him across the lake of Altorf, to his castle. In the 
 midst of the passage, a furious squall arose, and the cowardly go- 
 vernor was so intimidated by the danger he was in, that he unbound 
 Tell, who was a most skilful boatman, and entreated him to row him 
 safely across the lake. Tell soon effected his escape by swimming 
 to the shore, and had an opportunity by the time Geisler arrived, to 
 pierce the tyrant's heart with an arrow. This event paved the way 
 for the conspiracy which followed. 
 
 23. Eight emperors succeeded Albert, during the remain- 
 der of this period ; but a connected account of their reigns 
 need not here be given. A few scattered particulars may be 
 found below. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VIII., Germany groaned under all the 
 miseries of plague and famine, by which whole towns were depopu 
 lated, and provinces brought to desolation. The rich sought an 
 asylum in other countries, while the poor perished without pity or 
 assistance ; wolves, and other beasts of prey, compelled by hunger, 
 quitted their dens, and rushing into the villages, satiated themselves 
 with human blood ; cataracts of water, bursting from the mountains, 
 swept trees and houses before them with dreadful impetuosity ; and 
 the earth was convulsed by frequent shocks, which seemed to agitate 
 it to its centre. 
 
 While Louis V. held the imperial sceptre, a spirit of fanaticism 
 
CHINA. 181 
 
 \ 
 
 broke out in Alsace, and the lower class of people assembled under 
 me banners of an innkeeper, who erected himself into a prophet, and 
 pervaded his followers, that it was their indispensable duty to re- 
 venge the death of Christ, by an extirpation of the Jews. In obe- 
 dience to this doctrine, they massacred great multitudes of that un- 
 happy nation. In one place the carnage was so great, that the Jews 
 themselves augmented the horror of the scene ; for, being driven to 
 despair, they butchered their own wives and children, and then 
 murdered themselves, to elude the cruelty of their inhuman enemies. 
 After some time, however, these frantic enthusiasts were driven out 
 of the province ; their sanguinary leader perished by the hands of 
 the executioner, and the surviving Jews were permitted to live in 
 peace. 
 
 In 1356, Charles IV., issued the celebrated Golden Bull, containing 
 a declaration of the fundamental laws of the empire. The edict 
 was so called from a golden seal termed Bulla. 
 
 The emperor Sigismund, became also king of Bohemia, in con- 
 sequence of the death of his brother Winceslas. It was this empe- 
 ror who betrayed the celebrated reformer, John Huss, to the Elector 
 Palatine, who caused him to be burnt alive. The next year, Jerome 
 of Prague suffered the same fate. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 24. A part of the twentieth and twenty-first dynasties of 
 the empire of China, is included in the present period. In 
 the reign of Shistu of the twentieth dynasty, the famous 
 canal was dug, which is nine hundred miles in length. Un- 
 der some of the princes of this dynasty, the religion of Fo 
 was established in the empire. Shunti was the last of the 
 Tartar race, who held the sceptre in China. 
 
 The twenty -first dynasty was that of Ming, founded by 
 Chu, who, ascending the throne, took the name of Fay-tsu. 
 This dynasty, which commenced in 1368, lasted two hundred 
 \ud eighty-one years, under seventeen emperors. 
 
 Chu had been a servant in the monastery of the bonzes. Head- 
 tng a numerous company of revolters, he reduced many considera- 
 ble cities and provinces, and defeated the imperial army in a battle. 
 His successes were so great, that he assumed the title of emperor 
 and fixed his court at Nankin. In a few months, however, he made 
 himself master of Pekin, and erected that country into a sovereign 
 ty, which he gave to his fourth son. He proved to be a prince of 
 great wisdom and penetration. 
 
 It is related of Ching-tsu, one of the emperors of this dynasty, 
 that when specimens of precious stones were brought to nim from 
 a mine which had lately been discovered, he ordered it to be shut up, 
 alleging, that it only harrassed his people with useless toil, as these 
 stones could neither feed nor clothe them in times of scarcity. 
 
 16 
 
X 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD Vlt. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period VII. 
 
 1. Dante, and > i . T . r 
 
 2 P h v c * assic Ateuan poets. 
 
 3. Boccace, an Italian, one of the restorers of learning 
 
 4. Wickliffe, an English theologian and reformer. 
 
 5. Froissart, an entertaining French chronicler. 
 
 6. Gower, and ) f . u f ^ r . 
 
 ' 7 Oh v lathers of .bngiish poetry. 
 
 / } 
 
 1. Dante, (Alighieri,) who died at the age of fifty-seven years, 
 early displayed poetical talents ; but the ambition of being elevated 
 among the ruling men of his native city, engaged him in continual 
 discord and faction. He and his party were at length defeated, and 
 with them he sought safety in banishment. While he was in this 
 situation, he vented the bitterest reproaches against his enemies. 
 The occasion of his death was, an affront which he received from 
 the Venetians. The prince of Ravenna, (in which place he was in 
 exile,) sent him to negociate with the Venetians, in order to avert a 
 threatened war; but the magistrates of Venice treated the embassa- 
 dor with contempt, and refused to receive him within their walls. 
 The irritable heart of Dante was so affected by this affront, that he 
 could not survive it, and he died on his return to Ravenna. 
 
 His literary works owe their origin to his misfortunes and re- 
 vengeful spirit. His great object seems to have been to pierce his 
 enemies with the shafts of satire. The rancour of his feeling, min- 
 gled itself with the sweetness and graces of poetry. His poems 
 are characterized by spirit, fire, and sublimity. His triple poem, 
 of Paradise, Purgatory, and Hell, displays wonderful powers ol 
 genius. 
 
 2. Petrarch (Francis) is deservedly celebrated as one of the re- 
 storers of classical learning, and more, perhaps, than any other per- 
 son, as the father of modern poetry. He displayed all the powers 
 of genius and poetical inspiration, not only in his own native lan- 
 guage, but in Latin. His sonnets are esteemed the sweetest, most 
 elegant, and most highly finished verses, ever written in Italian ; and 
 his songs possess uncommon beauty and grace. Petrarch had a 
 most charming fancy. 
 
 Some of the events of his life are rather singular ; particularly 
 his inextinguishable passion for his mistress Laura. He first saw 
 this beautiful female in 1627, after he had fixed his residence al 
 Vaucluse, near Avignon, and he was smitten with all the pangs oi 
 love. But though the soft passion was expressed in the softest lan- 
 guage of poetry, the heart of the fair one was by no means moved 
 To divert the melancholy which ensued, he travelled through va- 
 rious countries, and was at last persuaded to enter into the service oJ 
 Pope John XXII. But, " amor vincit omnia," and Petrarch, abandon- 
 ing the pleasures of curiosity and of greatness, fled to the shades ol 
 Vaucluse, to converse with his beloved Laura. He again devo- 
 ted his hours to studious pursuits, and to the amatory effusions of 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 183 
 
 his muse. But though the idolized fair one heeded not his poetry, 
 the world did ; and Rome, Paris, and Naples, at the same moment, 
 invited him to come and receive the poetical crown. Rome pre- 
 vailed, and in that famed seat of empire and of genius, the poet's 
 brow was entwined with the resplendent honour. He was occasion- 
 ally drawn from his favourite residence, on public business ; and it 
 was during an absence in 1348, that he was informed of Laura's 
 death, which affected him with the deepest gloom. 
 
 The poet's purity in this affair, has been maintained by some, and 
 denied by others ; and some parts of his character certainly afford 
 too much ground for the opinion of the latter. Petrarch was an 
 ecclesiastic, though he never took priest's orders. He died at the 
 age of seventy, 1374. 
 
 3. Boccace, (John,) born at Certaldo, in Tuscany, 1313, studied 
 under Petrarch, who was his friend and patron. He lived abroad 
 for a time, but afterwards returned to his native village, where he 
 spent the remainder of his days, in literary pursuits. His constitu- 
 tion was weakened by his great application, and he died of a sick- 
 ness in the stomach, 1375. 
 
 His works are both Latin and Italian. He possessed uncommon 
 learning, and he shares with a few others the honour of contribut- 
 ing to the revival of learning in Europe. " Decameron," a licen- 
 tious, though witty, satirical, and elegantly written romance, is his 
 most celebrated composition. His poetry is not equal to that of 
 Petrarch, but his prose is unrivalled, for its simplicity, grace, and 
 varied elegance. 
 
 4. Wickliffe, (John de) was professor of divinity, in the Universi- 
 ty of Oxford, and deservedly considered as the forerunner of Lu- 
 ther, in the reformation. His elevation to the professorship of Ox- 
 ford, exposed him to the jealousy of the monks, and he was soon dis- 
 placed. He felt the indignity keenly, and it was not long before he 
 boldly came out against the errors and encroachments of Rome 
 The Romish clergy, with the pope at their head, took the alarm, and 
 employed every effort to suppress the doctrines of Wickliffe. Most 
 of his doctrines were pronounced as heretical, by the several coun- 
 cils that were called. He was seized as a heretic, by the emissaries 
 of the Pope, and tried ; but the judges, although they enjoined him 
 silence, permitted him to depart in safety, as they feared the nobility 
 and people. These, in general, favoured Wickliffe. Not at all in- 
 timidated, the reformer continued to preach his peculiar sentiments, 
 and they became still more widely known. But the penal statutes 
 were severe, and some who embraced the new heresy, were deliver- 
 ed over to punishment. 
 
 Wickliffe, in the mysterious providence of God, died at a time 
 when nothing was wanting to emancipate the English nation from 
 the tyranny of Rome, but the boldness, perseverance, and eloquence 
 of a popular leader. Wickliffe's noble struggle proved almost abor- 
 tive, and little was thought of it, till Luther arose to establish the 
 same doctrines on an imperishable basis. 
 
184 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PEP TOD VII. 
 
 Trialogus, is almost the only work of Wickliffe's that was 
 printed. 
 
 5. Froissart, (John,) as an historian, excelled all the writers ot 
 his time. His narrative of the events which took place in England, 
 France, and Spain, from 1326 to 1400, is exceedingly lively and en- 
 tertaining. He personally witnessed many transactions which he 
 has described. He was a chronicler both of political events and of 
 chivalric manners. He was bred to the church, but he was a great- 
 er reader of romances, than of his breviary. Of gayety, he was 
 fond to an excessive degree. " Well loved I," as he said of his 
 youth, in one of his poems, (for he wrote poetry as well as history,) 
 " to see dances and carolling, and to hear the songs of minstrels, 
 and tales of glee. It pleased me to attach myself to those who took 
 delight in hounds and hawks." " My ears quickened at the sound 
 of opening the wine flask ; for I took great pleasure in drinking, 
 and in fair array, and in fresh and delicate viands." He began his 
 chronicle at the age of twenty, and continued it many years, travel- 
 ling through England, Scotland, France, and other places. He was 
 born at Valenciennes, in the year 1337, and died in 1397. 
 
 6. Gower (Sir John) was born in Yorkshire, 1320. He was emi- 
 nent, both in law and poetry. He is, by some, associated with Chau- 
 cer, as a father of English poetry. He lived a little longer than 
 Chaucer, though born eight years sooner, and was the successor of 
 the latter in the laurel. His principal production in poetry, was 
 " Confessio Amantis j" though he left behind, other poems of con- 
 siderable spirit and energy. Though gentle in manner, he inveighed 
 boldly against the debaucheries of the times, the immorality of the 
 clergy, the wickedness of corrupt judges, and the vices of an aban- 
 doned court. He died at the age of eighty-two. 
 
 7. Chaucer (Geoffrey) was born in London, 1328. Compared with 
 Chaucer, all who preceded him, not excepting Gower, were merely 
 pioneers in English poetry : they were scarcely poets. He is, there- 
 fore, more commonly considered the father of English song. Though 
 in the idiom of the fourteenth century, his poetry is not devoid oi 
 great smoothness and delicacy ; the sentiments are bold, the charac- 
 ters are well supported, and the genius of the poet is every where 
 brilliant, sprightly, and sublime. The Canterbury Tales, are his 
 best production. 
 
 Chaucer enjoyed a signal share in the favours of royalty, and his 
 honours and emoluments exceeded far the ordinary lot of poets. 
 This circumstance may, perhaps, be partly owing to the fact, that 
 he had a princely brother-in-law, John Gaunt, duke of Lancaster. 
 At one period of his life, he suffered persecution, in consequence oi 
 embracing the tenets of Wickliffe. The latter part of his days was 
 spent at a distance from the bustle and intrigues cf public life, and 
 m his retirement at Woodstock, and afterwards at Donnington, he 
 devoted himself to the cultivation of his muse. He died 25th Oc- 
 tober, 1400. 
 
TURKISH EMPIRE. 185 
 
 PERIOD VIII. 
 
 The period of the Reformation ; extending from the Ta- 
 king of Constantinople, 1453 years A. 5., to the Edict 
 of Nantes i 1598 years A. C. 
 
 TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 SECT. 1. The history of the Turkish Empire, at this era, 
 is signalized by the taking of Constantinople, and the con- 
 sequent extinction of the Eastern Empire of the Romans, 
 1453, The Turks effected the object under Mahomet the 
 Great, the Turkish Sultan. 
 
 Constantine was the name of the last emperor of the 
 East, as it was also the name of the first. His dominions 
 had become exceedingly circumscribed. The Turks had 
 gradually encroached upon its borders, and Constantinople 
 would soon have become the seat of the Ottoman power, 
 had they not been obliged to defend themselves against the 
 Tartars. 
 
 Mahomet II., after some delay, commenced the project 
 which had long engaged the attention of the Turks. The 
 indolent inhabitants of Constantinople, made but a feeble 
 preparation for defence, and all Europe was supine and in- 
 different. The city was assailed both by sea and land the 
 walls were battered down with cannon, and all who opposed 
 were massacred. The emperor was slain, and the city soon 
 surrendered. The Turks forbore to destroy the imperial 
 edifices, and the churches were converted into mosques. The 
 exercise of their religion, however, was allowed to all the 
 Christians, and they have, till lately, chosen their own patri- 
 arch. The Eastern empire, from the building of i*s capital, 
 had subsisted 1123 years. 
 
 After the fall of Constantinople, Greece and Epirus were 
 subdued ; and Italy might probably have shared a similar 
 fate, but for the fleet of the Venetians, who opposed the arms 
 of Mahomet with considerable success : but peace was soon 
 concluded between the hostile powers. The death of 
 hornet the Great, occurred 1481. 
 
 16* 
 
18G MODERN HISTORY PERIOD VIII. 
 
 Mahomet was a youth of only about twenty-one years, when he 
 undertook the project of extinguishing the empire of the East. 
 The force with which he invested Constantinople, was fully adequate 
 to the object, being nearly three hundred thousand men ; while the 
 whole population of that city, did not amount to more than one 
 hundred thousand. 
 
 The Greeks, notwithstanding their degeneracy, displayed con- 
 siderable bravery. Their all was at stake, and a small but faithful 
 oand adhered to Constantine, till they were nearly annihilated. 
 Seeing his dearest friends fall by his side, and himself at last re- 
 maining, surrounded only by enemies, he exclaimed in the bitterness 
 of grief, " Has death then made such havoc, that not one Christian 
 is left to take my life?" As he spoke, a Turk to whom his person 
 was unknown, for he had prudently laid aside the purple, strucV 
 him in the face ; a second blow succeeded from another hand ; and 
 he fell, in the forty-ninth year of his age, a glorious example of 
 honourable resolution, in expiring with his defenders, rather than 
 surviving them. 
 
 Mahomet liberally patronized the arts and sciences ; and 
 to compensate for the migration of those learned Greeks, 
 who, on the fall of the empire, spread themselves over the 
 countries of Europe, invited both artists and men of letters 
 to his capital from other kingdoms. 
 
 The successors of this sovereign during the remainder of 
 the present period, were Bajazet II., Selim I., Solyman I., 
 Selim II., Amurath III., and Mahomet III. 
 
 Bajazet II., prosecuted various wars against the Hungarians, 
 Venetians, Persians, and Saracens, but having resigned the govern- 
 ment to his son, who had revolted and was supported by the 
 Janizaries, he was soon after poisoned by the order of the latter. 
 
 His son and successor, Selim I., was a prosperous, but tyrannical 
 prince ; who, in 1517, conquered Egypt, Aleppo, Antioch, Tripoli, 
 Damascus, and Gaza. 
 
 Solyman I., surnamed the Magnificent, succeeded Selim in 1520 ; 
 and was one of the most accomplished, enterprising, successful, and 
 warlike of the Turkish princes. He took Buda, and besieged Vien- 
 na. From the latter place, however, he was obliged to retire with 
 the loss of eighty thousand men. 
 
 Selim II., his son, besieged and took Cyprus and Tunis ; but his 
 fleet was defeated at Lepanto, with the capture or destruction of 
 almost all his ships. 
 
 Amurath III. strangled his five brothers immediately upon his ac- 
 cession. This prince extended his dominions by the addition of 
 Raab in Hungary, and of Tibris in Persia. In this reign, the Jani- 
 zaries having lost their submission, and in great part, their discipline, 
 began to kill their commanders, whenever they were dissatisfied 
 with them. 
 
 His son, Mahomet III. was a monster of barbarity, having begun 
 
ITALIAN STATES. 187 
 
 his reign by strangling his nineteen brothers, and drowning ten of 
 his father's wives. He finally put to death his eldest son, a prince 
 of estimable qualities, on an unfounded suspicion of ambitious views. 
 
 ITALIAN STATES. 
 
 2. We shall pursue the history of Italy, by giving an ac- 
 count of only two or three of the States of which it was 
 composed. The events in the Italian history are not politi- 
 cally important at this era. It is chiefly in reference to the 
 influence of Florence on the literature of the times, and the 
 ecclesiastical influence of the Papal dominions, that these 
 portions of Italy will be brought more particularly into view. 
 
 Florence, under the Medici, enjoyed a high degree of 
 splendour, during this period. It was an era, in the cultiva- 
 tion of the sciences and elegant arts. The family of the 
 Medici held sway in this country from the year 1428 to 
 1569, when Cosmo de Medici the Great was entitled Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany. Under the title of the Republic of 
 Florence, which they governed, were included not only Tus- 
 cany, of which Florence is the capital, but Modena, Mantua, 
 and one or two other states. 
 
 Cosmo de Medici died in 1464, who. though the private subject 
 of a republic, had more riches than any king in Europe, and laid out 
 more money in works of taste, learning, and charity, than all the 
 kings, princes, and states, of that or the subsequent age, the indi- 
 viduals of his own family excepted. His religious foundations were 
 unrivalled. His private buildings were equally sumptuous. No 
 palace in Europe at that lime exceeded his in Florence. He had be- 
 sides many others. With all this public magnificence and expendi- 
 ture, he was in his private conversation, humble and unassuming ; 
 and in his person plain and modest. He was not celebrated for 
 learning, though he was the greatest patron of learned men of his 
 age. 
 
 Cosmo was succeeded in the government by his son Peter, and he 
 by his sons Lorenzo a*.i Giuliano. The latter was soon murdered, 
 and Lorenzo died aged no more than fifty-four years, illustrious lik' 
 his predecessors, in every public and private virtue. 
 
 The tranquillity of the republic was much disturbed by wars with 
 the Venetians and Genoese, for many years. In the course of these 
 commotions, Florence assumed the popular government, but it was 
 quickly reversed by the emperor Charles V., who, laying siege to the 
 city, forced it to capitulate, and restored the family of the Medici. 
 
 Cosmo, the second of that name, now (1537) succeeded to the ducal 
 crown, which he wore with honour, during thirty-eight years. The 
 encouragement he gave to the practice and study of all the fine arts, 
 
188 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 proves him to have been one of the greatest patrons of human geni- 
 us, since the days of Augustus. The names of his sons were John 
 and Garcia. The latter was of a furious, vindictive disposition, and 
 quarrelling one day with his brother, stabbed him to the heart with 
 a dagger. The father charged him with the murder, but the youth 
 denying it, was introduced into the room where the body lay, which 
 is said to have bled, (doubtless by chance,) at his approach. He 
 then threw himself at his father's feet, and confessed his guilt. The 
 father, who had resolved on the part he was to act, solemnly desired 
 his son to prepare for death, adding, that he ought to think himself 
 happy in losing a life he was unworthy to enjoy, by the hands of 
 him who gave it. He then unsheathed the dagger with which the 
 cardinal had been murdered, and plunged it into the bosom of his 
 son. 
 
 3. That part of Italy which constitutes the dominions oi 
 his holiness, became the scene of much crime and conten- 
 tion during this period. Both the temporal and spiritual pow- 
 er of the popes, was now at its height. In 1498, the papacy 
 was enjoyed by Alexander VI., a monster of wickedness. 
 Charles VIII. , of France, had resolved on an expedition into 
 Italy. The pope and the duke of Milan, who encouraged 
 him in it, immediately betrayed him, and joined the interest 
 of the king of Naples, who was the object of attack on the 
 part of Charles. The latter, however, now first besieged the 
 pope in Rome, and forced him to submission, but at length 
 devoutly kissed his feet. He then marched against Naples, 
 while its timid prince, Alphonso, fled to Sicily, after absolving 
 his subjects from their allegiance. Charles entered Naples 
 in triumph, but lost his new kingdom almost as soon as he 
 had gained it. A league was formed against Charles, be- 
 tween the pope, the emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand of Arra- 
 gon, Isabella of Castile, and the Venetians ; and on his re- 
 turn to France, the troops he had left to guard his conquests, 
 were all driven from Italy. 
 
 It has been remarked, that from the decisive effect of this con- 
 federacy, the sovereigns of Europe derived a useful lesson of policy, 
 and first adopted the idea of preserving a balance of power, by that 
 tacit league, which is understood to be always subsisting, for the 
 prevention of the co-ordinate aggrandizement of any particular state. 
 
 History relates with horror, the crimes of Alexander VI., and his 
 son Caesar Borgia : their murders, robberies, profanations, and in- 
 cests. They compassed their ends in attaining every object of their 
 ambition, but with the universal abhorrence of mankind. Their death 
 eeems to have been a sort of retribution for their crimes, so far aa 
 retribution is known on earth. 
 
t 
 
 FRANCE. 189 
 
 If an author, Guicciardim, who was a mortal enemy to Alexan- 
 der, may lie believed, Borgia had sent a present of some flasks of 
 poisoned wine to the cardinal of Corneto, in whose garden they pro- 
 posed to sup, but ordered the servant to give none of it to any per- 
 son. Alexander soon after coming into the garden, and calling for 
 wine before supper, the servant gave him some from the poisoned 
 flasks, thinking the prohibition could not extend to the Pope, how- 
 ever rare and valuable the wine might be ; and Borgia, in the mean 
 time appearing, unconsciously drank of the same wine with his 
 father. They both immediately felt the symptoms of the poison, 
 and Alexander died the next day ; but Borgia, having drank his wine 
 much diluted, survived with the loss of his skin and hair. He was 
 afterwards stripped of all his possessions by Pope Julius II., and at 
 last perished in miserable obscurity in Spain. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Branch of Valois. Branch of Orleans. 
 
 4. Louis XL, began to reign in 1461. He immediately 
 removed all his late father's ministers, proceeded to humble the 
 nobles, and in almost every respect acted the tyrant towards 
 his subjects. Indeed, his character is that of a most deceitful, 
 profligate and cruel prince ; he followed too nearly the odious 
 Tiberius in his measures. He left, however, some good regu- 
 lations for the encouragement of commerce, and for the ef- 
 fectual administration of justice. Notwithstanding the odious- 
 ness of his character, he was the first of the French kings, on 
 whom the title of His most Christian Majesty was conferred. 
 
 His severity occasioned a revolt of several of the first lords of 
 the kingdom. The war which thence arose, they entitled " the war 
 of the public good." His sanguinary disposition is evidenced by 
 the following fact. When he pronounced sentence of death on a 
 certain nobleman, he ordered that his infant children should be placed 
 beneath the scaffold, to be sprinkled by the blood which gushed 
 from the body of their parent. This was an almost incredible 
 instance of refined cruelty, and cold barbarity. Louis died a victim 
 of superstitious terror and remorse of conscience. 
 
 5. Charles VIII., surnamed the Affable, at the age of 
 thirteen years, succeeded his father, under the regency of 
 Anne of France, his sister, 1483. His marriage with Anne 
 of Brittany, who was promised to Maximilian of Austria, 
 occasioned a short war with the Germans. His expedition 
 into Italy, and his conquest and subsequent loss of Naples 
 have already been noticed in the Italian history. He reign- 
 ed about fifteen years. 
 
190 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII 
 
 f 
 
 His surname is indicative of his disposition and manners but he 
 led a life of intemperance, and was early cut off by this vice, in his 
 twenty-eighth year. The direct line of Philip of Valois terminated 
 with this monarch, as he left no issue. 
 
 6. Louis XIL, who was duke of Orleans, and great grand- 
 son of Charles V., ascended the throne as the nearest heir, 
 1498. He was idolized by the French, and obtained and 
 deserved the title of " The Father of his People," by his 
 frugal policy, which eased them from taxes. Yet he was am- 
 bitious and imprudent in his military enterprises. 
 
 He conquered the Milanese and Genoa, but in prosecuting 
 his claim to Naples, though he obtained some advantage at 
 first, he was unsuccessful in the end. He was duped by his 
 associates, Ferdinand of Spain, and pope Alexander VI. 
 The whole of Naples finally fell into the treacherous hands 
 of Ferdinand ; nor did the French king long retain his 
 other conquests in Italy, since they revolted from him on the 
 first opportunity. Louis died suddenly, while preparing to 
 recover, by arms, his lost Italian possessions. 
 
 In justifying himself for the pardon of his enemies, Louis 
 made an observation worthy of royalty. " The king of France does 
 not revenge the injuries done to the duke of Orleans." What this 
 prince also said in vindication of his economy, will always be praised 
 " I had rather see my courtiers laugh at my avarice, than my people 
 weep on account of my expenses." It was an unhapplness, how- 
 ever, that he procured, in part, his supplies of money by the sale 01 
 offices, which was a very dangerous example. 
 
 7. Francis I., count of Angouleme, was called to the throne, 
 1515, Louis having died without male issue. He was a ne- 
 phew of the late king, and began his reign at the age of 
 twenty-one. 
 
 His real power, and the high opinion which he entertained 
 of his own greatness, led him, in 1519, into competition with 
 the celebrated Charles V., who had just ascended the throne 
 of Spain. Charles, as grandson of the emperor Maximilian, 
 upon the death of the latter, preferred his claim to the empire, 
 but was opposed by Francis. Charles obtained the election, 
 and these princes now became sworn enemies. Their mu- 
 tual claims on each other's dominions, caused seas of blood to 
 flow, in wars that lasted more than thirty-eight years. 
 
 Francis began hostilities by attacking Navarre. He first won and 
 then lost that kingdom. The emperor attacked Picardy, and his 
 troops at the same time wrested Milan out of the hands of the French 
 
FRANCE. 191 
 
 Henry VIII., of England, whose friendship had be^i assiduously 
 courted by both parties, was brought over for a tin ^o the side of 
 Charles. 
 
 Just at this juncture, Francis, unfortunately, quarrelled with his 
 oest general, the constable of Bourbon, who revenged himself by 
 deserting to the emperor. The constable was invested with com- 
 mand in the army of Charles, and thus greatly added to the supe- 
 riority which was already apparent in the generals of the latter. The 
 consequences were such as might have been expected. The French 
 were defeated in the battle of Biagrassa. In this engagement, Bay- 
 ard, the model of knights, perished. At his death, he replied to the 
 marks of pity shown by the duke of Bourbon, with these words : " It 
 is you who ought to be pitied, for fighting against your king, your 
 country, and your oaths." 
 
 A temporary success attended the French arms in the capture of 
 the capital of the Milanese ; but a sad reverse soon followed in the 
 battle of Pavia. That battle was fought on the 24th of February, 
 1525, and resembled in its catastrophe, those won by the English at 
 Poictiers and Agincourt. Twenty-five thousand French were slain, 
 and Francis himself made prisoner. He had the mortification to 
 find himself the captive of that very man, the constable, whom he 
 had treated with the greatest hauteur. 
 
 Europe being alarmed by the aggrandizement of Charles, a league 
 of several states was formed against him, in favour of the captive mo- 
 narch. In this league, England was included. The emperor was 
 thus in a manner forced to liberate his prisoner, and he derived little 
 benefit from his good fortune. The severity of the terms respecting 
 his ransom was such, that the states general refused to fulfil them. 
 
 On the renewal of the war, Henry VIII. took part with France, 
 but the powerful Charles was not intimidated. Resolving on an in- 
 vasion of his enemy's country, he inundated Provence with fifty 
 thousand men. But the defensive operations of the French were 
 very successful, and Charles returned sorrowfully into Italy, having 
 lost the one half of his army, cut off by diseases and famine. 
 
 In the interval of a truce, which was concluded at Nice, for ten 
 years, Charles passed through France to the Netherlands, and on the 
 part of Francis, was treated with the utmost courtesy and hospitality. 
 He had previously stipulated to grant the French king the investi- 
 ture of Milan. But though he was every where received with the 
 utmost pomp, and staid seven days in Paris, where he was loaded 
 with every mark of friendship and confidence, he left no authentic 
 testimony of his promise. 
 
 The seeds of a renewed contest were thus sown, but though the 
 French were victorious in the battle of Cerizoles, they derived from 
 it little or no advantage. The Imperialists, on the whole, had a de- 
 cided superiority, and France must have been ruined had not the 
 disorders of Germany forced the emperor to conclude the treaty 
 of Crepi, with Francis, 1544. The latter purchased a peace with 
 Henry VIII., who had once more changed sides, and favoured 
 Charles. 
 
192 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 8. Francis died in 1547. He has the reputation of a great 
 prince, and would have appeared greater, but for the manifest 
 superiority of his illustrious rival. Notwithstanding the wais 
 in which France was engaged during the reign of this mo- 
 narch, he left his kingdom in a flourishing and prosperous 
 state. Literature and the arts made great progress in France 
 under his auspices, and the French court acquired that polish 
 and refinement in taste and manners, for which it has since 
 been so conspicuous throughout the world. 
 
 " The fine qualities of this prince," says Millot, " his open temper, 
 beneficence, honour, generosity, and courage, have not been able to 
 cover his faults, rashness in his enterprises, negligence in his affairs, 
 fickleness in his conduct, prodigality in his expenses, and excess in 
 his pleasures. Whatever merit he was possessed of, he would have 
 met with fewer encomiums, had he not -caressed and favoured men 
 of letters, by whose suffrages the reputation of sovereigns is fixed. 
 He founded the royal college and printing house. At the same time 
 that he encouraged the culture of the learned languages, he had the 
 prudence to command that the public acts should be written in 
 French. In the same manner, he gave life to the fine arts, built 
 Fontainbleau, and began the Louvre. In order to polish the man 
 ners of the court, he drew to it the most respectable women and 
 . distinguished prelates.' 5 
 
 9. Henry II. succeeded his father in 1547. This prince, 
 though brave and polite, was the slave of pleasure, and the 
 dupe of favourites. He continued the war in which his father 
 had been engaged with Charles V., and that emperor's son 
 Philip II., of Spain. He obtained considerable advantage over 
 Charles at the siege of Metz, but was terribly defeated by Phi- 
 lip, at St. Quentin. The event most glorious to his reign, 
 was the recovery of Calais from the English, in 1557. The 
 duke of Guise captured the place in eight days, to the sur- 
 prise of all Europe. 
 
 The origin of those civil wars which distracted France 
 during the three succeeding reigns, may be dated from this 
 reign, or rather from that of Francis I., when the Huguenots, 
 who were Calvinists, or Protestants, began to be persecuted. 
 The spirit of persecution greatly increased during the reign 
 
 of Henry. 
 
 The death of this monarch was owing to an accident which befel 
 him at a tournament. Wishing to amuse the ladies with a tilt be- 
 tween himself and the count of Montgomery, who was esteemed 
 the most dexterous justier of his time, he gaily entered the lists. In 
 their rencounter both their lances were broken, and the count 
 
FRANCE. 193 
 
 thrown from his horse. In his fall, the broken trunk of the spear, 
 stiii. re nan ing inhis hand, struck the king's right eye, and produced 
 so violent a contusion as to terminate his life. 
 
 10. His son, Francis II., was raised to the throne in 1559. 
 He was the husband of Mary, queen of Scots, and died the 
 next year, having reigned about seventeen months. The 
 only important event in this reign, was the conspiracy* of the 
 Protestants against the king, and the Guises, who were five 
 brothers, at the head of the Catholics. Two of these, the 
 duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine, were conspicu- 
 ous in the government. This conspiracy was detected, and 
 1200 of those engaged in it, were put to death. 
 
 The Protestants were wearied with the persecutions they had so 
 long endured, and came to a resolution to devote their lives to the 
 drf.Miee of their liberties. They were secretly abetted by the prince 
 of Conde, brother to the king of Navarre. The prince, however, 
 escaped punishment, having pleaded his cause before the king, in 
 person. 
 
 11. Charles IX., a boy only ten years old, succeeded his 
 brother, 1560, under the regency of Catharine de Medicis, 
 who hud been the wife of Henry, and was notorious for her 
 profligacy and ambition. The difficulties between the Catho- 
 lics and Protestants had arisen to a great height. Some of 
 the first men of the French court, were included among the 
 latter, particularly the prince of Conde and Admiral Coligny. 
 Their influence was too great to be resisted ; and after the 
 conference held at Poissy, liberty was granted to the Protes- 
 tants to exercise their worship without the walls of the towns. 
 The violation, soon after, of the edict granting this liberty, oc- 
 casioned the sanguinary civil war, which for a long time 
 filled France with misery and blood. 
 
 The Protestant religion had spread greatly at court, as well as 
 in the capital and the provinces, even under Francis I. The perse- 
 cution of the Protestants under Henry II., only increased their num- 
 ber, and produced that exasperation of feeling, which ended in the 
 conspiracy, already mentioned, under Francis II. 
 
 The celebrated conference at Poissy, was attended by the young 
 king, the queen mother, and the whole court. Theodore Beza, an illus- 
 trious reformer, defended the Protestants, while the cardinal of Lor- 
 raine, undertook the cause of the Catholics. Both parties, as is usual 
 on such occasions, claimed the victory. It was, however, difficult 
 any longer to refuse certain concessions to the Protestants. Indeed, 
 the queen mother found it politic to grant them -liberty of worship, 
 and to favour the prince of Conde, in order to counterbalance the 
 power of the Guises. 
 
 17 
 
194 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 The Protestants, in the war which ensued, were headed by Admi- 
 ral Coligny, who was assisted by 10,000 Germans from the Palati- 
 nate. The command of the Catholics was assumed by Guise and 
 Montmorency, who were aided by Philip of Spain. The latter were 
 always victorious, though the Protestants were too powerful to be 
 despised ; and in the conditions of peace which they obtained, was 
 included the toleration of their religion. Murders and assassina- 
 tions aggravated the horrors of civil war. The duke of Guise fell 
 by the hand of a religious enthusiast. And even the peace which 
 was secured, was only a prelude to more awful scenes of atrocity 
 and blood. 
 
 It became now the policy of the government to caress the Protes- 
 tants, in order to destroy them. They received extraordinary marks 
 of favour ; even the prudence of Coligny was lulled asleep ; and on 
 the occasion of the marriage of the king of Navarre with the sister 
 of Charles, these persecuted people were allured to court. By the 
 order of the government, a dreadful massacre of the Protestants 
 then took place, the horrid plan having been all previously arranged. 
 On the night of the twenty-third of August, it being St. Bartholo- 
 mew's, there perished in Paris and France, 60,000, some reckon 
 100,000 Protestants. The duke of Guise (Henry, son of Francis) 
 went in person to Coligny's gate, and caused that great man to be 
 murdered. The streets and houses in Paris floated in blood. The 
 king barbarously fired upon his unhappy subjects, and afterwards 
 beheld with pleasure Coligny's body insulted by the populace. 
 
 To crown this horrid act, the king declared that every thing was 
 done by his command ; the parliament ordered an annual procession 
 to celebrate the deliverance of the kingdom ; a medal was struck 
 with this legend, piety put the sword into the hands of justice , 
 and at Rome and in Spain, the massacre was made a subject of 
 public rejoicings. 
 
 Calvinism was not at all crushed by this infernal plot, infernally 
 executed. It only became more formidable through despair, and 
 now both of the Bourbons, the king of Navarre as well as the prince 
 of Conde, were enlisted in the Protestant cause. It was found ne- 
 cessary again to grant them liberty of conscience. Charles died 
 soon after the massacre of St. Bartholomew 3 at the age of twenty- 
 four years. 
 
 12. The successor of Charles IX., was Henry III., duke 
 f Anjou, who had just been elected king of Poland, 1574. 
 He was a weak and worthless prince, joining to the utmost 
 depravity of manners, the external observances of the lowest 
 superstition. He became the scorn of his subjects, and the 
 dupe of the contending factions. It was in his reign, that 
 the Catholics, incensed on account of the privileges conferred 
 on the Huguenots, formed the famous league for the purpose 
 of extirpating them, having the duke of Guise at its head. 
 
 This league was nominally for the defence of the state and .^ 
 
ENGLAND. 195 
 
 * 
 
 religion, but in reality, besides the extirpation of the Protestant faith, 
 it had in view the usurpation of all the powers of government. The . 
 kiii, with the weakest policy, united himself to this league, and 
 thus became the avowed enemy of a large portion of his subjects. 
 But in carrying on his military operations against the Protestants, 
 % he found himself thwarted at every step, by the duke of Guise and 
 the Cardinal of Lorraine. To dispel the fears which he entertained 
 from these men, he put them to death, by the hands of assassins. Af- 
 ter a reign of fifteen years, the king himself was assassinated, 1589, 
 by a fanatic monk. 
 
 13. On the death of Henry IIL, who died without children, 
 the sceptre of France passed to the house of Bourbon, repre- 
 ss 'iifecl at this time by Henry IIL, of Navarre. As king of 
 France, he is known by the name of Henry IV., afterwards 
 surnamed the Great. 
 
 As his reign extends into the next period, the following 
 particulars only, will be mentioned at present. He had been 
 educated in the reformed religion by his mother, who avowed 
 herself its protector. At the age of sixteen, he had been de- 
 clared head of the party of the Huguenots. When invited 
 to Paris at the peace of 1572, to many the sister of Charles 
 IX., he narrowly escaped from the massacre of St. Bartho- 
 lomew, but remained three years a prisoner. Although his 
 first military enterprises were unsuccessful, yet, when on the 
 death of Charles, lie again took the field against the army of 
 the league, he defeated it in the battle of Coutras, 1587, and 
 still more signally in that of Argues, 1589. After the death 
 of Henry III., he won the celebrated battle of Ivry, against 
 the army of the League, then commanded by the duke of 
 Mayenne, who had proclaimed the cardinal of Bourbon, king, 
 under the title of Charles X. As a protestant, however, he was 
 environed with difficulties ; a large portion of the people refused 
 to submit to him ; and influenced by the earnest entreaties 
 of the duke of Sully, as well as by views of polic)^, he re- 
 nounced protestantism, and became a catholic, 1594. In 
 1596, the duke of Mayenne submitted to Henry, and the 
 whole kingdom acknowledged him as its sovereign. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Branch of 'York. House of Tudor. 
 
 14. Henry VI.; had been on the throne of England since 
 the year 1 422 ; but the wars which now commenced between 
 
196 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 his house and that of York, rendered his situation most in- 
 secure, and. at length, hurled him from his throne. Justice 
 was on the side of Richard, duke of York, as he was a de- 
 scendant from the second son of Ed ward III., while Henry was 
 a descendant from Edward's third son. The whole nation 
 took the side of one or the other, and each party was distin- 
 guished hy a particular symbol. That of the Lancastrians 
 was the red rose, and that of the Yorkites the white rose 
 Hence, this contention was known hy the name of the 
 " quarrel of the two roses." Hostilities commenced in 1455. 
 
 The principal battles which were fought, previous to the acces- 
 sion of Edward IV-., were, that of St. Albans, in which Henry was 
 defeated and taken prisoner, and Richard assumed the title of Pro- 
 tectorthat which was fought on Bloreheath, in Staffordshire, and 
 which terminated in favour of Richard that of Northampton, in 
 which Henry was defeated a'ld again taken prisoner, by the Earl of 
 Warwick and that of Wakefleld, in which Henry's queen, Marga- 
 ret of Anjou, gained a complete victory over Richard, who, together 
 with his second son, was slain. 
 
 Upon the death of the duke of York, the earl of Warwick, 
 known by the name of King Maker, from the conspicuous part he 
 bore in the contentions of the times, took command of the forced 
 belonging to that party. 
 
 15. Upon the death of Richard, the young duke of York, 
 his son and successor, entered London at the head of a nu- 
 merous army, amidst the greetings of the citizens, and as- 
 sumed the powers of government. He did not, however, 
 fully consider himself as king, until he had obtained, (14(51.) 
 at Towton, a signal victory over the adherents of Henry, of 
 whom 36,000 were killed. His title was that of Edward IV". 
 After various turns of fortune, in which he was once deposed, 
 and Henry re-instated on the throne, he finally triumphed 
 over the Lancastrians, in the desperate battle of Tewkes 
 bury, in which Margaret, and her son, the Prince of Wales, 
 were taken prisoners. The latter was assassinated, and 
 king Henry, who had been confined in the tower, was found 
 dead a few days afterwards. Margaret, whose amhiti-.m had 
 kindled the desolating war. was punished only with imprison- 
 ment. She was afterwards ransomed by the king of France, 
 and died in that country. 
 
 It is snid that the young prince, when brought before the king, 
 and asked man insulting tone, by the latter, how he dared to invade 
 ftis dominion, replied, with a spirit, congenial to his high birth, thai 
 he came thither to claim his just inheritance. The ungenerous Ed- 
 
ENGLAND. 197 
 
 ward, indignant at his answer, and insensible to pity, struck him on 
 the face with his gauntlet ; and the dukes of Clarence and Glouces- 
 ter, with others, taking the blow as a signal for further violence, 
 hurried the prince into the next apartment, and there dispatched 
 him with their daggers. 
 
 It is said also, and generally believed, that Richard, duke of 
 Gloucester, killed king Henry with his own hands. 
 
 When Edward was secured on the throne, his spirit sunk 
 in indolence and pleasure. The energies of his reign seem 
 to have terminated with the civil wars, unless we except his 
 acts of detestable tyranny. He put to death, on the most 
 frivolous pretence, his brother Clarence ; and preparing to 
 gratify his subjects, by a war with France, he died sud- 
 ,denly, in the forty-second year of his age, poisoned, as was 
 suspected, by his brother Richard, duke of Gloucester. 
 
 The only favour which the king granted his brother, Clarence, 
 after his condemnation, was, to leave him the choice of his death. 
 The duke chose to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey a whimsical 
 choice, which implies that he had an extraordinary predilection for 
 tiit.it liquor. 
 
 16. Edward V., a minor, succeeded his father. 1483, under 
 the protection of Iris uncle, the duke of Gloucester. A few 
 days afterwards, the duke of Gloucester caused himself to be 
 proclaimed, under the title of Richard III. The young king 
 and his brother having been removed to the tower by Rich- 
 ard's order, under pretence of guarding them, disappeared 
 about that time. The diabolical Richard, had inhumanly 
 deprived them of life. 
 
 Richard possessed a fierce and savage nature, and in making his 
 way to the throne, had recourse to the most perfidious and cruel 
 acts. Endeavouring to gain the assistance of lord Hastings, and 
 finding that nobleman inflexibly favourable to the children of Ed- 
 ward, he accused him of treason, and ordered him to be decapita- 
 ted, without even the appearance of legal forms. 
 
 The murder of the two young princes, was as deep a tragedy as 
 any recorded in English history. Richard gave orders to Sir Ro- 
 bert Brakenbury, constable of the tower, to put his nephews to 
 death j bat this gentleman, who had sentiments of honour, refused 
 to stain his hands with the infamous deed. The tyrant then en- 
 gaged Sir James Tyrrel, who, choosing three associates, like him- 
 self, came in the night time to the door of the chamber, where the 
 princes were lodged, and sending in the assassins, he bade them ex- 
 ecute their commission, while he himself staid without. They 
 found the unoffending young princes in bed, and fallen into a sweet 
 and profound sleep. After suffocating them with the bolster and 
 pillows, they showed their naked bodies to Tyrrel, who ordered 
 
 17* 
 
198 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD Vllt. 
 
 them to be buried at the foot of the stairs, deep in the ground, undei 
 a heap of stones. These circumstances were all confessed by the 
 bloody actors, in the following reign. In the reign of Charles II., 
 the bones of two persons were found in the place indicated, wMch 
 exactly corresponded, by their sizes, to Edward V., and his brother; 
 and being judged the undoubted remains of these unhappy princes, 
 were deposited in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 17. The earl of Richmond, the only surviving heir of the 
 house of Lancaster, became the instrument, under divine 
 Providence, of avenging the awful crimes of Richard. As- 
 sisted by the French king, he landed in England, and revived 
 the spirits of a party almost extinguished in the kingdom. 
 He gave battle to Richard, 1.485, in the field of Bosworlh, 
 arid entirely defeated the army of the usurper, who was slain 
 while fighting with the most desperate courage. This hattle 
 terminated the terrible contest between the houses of York 
 and Lancaster a contest which lasted thirty years, and 
 in which twelve sanguinary pitched battles were fought, and 
 100,000 brave men, including eighty princes of the blood, 
 perished on the field, or by the hand of the executioner. 
 
 The person of Richard was as deformed as his character was de- 
 testable. He was small of stature, hump-backed, ugly in his fea- 
 tures, and had his left arm withered. This infirmity, which had 
 attended him from his birth, he pretended, on a certain occasion 
 when he wished to confound lord Hastings, was the effect of Jane 
 Shore's incantations, knowing that this nobleman had engaged in 
 an intrigue with that lady. , 
 
 18. The crown which Richard wore in the enslavement 
 
 ^ vH) <) 
 
 that proved fatal to his life, was immediately placed on the 
 head of the conqueror. The earl of Richmond assumed the 
 title of Henry VII., Aug. 22, 1485. By marrying a daugh 
 ter of Edward IV., he united the rights of the two houses ol 
 York and Lancaster. He was a descendant from Edmund 
 Tudor, and first king of the house of Tudor. 
 
 Henry was a prudent and politic prince, but unhappily 
 prejudiced against the adherents of the house of York. A 
 degree of discontent was thus engendered, which tended tc 
 
 o o * 
 
 jeopardise his government. The general tranquillity of his 
 reign was, on this account, occasionally disturbed by plots 
 and conspiracies two of which were rather singular, con- 
 sisting in attempts to counterfeit the persons of the heirs ot 
 York, and to enforce their claims to the crown. 
 The name of one of these impostors was Lambert Simnel. the 
 
ENGLAND. 199 
 
 son of a baker, who counterfeited the person of the earl of War- 
 wick, son of the late duke of Clarence. The name of the other 
 wan Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish Jew, who personated 
 the duke of York, who had been smothered in the tower. They 
 were supported by men of distinction in the nation, and gave Henry 
 great trouble, but were finally subdued and taken. Simnel was 
 spared and made a scullion in the king's kitchen. Warbeck expia- 
 ted liis crime on the scaffold. 
 
 The aversion of Henry to the house of York, shewed itself even 
 in his treatment of his wife. Though in the highest degree virtu- 
 ous, amiable, and obsequious, she never met with a proper return of 
 affection, or even of complaisance, from her husband ; and the 
 malignant ideas of faction, in his sullen mind, prevailed over all the 
 sentiments of conjugal endearment. 
 
 Henry was by nature a despot ; anc! indeed the principles 
 of despotism were congenial to all the sovereigns ' of the 
 Tudor race. Y r et his sagacity led him generally to pacific 
 counsels. Though he was by no means a popular prince, 
 he was useful to the nation, having enacted many wise laws, 
 promoted industry,, encouraged commerce, patronized the aits 
 of civilized life, and curbed and softened the spirit of a proud 
 and rude aristocracy. His policy gave a death blow to the 
 Feudal system. The greatest stain in this prince's character 
 
 */ o 1 
 
 \vus his avarice, which, in the latter part of his reign, prompt 
 ed to the most oppressive exactions. 
 
 He is said to have left at his death, in ready money, a sum equal 
 to 10,000.000 at present. 
 
 19. Henry VIII. succeeded his father in the eighteenth 
 
 year of his age, 1509. He came to the throne with flatter- 
 ing prospects, considered whether in respect to the improved 
 and tranquil state of tbe kingdom, the affection and high 
 expectation of his people, or his own supposed good qualities. 
 
 The succession was well established, the contending titles of 
 York and Lancaster were fully united in him, the treasury was well 
 filled, and peace and prosperity were universally enjoyed. The 
 young prince's person was beautiful, his manners elegant, his dis- 
 position frank, his mind highly cultivated for the times, and his 
 native talents commanding. 
 
 The nation, however, was greatly disappointed in its young 
 prince. He soon shewed himself an unprincipled tyrant : 
 and both friends and foes felt, at times, the effects of his 
 caprice and cruelty. His ministers were talented men, but 
 he took pleasure in abusing them. Only archbishop Cran- 
 mer continued to be an object of favour to the last. Cardinal 
 
200 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD VI II. 
 
 Wolsey, in whom he placed unbounded confidence for a time, 
 was finally discarded. Wolsey, more than any one else, by 
 ministering to the pleasures and ambition of the king, shaped 
 his destiny and the fortunes of the people. 
 
 This celebrated man was the son of a butcher at Ipswich ; but 
 having received a learned education, and being endowed with an ex- 
 cellent capacity, he was taken into the service of the king, and by 
 degrees rose into distinction, till he became the prime minister of 
 his sovereign. Clergyman as he was, he countenanced the king in 
 all his light sports, gaiety, and sensual indulgences, a quality in the 
 companion, which contributed to the influence and elevation of the 
 courtier. 
 
 20. In the early part of his reign, the counsels of Wolsey 
 agreeing with the natural temper of Henry, prompted him to 
 make war against Louis XII. of France. He invaded the 
 country, and met with success so far as he went, having 
 gained the Battle of the Spurs ; (because the French on the 
 occasion made more use of their spurs than their swords ;) 
 but he failed to improve his good fortune, and after taking 
 Tournay, returned to England. 
 
 About the same time the Scots, who had made an inclu- 
 sion into England, were defeated by Henry's general, the 
 earl of Surrey, at Flodden Field, where James IV., and a 
 great part of his nobility, were slain. Henry, however, did 
 not. follow up his advantage, but generously granted a peace 
 to Scotland. 
 
 Henry also took a part in the long and obstinate wars 
 which were waged between Francis I. and Charles Y., a? 
 before detailed. His foreign alliances cost him the expendi- 
 ture of immense treasures to no purpose, as he was, by turns, 
 the dupe of both parties. 
 
 The most important events in Henry's reign, are connected 
 with his matrimonial alliances. Out of these, as a conse- 
 quence, arose the ever-memorable Reformation in England. 
 Henry was opposed by the pope in an affair so interesting to 
 his passions, and therefore the pope was opposed by him, 
 and at length lost his influence in the kingdom. In this 
 great religious change, it is evident Henry had no good in- 
 tentions, but sought the gratification of his own unhallowed 
 appetites. He had previously declared himself the champion 
 of the Romish church, and even written a book against 
 
ENGLAND. 201 
 
 Luther. Hence was conferred on him, by the pope, the title 
 of " Defender of the Faith." 
 
 Henry was married to Catharine of Arragon, his brother's 
 willow, but having fallen in love with the beautiful Anne Boieyn, he 
 applied to the pope for a divorce. This, however, was denied him. 
 But Henry was not to be frustrated in his intentions. The opinion 
 of the universities was favourable to him, and Anne was soon crown- 
 ed queen. 
 
 The pope now was forced to pay the price of his conscientious- 
 ness or obstinacy. His authority, from that time, was abolished in 
 England ; the annual tribute was no longer paid to him ; the dissolu- 
 tion of the monasteries was ordered ; and the clergy, as well as all 
 others, were obliged to acknowledge the king as head of the church ; 
 and the want of obedience, was punishable with banishment or 
 death. On this account, Sir Thomas More, and the bishop of Ro- 
 chester, among others, perished by the hand of the executioner. 
 Cardinal Wolsey also, was conceived to be in the way of the king's 
 wishes on the subject of his marriage, and after being deprived of 
 his immense power and possessions, was arrested for high treason. 
 lie, however, died of a broken, heart soon afterwards, uttering in the 
 anguish of his soul, the never to be forgotten words, "Had I but 
 served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not 
 have forsaken me in my gray hairs." 
 
 Anne Boieyn, in less than three years, was condemned and be- 
 headed. After her, he married four wives in succession; the first 
 dying in child-birth ; the next having been divorced, because he 
 found her not so beautiful as had been represented ; and the third 
 having been executed for adultery. The fourth survived him. 
 
 The tyrant died in the fifty-sixth year of his age. bequeathing his 
 crown, first to Edward, then to Mary, and lastly to Elizabeth. 
 
 20 Edward VI., Henry's son, by Jane Seymour, ascended 
 the throne in 1547, in his tenth year. At first, the earl of 
 Hertford was regent ; afterwards, the duke of Somerset, who 
 was decidedly friendly to the reformation. Edward was a 
 prince of great promise and many virtues; but, to the deep 
 regret of the English nation, he died in the sixteenth year 
 of his age. 
 
 During his reign, the reformation made great progress, 
 through the zeal of Cranmer ; yet a large body of the people 
 adhered to popery. The triumphs of the new religion were 
 not, however, effected without public disturbances, and some 
 sanguinary executions took place on account of religion. 
 
 A project was undertaken of uniting England and Scot- 
 land, by a marriage between Edward and Mary Stuart, the 
 
 I mj / 
 
 young queen of the Scots. It, however, failed, and a battl? 
 
202 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VII f. 
 
 ensued, near Musselburgh, in which 10,000 of the Scots were, 
 slain. 
 
 So different in disposition was Edward from his father, that it is 
 said he always wept, when he signed an order for an execution 
 against any of his subjects. Edward's benevolent turn of mind is 
 evidenced by his charitable endowments, as Bridewell, St. Thomas's 
 Hospital, and several schools, which still exist and flourish. 
 
 21. Mary, Edward's sister, next ascended the throne, in 
 1553. History has assigned to her the unenviable title of 
 1 bloody," from the persecutions and martyrdoms suffered by 
 the protestants, in her reign. Her disposition was morose, 
 tyrannical, and cruel, in the highest degree. Bent upon the 
 restoration of the catholic religion, she hesitated at no mea- 
 sures, however unjust, which were calculated to effect the 
 object. 
 
 To force and violence, she naturally resorted. Some of the most 
 enynent reformers, as Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Hooper, Ferrer, 
 and Rogers, she consigned to the flames. In consequence, however, 
 of these cruelties, a powerful prejudice was excited against the 
 catholics. Their cause sunk, and that of the protestants rose ; and 
 the reformation was, in reality, extended, by the means employed 
 for its extinction. 
 
 The beginning of Mary's reign, was stained with the 
 blood of the celebrated Lady Jane Grey, grand daughter to a 
 sister of Henry VIII. She more happily suppressed, soon 
 after, an insurrection under Wyat. 
 
 Her husband was Philip II., of Spain; but, by the articles 
 of marriage, she, or rather her parliament, has the merit of 
 making provision for the independence and glory of the Eng- 
 lish crown. It was agreed that the administration should be 
 solely in the queen, and, on certain conditions, her issue 
 should inherit the dominions of Philip. 
 
 The loss of Calais, which the English possessed 210 
 years, together with the knowledge that she was hated, botli 
 by her husband and her subjects, caused her to die of grief 
 and vexation of heart, in the forty-third year of her age. 
 
 Jane Grey, whose fate was so tragical, was designed by Ed- 
 ward to be his successor. Her title, however, was quite defective : 
 and the lav/, assigning the crown to her, which Edward caused to 
 be passed, was unconstitutional. Lord Guilford Dudley, son of the 
 duke of Northumberland, had lately married her; and both the fa- 
 ther and son strongly solicited 1 or to accept of the perilous bequest 
 of Edward. She reluctantly C' isented, and, by their intrigues, was 
 proclaimed queen. Her youth and innocence might have excused 
 
ENGLAND. 203 
 
 her ; but she was soon arrested, and, together with her husband, was 
 condemned and executed. 
 
 On the day of her execution, her husband desired permission to 
 see her ; but she refused her consent, informing him by message, 
 that the tenderness of their parting would overcome the fortitude of 
 both, and too much unbend their minds from a greater concern. 
 She adverted also to other topics of a consolatory kind. Her hus- 
 band was first brought to the block, before her eyes ; but, undaun- 
 ted at such a sight, she addressed the spectators, in a most affecting 
 speech, and, with a serene countenance, immediately submitted her 
 own neck to the fatal axe. 
 
 Lady Jane Grey was an accomplished scholar, a devout Christian, 
 and the fairest ornament of her sex. Aschem tells us, that she wrote 
 in Latin, with great strength of sentiment ; and we are informed 
 by her contemporary, Sir Thomas Chaloner, that she was well versed 
 in Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, French, and Italian. Fuller adds, that 
 she had "the innocency of childhood, the beanty of youth, the so- 
 lidity of middle, the gravity of old age, and all at eighteen ; the birth 
 of a princess, the learning of a clerk, the life of a saint, yet the 
 death of a malefactor, for her parent's offences." 
 
 22. Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, on the death of 
 her sister Mary, 1558. This was a joyful event to the Eng- 
 lish people. The prudence which, as a subject, she had dis- 
 played during the sanguinary reign of her sister, gave pro- 
 mise of excellence in the sovereign. 
 
 It required all the sagacity and caution of Elizabeth, to elude the 
 effects of the violent jealousy which the queen, her sister, enter- 
 tained against her. When questioned respecting the real presence, 
 the net for catching protestants, she replied : 
 
 " Christ was the word that spake it, 
 He took the bread and brake it, 
 And what the word did make it, 
 That I believe and take it." 
 
 That which was thus promised, was, in a great measure, 
 fulfilled. By her wise counsels, the protestant religion was 
 fostered; the church of England received its present form; 
 and agriculture, commerce, arts, and literature, attained to an 
 elevation unknown in England before. Her intrepid mind, 
 arid the measures of the government, so sagaciously and 
 fumly pursued, rendered her the most respected and power- 
 ful sovereign in Europe. She colonized a large portion of 
 North America, supported the infant republic of Holland 
 against its tyrannical enemy, humbled tlie pride of Spain, in 
 the defeat of its boasted armada, and assisted Henry IV. in 
 the recovery of his kingdom. She sought the true interests 
 
204 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 and glory of her subjects, so far as concerned their temporal 
 prosperity, or their external religious observances. 
 
 Yet it must be acknowledged, that she compassed her objects, 
 
 often, by very questionable means. She was stern, unyield- 
 ing, unrelenting, despotic, in her maxims of government, 
 and was guilty, at times, of the basest acts of cruelty and 
 hypocrisy. Her treatment, of her cousin, Mary, queen o( 
 Scots, whom she caused to be beheaded, on the bare suspi- 
 cion of a conspiracy, has loaded her memory with a degree 
 of reproach, which the splendour of her reign, in other re- 
 spects, can never obliterate. And her conduct towards hei 
 favourites, particularly the earl of Essex, is marked with sin- 
 gular caprice, if not injustice. 
 
 The invincible Armada, so called, was a fleet which Spain fitted 
 out for the invasion of England, on account of the interference of the 
 latter power in the affairs of the Netherlands. It consisted of 150 
 ships of war, carrying 27,000 men, and 3000 cannon the largest 
 naval armament which Europe had ever seen. The English fleet of 
 108 ships, commanded by Howard, Drake, and others, met the ar- 
 mada as it entered the English channel, attacked it in the night, and 
 burnt and destroyed a great part of the squadron. A storm which 
 drove the remainder of the Spanish ships on the coast of Zealand, 
 completed their discomfiture, and only fifty shattered vessels, witk 
 6000 men, returned to Spain. 
 
 The story of the beautiful and unfortunate Mary, will be briefly 
 told in what follows. She was a daughter of James V., king of Scot- 
 land, and great-grand-daughter of Henry VII. of England, and next 
 heir to the English crown. She succeeded her father, eight days af- 
 ter her birth. She was educated in France, as a catholic, and, in 
 early life, married the Dauphin, afterwards Francis II. Influenced 
 by her maternal uncles, the Guises, she consented to take the title ol 
 queen of England an injudicious measure, equally calculated to 
 wound her own peace, and excite Elizabeth's resentment. 
 
 After her return to Scotland, on the death of Francis, she gave 
 her hand to her cousin Henry Stuart, (lord Darnley.) But the king, 
 her husband, being excluded from any share in the government, by 
 the advice (as he suspected) of Rizzio, an Italian musician, her 
 secretary and favourite, he, by the assistance of some of the princi- 
 pal nobility, suddenly surprised them when at supper together, and 
 effected the death of Rizzio, in the queen's presence. 
 
 The next year, the king was blown up with gunpowder, in a pti- 
 vate house, to which he had retired with a few friends. The earl of 
 Bothwell, the new favourite of Mary, is, not without reason, sup- 
 posed to have been the*ccntriver of this murder. He was, however, 
 acquitted by the nobles of his and Mary's party ; and, in about two 
 months after, the imprudent princess condescended to marry him. 
 
 This shameful conduct, occasioned the revolt of the chief nobility 
 
ENGLAND. 205 
 
 and her best subjects, by whom she was taken prisoner, compelled 
 ner to resign the crown, and her son, James VI., was called to the 
 sovereignty. The queen, soon after, escaped from prison, and raised 
 an army to oppose the regent, Murray, who was determined on her 
 destruction, and whom she had frequently condemned, and as fre- 
 quently pardoned. She was, however, defeated, and fled to Eng- 
 land, in 1568, where she expected, from the repeated declarations of 
 Elizabeth, protection and security. 
 
 Eiizabeth, secretly delighted to find a hated rival in her power 
 proved unfaithful to her professions, and detained the unhappy 
 fugitive a prisoner, for eighteen years. She first, however, under 
 pretence of doing justice to Mary, had the cause of the latter en- 
 quired into, at a conference at York. But though nothing was 
 proved against her, Elizabeth saw fit to detain her in close con- 
 finement, 
 
 The Scottish queen, during her tedious and merciless confinement, 
 naturally desired, and her friends for her, a release. For a plot to 
 effect this object, devised by her friends, and detected, she was held 
 responsible ; and though an independent sovereign, was tried by a 
 foreign power. Presumed, only, to be guilty, she was condemned, 
 and soon after barbarously beheaded, in Fotheringay castle, in the 
 forty-fifth year of her age, and in the nineteenth of her captivity. 
 
 Historians tell us, that when Mar)' was informed of the order for 
 her executioiij she was surprised, but betrayed no symptoms of fear. 
 The night before her execution, she called in all her servants, and 
 bade them a solemn farewell. Next morning she dressed herself in 
 a rich habit of silk and velvet, and declared her resolution to die in 
 the faith in which she had been educated. It was on the 8th ot 
 Feb. 1587, when she was brought to the block, and in that awful 
 conjuncture, displayed a fortitude and decency, which would have 
 honoured a matron of Rome; and to the moment of her death, 
 anited the majesty of a queen with the meekness of a martyr. 
 
 The bishop of Lincoln, in a prayer on the occasion of her burial, 
 sed the following words " It is a charitable saying of father 
 Luther, ' Many one liveth a Papist and dieth a Protestant:' only this 
 I have been informed, that she took her death patiently, and recom- 
 mended herself wholly to Jesus Christ." 
 
 Mary, besides her eminent beauty, which was celebrated through- 
 out Europe, possessed the highest mental accomplishments. She 
 read and understood several languages, wrote poetry, and cultivated 
 a knowledge of music. Her misfortunes were great ; and though 
 many of them were brought upon her by her indiscretions, if not 
 crimes, the severity of her lot has called forth general commisera- 
 tion. 
 
 In the early part of Elizabeth's reign, the earl of Leicester was 
 her principal favourite; but after his death, she became attached to 
 the earl of Essex, as her minister; and indeed there was, on the part 
 of the queen, though quite advanced in life, much of the appearance 
 of a more tender passion. She seems, however, unalterably to have 
 kept her resolution "to live and die a maiden queen." She was 
 
 18 
 
206 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 pleased with courtship, but kept aloof from matrimony. Essex was 
 a young nobleman of singular accomplishments, talents, and spirit. 
 
 The queen and Essex had many quarrels and reconciliations. In 
 one instance, in consequence of some affront which he offered her, 
 she angrily gave him a box on the ear ; upon which Essex clapped 
 his hand on his sword, swearing he would not bear such usage, were 
 it from Henry VIII. ; and immediately withdrew from court. His 
 indiscretion, however, was soon pardoned. He was at length teased 
 by her capricious humour into a crime, which she could not pardon. 
 He had severely reflected on her person, (for though nearly in her 
 seventieth year, she wished to be thought a beauty,) and connected 
 this with some suspicious movements of a treasonable nature. He 
 was soon arraigned, convicted, and brought to the block. 
 
 From this period her mind began to be depressed. The cause 
 doubtless was, the revival of her tenderness for Essex. While under 
 sentence of death, he sent by the countess of Nottingham, to Eliza- 
 beth, a ring which she had given him as a pledge of her affection, 
 and of the confidence he might feel, in whatever disgrace he might 
 be, that the sight of it would secure her favourable interposition. 
 The countess, at the instigation of her husband, the mortal enemy 
 of Essex, neglected to deliver it ; and when on her beath-bed, sent 
 for the queen, to inform her of the fact. Elizabeth, bursting into a 
 frantic passion, shook the dying countess in her bed, and exclaimed, 
 " God may pardon you, but I never can." 
 
 From that moment the queen fell into the profoundest melancholy , 
 refused both food and medicine, and throwing herself on the floor, 
 remained in that state several days and nights, till life became 
 extinct. 
 
 Essex, it appears, was much thought of in his day. We find in 
 an ancient account of him, the following quaint and hyperbolic 
 epitaph : 
 
 " Here sleeps great Essex, dearling of mankincle, 
 Faire honour's lampe, foule envie's prey, Arte'sfame 
 
 Nature's pride, Virtue's bulwarks, lure of minde, 
 Wisdome's flower, Valour's tower, Fortune's shame, 
 
 England's sunne, Belgia's light, France's star, Spaine's thunder, 
 
 Lysboiic's lightning, Ireland's clowde, the whole world's wonder." 
 
 \ 
 
 23. Little needs be added respecting the character of 
 Elizabeth. In her private life, she was less commendable 
 than in her public conduct. She possessed few qualities of 
 the heart which we love to see in all, especially in woman. 
 The rivalship of beauty, the desire of admiration, the jea- 
 lousy of love, the meanness of insincerity, and the sallies of 
 anger, sullied her character, and showed that she was still a 
 woman, but without the amiability of her sex. The attri- 
 butes of her intellect, however, merit the highest encomium, 
 and her public conduct was that of a queen. We give her 
 
GERMANY. 207 
 
 full credit for vigour, firmness, penetration, and address for 
 heroism without rashness, for frugality without avarice, foi 
 activity without the turbulence of ambition. Her proficiency 
 in learning was great, and she possessed extraordinary talents 
 for government. The security and defence of the English 
 people, were never placed in abler hands. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 24. At the commencement of the present period, Germany 
 was under the sway of Frederick IV. He erected Austria 
 into an Archduchy, and rendered his family the most power- 
 ful in Germany, by marrying his son Maximilian, to Mary, 
 heiress of Burgundy and the Netherlands. He reigned 
 fifty-three years. 
 
 25. Maximilian I., his son, succeeded him, 1493. He 
 possessed most of the qualities that signalize a great prince. 
 lie freed Germany from the disorders of the feudal system, 
 and established peace among its separate sovereignties. 
 
 He was wanting in decision of mind, which seemed to be his 
 only failing as a prince ; in consequence of which, some of his im- 
 portant projects miscarried. His memory was so tenacious, that lie 
 never forgot the names of persons he had once seen, or heard men- 
 tioned. 
 
 26. His grandson, Charles V., succeeded him in the empire, 
 1519, having carried the election in preference to Francis I., 
 of France. Some particulars respecting this distinguished 
 prince, were given in the history of that country. A few 
 others will be added. 
 
 Charles was the eldest son of Philip, son of Maximilian, and of 
 Jane, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. He succeeded to tlie 
 throne of Spain, in 1516. 
 
 The first act of his administration, was to appoint an im- 
 perial diet, with a view to check the progress of Luther's 
 opinions, which were represented as inimical to the peace of 
 Germany. About this time, also, Germany was divided into 
 ten circles. In 1521, commenced the celebrated war between 
 Charles and Francis, in which Charles obtained manifest ad- 
 vantage. In 1527, he took Rome, which was plundered by 
 the Germans during nine months. A few years afterwards, 
 Charles captured Tunis, and liberated twenty-two thousand 
 Christian slaves. 
 
208 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 But the most extraordinary event pertaining 1 to this sove- 
 reign, was the voluntary relinquishrnent of his kingly and 
 imperial authority. He resigned, first the Netherlands and 
 the kingdom of Spain, to his son Philip, in 1556, and after- 
 wards the empire, in favour of his brother Ferdinand. The 
 remainder of his life he spent in a monastery. An occur- 
 ence of this kind, is rare in the history of princes, who are 
 generally more fond of authority, the longer they hove en- 
 joyed it. 
 
 Charles was the most powerful sovereign of Europe, his sway 
 extending over Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and a part of Italy. 
 He was generally successful in war, though (if such was his aim) 
 universal empire was beyond his reach. He never could bring his 
 dominions into a well connected body. His enemies were nume- 
 rous and powerful, and gave him perpetual annoyance. His cares 
 and difficulties increased as he advanced in life, and finding his health 
 also decline, he determined to relinquish the burdens of government. 
 
 Accordingly, he recalled his son Philip, on whom, at his recent 
 marriage with Mary, queen of England, he had bestowed the king- 
 doms of Naples and Sicily, and also the duchy of Milan. Having 
 assembled the states of the Low-Countries, at Brussels, he explained 
 the reasons of his resignation, recapitulated the most important ac- 
 tions of his life, and transferred the sovereign authority to Philip, 
 with such unaffected magnanimity and paternal affection, that the 
 whole audience melted into tears. A few weeks after this solemni- 
 ty, Charles conferred all his royalties and signiories, both in Europe 
 and America, upon his son ; reserving nothing to himself, but a pen- 
 sion of 100,000 crowns, to be deducted from the revenue of Spain. 
 
 After making some ineffectual attempts to secure the German 
 princes in the interests of Philip, Charles made a formal resignation 
 of the empire to his brother Ferdinand, and immediately set out for 
 Spain, with a chosen retinue. Previously to his arrival in that coun- 
 try, a small building had been annexed to the monastery of St. Just, 
 consisting of six rooms, four of them in the form of friar's cells, with 
 naked walls, and the other two hung with brown cloth, and furnish- 
 ed in the most simple manner. Thither Charles retired, with only 
 twelve domestics ; and there, after a peaceful solitude of about two 
 years, he resigned his breath, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 27. The successors of Charles in the empire, during the 
 remainder of this period, were, after Ferdinand I., his son 
 Maximilian II., and Rhodolph II. These princes geneially 
 made use of pacific expedients, in the disputes carried on be- 
 tween the Protestants and the Catholics. 
 
 Ferdinand and Maximilian, are said to have been most excellent 
 princes. From the latter, no one ever heard a harsh expression. 
 So economical were his arrangements, that to every act of his life 
 its appropriate hour was allotted. The empire flourished in a pern 
 
GERMANY. 200 
 
 iar manner under his administration. Rhodolpli, though at war 
 with the Turks, almost the whole of his reign, was more occupied 
 with tournaments, and the study of mechanics, chemistry, and as- 
 tronomy, than with the affairs of state. He frequently spent whole 
 days at the shops of clockmakers, turners, &c., so eager was his de- 
 sire for that species of knowledge. 
 
 28. The reformation in religion, by which the present pe- 
 riod is so peculiarly distinguished, is the most important event 
 in the history of Germany. It commenced in that country, 
 whence k spread rapidly through several other European na- 
 tions. It was connected with a new era in the religious his- 
 tory of the world. By it, Papacy received a wound, from 
 which it can never recover. The date of this event, is 1517. 
 
 Martin Luther, an Augustine friar, was the first instrument 
 employed by an overruling Providence, in accomplishing this 
 great moral revolution. His attention was excited to the 
 corruption and abuses of the Catholic religion, by the sale oi 
 indulgencies, at that time instituted throughout all the Chris- 
 tian kingdoms of Europe. Leo X., in order to raise money 
 for the completion of his magnificent buildings at Rome, had 
 published general indulgences ; that is, remittances from the 
 pains of purgatory : and the elector of Mentz, authorised the 
 Dominicans to receive the money, and preach up the merits 
 of such a contribution. 
 
 But the scandalous manner in which these pardons for all 
 sins, past, present, and to come, Avere disposed of, gave great 
 offence to many religious persons, and induced Luther, who 
 was then a professor of divinity at Wittemberg, to expose the 
 absurdity of such oclious traffic. His indignation was aroused ; 
 and indeed, the enormity of these doings, opened his eyes to 
 the iniquity of the whole system. 
 
 His anathemas found many willing hearers, particularly in 
 the electorate of Ssxony, though Tetzel, the papal agent, 
 vigorously combatted him. Luther, however, by degrees ac- 
 quired great popularity, and his influence brought other di- 
 vines into the controversy. Persecution was now resorted to 
 by the pope and his emissaries, but this only increased his 
 zeal and indignation as a preacher. Luther was soon cited 
 by the pope, to appear at Rome, within sixty days. Prince 
 Frederick, elector of Saxony, however, requested that the re- 
 former might plead his cause in Germany ; and Luther re- 
 paired, under the protection of a safe conduct, to the imperial 
 
 18* 
 
210 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 diet, convoked by Charles at Augsburg, before cardinal Caje 
 tan ; but instead of making any recantation, he boldly avow- 
 ed his resolution of defending his doctrines, though all the 
 terrors of the church should be denounced against him. As 
 the pope's legate, however, proceeded to menaces, Luther re- 
 tired privately from Augsburg, having first complained, by 
 etter, to the pope, of the harsh treatment he had received from 
 Cajetan. 
 
 Having arrived safely into Saxony, he found the mass there 
 universally abolished, the images destroyed, and the convents 
 shut up. The spirit which had been thus kindled, spread 
 next into Switzerland, where it produced the most important 
 changes. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, soon embraced 
 the Lutheran tenets ; and the protestants, as they were all 
 called who embraced the reformed religion, multiplied in the 
 Netherlands, France, and England, as well as in Germany 
 The quarrel which Henry VIII., who was no protestant him 
 self, had with the pope, was the means of advancing the re- 
 formation in England, and of subverting the ancient faith 
 The cruel persecutions of which the papists were guilty, 
 greatly aided the good cause, in the end. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 29. SPAIN had, for several ages, been held by the Moors, 
 or Mahometans. This people, however, had lost one province 
 after another, till towards the close of the fifteenth century, only 
 Granada remained subject to their authority. Upon the acces- 
 sion of Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1479, the crowns of Cas- 
 tile and Arragon were happily united, and thus all the Chris- 
 tian principalities in Spain, found themselves under one 
 sceptre ; and, with the conquest of Granada, which the king 
 and queen effected in 1492, Spain became one entire monar- 
 chy. Ferdinand and Isabella were, in effect, two sovereign 
 princes, though professedly united in marriage. 
 
 The Moors suffered terribly in the siege of Granada, and 
 with the loss of their dominions, were, for the most part, 
 
 obliged to retire into Africa. 
 
 To Ferdinand and Isabella, the establishment of the terrible In- 
 quisition, in Spain, is owing. Two thousand persons are said to have 
 suffered death under Torqucmada, the first, inquisitor general. This 
 instance of intemperate and ferocious zeal, in the king and queen, 
 
SPAIN. 211 
 
 may well be set off against the several good qualities, which it is al- 
 lowed, they possessed. Their reign was signalized by the discove- 
 ries made by the great Columbus. 
 
 30. Jane, who became deranged, succeeded her mothe* 
 Isabella, in Castile, with her husband, Philip of Austria- 
 On the death of her father, Jane being unfit to reign, her 
 son Charles L, afterwards Charles V., was acknowledged 
 sovereign of all Spain, 1516. His history has already been 
 related. 
 
 During Charles's reign, Mexico was conquered by Fernando 
 Cortez, in 1519, and Peru by Pizarro in 1525. The Spanish do- 
 minions were thus greatly extended. 
 
 31. Philip II., succeeded his father upon the abdication of 
 the latter, in 1556. In his time, the balance of power in 
 Europe, was sustained by Spain, France, England and Ger- 
 many, all, at this time, highly flourishing and respectable, either 
 from the talents of their sovereigns, or their internal strength. 
 Philip was an acute and able politician, though his policy 
 partook somewhat of selfish cunning. He w T as sovereign of 
 Spain, the two Sicilies, Milan, and the Netherlands. He 
 had likewise, for a few years, the resources of England at 
 command, by his marriage with Mary, the English queen. 
 His power was great, but his ambition was greater ; and 
 though he met with occasional success, at the close of a long 
 and busy reign, he had accomplished but few of his nume- 
 rous projects. 
 
 Pope Paul IV., jealous of the power of Philip, formed an alli- 
 ance with the king of France, to deprive the Spaniards of Milan and 
 the Sicilies. Philip, with the aid of the English, defeated the French 
 at St. Quintin, and hoped, from this signal victory, to force the 
 allies into a peace. Another signal victory, however, was necessary, 
 which Philip gained near Gravelines, the result of which was, that 
 the French surrendered to Spain, no less than eighty-nine fortified 
 towns, in the low countries, and in Italy. 
 
 Philip was an intolerant bigot in religion, and it was owing to his 
 cruel attempts to enforce a uniformity of religious opinion in the 
 Netherlands, that the latter broke away from his authority, as will 
 be detailed below. 
 
 HOLLAND. 
 
 32. HOLLAND became a republic by the union of Utrecht, 
 in 1579. The states combined to defend their common 
 liberties, on account of the tyranny of their sovereign, Philip 
 II. Seven of the seventeen provinces, constituting the Neth- 
 
212 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 erlands, came into the measure. The remaining ten pro- 
 vinces had their charter renewed by Philip, and did not be 
 come independent until in the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 Holland, is another appellation for the Seven United Provinces, 
 so called, from its chief province being of that name. The remain- 
 ing ten are known by the name of Flanders. The duchy of Bur- 
 gundy, composed of some of these provinces, was originally equal 
 to any power in Europe. The whole of the Netherlands, except 
 three states, were annexed to the German empire, by marriage, 1477 
 They were afterwards resigned to the king of Spain. 
 
 In the early periods of their history, the Hollanders became sub- 
 ject to the Franks, under whom, they were divided into small gov- 
 ernments, the heads of which were despotic, in their own dominions. 
 Holland and the Netherlands, were united to Germany, under one 
 of the grandsons of Charlemagne, but became independent in the 
 tenth century. At length, in 1443, they were subject to the dukes 
 of Burgundy. The next transfer of these states, was to Germany, 
 Charles V. being heir to the house of Burgundy. 
 
 They endured the rule of Charles, but the tyranny of his son 
 Philip II., was not to be borne. The Reformation had made a con- 
 siderable progress in the Netherlands. Philip, with a view to repress 
 it, established the Inquisition, projected certain innovations, which 
 created alarm and tumult, and sent an army under, the duke of Alva, 
 to enforce implicit submission. The consequence of these measures 
 was, that many thousands of persons, and some of the highest dis- 
 tinction, perished by the hands of the executioner. It is computed 
 that 18,000 were the victims of the five years' administration 01 
 Alva. 
 
 William, the prince of Orange, on whom the government of seve- 
 ral of the provinces had been conferred, and who was now, himself, 
 under the sentence of the Inquisition, raised an army on this occa- 
 sion, and undertook the deliverance of the states. Having reduced 
 some of the most important garrisons, he was proclaimed Stadtholder 
 of Holland and Zealand, in 1570. 
 
 The whole seventeen provinces had equally suffered from the 
 tyranny of Philip ; but only seven of them could agree to form a 
 confederated republic. The influence of jealousy and competition, 
 prevented the union of the whole. By the treaty which was formed, 
 it was agreed that they should defend their liberties, as one united 
 republic ; that they should jointly decide in the concerns of peace 
 and war, establish a general legislative authority, and maintain re- 
 ligious freedom. William was elected Stadtholder of the whole 
 seven, a title which included the duties of a general, admiral, and 
 magistrate. 
 
 The effusion of blood, which had been great prior to this union, 
 was not hereby much diminished. The crown of Spain, strained 
 every nerve to recover those provinces. Philip, venting his indig- 
 nation, by a proscription of the prince of Orange, and offering 25.000 
 
AMERICA. 213 
 
 crowns for his head, compassed his revenge ; for this illustrious man 
 was cut off by an assassin, 1584. By persevering courage, however, 
 and assisted by queen Elizabeth of England, and Henry IV. of 
 France, the Hollanders, at length, completely established their hide 
 pendence, and brought the Spanish monarch to acknowledge them 
 as a free people. 
 
 Maurice, the son of William, was elected Stadtholder, in the room 
 of his father, and displayed the most consummate talents, as a states- 
 man and warrior, having conducted the struggle to the issue already 
 related. 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 33. The immense portion of the earth called AMERICA, 
 was unknown to Europe, Asia, and Africa, till the year 1492, 
 when it was discovered by Christopher Columbus, a native 
 of Genoa, in a voyage which he made from Spain, sailing 
 west, for the purpose of finding a new continent, or at least 
 of arriving at India, in this direction. He first met, not with 
 the continent, but the islands in its vicinity. 
 
 The discovery of the new world, was one of the greatest and hap- 
 piest results of genius, that mankind have ever witnessed. The im- 
 portance of the discovery cam%t be easily overrated. An event so 
 unlocked for, so unthought of. expanded the views, and waked up 
 the energy of the human mind. It excited a spirit of enterprise, un- 
 felt before. Its influence on commerce, and consequently wealth, 
 was, from the beginning, great and decisive, by immensely increas- 
 ing the articles of traffic. The mines of America furnished, also, a 
 great abundance of the precious metals ; thus multiplying the amount 
 of the circulating medium throughout the world. Colonization, and 
 the arts of civilized life, have been advanced and extended, by means 
 of this discovery ; the sphere of human enjoyment enlarged, 'and 
 especially the blessings of the true religion, communicated to greater 
 numbers of mankind. America has also given to the world a new 
 and bright example, both of civil and religious freedom ; the effects of 
 which, are destined to be felt through all time, and, perhaps, among 
 all nations. Some evils have, indeed, been incident to the discovery, 
 but they are exceedingly outweighed by its propitious results, and 
 will continue to be so, judging from the known principles of human 
 nature, and from the dealings of divine providence. 
 
 It has been believed by some, that America was not unknown to 
 the ancients. The theory has gained advocates, from a few pas- 
 sages in the works of some of the writers of antiquity, and also from 
 coincidences in the languages and customs of some of the nations of 
 the old and new continent. But the theory has little ground for its 
 support. Certainly, at the revival of letters in Europe, no traces of the 
 knowledge of another continent existed; and it was generally suppo- 
 sed, that the Canaries formed the western boundaries of the world. 
 
 To Columbusj an account of whom will appear in a biographical 
 
214 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 sketch, about to follow, mankind are indebted for the correction of 
 this error, and the discovery of a new continent. From a long and 
 close application to the study of geography, this great man had ob- 
 tained a knowledge of the true figure of the earth, far beyond what 
 was common to the age in which he lived. Another continent, he 
 conceived necessarily existed, to complete the balance of this terra- 
 queous globe ; but he erroneously supposed it to be connected with 
 hat of India. The truth of his speculations, he now ardently de- 
 sired to prove, by experiment. In this, however, he met with great 
 difficulty, and it was not until the expiration of several years, that hia 
 project was patronized by any prince or court in Europe. Queen 
 Isabella, of Spain, has immortalized her name, by rendering the 
 first effectual assistance to Columbus. 
 
 One great motive which influenced Columbus and his patroness, 
 aside from the hope of ascertaining the existence of anew continent, 
 was to find a passage to China and the East Indies, by sea : or rather 
 the latter, may have been the sole motive, connecting the supposed 
 new regions with the east of Asia. It had been long an object of 
 study, to find such a passage, and thus avoid the inconvenience and 
 expense of transporting the merchandise of India, across the land, 
 from the Red Sea, to Alexandria, in Egypt. The passage round the 
 Cape of Good Hope, was not then known, and the shortest route 
 was supposed, by Columbus, to bejjy the west. It is to be remem- 
 bered, that the maps of that period, represented the oriental countries 
 of Asia, as stretching vastly farther to the east, than has since been 
 proved to be the fact. Columbus was fitted, in every point of view, 
 for his mighty and perilous undertaking. 
 
 Never was success more complete, or a great idea more happily 
 realized. With inconsiderable means, and an ill-appointed flotilla 
 of three small vessels, victualled for twelve months, and having on 
 board ninety men, he commenced his unpromising adventure. Leav- 
 ing Palos, in Spain, on the 3d of August, he sailed directly for the 
 Canaries, whence, having refitted his crazy ships, he kept a due 
 western course, over an unknown ocean, not without a compass, but 
 without a chart. His compass, however, occasioned perplexity. 
 The variation of the magnetic needle from due north, was first ob- 
 served, when he had sailed about 200 leagues from the Canaries, 
 and so terrified his men, that they were scarcely restrained from 
 mutiny. All his address and talents were now put in requisition. 
 The phenomenon of the needle seemed portentous to himself, but 
 his ingenuity devised a solution of it, which silenced the complaints 
 of his crew. 
 
 After this, he pursued his voyage, yet not without the frequent 
 manifestation of anxiety and impatience, on the part of his crew. 
 Thirty days had transpired since they had left the Canaries, and no 
 land appearing, both officers and men joined in a revolt. Columbus 
 was forced partially to give way to their remonstrances, and pro- 
 posed to return, after the expiration of three days, if they should 
 find no land. Some indications of it had already begun to appear, 
 
AMERICA. 215 
 
 oiicl, on the llth of October, the joyful sight was descried, first by 
 Columbus himself. God was immediately praised, and the sailors 
 were now as ardent in their expressions of repentance and admira- 
 tion, as they had been, before, insolent and ungovernable. 
 
 34. St. Salvador, one of the Bahamas, was the island first 
 discovered. Columbus afterwards touched at Cuba, and 
 Hispaniola, (St. Domingo,) now Hayti. On the latter he left 
 some of his men, to form a colony. His theory led him to 
 call the regions he had discovered, by the name of West In- 
 dies ; since he had reached India, or a portion of the globe 
 which he supposed to be near it, by a western passage. 
 
 Columbus returned to Spain in the following May, and soon 
 set out, with a much larger expedition, on a second voyage. 
 In this he was so happy as to add many other islands to 
 those already found. In a third voyage, he discovered Trini- 
 dad, and the continent at the mouth of the Oronoke, 1498. 
 
 The fame of his discoveries, drew adventurers from all 
 parts of Europe ; and, among others, Arnericus Yesputius, a 
 Florentine, a man of science and genius, who, a few years 
 afterwards, following the footsteps of Columbus, acquired the 
 undeserved honour of giving his name to the new world. 
 
 In 1497, one year before the main land of South 
 America had been discovered by Columbus, John Cabot, a 
 Venetian by birth, but at that time an inhabitant of England, 
 proceeded on a voyage of discovery, under a commission from 
 the British king, and found the continent of North America. 
 Touching at various parts of the coast, he took possession of 
 the country, in behalf of the crown of England. 
 
 The Spaniards, after an interval of a few years, made 
 settlements in the new world, and, impelled by a thirst of 
 gold, committed horrible butcheries in several of the islands, 
 and especially in Mexico and Peru, under Cortez, Pizarro, 
 and Almagro. These brave adventurers, though base men, 
 established the authority of Spain over countries which they 
 depopulated by their avarice and cruelty. In the year 1500, 
 the coast of Brazil was accidentally discovered by Alvarez de 
 Cabral, the Portuguese admiral, in consequence of having 
 been driven too far to the west, on a voyage round the Cape 
 of Good Hope. Hence, the settlement and possession of that 
 part of America, by the people of Portugal. 
 
 Columbus, as we have seen, entertained the idea that the re- 
 gion he had discovered, was India, or a part of the continent o. 
 
216 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 Asia. This notion was generally received, until 1513, when the Pa- 
 cific Ocean being descried from the mountains of the isthmus of 
 Darien, the illusion began to be dispelled. 
 
 Fernando Cortez, was a successful, but execrable adventurer. It 
 was on the occasion of being sent, in 1519, by the governor of 
 puba, upon an expedition to the main, that he first heard of the ex- 
 istence of the rich and flourishing empire of Mexico. Stimulated 
 by the love of power and gain, he resolved to make the conquest of 
 that country. He had at his command only 617 men, and a very 
 few fire-arms, (thirteen muskets and ten small field pieces,) these 
 having not yet come into general use. His other instruments of 
 death, were cross-bows, swords, and spears. But it was the former 
 description of weapons, few as they were, that gained for this 
 handful of Spaniards, a conquest over a numerous people. They 
 looked upon fire-arms as the weapons of the gods. 
 
 Landing at Vera Cruz, Cortez advanced, though with a brave op- 
 position from the natives, into the heart of the country. On the ap 
 proach of the Spaniards to the capital, the terror of their name had 
 paved the way for an easy conquest. The Mexican sovereign, Mon- 
 tezuma, received the invaders with great hospitality and kindness. 
 Indeed, he regarded them with the reverence due to superior beings. 
 An occasion, however, was not long wanting, on the part of CorteZj 
 for putting his bold and hazardous project into execution. 
 
 Some difficulty between his soldiers and the natives, became the 
 pretext for his seizure of Montezuma. Marching to the palace, with 
 fifty men, he put the emperor in irons, and carried him off prisoner 
 to his camp. This flagrant abuse of their hospitality, aroused the 
 Mexicans, who fleeing to arms, expelled the Spaniards from the 
 capital. Montezuma having, during the affray, offered to mediate 
 between the Mexicans and their enemies, was indignantly put tr, 
 death by one of his own subjects. Gautimozin, son of Montezuma, 
 immediately succeeded him, and armed *he whole empire against 
 the perfidious Spaniards. 
 
 Qortez, by a fortunate concurrence of events, having induced a 
 nation of the Indians to revolt, and having obtained a reinforcement 
 of Spaniards, commenced the siege of the city, and soon took it, to- 
 gether with Gautimozin, and became master of the empire, in 1521. 
 The emperor was treated by the Spaniards in a manner shocking to 
 humanity. Refusing to discover the place where his treasures were 
 hid, the miserable man was stretched naked, for some time, on 
 burning coals. Soon after, on the discovery of a conspiracy against 
 the Spaniards, he was executed on a gibbet, with all the princes of his 
 blood. This was the last blow to the power of the Mexicans. The 
 nefarious Cortez, and his few associates, enjoy the honour or the in- 
 famy, in the way now narrated, of having brought this simple ana 
 unsuspecting people, under the yoke of Spain. 
 
 While Cortez was employed in the reduction of Mexico, the Span 
 iards were informed of a still more rich and extensive empire, in the 
 south. This was Peru, at that time governed by the inca, or king, Ata 
 balipa. Francis Pizarro, in 1525, had sailed to and visited the coun 
 
AMERICA. 217 
 
 ry. He afterwards undertook the conquest of it, in connection 
 with Diego Almagro, and Ferdinand Lucques, two unprincipled ad- 
 venturers like himself; and for this purpose, sailed in 1531, from 
 Panama, with three small vessels and 300 men. 
 
 With this inconsiderable force, he invaded the country, and 
 marching to the residence of the inca, he seized his person by stra- 
 tagem, having employed friendship and religion as the cover of his 
 villany. In this defenceless condition, the king was obliged to sub- 
 mit to the slaughter of his attendants, and to the exaction of an 
 enormous quantity of gold and silver, as the price of his ransom. 
 When, however, the treasure was committed into the hands of the 
 Spaniard, with perfidious cruelty, he still retained the wretched 
 monarch a prisoner, and finally, by a mock trial, condemned and 
 executed him, as a usurper and idolater. 
 
 The vast booty which fell into the possession of the victors, be- 
 came soon an occasion of dispute among themselves. War only 
 could settle it ; in the course of which, both Pizarjap and Almagro 
 perished. This contention lasted seventeen years, and Peru became 
 the theatre of the most licentious rapine and cruelty. 
 
 In the year 1548, the celebrated Las Casas, was sent from Spain? 
 as viceroy. Under his administration, the country obtained repose, 
 as a province of Spain ; and, notwithstanding the temporary success 
 of their new inca, HuancaCapac, who rose against the Spaniards, the 
 whole Peruvian people were effectually broken down and subdued. 
 
 The inhabitants of the American continent and its islands, were 
 a race of men quite new to the Europeans. They were of a cop- 
 per colour, and had no beard. In some parts of the continent, as 
 Mexico and Peru, they had made considerable" progress towards 
 civilization. They were not wanting, in a degree, as to polish, and 
 even luxury. Architecture, sculpture, mining, and working the 
 precious metals, were understood. Their persons were clothed, 
 their lands cultivated, and their state governed by fixed laws and 
 regulations. In Peru there were some magnificent palaces and tem- 
 ples. In other parts of the new world, man was a naked savage, 
 the member of a wandering tribe, whose sole occupation was hunt- 
 ing or war. The savages of the continent were characterized alike 
 by their cruelty to their enemies, their contempt of death, and their 
 generosity towards their friends. The islanders were a milder race, 
 of gentle manners, and less robust constitutions. 
 
 The inhumanity with which the Spaniards treated these simple 
 and unoffending people, is shocking to every reader of sensibility. 
 To convert them to the holy and benevolent religion of the Saviour, 
 the most violent means were employed, by men who were strangers 
 to the spirit of that religion. The rack, the scourge, and the faggot, 
 were the principal engines used for their conversion. They were 
 hunted down like wild beasts, or burnt alive in their thickets and 
 fastnesses. Some of the islands were nearly depopulated. 
 
 The conversion of the Indians, however, was less an object, than the 
 desire of obtaining the precious metals which they possessed. So 
 
 19 
 
215 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 powerful was the passion for gold, that the first adventurers endu- 
 red every fatigue, and encountered every danger, in search of it ; 
 and, by compelling the natives to dig in the mines, prematurely de- 
 stroyed the lives of vast multitudes of this hapless race. It being 
 the practice of the Europeans to take possession of the regions in 
 America which they visited, by the pretended right of discovery, 
 they seem to have made no account of the aboriginals, depriving 
 them of liberty, or life, whenever occasion or passion demanded. 
 
 The Spanish acquisitions in America, before the late revolution 
 among them, belonged to the crown, and not to the state : they were 
 the absolute property of the sovereign, and regulated solely by his 
 will. The pope, agreeably to principles which governed men in a 
 dark and superstitious age, granted to the monarchs of Spain, the 
 countries discovered by their subjects, in America. They were go- 
 verned by viceroys, who exercised supreme civil and military au- 
 thority over their provinces. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period VIII. 
 
 1. Columbus, an eminent navigator, and discoverer of 
 America. 
 
 o' Ti/r A iae J i t masters of painting among the moderns. 
 
 3. M. Angelo, $ 
 
 4. Erasmus, a Dutchman, eminent in philology and gene- 
 ral literature. 
 
 5. Copernicus, a Prussian astronomer, and discoverer of 
 the true system of the universe. 
 
 ' ~ u , . er ' { eminent theologians and reformers. 
 
 7. Calvin, $ 
 
 8. Camoens, a distinguished Portuguese poet. 
 
 9. Buchanan, a Scotch historian and poet. 
 
 10. Montaigne, a celebrated French essayist. 
 
 11. Tasso, prince of Italian poets. 
 
 12. Spenser, one of the greatest of the English poets. 
 
 Columbus (Christopher) was born 1442, at Genoa, son of a 
 woolcomber. He was early inured to the labours of the sea, and 
 acquired great experience in navigation. With the sciences imme- 
 diately connected with his profession, he was acquainted, beyond 
 most men of his age. Indeed, this great man was far in advance of 
 the rest of the world, and anticipated the illumination of a distant 
 futurity. For the splendid discovery which he was destined to 
 make, his temperament and his previous course of life, eminently 
 fitted him. There was an enthusiasm in his character, a lofty ex- 
 pectation, and a religious fervour of soul, which spurned ordinary 
 difficulties, and raised him immensely above ordinary men. By his 
 Knowledge of maritime affairs, as well as by reasoning, he became 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 219 
 
 persuaded that a continent must exist in the western ocean. To 
 ascertain the truth of his theory, was an object which soon engross- 
 ed all his time and faculties. And, after much effort and many trials 
 and disappointments, in regard to assistance, he was permitted to 
 realize the grand idea he had so happily conceived. 
 
 He made application to several courts, before he could obtain the 
 requisite means and patronage, and it was only after much delay, 
 that he was finally enabled to prosecute his discoveries under the 
 auspices of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. He sailed on the third 
 of August, 1492, in three small ships, and returned to Spain in May 
 the following year. In the mean time he had discovered a new 
 world, and had taken possession of a portion of it, in the name of 
 his sovereign. This event filled Spain, and all Europe, with amaze- 
 ment, and the greatest honours were accorded to him in the coun- 
 try, whose annals he has so signally adorned. He made three sub- 
 sequent voyages to the new world, in the second of which he reach- 
 ed the continent ; but powerful enemies had now risen up, jealous of 
 his ascendency, who impugned his motives or decried his services, 
 and so much influence had they with the Spanish court, that 
 Columbus, in his third voyage was sent back to Spain in irons. 
 Though he suffered much in the latter part of life, he finally trium- 
 phed over his enemies, and peacefully left the world, on the twentieth 
 of May, 1506. 
 
 The memory of Columbus will be cherished while the world 
 stands ; though in consequence of one of those untoward events 
 that sometimes occur, he has been deprived of the honour of giving 
 his name to the hemisphere which his genius brought to light. 
 Signal must have been the satisfaction of his mind, notwithstand- 
 ing the disasters through which he passed, in view of the transcen- 
 dent benefits which Providence had made him the instrument of 
 conferring on mankind. 
 
 2. Raphael (Sanzio) was born at Urbino, 1483. By studying the 
 best masters in painting, he soon rose to eminence, and merited the 
 appellation of the divine Raphael. He also excelled as an architect, 
 and was employed in the building of St. Peter's, at Rome. He came 
 to an untimely grave, in consequence of his addiction to licentious 
 pleasures, dying at the age of thirty-seven years. By the general 
 consent of mankind, he is acknowledged to have been the prince of 
 painters. He excelled in beauty and grace. 
 
 3. Angelo Buonaroti (Michael) was not only a great painter, but 
 sculptor, and architect. He was even an elegant poet. In architec- 
 ture he surpassed all the moderns, and he was the greatest designer 
 that ever lived. He is said to have sucked sculpture with his very 
 milk, inasmuch as he was nursed by a woman whose husband was 
 eminent in that art. The early displays of his genius, raised so 
 great a jealousy among his youthful rivals; that one of them struck 
 him with such violence on the nose, that he carried the mark to his 
 grave. The most celebrated of his paintings, is the Last Judgment. 
 His architectural abilities are best displayed on the church of St. 
 
220 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 Peter's, at Rome, the building of which he completed. His style is 
 that of grandeur and sublimity, united with the utmost simplicity and 
 beauty. Sir Joshua Reynolds declared, that the last word which 
 he wished to utter from the academic chair, was the name of Michael 
 Angelo. Description can convey but a very imperfect image of 
 
 "Buonaroti's car 
 Midst epic glories flaming from afar." 
 
 Only the sight can give one an idea of his peculiar excellence. He 
 lived ninety years. 
 
 4. Erasmus (Desiderius) was the most learned man of the age in 
 which he lived, and contributed by his example and writings, to the 
 restoration of learning in Europe. He was somewhat of a wander- 
 er, having occasionally resided in Italy, Switzerland, Holland, France, 
 and England. With the last of these countries he was best pleased, 
 and there he met with the greatest encouragement from Henry VII., 
 Sir Thomas More, and all the learned Englishmen of those days. 
 He was the most correct and elegant Latin writer among the mo- 
 derns. Rotterdam, is to this day proud of having given birth to 
 Erasmus. The house in which he was born is still marked out to 
 the admiration of the traveller by a suitable inscription, and a beau- 
 tiful copper statue was long since erected to his memory in an open 
 part of the city. 
 
 In the great question of Protestantism and Popery, he was claim- 
 ed on both sides, though neither party was pleased with him. Here 
 is a dark spot on his character. He was evidently temporising, 
 timid, and undecided. He lashed the vices and follies of the Pa- 
 pists, while he seemed to be indifferent to the success, or jealous of 
 the labours of the reformers. He died at Basil, July 12, 1536, aged 
 sixty-nine. 
 
 5. Copernicus (Nicholas) was a native of Thome in Prussia. In 
 nis twenty-third year he went to Italy in search of knowledge. 
 After some years' absence, and having in the mean time acted as 
 professor of mathematics at Rome, he returned home. Here he 
 began to apply his vast knowledge, to an examination of the different 
 theories respecting the universe. The simplicity of the Pythagorea 
 system pleased him best ; and after twenty years of profound inves- 
 tigation, he removed from the machine of the universe, the cycles 
 and epicycles of former astronomers, and placed the sun in the cen- 
 tre to illuminate and control the whole. This great discovery h 
 kept concealed for more than thirty years, for fear of exciting again 
 himself the persecuting spirit of bigotry. When at last he consen 
 ed, through the importunities of his friends, to have his work pu" 
 lished, and a copy of it was brought to him, he was a few hours 
 afterwards seized with a violent effusion of blood, which terminated 
 his life, 24th May, 1543, in his seventieth year. 
 
 6. Luther (Martin) was born at Isleben, in Saxony, 1483. His 
 parents designed him for a civilian, but by the following awful inci- 
 dent, his views were directed to the church. As he was walking i 
 the fields with a fellow-student, they were struck by lightnin 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 221 
 
 Luther to the ground, and his companion dead by his side. His 
 mind was so much affected by the event, that without consulting 
 nis friends, he formed and executed the resolution of retiring from 
 the world. He entered into the order of Augustine hermits, at 
 Erfurth. From this place he removed to Wittemberg, being ap- 
 pointed by the elector of Saxony, professor of theology and philo- 
 sophy in the university just founded there by that prince. It was 
 m his retirement at Erfurth, that he providentially found a Latin 
 Bible, the first he ever saw, and in perusing it he was astonished a 
 the little knowledge of Scripture and Christianity, which the clergy 
 then imparted to the people. 
 
 After he had been at Wittemberg three years, he was sent to Rome 
 to plead the cause of some converts of his order, who had quarrel- 
 led with their vicar-general. While he was at the seat of the papal 
 power, he became more than ever convinced of the ignorance and 
 debauched lives of the dignitaries of the church. This probably 
 gave him the first decided disgust to the Romish ecclesiastical go- 
 vernment, especially as he had engaged in the monastic life, from 
 motives of genuine piety. Upon his return to Wittemberg, he was 
 created D. D. at the request of the elector of Saxony, and continued 
 to act as professer of divinity in the university. Here he explained, 
 with clearness and ease, the Psalms and the Epistle to the Romans, 
 and supported his reputation by the most rigid morality, and the 
 most exemplary conduct. 
 
 The minds of his auditors being thus prepared, a favotiraoie occa- 
 sion soon offered for carrying into execution his glorious plan of re- 
 formation. The completion of St. Peter's church, at Rome, at this 
 time, required extraordinary sums, and pope Leo X. published, in 
 1517, general indulgences for the forgiveness of sin, to such as 
 would contribute to the pious work. The Dominicans were intrust- 
 ed with the selling of these indulgences in Germany ; and in paying 
 their money, the friar Tetzel informed the superstitious people, that 
 they might release themselves, not only from past, but also future 
 sins. Luther's holy indignation was roused by these vile practices, 
 and he preached against them, with wonderful success. Persecution 
 soon followed, and the reformer became the object of the papal ven- 
 geance. Luther, however, was undismayed, and, in an astonishing 
 series of efforts, in which he was opposed by all the power and 
 policy of the papal world, he achieved the object of his long che- 
 rished wishes. 
 
 In 1524, Luther threw aside the monastic habit, and the next year 
 married a nun, who had escaped from a convent, and, though he 
 was ridiculed and censured by his enemies, he confounded them all 
 by his appeal to the Scriptures. By her, he had three sons, whose 
 descendants are still respected in Germany. Luther died in the 
 place of his nativity, 18th February, 1546. 
 
 Luther was singularly qualified for the service he performed. He 
 was a man of high endowments of mind, and great uprightness t 
 friend of true religion, liberty, and human happiness. His under- 
 
 19* 
 
222 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD VIII. 
 
 standing was vast, and his knowledge unequalled, almost, in the age 
 in which lie lived. Especially had he an admirable acquaintance 
 with the Scriptures, which he expounded with equal eloquence and 
 clearness. In courage, resolution, and decision, he was an example 
 to all reformers. 
 
 7. Calvin, (John,) a coadjutor of Luther in the reformation, was 
 born at Noyon, in Picardy, 10th July, 1509. His early piety mark- 
 ed him out for the church; but though he assumed the functions of 
 the ministry, he was too much disgusted with the superstitions of 
 the Romish church, to remain in her communion. His knowledge 
 of the Bible had opened his eyes to the abominations of the " man 
 of sin," He now applied himself to the study of the laws, in which 
 he made great progress ; at the same time, he extended his ac- 
 quaintance with divinity. He soon entered most cordially into the 
 reformation ; and his zeal and labour as a writer and disputant, 
 very essentially aided the work. With difficulty, however, he 
 escaped from the vengeance of the catholics; but his confidence in 
 God was not to be shaken, and having taken his position, he felt 
 that it was to be maintained. He spent most of his active life at 
 Geneva, where he undertook the ministry, and filled the chair of the 
 professor of divinity. He was, however, once expelled the place 
 on account of refusing to administer the sacrament indiscriminately, 
 and again experienced trouble in the affair of Servetus. 
 
 Calvin, by his vast abilities, and by his clear views of religion, at- 
 tracted the attention, of the world, and it might almost be said, that 
 " the care of all the churches" rested on him. Many of the reformed 
 churches of Germany, France, England, and Poland, looked to him 
 as their head, and he was in the habit of directing them by his let- 
 ters. He died, 1564. 
 
 Calvin was a man of pre-eminent piety and talents, and, though 
 not faultless, he has rendered such a service to the cause of evangeli- 
 cal truth, and of the reformation, as to deserve the gratitude oi 
 posterity. Scaliger says, that no commentator has better hit the 
 sense of the prophets than he. 
 
 8. Camoens (Lewis) is known principally as the author of the 
 Lusiad, an epic poem, which has been translated into the most im- 
 portant languages of Europe. Camoens is deservedly called the 
 Virgil of his country, and in his work has displayed great powers 
 of description, extensive learning, and a sublime imagination. 
 
 Misfortune marked his course in life. In the service of his coun- 
 try, he lost an eye. On his return from the Indies, whither he had 
 gone to better his fortune, he was shipwrecked, and saved his life 
 with difficulty, by swimming with his right arm, and holding up 
 his poem, with his left. 
 
 After he had published his poem, and dedicated it to the king, he 
 was cruelly disappointed, as to patronage ; and feeling all the mise- 
 ries of indigence and neglect, he expired in the midst of his ungrate- 
 ful countrymen. He lived fifty-two years. 
 
 J). Buchanan (George) was born in the shire of Lenox, in Scot- 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 223 
 
 land, in 1506. He early embraced, from conviction, the tenets of Lu- 
 ther, and, as the consequence, suffered persecution from the catho- 
 lics. He became tutor to James I. of England, and employed the 
 last twelve or thirteen years of his life, in writing the history of his 
 country. He occasionally resided in England and France, but died 
 in his native country, at Edinburgh, 1582. His history is written 
 in a nervous, elegant, and perspicuous style, but is occasionally de- 
 ficient in fidelity and accuracy. He has the reputation of an able 
 scholar, whose mind was stored with all the fire, the elegance, and 
 the graces of ancient literature, and who, in a barbarous age, revi- 
 ved in his poetry, the beauty and grandeur of the Roman muses. 
 
 10. Montaigne was born of an ancient family at Perigord, in 
 France, 1533. He was instructed to speak Latin first^ as his mother 
 tongue. Disdaining the drudgeries of law, for which he was intend- 
 ed, he travelled, with a view to make observations on men and man- 
 ners. In the latter part of his life, he enjoyed learned ease and phi- 
 losophical society. His essays have been repeatedly published. 
 They are able and amusing productions, though unsafe to be put in- 
 to the hands of youth, on account of their scepticism. Some per- 
 sons have extravagantly praised them. 
 
 11. Tasso (Torquato) was born at Sorrento, in the kingdom of 
 Naples, in 1544, and derives his celebrity from his " Jerusalem De- 
 livered," an epic poem of great merit. Like the works of Homer 
 and Virgil, it has gained the palm of immortality. Tasso passed a 
 life of varied and great suffering. Among other calamities, he was 
 confined by the duke of Ferrara, who had been his patron, in an 
 hospital, for a long time, under the pretence that he was insane. Tas- 
 so had been guilty only of an imprudence. Unfortunately, he had 
 fallen in love with the princess Eleonora, the duke's sister, and, on 
 a certain occasion, he made bold to embrace her, in the midst of a 
 crowded assembly. For this offence, the unfortunate lover was 
 obliged to mourn his disappointment in a tedious solitude, rendered 
 more tedious by a lingering disease, and occasional lunacy. He was 
 at last released, and his merits as a poet began to be more known ; 
 but just as he was on the point of receiving the laurel crown from 
 the pope, he suddenly expired, and that which was to have been, on 
 the next day, his coronation, proved to be the melancholy proces- 
 sion of his funeral. He w r as fifty-one years of age. 
 
 12. Spenser (Edmund) is deservedly regarded as little inferior, 
 either in invention or in judgment, and true fire of the muse, to 
 any author, ancient or modern. But with all his beauties, he was 
 fanciful and chimerical, and without uniformity, so that his poem is 
 truly fairy land. His sublimity, variety, and fertile imagination, are 
 unfortunately to be set off against his obsolete language, and heavy 
 stanza. His Fairy Queen, is his most celebrated poem. 
 
 He was poet laureat to queen Elizabeth, and was employed some- 
 what in public life. At one period, he was possessed of wealth ; but 
 Desmond's revolt in Ireland, where his property lay, proved his ruin. 
 He was plundered and robbed of his estate, one of his children was 
 
224 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 burned in the conflagration of his house, and broken in heart and 
 fortune, he came to London, where he died, in 1598. 
 
 PERIOD IX. 
 
 The period of the English Commonwealth ; extending 
 from the Edict of Nantes, 1598 years A. C., to the death 
 of Charles XII. of Sweden^ 1718 years A. C. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 House of Bourbon. 
 
 SECT. 1. Henry IV., had now occupied the throne of FRANCE 
 several years. He had changed his religion from political 
 considerations, but did an act of justice to the Calvinists, by 
 whose aid he had secured the sceptre, in granting the famous 
 Edict of Nantes, by which he tolerated them, as well as all 
 his subjects, in the unfettered exercise of their religion. 
 
 Henry's own great abilities and love of his subjects, aided 
 by the talents and industry of his minister, the duke of Sully, 
 enabled him to repair the desolations of a thirty years' civil 
 war, and to place his kingdom in a state of financial pros- 
 perity and general happiness. 
 
 France never had a more popular sovereign. His talents, 
 as a general and statesman, commanded respect, his person 
 was prepossessing, his manners a model of good breeding, 
 and his love of his subjects inspired a most enthusiastic at- 
 tachment to him in return. His private and domestic life, 
 was however very exceptionable, and infected, by the force 
 of example, the manners of the court with no little disso- 
 luteness. 
 
 A mistress of Henry, an artful, intriguing, ambitious woman, 
 had, by consummate management, obtained from him a promise of 
 marriage. This promise, the king showed to Sully, ready signed, 
 and the minister, transported with indignation, tore it in pieces. " I 
 believe you are mad," cried Henry in a rage. " It is true I am mad," 
 replied Sully, " and I wish I was the only mad man in France." 
 When, after -so keen an altercation, Sully thought himself irreco- 
 verably disgraced, he received the brevet of grand master of the 
 ordnance. 
 
 Henry, who had- lived through fifty conspiracies, fell by the 
 
PRANCE. 225 
 
 hand of an assassin, named Ravillac, after a short reign of 
 twenty years, too short for the glory of France, just as he 
 was entering upon a splendid, but visionary project, of form- 
 ing Europe into a Christian republic. 
 
 Ravillac was a desperate Catholic bigot, who had long formed a 
 design to murder his sovereign. Henry was ready to join his army 
 in prosecuting his singular scheme, but was detained against his 
 will, on account of the coronation of the queen. In the midst of 
 his impatience to depart, his mind was harrassed with sinister fore- 
 bodings, and they were too truly realized by the event. Passing 
 along a street in Paris, his coach became entangled, and his footmen 
 quitting it for a moment, Ravillac, who had followed him secretly for a 
 long time, took advantage of the opportunity, and stabbed him in the 
 midst of seven courtiers. The crime of Ravillac was expiated by the 
 most horrid tortures. 
 
 Henry's project was to divide Europe into fifteen settled powers, 
 none of which should be suffered to make any new acquisitions, and 
 should altogether form an association for the maintenance of a 
 mutual balance, and the preservation of peace. There is little evi- 
 dence, however, that he thought it practicable. He meant to effect 
 it, if at all, by force, and it is certain that he strongly wished to set 
 bounds to the house of Austria, both in Germany and Italy. The 
 latter, therefore, may have been his only real design. 
 
 2. Louis XIII., in his ninth yeat, succeeded his father, 1610, 
 under the regency of Mary of Medicis, his mother. During 
 the early part of I his prince's reign, France, which had arisen 
 to splendour and prosperity, under Henry, evidently retro- 
 graded. Mary's partiality for her Italian courtiers, disgusted 
 the nobility, and weakness, faction, and disorder, began to he 
 experienced. But when cardinal Richelieu succeeded to the 
 ministry, after the duke of Luynes, affairs wore a much 
 more favourable aspect. He had vast abilities, and propor- 
 tionable influence, which he successfully exerted in subduing 
 the turbulence of the nobility, diminishing the power of the 
 Protestants, and restraining the encroachments of Austria. 
 
 The principal events of the reign of Louis, were, the ar- 
 rest of the prince of Conde, on account of his intrigues 
 against the regent, and the subsequent temporary exile of the 
 regent herself ; the revolt of the Protestants at Rochelle, 
 and the siege of that place, which lasted a year, and was at- 
 tended with the loss of 15,000 lives ; the junction of Louis 
 with the Protestant princes of Germany, against the empe- 
 ror Ferdinand II., and the revolt of the duke of Orleans, 
 supported by the duke of Montmorency. 
 
226 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 The Protestants were accused of a design to form France into 
 an independent republic, to be divided into eight circles, on the 
 model of those in Germany. Certain it is, that alienated by per 
 secution, they attempted to throw o.T their allegiance, and Rochelle 
 vvas the bulwark and head quarters of their party. Richelieu, 
 having become master of the court, the armies, and the fleets, car- 
 ried into execution, the plan he had long meditated, that of waging 
 war against the Protestants, whom he was resolved to exterminate. 
 He accordingly laid siege to Rochelle. On this occasion he acted 
 as commander in chief ; but chose to be accompanied by the king 
 for fear his enemies should take advantage of his absence. 
 
 The Protestants implored the aid of England, but were disappoint- 
 ed by the tardy measures of the duke of Buckingham. The garri- 
 son alid inhabitants of Rochelle were resolved, however, to hold out 
 until the last extremity. For twelve months they endured the 
 miseries of a siege, but were at length obliged to yield to the active 
 genius of the cardinal. He triumphed over the Calvinists, and de- 
 prived them of their most significant privileges. They never re- 
 covered from this blow. 
 
 The union of Louis with the Protestant princes of Germany, 1626, 
 owed its origin to the influence of Richelieu, in his anxiety to hum- 
 ble the Austrian greatness. He forgot his hatred of Protestantism, 
 for a time, and embarked most eagerly in the cause of the Protes- 
 tant princes, who were alarmed at Ferdinand's avowed design 
 of suppressing their religion, together with the liberties of the Ger- 
 man empire. 
 
 Richelieu's plans were attended with complete success. The 
 Protestants and Catholics, laying aside their theological disputes, 
 conspired for the diminution of Ferdinand's power; the court of 
 England embarked in the same cause ; the Danes also took up arms, 
 and Gustavus, king of Sweden, rushed like a torrent upon Germa- 
 ny. In the course of events, the emperor was effectually humbled, 
 and a solid foundation was laid for the prosperity of the empire. 
 
 The haughty minister of Louis, amidst all the political intrigues 
 and wars in which he was engaged, found leisure to patronize lite- 
 rature and science, and thus to extend the glory of the French na- 
 tion, beyond the honour acquired by feats of arms. The French 
 Academy owes its institution to the genius of Richelieu. 
 
 Louis died at the age of forty-three years. After he had been 
 married twenty- three years, he had two sons, Louis XIV., and Philip, 
 duke of Orleans. During his reign, the king was a less prominent 
 object of attention, than his minister, and is not known to have been 
 characterised by any particular talents or virtues. 
 
 3. Louis XIV., in the fifth year'of his age, ascended the 
 throne, in 1643, under the regency of Anne of Austria, his 
 mother. The talents of this monarch, the vigour of his ad- 
 ministration, the splendid events of his reign, his conquests and 
 reverses, and the flourishing state of literature and the ar*a 
 
FRANCE. 227 
 
 under his patronage, have been themes of deep interest with 
 historians. He is often styled the Great. 
 
 The most conspicuous events of his reign, were his war 
 with the Spaniards, which commenced a few days after his 
 accession, under the duke of Enghein ; the civil commotions 
 called la-Fronde, which grew out of Mazarine's ministry ; 
 the contention with Holland, in 1672, in which he was op- 
 posed by the German emperor and Spain, and in which 
 Tranche Comte was conquered and united to France ; the 
 revocation of the edict of Nantes ; the league of Augsburg 
 against France, by which war was waged against that coun- 
 try, by Germany, Spain, England, and Holland, and, in con- 
 sequence of which, Louis acquired peculiar glory ; and the 
 war of the succession, in which he met with woful reverses, 
 from the allied powers, under the duke of Maiiborough, and 
 prince Eugene. 
 
 In the early war with the Spaniards, the duke of Enghein gained 
 the battle of Rocroi ; that of Fribourg in 1644 ; that of Nordlingen 
 in 1645 ; and that of Dunkirk in 1646. The Spaniards were the 
 aggressors, having taken an advantage of the king's minority, and 
 the popular discontents. 
 
 These discontents arose from the ministry of Cardinal Mazarine, 
 the favourite of the regent, who was an Italian, and whose avarice 
 was excessive. The burdens which he imposed on the people, and 
 the consequent detestation in which he was held, terminated in the 
 commotions of the fronde. Cardinal de Retz, had a principal agency 
 in exciting this civil war. The parliament of Paris, and the chief 
 nobility, took part with the rebels. The celebrated general, Turenne, 
 also aided the rebels. A short pacification ensued, but the impru- 
 dent violence of Mazarine, soon renewed the disorders. At length, 
 the parliament of Paris assumed the right of banishing this unpopu- 
 lar minister. When, however, the king became of age, Mazarine re- 
 sumed his station as minister, while de Retz and Orleans, the chief 
 promoters of the rebellion were banished in their turn. 
 
 On the death of Mazarine, in 1661, when Louis was twenty-two 
 years of age, he took upon himself the entire control of affairs, and 
 by the splendour of his projects, and the success with which many 
 of them were crowned, established throughout the world, his reputa- 
 tion as an able monarch. His war with Holland soon commenced, 
 m which Turenne, and Conde, another great general . gave signal 
 proofs of the sagacity of Louis, in the leaders whom he had chosen 
 to conduct his military operations. Although Spain and the empe- 
 ror joined the Hollanders, yet Turenne defeated the Imperialists m 
 the pitched battles of Ensheim, Mulhausen, and Turkht im. Some- 
 time before, Conde had signalized his arms against Franche Comte 
 which he subjugated in the space of seventeen days. 
 
228 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 Several powers now became jealous of the ascendency of France, 
 and the prince of Orange, whose dominions had been so wanton 
 ly attacked by the French king, had sufficient influence with England, 
 to obtain its alliance in aid of the republic. The arms of Louis, 
 however, still continued to be successful, and the peace concluded at 
 Nimeguen, in 1678, was much to the honour of France. Franche 
 Comte was assured, as a part of the dominions of Louis, and Spain 
 allowed his right by conquest to a great proportion of the Netherlands. 
 
 In the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, the French king 
 manifested a complete dereliction both of wisdom and justice. The 
 toleration which was granted to the Protestants by Henry IV., was 
 taken away, their worship suppressed, their churches demolished, 
 their ministers exiled, and an absolute renunciation of their religion, 
 was made the condition with all who chose to continue in their na- 
 tive country. If they failed to comply with this requirement, death 
 was the consequence, whenever they could be found. By this 
 measure, the kingdom lost, according to some, 800,000 of her most in- 
 dustrious and useful citizens, who either perished, or driven into exile, 
 carried the arts and manufactures of France, into various countries. 
 
 The League of Augsburg, in 1686, was brought about by William, 
 prince of Orange, the sworn enemy of Louis. His attack on Hol- 
 land had betrayed his ambition, and the splendour of his designs 
 could not but excite the envy or jealousy of his neighbours. Victory 
 however, attended his standard against all the forces of the leaguers. 
 Though the valiant Turenne had perished in battle, the able Conde 
 had retired, and Colbert, one of the greatest statesmen of any age, 
 was no more, and their places could not be well supplied, yet the 
 name of Louis was a host, and the successors of those renowned 
 men, were by no means contemptible. Luxemburg defeated the 
 prince of Orange, in the battles of Steenkirk and Norwinden , 
 Noailles was victorious in Spain ; and an army of one hundred 
 thousand French, ravaged the Palatinate, and took m'any of the most 
 important towns on the Rhine. This was the brightest period of 
 his reign. Disasters were soon to follow him. 
 
 The extensive military enterprises of Louis, had been attended 
 with enormous expenses. The pride of the monarch had been 
 flattered by his victories, but no solid advantage had accrued to the 
 nation. The finances had fallen into disorder, and the persevering 
 efforts of his enemies, obliged him to conclude the peace of Ryswick, 
 in 1697. The war, however, was soon renewed. That was the war 
 of the succession. The nations engaged in it were England, Hol- 
 land, and the empire, against France and Spain. The avowed object 
 on the part ot the former, was to put the house of Austria in pos- 
 session of the throne of Spain, on the expected death of Charles II., 
 without issue. 
 
 Louis hari passed his prime, and lost his greatest generals and 
 ministers ; while the armies of his enemies were commanded by the 
 ablest generals of the age, and supported by the treasures of the 
 united powers. The war was carried on with manifest advantage 
 
 
FRANCE. 229 
 
 on the part of the allies. The battle of Blenheim, in which the 
 English Marlborough began his victorious career, cost the French 
 twenty thousand men. He gained, besides, the battles of Ramilies, 
 Oudeiiarde, and Malplaquet. One or two victories on the part of the 
 French and Spanish, prevented Philip, king of Spain, from aban- 
 doning his possessions in Europe. Louis sued for peace, and even 
 proposed very humiliating terms ; but as they were rejected, and the 
 hard condition of dethroning his grandson Philip, was insisted on, 
 he made one more desperate effort in battle, in which he was so 
 far successful as to preserve Philip on the throne. The change in 
 queen Anne's cabinet, gave facility to propositions for peace, in 
 which the English and Dutch secured many valuable acquisitions. 
 
 4. Louis died, aged seventy-seven years, having reigned 
 more than seventy-two, one of the longest reigns on the 
 page of history, and illustrated by many splendid achieve- 
 ments. His patronage of literature and the arts, constitutes, 
 more than any other which he possessed, his claim to the 
 admiration of posterity. No species of merit was suffered to 
 go unrewarded, and the finest models of composition in the 
 French language, were produced in his reign. All kinds of 
 public works were extended and improved the capital was 
 enlarged and beautified, the splendid palace of Versailles 
 erected, commerce and manufactures encouraged, and the 
 fine canal of Languedoc constructed. 
 
 Louis was remarkable for Ids able administration of in- 
 ternal affairs. His sagacity was peculiarly displayed in the 
 selection of his generals and ministers. Besides those that 
 have been already mentioned, was the famous Vauban, whose 
 great genius was successfully employed in fortifying towns. 
 Colbert lias been named. His skill in finances, has acquired 
 him an immortal reputation. The latter \vas also a zealous 
 patron of learning, thus seconding the designs of his royal 
 master. At his suggestion, the celebrated astronomer, Cassini, 
 quitted Italy, and placed himself under the protection of the 
 king of France, who bestowed on him, and also on Huy- 
 gens, a Dutch mathematician of equal celebrity, a very large 
 pension. 
 
 Louis was reckoned the handsomest man in his dominions, 
 and was celebrated for his politeness and urbanity. His in- 
 tellect was vigorous, but indifferently cultivated. It was the 
 great fault of Mazarine, to whom the childhood of Louis 
 was entrusted, that he neglected his education. He sought 
 for the young monarch, no other accomplishments than those 
 
 20 
 
230 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 of dancing", fencing, and riding, so that when the latter was 
 drawing on towards manhood, he scarcely knew how to pen 
 an epistle. 
 
 The love of glory, was perhaps his ruling passion, though 
 he was influenced unduly by other passions, to the indelible 
 infamy of his private life. How often is it, that an admired 
 public pageant, lamentably fails in that which constitutes rea- 
 worth of character. 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 House of Stuart. Commonwealth. Restoration of 
 
 Monarchy. 
 
 5. The throne of England, (called towards the close oi 
 the present period, GREAT BRITAIN,) was ascended by 
 James I., 1603, who was the sixth king of Scotland of that 
 name, and son of Mary Stuart, queen of Scots. Thus the 
 sceptre passed with entire tranquillity from the house of 
 Tudor, to that of the Stuarts an event which was in exact 
 accordance with the law of succession, and with the express- 
 ed wishes of Elizabeth, and which united the two crowns, 
 and eventually made the two kingdoms one. 
 
 James I., was a great grandson of Henry VII. When Elizabeth 
 was dying, upon being requested to make known her pleasure in 
 regard to a successor, she replied " that she had held a royal scep- 
 tre, and required no other than a royal successor" which she ex- 
 plained to be one who was then actually a king, viz. " her nearest 
 kinsman, the king of Scots." 
 
 The history of Scotland, from the time of Wallace and Robert 
 Bruce, to Mary, the mother of James, and rival of Elizabeth, is 
 very summarily as follows : 
 
 The son of Robert, was David Bruce, who began to reign in 1329. 
 During his minority, on account of the invasion of the kingdom by 
 Edward Baliol, he was conveyed to France for security. He was a 
 weak, but virtuous prince, and passed through many reverses of for- 
 tune. He was taken prisoner in the battle of Durham, by Ed- 
 ward III., and remained eleven years in captivity. He was ran- 
 somed by his subjects, and ended a turbulent reign, in 1370. 
 
 He was succeeded by Robert II., his nephew, and the grandson of 
 the great Robert Bruce, whose reign of twenty years' continuance, 
 was spent in a series of hostilities between the Scots and the English. 
 
 Robert III., then ascended the Scottish throne ; but his infirmities 
 and weakness, obliged him to resign the government into the hands 
 cf his brother, the duke of Albany 
 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 231 
 
 James I., a son of Robert, whom Albany had sought to murder, 
 and whom the English had taken prisoner in his attempts to escape 
 to France, next ascended the throne, 1424. He was a prince of great 
 natural endowments, and profited by a captivity of eighteen years 
 in England, adorning his mind with every valuable accomplish- 
 ment. The kingdom had fallen into great disorders, during the 
 regency of Albany ; but James, on his return, soon placed affairs on 
 a favourable footing. He bent all his attention to the improvement 
 and civilization of his people. In restraining the power of the 
 nobles, however, as necessary to this end, he incurred their enmity, 
 and was accordingly assassinated. 
 
 James II., succeeded his father, 1437. He inherited a portion of 
 his father's talents, but possessing an impetuous temper, he pursued 
 the plan of humbling the nobles, with excessive rigour. Ruling with 
 absolute authority, he was uncommonly successful in attaining the 
 objects he had in view, and greatly improved his kingdom. 
 
 His son, James III., without the talents of his predecessors, affected 
 to tread in the same steps. But he was impolitic in attaching him- 
 self to mean favourites ; and quarreling with the barons, he was killed 
 in an insurrection, 1488. 
 
 James IV., a great and most accomplished prince, succeeded to 
 the throne. He was respected by his nobles, and beloved by his 
 people. Invading England with a powerful army, he fell, with al- 
 most the whole of his nobility, in the rash and unfortunate battle of 
 Flodden-Field, 1513. 
 
 James V., his son and successor, was a great, but uncultivated 
 prince. His reign was long and turbulent, the aristocracy attempt- 
 ing to resume their power, and he being employed in defeating their 
 projects. He died of a broken heart, in consequence of the infideli- 
 ty of his troops, in a war with the English, 10,000 of the Scots having 
 deliberately surrendered themselves to the enemy. 
 
 He was succeeded by Mary, whose eventful life and tragical death, 
 have been already narrated. 
 
 6. Though the succession of James I. was tranquil, a few 
 events soon occurred, which tended to disturb his reign. One 
 event was, a conspiracy planned to subvert the government, 
 by seating on the throne Arabella Stuart, the king's near re- 
 lative, descended, like himself, from Henry VII. 
 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, was taken as one of the principals in this plot/ 
 and though he was convicted on incompetent evidence, he was only 
 reprieved, not pardoned, and lay many years a prisoner in the 
 tower. 
 
 A project of a much fouler kind followed. This was the 
 gunpowder plot, which was ascribed to the catholics, who, 
 disappointed in their expectations from James, were enraged 
 beyond measure, and meditated the destruction of the royal 
 r amily, lords and commons, at a meeting of parliament. 
 
232 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 The plot was discovered, just as it was on the eve of execution 
 It was intended, on the part of the conspirators, to blow up the 
 house in which the parliament should assemble, by means of gun- 
 powder, which had been secreted in the cellar of the build Ting. 
 Twenty conspirators had sacredly kept this dreadful secret, nearly 
 a j^ear and a half; but the same bigotry which had given rise to the 
 plot, was directed as an engine by Providence, to reveal it. A few 
 days before the meeting of parliament, a catholic member of it, re- 
 ceived, from an unknown hand, a letter, advising him not to attend 
 the meeting, and intimating to him, obscurely, what was about to 
 take place. 
 
 '* This, on the part of the member, was considered merely as a 
 foolish attempt to frighten him. lie, however, showing it to the 
 king, the superior sagacity of the latter, led him to conceive, that al- 
 lusion was made to danger from gunpowder. The following sen- 
 f ence in the letter, seems to have suggested the idea to the king. 
 
 Though there be no appearance of any stir, yet, I say, they will 
 receive a terrible blow this parliament, and yet they shall not see 
 who hurts them." 
 
 Search was now determined to be made in the vaults under the 
 house of parliament. With the view, however, that they might de- 
 tect not only the conspiracy, but the conspirators, they were quiet 
 till the night before the cormnencemer-1 of the session. The plan 01 
 the king succeeded. A man by the name of Guy Fawkes, was found 
 at the door, who was immediately seized, the faggots, and powder, 
 to the amount of thirty-six barrels, discovered, and the very matches 
 to set fire to the train, were detected in his pocket. He gave up the 
 names of his accomplices, eighty in number, who, with himself, 
 were all put to death. 
 
 7. The puritans, who had already become conspicuous, 
 having first appeared in the reign of Mary, indulged the ex- 
 pectation at the accession of James, of meeting with special 
 favour from the new monarch, because lie had been educated 
 a prcsbyterian. Their disappointment, but especially the re- 
 straints and persecutions which they endured, forced num- 
 bers of them to the new world, where they laid the founda- 
 tions of a great nation. 
 
 Domestic events, such as have been recorded, chiefly dis- 
 tinguished the reign of James. He exerted, and wished to 
 exert, no influence abroad. His disposition was altogether 
 pacific. When, in the early part of his reign, he was solicited 
 to join in a league with Henry IV., the United Provinces, 
 and the northern crowns, to repress the exorbitant power oi 
 the house of Austria, he would have nothing to do with the 
 scheme. 
 
 The Stuarts, as well as Tudors, were strenuous advocates 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 233 
 
 for the royal prerogative, in the widest exercise. This was 
 especially the case with James. He was prejudiced against 
 the Puritans, on account of their notions of liberty, and took 
 part with the established church. It was a favourite maxim 
 with him " No bishop, no king." But the minds of English- 
 men were undergoing a change. Light had increased, and 
 jurfter notions of the people's rights began to obtain. The 
 opposition of parliament to the royal prerogative, was carried 
 to a great height, and laid the foundation of those fatal strug- 
 gles which, in the next reign, subverted the monarchy. 
 
 James died after a reign of twenty-two years over Eng- 
 land, and of nearly his whole life over Scotland. The pri- 
 vate character of this prince, is not free from reproach. His 
 disposition, however, was mild ; and his reiarn, though not 
 
 r / t i o / o 
 
 glorious, in the usual sense of that word, was yet, in many 
 respects, happy and prosperous to his people. On them he 
 bestowed the care of a parent. 
 
 James was ingenious and learned, and yet pedantic withal. Of 
 flattery, he was excessively fond, and there were parasites to deal it 
 out to him without measure. On a certain occasion, he publicly 
 proposed the question, whether he might not take his subjects' mo- 
 ney, when he wanted it, without the formality of parliaments. 
 ;< God forbid," replied the obsequious Neile, bishop of Durham, " but 
 that you should, for you are the very breath of our nostrils." 
 
 James is said to have been pusillanimous in life, but he shewed 
 himself courageous in death, being so composed as to close his own 
 eyes in his last struggle. Perhaps, a people who delighted in war, 
 and valued blood and treasure less than the splendour of battles and 
 conquests, were incapable of doing justice to the principles that 
 guided the public conduct of this prince. Hence the contempt, 
 which has sometimes been expressed against his benign and gentle 
 policy. Saving his high notions of prerogative, and his attempt 
 to sustain them, there was nothing, during this reign, to mar the 
 happiness of a great people. 
 
 Two of the greatest names in the records of genius, Shakspeare 
 and Bacon, besides others, adorned the times of James, and the lat- 
 ter part of the period of Elizabeth. 
 
 8. Charles I., ascended the throne in 1625. The king- 
 dom, at this time, was in a prosperous condition ; but the 
 principles of liberty had expanded the minds of many of 
 his subjects, and they demanded a more liberal system in the 
 administration of the government, than was observed by his 
 immediate predecessors. This demand, however, Charles 
 
 20* 
 
234 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX 
 
 repelled, and he shewed that he possessed the same arbitrary 
 principles with his father, without the prudence of the latter 
 
 The refusal of the parliament, to grant adequate suppl' 
 for enabling the king to carry on a war, first in support of his 
 brother-in-law, the Elector Palatine, and afterwards with 
 France and Spain, led Charles to adopt the resolution ot 
 tiling without their aid, and of levying money in the n. 
 illegal forms. 
 
 The manifestation of a tyrannical disposition, on the part of 
 Charles, first soured the minds of his parliament against him. Be- 
 ing engaged to his allies, the king could not brook the denial of sup- 
 plies, and accordingly dissolved the parliament, and issued warr, 
 for borrowing money of the subject. A new parliament was fo 
 equally uncomplying, and evinced its jealousy of the king, by the 
 impeachment of his minister, Buckingham. Charles, however, 
 avenged the insult, by imprisoning two members of the house of 
 commons. A quarrel thus began, received continued additions from 
 new causes of offence. 
 
 The king, in his wars with France, sent troops to assist the French 
 calvinists; but, after an unsuccessful expedition under Buckingham, 
 they were obliged to return to England. Rochelle was, in conse- 
 quence, reduced to extremity, by which the protestant interest re- 
 ceived an irrevocable blow in France. The blame of every public 
 miscarriage was thrown upon Buckingham, who sheltered himself 
 under the royal protection, till he was assassinated by one Felton, 
 just as he was ready to embark for the relief of Rochelle. 
 
 The death of this worthless favourite, however, did not deter 
 Charles from his arbitrary proceedings, which the English patriots, 
 in that enlightened age, justly considered as so many acts of tyran- 
 ny. His impositions upon trade, without the voice of parliam 
 many of the merchants, and some members of the house of com- 
 mons, refused to pay. 
 
 A new parliament, which was now convoked, exhibit ed a spirit 
 of determined reformation. A petition of right was passed by both 
 houses, which declared the illegality of raising money without their 
 sanction, or enforcing loans from the subject; annulled all taxes im- 
 posed without consent of parliament, and abolished the exercise of 
 martial law; and Charles was obliged, with much reluctance, to 
 give his assent to this great retrenchment of prerogatives. The 
 taxes of tonnage and poundage had usually been continued from 
 one reign to another. On this ground, the king conceived he was 
 warranted to levy them without a new grant ; and a member of the 
 house of commons refusing to pay them, was imprisoned. A com- 
 motion being excited, parliament was dissolved. 
 
 9. About this time, a great number of Puritans, weary of the 
 restraint they experienced in England, under the domineering 
 spirit of Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, embarked for Ameri- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 235 
 
 ca, where they spread the liberty of which they were deprived 
 at home. But at length the enemies of that sect prevailed 
 on the king to forbid these emigrations. This providentially 
 proved a very unhappy affair for Charles, inasmuch as John 
 Hampden, John Pym, and Oliver Cromwell, were prevented 
 
 from going. 
 
 Hampden rendered himself illustrious, by his talents and virtue, 
 and particularly by the firm stand he made against the illegal impo- 
 sition called ship money. He refused to pay a small sum, that had 
 been levied against him, and ventured to assert the liberty of En- 
 glishmen, by risking a legal prosecution. All England was deeply 
 interested in the trial, and this was the favourable result which he 
 realized, though the venal judge decided the cause against him. 
 The people began to see their danger. 
 
 At a time when the public feeling was running strongly in favour 
 of Puritanism, and a simpler form of worship, Laud, with a most 
 intemperate and insulting zeal, was engaged in loading the church 
 with new ceremonies. Things might have gone on in this train for 
 some time; but attempting likewise to introduce the liturgy of the 
 church of England among the Scots, the most violent commotions 
 w;re produced. A bpnd, termed the National Covenant, containing 
 tm oath of resistance to all religious innovations, was subscribed in. 
 Scotland, by all ranks and conditions. To maintain this proceeding, 
 the Scotch reformers took up arms, and soon marched into the 
 aeart of England. 
 
 At the same time, a catholic rebellion arose in Ireland, which the 
 people imputed to the arts of the royalists; and to complete the misfor- 
 tune of the king, the parliament, which had been necessarily con voked T 
 proceeded to such extremities in its acts, that they were considered 
 tantamount to a declaration of war against the king and his party. 
 
 10. Things had arrived at such a pass, that the sword was 
 now to decide the contest. The two houses of parliament 
 took into their hands the force constituted by the militia of 
 the country, and at the same time the king erected his stand- 
 ard at Nottingham, 1642. Several battles were fought, du- 
 ring three or four consecutive years, with various success; 
 but at length the royalists were overcome, and the king 
 was thrown into the hands of his enemies. The cause of 
 Charles was supported by a large proportion of the landed in- 
 terest, all the friends of the established church, and all the 
 adherents of the papacy ; that of the parliament, by the city 
 of London, and most of the great towns, and all the dissen- 
 ters from the establishment. Cavaliers was the term applied 
 to the supporters of the king Round Heads to those of the 
 parliament. 
 
236 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 The parliament, in order to carry on hostilities with the greater 
 prospect of success, had entered into a strict confederacy with the 
 Scots, who were already in a menacing attitude. The new bond 
 which they formed, was more specific in its objects than the former, 
 and more determined in its spirit. It was called the " Solemn 
 League and Covenant," and it brought an accession of 20,000 men 
 to the forces of the parliament. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell, an officer under Fairfax, general of the parlia- 
 ment, in reality, directed all the measures of the army. This extra- 
 ordinary man, as will presently appear, was destined to perform an 
 extraordinary part in the transactions of this period. The two first 
 battles, viz. those of Edgehill and Newbury, were favourable to the 
 royalists ; but those of Marston Moor and Naseby, terminated in 
 their overthrow. Never were the morals and religion of an army 
 more carefully watched, than those of the soldiers of Cromwell. 
 Previously to each battle, it was customary with them, individually, 
 to spend some time in prayer. 
 
 When the king was taken by a party of Cromwell's soldiers, af- 
 ter having been delivered up by the Scots, among whom he had 
 sought protection, he was conveyed first to Hurst castle, and then 
 to Windsor, and at last to London. The parliament at this time, 
 influenced by Cromwell, having declared it treason in a king to levy 
 war against his parliament, a court, consisting of 133 men, were ap- 
 pointed to try him as a tyrant, traitor, and murderer. Charles de- 
 clined the jurisdiction of the court, and refused to plead. He was 
 nevertheless condemned to suffer death, and was beheaded the third 
 day afterwards, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and the twenty- 
 fourth of his reign. 
 
 On the morning of the fatal day, which was the 30th of January, 
 1049, Charles rose earlier than usual, and calling one of his attend- 
 ants, bade him employ more than usual care in adjusting his dress. 
 As lie was preparing for the block, he observed, in reply to some 
 exhortations addressed to him by the bishop of London, " I go from 
 a corruptible to an an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance 
 can have place." He submitted to the stroke with entire resigna- 
 tion. 
 
 Charles had many virtues, and, in private life, was estimable and 
 engaging, beyond most princes. As a sovereign, he had imfortu 
 nately imbibed, in his education, the arbitrary principles which dis- 
 tinguished his ancestors ; but with the disadvantage of living in an 
 age and country, in which a king could not be a tyrant with impu- 
 nity. He deceived the parliament too often for them to trust him, 
 and suffered himself to be guided by counsellors much inferior to 
 him in knowledge and judgment, while he paid an unwise deference 
 to the advice of his queen, who was a bigoted papist. Granger 
 says, " He would have made a much better figure in private life, 
 than he did upon a throne." 
 
 We may lament the fate of Charles, as severe, and perhaps unne- 
 cessary ; and must condemn several of the acts of the republicans 
 as passionate and oppressive j yet Providence seems to have overruled 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 237 
 
 the evchtsof the times, for the advancement of civil liberty, and for 
 the general pood of mankind. Had Charles lived, England might 
 have been still governed by despots, instead of limited monarchs. 
 
 Charles was an author, both in prose and verse. The Icon Basi- 
 like, a work which appeared soon after the king's death, and excited 
 much commiseration for his fate, has often been attributed to him. 
 The authorship of that work, however, remains a matter of dispute. 
 If Charles wrote it. his talents, in composition, must have been much 
 superior to those of most contemporary scholars. Hume considers 
 it the best prose composition which, at the time of its publication, 
 was to be found in the English language : and D'Israeli remarks, that 
 the political reflections it contains, will be found not unworthy of 
 Tacitus. 
 
 In a poem of his, entitled " Majesty in Misery," the following stan- 
 zas will show his manner in poetry. 
 
 " With ray own power my majesty they wound, 
 In the kind's name, the king himself 'a uncrown'd ; 
 So doth the dust destroy the diamond. 
 
 Felons attain more privilege than I, 
 They are allow'd to answer ere they die ; 
 'Tis death to me to ask the reason why." 
 
 11. On the death of Charles I., monarchy in England was 
 dissolved, and the house of lords was abolished as useless, hy 
 the commons. The forms of all public business were chang- 
 ed from the king's name, to that of the keepers of the liber- 
 ties of England. Religion shared in the revolutions of the 
 times. 
 
 t^resbyterianism, which had succeeded episcopacy, now began to 
 yield to the independent interest. Cromwell so managed, as to 
 transfer to the army, the power which the parliament nad not long 
 before taken into their own hands. Presbyterians had been mostly 
 excluded from parliament, and that part of the house which re- 
 mained, termed, in derision, the Rump, was composed of Indepen- 
 dents, under Cromwell's influence. As is often the case, the milita- 
 ry power proved fatal to those Presbyterians who had employed 
 it to effect their own purposes. 
 
 12. The confusions which overspread England, upon the 
 dissolution of monarchy, could he settled only by the great 
 influence, both civil and military, acquired by Oliver Crom- 
 well, who was peculiarly fitted for the age in which he lived, 
 and for the part which he was destined to act. 
 
 The situation of Ireland and Scotland, gave some inquietude to 
 the new republic. The duke of Ormond, at the head of 16,000 
 men, had recovered many places in the former country, from the 
 parliament ; while in Scotland, Charles II., had been proclaimed 
 king on the condition of bin strict observance of the covenant. Crom- 
 well, with his usual cunning, procured for himself the appointment 
 
MODERN HISTORY PERIOD IX. 
 
 of eommander-m-chief in Ireland. He accordingly passed over to 
 that country, and soon put an end to the successes and authority of 
 Ormond. He next marched into Scotland, at the head of 10,000 
 men, and defeated the royalist covenanters, in the battle of D unbar. 
 Upon the retreat of their army into England, Cromwell pursued it 
 thither, and overtaking it at Worcester, the whole was annihilated by 
 him in one desperate battle. The king was obliged to flee. 
 
 It was with great difficulty, and after many adventures, that the 
 latter effected his escape. He first retired to Boscobel, a lone house 
 on the borders of Staffordshire, inhabited by one Penderell, a far- 
 mer, who, in conjunction with his four brothers, served him with 
 unshaken fidelity. They clothed him in a garb like their own, and 
 employed him, like themselves, in cutting faggots, and he partook 
 of their homely fare. On one occasion, when his enemies were in 
 search of him, he ascended an oak, where he was effectually con- 
 cealed a whole day, among the leaves. In this situation, he saw seve- 
 ral of his pursuers pass by, -whom he overheard expressing theii 
 wish to be able to find him. This tree was afterwards known, and 
 venerated, under the name of the royal oak. He succeeded, eventu- 
 ally, in reaching France. 
 
 The republic, at this era. acted with uncommon vigour. Admiral 
 Blake, and other naval officers, now carried the terror of the English 
 name, by sea, to all quarters of the globe. Under his command, a 
 war with Holland was ably maintained against the celebrated Dutch 
 commanders, Van Tromp and De Ruyter ; but the advantage was 
 greatly in favour of the English, who took 1600 of the Dutch ships 
 The famous Navigation act, which the parliament passed at this time 
 had a most favourable effect on the commerce and naval superiority 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 An attempt being made to reduce the land army, at this time, 
 Cromwell remonstrated against it, and demanded a new parliament. 
 But this meeting with no regard, he entered, in great rage, into the 
 house, attended by 300 soldiers, and, loading the parliament with 
 reproaches, bade them be gone, and give place to honester men. The 
 republic of England, which had subsisted four years and three 
 mouths, was thus, in a moment, annihilated, April 20th, 1653. 
 
 Cromwell, however, though he had seized the reins, could not 
 well deny his subjects a parliament. He therefore summoned 144 
 persons in England, Scotland, and Ireland, to assemble as the repre- 
 sentatives of the nation. They were his creatures ; and though some 
 of them possessed the quality and degree of gentlemen, they were 
 generally, as Clarendon says, " a pack of weak, senseless fellows, 
 fit only to bring the name and reputation of parliaments lower than 
 it was yet." This body was called Praise God Barebones' parlia- 
 ment, from the name of a certain member, a leather seller, who dis- 
 tinguished himself by speaking. Incompetent to their duties, they 
 re-delivered to Cromwell, at the expiration of five months, the 
 instrument they nad received from him, calling them together, and 
 besought him to take care of the commonwealth. 
 
l^REAT BRITAIN. 239 
 
 13. The supreme power of the nation, now passing into 
 (he hands of Cromwell and his Council of officers, he was 
 declared, by the latter, Protector of the Commonwealth of 
 England, with the title of Highness, 1654. In this capaci- 
 ty, he exercised greater power, than had ever been annexed 
 to the regal dignity. He gave the command of all the forces 
 in Scotland, to General Monk, and sent his own son, Henry } 
 to govern Ireland. Administering the government with en- 
 ergy and ability, and granting religious toleration, the repub- 
 lic greatly flourished. Its rights were respected abroad. 
 Success attended the usurper, both in negociation and battle. 
 In an engagement which was fought with the Spaniards in 
 Flanders, the latter w r ere defeated ; and Dunkirk being soon 
 after surrendered, was by agreement, delivered to Cromwell. 
 
 Notwithstanding the general correctness of his administra- 
 tion, he was never popular, either with the royalists or repub- 
 licans. He had subverted the freedom of his country, and 
 liis professions passed for nothing. He had reached a fearful 
 elevation, and was consequently kept in perpetual inquietude. 
 Neither society nor solitude could soothe his agitated mind. 
 Fearing assassination, he was constantly attended by his 
 guards, and changed the place of his sleeping, every few 
 nights. Seized at length, with a slow fever, he died, A. C. 
 1658, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
 In regard to the character of Oliver Cromwell, what was said of 
 China, has been applied to him. " He attempted those things 
 which no good man durst have ventured on ; and achieved those in 
 which none but a valiant and great man could have succeeded." 
 This, however, is the judgment rather of an enemy than friend. 
 Respecting his capacity, there can be but one opinion ; but mankind 
 have viewed his moral qualities in very different lights. He has in 
 this respect been oftener condemned than approved. Indeed, he 
 is no favourite of history, as no man of equal merit or fewer faults, 
 has been so often held up to suspicion, derision, or hatred. There 
 are, however, those who, while they promptly condemn his dissimu- 
 lation and ambition, can see much to admire in the strict morality 
 and devotions of a man, who, in private life, apparently reverenced 
 the institutions of religion. 
 
 14. Richard Cromwell, by the father's dying request, suc- 
 ceeded the latter in the protectorate. He \vas acknowledged 
 in all parts of the empire ; but as he wanted resolution, and 
 possessed none of those arts which take with the soldiery, he 
 soon signed his own abdication. He retired to private life, 
 
240 MODERN HISTORY. PERTOD IX. 
 
 and his virtues secured to him, rare enjoyment to extreme 
 old age. 
 
 15. After the abdication of Richard Cromwell, Charles 
 II. was restored to the throne of his ancestors, 1660. The 
 short interval that occurred, was a season of anarchy. 
 
 The restoration was effected by the wishes of the people, who 
 seem to have thought, that neither peace nor protection could be 
 obtained, unless the ancient order of things should be re-estaolished 
 Monk, a man of military abilities, had the sagacity to observe this 
 change in the sentiments of the people ; and after temporizing in 
 various shapes, rendered himself master of the parliament, through 
 which Charles was duly acknowledged. 
 
 16. Charles, who was thirty years of age when he began 
 his reign, made a favourable impression on his subjects, by 
 means of his personal appearance and accomplishments, and 
 of the superior character of his intellect. He was easy in 
 manners, unaffectedly polite, gay in his temper, lively, witty, 
 and a great observer of men and things. It must be added, 
 also, that he was base and unprincipled, and became at length 
 immersed in pleasure and indolence. He was personally a 
 favourite with his subjects, and continued so to be ; although 
 the government became unpopular, after the king was so 
 immersed in private gratification, as to neglect the true in- 
 terests of his realm. Still, in this case, he escaped the re- 
 proaches which he merited, and most of the odium of ex- 
 travagance and unsuccessful public measures, fell on his ad- 
 visers. The whole royal party were so elated at the return 
 of their sovereign, that they were dissolved in thoughtless 
 jollity, and many of the republicans, especially the younger 
 part and the women, were glad to be released from the 
 gloomy austerity of the commonwealth. During this reign, 
 dissipation and infidelity became greatly prevalent 
 
 Charles was distinguished by the same arbitrary notions 
 which had prevailed with his ancestors; and though there 
 were many struggles like those in the preceding reigns, a 
 surprising change had taken place in the feeling of the peo- 
 ple in general, in consequence of which, he escaped the fate 
 of his father. The slavish doctrines of passive obedience 
 and non-resistance, now came into repute, opposed indeed by 
 the enemies of the crown. This was the origin of the dis- 
 tinguishing epithets of Whig and Tory the former oppos- 
 ing the crown, the latter advocating it. This is a distinction 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 4 241 
 
 of parties still existing. The Whigs have always favoured 
 the rights of the people, the Tories, those of the monarch. 
 
 In consequence of high church, or tory principles, an act 
 of uniformity in religion was passed, by which two thousand 
 Presbyterian ministers, were deprived of their livings. 
 
 We may enumerate among the other events of this reign, the 
 following an act of indemnity, by which ten only, out of twenty 
 eight who were tried and condemned for the murder of the king, 
 were devoted to death the sale of Dunkirk for 400,000, required 
 by the prodigality of Charles, and which he soon squandered upon 
 his pleasures the war with the Dutch, which, after an immense ex- 
 penditure, was attended with no material benefit and finally, the 
 measures excited by the influence of the duke of York, (afterwards 
 James II.) consisting of numerous attacks upon the lives, liberties, 
 and properties of the people, mingled with party intrigues, plots, and 
 conspiracies. 
 
 Before the reign of Charles expired, the Whigs became predomi- 
 nant in parliament, and raging furiously against the Catholics, in- 
 sisted on the king's assent to the bill for the exclusion of his brother, 
 the duke of York. This affair induced the king to dissolve two 
 parliaments in succession. The consequence was, that England was 
 thrown into a flarne. But the king took measures to crush or in- 
 timidate the opponents of the court. Lord Russel, who had been 
 remarkable for his opposition to the popish succession, Algernon 
 Sydney, and several other distinguished protestants, were tried, con- 
 demned, and executed. The ground of proceeding against them, 
 was a pretended conspiracy in favour of reform, called the Rye- 
 House Plot. A pretended Popish Plot had, previously to this, been 
 disclosed by the unprincipled Titus Gates, by means of which Lord 
 Stafford and some other Catholics were condemned and executed. 
 
 17. It was thought that Charles, having been guilty of 
 arbitrary conduct, intended to take some measures for the 
 future quiet of his reign, when he was seized with a sudden 
 fit of illness, and after languishing a few days, expired, 1685, 
 in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-fifth of his 
 reign. 
 
 In addition to what has already been said of the character of 
 Charles, it may be observed, that though he was a genius, he acted 
 in direct opposition to every principle of sound policy. He chose 
 rather to be a pensioner of France, from whose king he received 
 200,000 a year, for the concealed purposes of establishing popery 
 and despotic power, than the arbiter of Europe. Rochester's epi- 
 grammatic jest, that Charles " never said a foolish thing, and never 
 did a wise one," forms a tolerable motto for his " picture in little." 
 
 Charles, it is said, had a constant maxim, which was, never- to 
 fall out with any, let the provocation be ever so great ; by which he 
 observed, he had found great benefit all his life, and the reason he 
 
 21 
 
242 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 gave for it was, that he did not know how soon it might be necessary 
 for him to have them again for his best friends. It has likewise 
 been said of this king, that had he loved business as well as he un- 
 derstood it, he would have been the greatest prince in Europe. 
 
 Dryden did not scruple to laud this prince, in a fulsome manner 
 as in the lines, 
 
 " Truly good and truly great : 
 For glorious as he rose, benignly so he set." 
 
 18. On the death of Charles, the duke of York was im 
 mediately proclaimed king under the title of James IT., 1685. 
 The history of this reign consists of little more than the 
 weak and irresolute efforts of a bigotted and tyrannical prince, 
 to introduce popery ; an attempt so absurd, that it did not 
 meet with the least encouragement from the pope himself. 
 
 The capacity of James was by no means equal to the subversion 
 of those deep and solid foundations, which supported the civil and re- 
 ligious liberties of his people. The share which he had in his father's 
 sufferings had not sufficiently taught him, that the jealousy of the 
 royal prerogative, w r as too strong in the hearts of his subjects, to be 
 easily allayed. He was so violent and precipitate in his conduct, that 
 he never failed to counteract his own purposes; and he established the 
 protestant religion, on a firmer basis than ever, by his wild attempts 
 to introduce those of the church of Rome. Though he ascended 
 the throne with many advantages, he could never sit easy in it; and 
 having taught even the advocates of non-resistance, to resist, he was 
 forced to relinquish a crown, which he was absolutely unfit to wear. 
 
 19. One of the principal events of his reign, was the re 
 hellion of the duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles 
 II., who undertook to seize the crown. He was defeated at 
 Bridgewater, by the king's forces, taken prisoner, and be- 
 headed. Had this victory been managed with prudence by 
 James, it would have tended much to increase his authority ; 
 but the cruelty with which the revolt was punished, and the 
 rash confidence with which this success inspired the king, 
 led to his ruin. That most profligate of all the judges that 
 ever sat on the English bench, Jeffries, aided the king in 
 the work of murder, to an extent that has called down on 
 him the execrations of mankind. He was wont to boast of 
 the numbers whom he had adjudged to the gallows. 
 
 The spirit of the nation was roused, by the offensive and 
 tyrannical measures which James took to establish popery; 
 and many great men in England and Scotland, applied foi 
 relief to William, prince of Orange, who had married Mary 
 the eldest daughter of James. William accordingly embark 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 243 
 
 
 
 ed for England, with an army, and determined, agreeably to 
 request, to assume the government. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the prince, he was joined, not only by the 
 Whigs, but by many whom the king had considered his best friends. 
 Even his daughter Anne, inspired with protestant zeal, deserted 
 him, and, with her husband, prince George of Denmark, joined the 
 invader. 
 
 Upon this, James, reasonably rilled with distrust of his 
 people, fled to France., where the palace of St. Germain was 
 assigned him ; but as one remarks, " the convent of La 
 Trappe would have been a much more suitable retreat." In 
 France, he spent the remainder of his life. 
 
 A convention-parliament declared the king's flight an ab- 
 dication, and settled the crown upon William and Mary. 
 
 The duke of Buckingham gave this character of the two royal 
 brothers, Charles and James ; that " the elder could see things if he 
 would, and the younger would see things if he could." 
 
 On the access of James, an address of the quakers to him, is high- 
 ly characteristic of that shrewd sect. " We come to condole the 
 death of our friend Charles ; and we are glad that thou art come to 
 be our ruler. We hear that thou art a dissenter from the church of 
 England, and so are we. We beg that thou wov. Idst grant the same 
 liberty that thou takest thyself, and so we wish thee well. Fare- 
 well." 
 
 20. William and Mary now ascended the throne. This 
 event constitutes what the British writers are pleased to call 
 the glorious revolution of 1688. In the settlement which 
 was then made of the crown, the sole administration remain- 
 ed in the prince. The protestant succession was secured ; 
 religious toleration granted, and presbyterianism re-establish- 
 ed in Scotland. A declaration of rights was also made, in 
 which the chief subjects of dispute between the king and 
 people, were finally determined. The powers of the royal 
 prerogative were more narrowly circumscribed, and more ex- 
 actly defined, than in any former period of the English go- 
 vernment. 
 
 A revolution became indispensable, inasmuch as the principles 
 of religious liberty were now generally established in Britain, and 
 the princes of the house of Stuart, from their arbitrary notions, 
 entertained a strong aversion to a large portion of their subjects. 
 There was, however, a class, chiefly among the clergy, who held 
 the doctrines of passive obedience, and the divine right of kings and 
 bishops. Numbers of these, looking upon James as their lawful 
 king, and refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William, were 
 
244 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 deprived of their stations. Hence, they were styled " non-jurors 
 high-churchmen, and Jacobites." 
 
 21. Wi-lliam experienced a degree of trouble from Ireland, 
 as that country still adhered to James. The latter, being 
 assisted by Louis XIV., landed with some French forces in 
 Ireland, where he was joined by a large army of Irishmen. 
 William, however, defeated them, in the memorable battle of 
 Boyne, and the country submitted to the new king. 
 
 During most of the reign of this prince, the nation was 
 involved in many active wars. Their principal cause was 
 the ambition of Louis XIV. These wars were carried on 
 with vigour and success, though without any distinguished 
 actions, unless it be the sea-fight of La Hogue. The peace 
 of Ryswick, in 1697, terminated hostilities, and it was ap- 
 parent that the power of France was weakened. The prin- 
 ciple on which William acted in his foreign wars, was, the 
 balance of power, of which he was an ardent advocate. 
 
 Louis, who used James topromote his own interest, was deter- 
 mined, if possible, to restore him to the throne. With this object 
 he furnished him with a powerful fleet, and the exiled prince re- 
 paired to La Hogue, whence he was ready to embark for England. 
 The English admiial, Russel, put to sea with all possible expedition, 
 and being reinforced by the Dutch squadron, he sailed for the coast of 
 France, with ninety ships of the line, besides frigates and fire-ships. 
 On the 19th of May, 1692, the hostile fleets met off La Hogue ; and, 
 after a bloody contest of ten hours, victory declared in favour of the 
 English. The French, who had fifty-three ships of the line, lost 
 a great part of their fleet, and could not be made to hazard another 
 battle by sea. James returned in despair to St. Germains, where he 
 died, in 1701, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, having, some timf 
 before his death, laid aside all thoughts of worldly grandeur, and 
 subjected himself to uncommon penance and mortification. His 
 body, brains, and heart, like those of Richard I., were deposited in 
 different cemeteries. 
 
 22. After the death of James, notwithstanding the succes- 
 sion of the crown had been settled in the house of Hanover, 
 his son was proclaimed king of England, at St. Germains, 
 and treated as such at the court of Versailles. This act so 
 exasperated the British nation, that both houses of parliament 
 assured his majesty, that they would assist him to the ut- 
 most of their power, against all his enemies, and the whole 
 kingdom joined in a cry for war with France. While Wil- 
 liam was making preparations for the approaching conflict, 
 he was suddenly removed bv death, in the fifty-second yea* 
 
GREAT BRITAIN. 245 
 
 of his age, and fourteenth of his reign. His excellent consort, 
 and partner in the throne, died seven years before him, of the, 
 email pox. 
 
 In person, William was small and slender. His complexion was 
 brown, his nose Roman, and his eye piercing. His genius was pene- 
 trating, and his judgment sound ; but in his manners he was distant, 
 and better qualified to gain respect than love. 
 
 During this reign, the system of borrowing money on remote 
 funds commenced, which laid the foundation of the present national 
 debt. A standing army, too, was first sanctioned by parliament, in 
 the time of this prince, a measure only to be defended by the rela- 
 tive situation of Europe. 
 
 23. The crown now, (1702,) devolved on Anne, the 
 second daughter of James II., who was married to George, 
 prince of Denmark. Her reign is one of the most illustrious 
 in British history. The arms of England were every where 
 triumphant, nor were the achievements of its scholars less 
 conspicuous. The great names of Newton, Locke, Addison, 
 Swift, and others, have immortalized the times of the " Good 
 Queen Anne," as she has been familiarly called. Though 
 not endowed with superior talents, she was respected for her 
 virtues. The military and literary distinction of her reign, 
 could not, in any great degree, be attributed to her personal 
 conduct or councils. 
 
 The principal events of her reign were, her war against 
 France, carried on by the duke of Marlborough, the greatest 
 general of the age, who gained the splendid victories of Blen- 
 heim, Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, the constitution- 
 al union between England and Scotland, in 1706, and the 
 confusions occasioned by the high party spirit which prevail- 
 ed in the latter part of the queen's reign. 
 
 The war against France, continued from the commencement to 
 the last year but one of her reign. Germany and Holland were in 
 alliance with England. The commander, on the part of the empire, 
 who was associated with Marlborough, was prince Eugene. In the 
 famous battle of Blenheim, the French lost twenty thousand men. 
 The duke, during the engagement, rode through the hottest of the 
 fire, but neither in this, nor in any other conflict, did he receive a 
 wound. This victory saved the house of Austria from ruin. In the 
 battle of Ramilies, six thousand of the enemy lost their lives, and 
 seven thousand were captured ; and this success was soon followed 
 Dy the general conquest of the Netherlands. In the course of a most 
 successful war on the part of the allies, Louis was humbled to a de- 
 giee, that obliged him to demand peace, which though at first refu- 
 
 21* 
 
246 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 sed, took place in 1713, when the change in Anne's ministry, gave a 
 facility to negociations for that object. 
 
 In the treaty of peace which was signed at Utrecht, Spain yielded 
 to England all right to Gibraltar, and the island of Minorca, while 
 France resigned her pretensions to Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia, St. 
 Christopher's, and Newfoundland. 
 
 Of Marlborough, it may be said, that he never laid siege to a town 
 which he did not take, or fought a battle which he did not win. His 
 understanding was as injurious to France as his arms. At St. James', 
 he was a perfect courtier, the head of a party in parliament, and in 
 foreign countries, one of the ablest negociators that any age has pro- 
 duced. 
 
 In the constitutional union of England and Scotland, it was stipu- 
 lated, that the united kingdoms of Great Britian, should be represent 
 ed by one and the same parliament, that Scotland should be repro 
 sented by sixteen peers and forty-five commoners, and that all peers 
 of Scotland should be peers of Great Britain, and rank next after 
 English peers, of the like orders and degrees. 
 
 The confusions occasioned by high party spirit, were aggravated 
 after the occurrence of peace. The strife between the Whigs and 
 Tories, was never higher than at this time. After the peace, the mi- 
 nisters, as leaders of the nation, no longer restrained by the tie of 
 common danger, gave loose to their mutual animosity. 
 
 The great duke of Marlborough was sacrificed, in consequence of 
 these dissentions ; though every honour had been accorded to him, and 
 the most munificent benefactions bestowed upon him, (500,000 
 having been voted at one time, to build the castle of Blenheim,) when 
 his enemies came into the ministry, the queen was induced to dis- 
 miss him from all his employments. The tories had now supplant- 
 ed the whigs in her favour, an event brought about by the preaching 
 of Dr. Sacheverell, who inculcated the tory principles of passive 
 obedience, and who, on account of his trial, before the house of com- 
 mons, excited a sympathy which he did not deserve. 
 
 24. Anne died in her fiftieth year, after a short reign of 
 twelve years, in 1714. She became a victim to an apoplec- 
 tic disorder, which was brought on, or hastened, by fatigue, 
 and the agitation of her mind, in attending a prolonged ca- 
 binet council, in which, her ministers fell into violent alterca- 
 tions with one another. 
 
 Anne was of the middle size, majestic, and well proportioned j 
 her face was round, her features regular, her complexion ruddy, and 
 Her hair a dark brown. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 25. Soon after the commencement of this period, 1612, 
 Matthias was at the head of the German empire. He 
 
GERMANY. 24T 
 
 t .tempted to reconcile the protestants to the catholics, but 
 without success. TJie revolt of the Bohemians brought on a 
 civil war, which lasted thirty years, in the course of which, 
 Ferdinand, cousin to the emperor, was invested with the 
 kingdom of Bohemia; and Hungary, also, was soon afterwards 
 conceded. Matthias, overwhelmed with grief, died before the 
 conclusion of the war. 
 
 An excellent rule of conduct for a prince, which the emperor de- 
 livered to his successor, was the following : " If you wish your sub- 
 jects to be happy under your government, do not let them feel the 
 full force of your authority." 
 
 26. Ferdinand II. became emperor in 1619. During his 
 reign, the ambition of Austria appeared, in her attempts to 
 extinguish the protestant religion, to abridge the liberties of 
 the empire, and to render the imperial diadem hereditary in 
 her own house. But these attempts, especially in regard to 
 the first two objects, were frustrated by the agency of Gusta- 
 vus Adolphus, king of Sweden, who, at the head of the 
 Evangelical Union, made rapid progress in Germany, till 
 death stopped his career, in 1632. Austria, however, has 
 usually held the imperial sceptre, and has long had an as- 
 cendancy in the empire. 
 
 Ferdinand has been styled by the papists, the Apostolical Empe- 
 ror, on account of his hatred to the protestants. He was an unfeel- 
 ing: bigot, and scourge of the empire. 
 
 27. Ferdinand III., son of the preceding, was elected king 
 of the Romans, (so is the head of the Germanic body often 
 called,) in 1637. The protestants in the empire, found the 
 most active support during the former part of this reign, both 
 fiom the Swedes and the French ; and the emperor being 
 forced to conclude the peace of Westphalia, 1648, these pow- 
 eis dictated its terms. By this celebrated treaty, all disputes 
 were settled between the contending princes of the empire, 
 and the contending religions. 
 
 The Swedes were indemnified for the charges of the war, and 
 acquired Pomerania, Stettin, Wismar, &c., and tneir sovereign, the 
 dignity of prince of the empire ; the Palatine family was restored to 
 its chief possessions ; the king of France made landgrave of Alsace, 
 and an equal establishment of the three religions, viz. the Catholic, 
 Lutheran, and Calvinistic. 
 
 Ferdinand was a devoted Catholic. He experienced many cala* 
 mities, but bore them with magnanimity. 
 
 28. Leopold I., king of Hungary and Bohemia, was 
 
248 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 ed emperor in 1657. His was a long reign, of nearly fifty 
 years. Joseph I. succeeded him, 1705, and reigned till 1711 
 Both of these emperors were engaged in the war of the Span- 
 ish succession, which commenced in 1700, on account of the 
 claim advanced by Leopold, to the crown of Spain. The 
 house of Bourbon was his competitor. The war was car- 
 ried on by Austria, (England and Holland being her allies,) 
 with success. Joseph, after having conquered Naples and Sar- 
 dinia, forced the pope to acknowledge the Archduke Charles, 
 as king of Spain. But, at length, the Austrian claimant 
 being elected emperor, the Spanish crown was relinquished 
 to the house of Bourbon, in the peace of 1713. In 1683, 
 Vienna was besieged by an immense army of the Turks, 
 but the place was relieved by John Sobieski, king of Poland. 
 Charles VI. was elected in 1711. His reign extends many 
 years into the next period, but before the conclusion of the 
 present, occurred his memorable war with the sultan Achmet 
 III., in which he obtained many victories over the Turks, 
 by his general, the renowned prince Eugene. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 29. The successor of Philip II., on the throne of Spain, 
 was his son, Philip III., 1 598. From the commencement of 
 this reign, Spain declined in power, and notwithstanding her 
 great sources of wealth, the national finances were exceeding 
 ly embarrassed. He had lost the seven United Provinces, 
 whose independence was solemnly acknowledged, 1609. A 
 most ill judged measure of his reign, was the expulsion of 
 all the Moors, from his kingdom, who were its most industri- 
 ous inhabitants. This, added to the depopulation occasioned 
 by her American colonies, rendered Spain a mass of weak 
 ness. 
 
 30. Under Philip IV., who succeeded his father, in 1621, 
 the national weakness and disorders increased, rather than 
 diminished. Philip was implicitly ruled by his minister, 
 Olivarez, a man of an indiscreet and insolent turn, who, 
 while he encouraged the licentiousness of his sovereign, him- 
 self wore the specious appearance of extraordinary piety. 
 
 The reign of Philip was indeed one continued series of 
 miscarriages and defeats. Tho Dutch seized Brazil : the 
 
SPAIN. 249 
 
 French invaded Artois ; Catalonia revolted to France ; and 
 Portugal, shaking off the yoke, recovered its independence. 
 
 31. The revolution of Portugal, was effected with unwont- 
 ed ease and celerity. It took place, 1640, and Portugal, af- 
 ter having been an appendage of the kingdom of Spain for 
 sixty years, asserted the rights of self government. The 
 people, disgusted with Ihe administration of Olivarez, were 
 prepared for a change. The duke of Braganza, descended 
 from the ancient kings of Portugal, having command of the 
 army at this time, and instigated by the ambition of his 
 dutchess, caused himself to be proclaimed king, at Lisbon, 
 The Spanish guards were attacked and overcome, and the 
 principal adherents of the government, were put to death by 
 the populace. The whole was accomplished in two or three 
 hours. The example of the capital was followed by all the 
 considerable towns, and soon after, by all the foreign settle- 
 ments. The duke of Braganza took the title of John IV. 
 
 The events which occurred in the history of Portugal, previous- 
 ly to the above revolution, are summarily as follows : 
 
 Portugal was the ancient Lusitania, and was successively subject 
 to the Siievi, the Goths, and the Moors. 
 
 In the early part of the twelfth century, Henry of Burgundy 
 grandson to Robert L, of France, rendered assistance to Alphonso. 
 in his wars against the Moors, and having distinguished himself by 
 great bravery, Alphonso bestowed on him his natural daughter 
 Theresa, in marriage, and also created him count of that part of 
 Portugal, where Oporto was situated, from which place, formerly 
 called Portus Calle, the whole country took its name. By the valour 
 of Henry, the country regained its liberty, and he governed it with 
 the title of count. 
 
 His son, Alphonso Henriquez, having obtained a decisive victory 
 over five Moorish kings, was proclaimed king, by the soldiers. Seve- 
 ral princes succeeded him, whose reigns deserve no particular notice. 
 On the death of Ferdinand L, in 1383, the states gave the crown to 
 his natural brother, John L, surnamed the Bastard, who was equally 
 politic and enterprising, and in whose reign, the Portuguese first 
 projected discoveries in the western ocean. 
 
 In the reign of his great grandson, John II., who was a prince of 
 profound sagacity and extensive views, the Portuguese made con- 
 quests in the interior of Africa, and discovered, under Diaz, the Cape 
 of Good Hope. That cape was doubled in 1497, for the first time, by 
 \ r asco de Gama, who thence sailed for the East Indies. 
 
 Emamiel, cousin of John, ascending the Portuguese throne, in 
 1 495, adopted the plan of his predecessors, and sent out a fleet. It 
 "vas with this fleet, that Gama doubled the cape as above mentioned ; 
 others of the king's vessels discovered Brazil, in 1501. 
 
250 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 These princes had the merit of exciting that spirit of discovery 
 Which led to many subsequent improvements of navigation and 
 commerce. Their discoveries on the coast of Africa, led to the voy- 
 age of Columbus, and the discovery of America They also estab- 
 lished valuable colonies in Africa and America, and an extensive 
 empire in India. The reign of Emanuel, was the most glorious in 
 the annals of Portugal. He was a great and wise prince, and ban- 
 ished poverty and distress from his dominions. 
 
 John III., the son of Emanuel, admitted the new founded order 
 of the Jesuits, which has since been a powerful engine of despotism 
 and superstition. He encouraged, if he did not establish, the Inqui- 
 sition in Portugal. 
 
 Sebastian, his grandson, fanatically led an army against the Moors, 
 in Africa, where he and most of his army perished in battle. Sebas 
 tian, leaving no issue, was succeeded by' his uncle, cardinal Henry, 
 in 1578, who, also dying without children, Philip II., king of Spain, 
 obtained the crown, in right of his mother, 1580. After sixty years 
 of subjection to Spain, the Portuguese, as already related, threw off 
 the Spanish yoke, and became independent, under the duke of Bra- 
 ganza, the legal heir of the throne. 
 
 ff 
 
 32. Charles II., succeeded his father, Philip IV., on the 
 throne of Spain, in 1665. In order to frustrate the schemes 
 of the kings of England and France, and of the states of 
 Holland, he left his dominions to Philip, duke of Anjou, 
 second son of Louis, dauphin of France. 
 
 This prince is said to have been debilitated, both in body and 
 in mind, by certain drugs which his mother administered to him in 
 his chocolate. To so unnatural an act, she was led, in consequence 
 of his refusal to accept of her assistance as regent. Certain it is, 
 that active before, he lost, in the course of a few weeks, his wonted 
 spirits ; and his future imbecility, proved highly detrimental to the 
 interests of his kingdom. 
 
 33. The duke of Anjou, under the title of Philip V., tl 
 first Spanish monarch of the house of Bourbon, ascended tl 
 throne in 1700. In 1701, nearly all Europe united against 
 France and Spain, and a useless and bloody war was carried 
 on till the peace of Utrecht, in 1713. Gibraltar was lost to 
 Spain, in the course of this war. 
 
 TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 34. The most splendid period in the history of TURKE*, 
 was that which immediately preceded the present. The spirit 
 of military enterprise was now considerably abated ; though 
 the power of the empire continued undiminished, except in 
 
 
TURKISH EMPIRE. 251 
 
 8 naval torce. The latter never wholly recovered from the 
 effects of the fatal battle of Lepanto. 
 
 The present period embraces the reigns of nine sultans, 
 and a part of the reign of another. They were generally at 
 war with the neighbouring powers ; Persia on the one side 
 Venice, Hungary, and Austria, on the other. 
 
 During the former period, the wars of the Turks with the Vene- 
 tians, had been extremely frequent and bloody. That small, but 
 enterprising and martial republic, had, during one hundred and fifty 
 years, restrained the Ottoman power, and prevented it, most proba- 
 bly, from overspreading a great part of Europe. The spirit of hos- 
 tility continued through the present period, and broke out occasion- 
 ally into fierce fightings. The Turks were for a long time superior 
 to the Christian powers of Europe in military tactics, on account of 
 having an order of men exclusively devoted to the profession of 
 arms, and also on account of their frequent use of artillery. 
 
 Achmet I., made war with Persia and Hungary, but with little 
 success. During his reign, in 1611, Constantinople was afflicted with 
 a dreadful plague, of which more than 200,000 persons died. 
 
 Othman II., invaded Poland, but was forced to make peace aftei 
 having lost 80,000 men. In 1622, he was strangled by tne Janizaries, 
 whom he intended to disband. 
 
 Amurath IV., tarnished a victory which he had obtained in the 
 capture of Bagdad, by the barbarous slaughter of 30,000 Persians, 
 who had laid down their arms, as well as of all the inhabitants. 
 
 Mahomet IV. made a conspicuous figure in the annals of Europe, 
 from the middle, till towards the close of the seventeenth century. 
 Under him, the Turks again became formidable to Europe, and took 
 Candia from the Venetians, and besieged the capital of Austria. 
 The siege of Candia is one of the most remarkable of modern times. 
 Candia was the ancient Crete, and an emporium for commerce. 
 The Turks had long desired to take possession of it, and at length, 
 in 1645, effected a landing on it, with 60,000 men. After several 
 towns had surrendered, Candia, the capital, was invested. This 
 siege continued twenty-five years. For the last two years, the 
 Turks put forth every effort, inasmuch as the delay was mortifying 
 to their pride, and disappointed their ambitious hopes. After the 
 loss of 30,000 lives, on the part of the Venetians and their allies, and 
 118,000 on the part of the besiegers, in the space of two years and 
 four months, the city surrendered on honourable terms, in 1670. It 
 is said the besiegers made against it. fifty-six assaults and ninety-six 
 sallies ; and that the Venetians discharged 276,743 cannon balls, 
 48,119 bombs, and consumed 50,317 barrels of powder. The Turks 
 have ever since held possession of the island. 
 
 In the siege of the capital of Austria, in 1683, John Sobieski, 
 king of Poland, particularly distinguished himself. His assistance 
 was requested by the emperor of Germany, and readily bestowed. 
 Through his efforts, Austria seems to have "been saved from destruc- 
 
252 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 tion, and the Ottoman power prevented from effecting an establish 
 ment in the heart of Europe a service which Austria has since ill 
 requited. Sobieski, whose army, when joined by the Austrians, did 
 not exceed 50,000 men, advanced to the environs of Vienna, and 
 fought one of the most memorable battles of the age. An army ol 
 nearly 200,000 Turks, brave and well disciplined, was entirely de- 
 feated by the Pole, who lost only 600 men. The victors secured the 
 great Ottoman standard, 180 pieces of cannon, and the immense 
 treasures found in the carnp of the enemy. The war continued 
 after that defeat, in which the Turks were the greatest sufferers. 
 The imperialists, however, were weary of it ; but neither party 
 could be speedily brought to an accommodation, on account of the 
 intrigues of the French king, who wished to exhaust the resources 
 of the house of Austria. 
 
 Under Solyman II., the Turks were almost constantly defeated by 
 the imperialists. Mustapha II., was severely beaten in the famous 
 battle of Zenta, in Hungary, by prince Eugene, in 1697; and, in 
 1699, concluded a peace at Carlowitz, by which he was forced to 
 cede Transylvania, Karniniek, the Morea, and Azof. 
 
 Under Achmet III., in 1715, the Ottoman court declared war 
 against the Venetians, and recovered the Morea. At the same time, 
 war was waged against Austria, but the most disastrous effects to 
 the Turks, took place from this renewal of the contention. Prince 
 Eugene defeated a powerful army, in the battle of Peterwaradin, 
 and took Temeswar, in 1716. The next year, the strong town of 
 Belgrade surrendered to his again victorious arms. The disadvan- 
 tageous peace of Passarowitz, in 1718, followed these defeats. And 
 the Ottoman, formerly so terrible in arms, was obliged to yield the 
 palm of military skill, if not valour, to the disciplined legions of 
 Christendom. 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 35. Our own country, is intended by the BRITISH COLO- 
 NIES in AMERICA. During the present period, and part of 
 the following, the people inhabiting, chiefly, the south-eastern 
 portion of North America, were known by the above appella- 
 tion. 
 
 These colonies were settlements made principally by the 
 English, though some of them derived their origin from ad- 
 ventures set on foot by other European nations. They were 
 all, however, included within the English patent, and claimed 
 by the English crown. 
 
 36. It was more than a century, from the discovery of the 
 northern portion of the American continent, by Cabot, before 
 the English made any effectual attempts to colonize the 
 
BRITISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA. 253 
 
 country. The first grant from the crown, under which set- 
 tlements were actually made in North America, was dated 
 April 10, 1606. James I., by his letters patent, granted an 
 exclusive right or privilege to two companies, called the Lon- 
 don and Plymouth companies, by which they were autho- 
 rized to possess the lands in America, lying between the thirty- 
 fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude ; the southern 
 part, called South Virginia, to the London, and the northern, 
 called North Virginia, to the Plymouth company. Before 
 the present patents, however, a project to settle the country 
 was undertaken by Sir Walter Raleigh, who, under a com 
 mission from Elizabeth, in 1584, had arrived in this portion 
 of North America, which, upon his flattering account of it, 
 was called Virginia, in compliment to the queen's virgin 
 majesty. But this project, as well as two that followed it, 
 wholly failed. 
 
 Under the king's patent, the London company sent Cap- 
 tain Christopher Newport to Virginia, December 20th, 1606, 
 with a colony of one hundred and five persons, to commence 
 a settlement on the island Roanoke, now in North Carolina. 
 By stress of weather, however, they were driven north of 
 their place of destination, and entered Chesapeake Bay. 
 Here, up a river which they called James river, on a beautiful 
 peninsula, they commenced, in May, 1607, the settlement of 
 Jamestown. This was the first permanent settlement in the 
 United States. 
 
 37. Seven years afterwards, 1614, a colony of Dutch com- 
 menced a settlement on the present island of New- York, 
 which had been discovered in the year 1609, by Henry Hud- 
 son, an Englishman in the service of Holland. The Eng- 
 lish government claimed a prior right to the country, by vir- 
 tue of Cabot's discovery ; but the first settlers retained pos- 
 session, until 1664, when it was surrendered to an armament 
 fitted out by Charles II., and received its name from his bro- 
 ther, the duke of York. It had been previously called New- 
 Amsterdam. The Dutch had built a fort here, and one also 
 at Albany. 
 
 38. The same year in which the Dutch settled on the 
 Hudson, Captain John Smith, ranged the coast, from Penobs- 
 cot to Cape Cod. King Charles, to whom a map of the 
 country was presented, named it New-England, instead of 
 
 22 
 
254 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 
 
 IN'orth Virginia. Sixteen years from this, December 22, 
 1620, a colony of puritans landed at Plymouth, in Massa- 
 chusetts, and began the first permanent settlement in New- 
 England. These colonists were originally from England, 
 but had resided several years in Holland, on account of the 
 religious intolerance which prevailed in their native country, 
 The colony of Plymouth was afterwards connected with 
 another colony in New-England, called Massachusetts Bay, 
 which was founded in 1628. 
 
 39. In 1623, a number of persons from England, arrived 
 in the river Piscataqua, and began two settlements ; one at 
 the mouth, at a place called Little Harbour, the other at a 
 place now called Dover. These were the first settlements in 
 New-Hampshire. 
 
 40. The next settlement in the order of time, seems to be 
 that which was made by some bodies of the Dutch and 
 Danes, about the year 1625, in New- Jersey. This was fol- 
 lowed by the colonization of Delaware, in 1627, by the 
 Swedes. 
 
 41. In 1637, Charles I. granted a patent to Lord Balti- 
 more, conveying to him a tract of country, on the Chesapeak 
 Bay, which, in honour of Henrietta Maria, daughter of the 
 French king, he named Maryland. The next year, Balti- 
 more appointed his brother, Leonard Calvert, governor of the 
 province, who, with about two hundred planters, chiefly Ro- 
 man catholics, began a settlement, in 1634, near the mouth 
 of the Potomac, on the northern side. 
 
 42. In 1633, the first house was erected in Connecticut. 
 This was a trading house built by some Plymouth adven- 
 turers, who transported the materials up Connecticut river 
 Two years from this, 1635, about sixty men, women and 
 children, from Newtown and Watertown, in Massachusetts, 
 commenced their journey through the wilderness to Connec- 
 ticut river. By these people, Windsor, Wethersfield, and Hart- 
 ford, were settled. 
 
 43. The settlement of Rhode Island, is dated from the 
 year 1636, an event occasioned by the banishment of Roger 
 Williams from Massachusetts, on account of his religious 
 opinions. He removed with his family to Mooshawic, and 
 began a plantation, which, on account of the Divine kind 
 ness, he called Providence. 
 
 I 
 
BRITISH COLONIES. 255 
 
 44. The colony of New-Haven, was formed in 1638. m 
 consequence of the English having occasion to visit the ter- 
 ritory, in an expedition against the Pequots. This colony 
 eventually united with that of Connecticut. 
 
 45. In 1663, some of the Virginia settlers laid the foun- 
 dation of North Carolina, which was followed by the settle- 
 ment of South Carolina, in 1670. The Carolinas were so 
 called in honour of Charles IX., king of France, under whos<s 
 patronage the coast had been discovered, in 1563. 
 
 46. In Pennsylvania, a small body of Swedes had plant 
 ted themselves, at an early period. Their settlement in 
 creased slowly, until the arrival of William Penn, in 1681, 
 with a numerous company of Quakers, whom religious per- 
 secution drove across the Atlantic. Penn had acquired a 
 grant of the territory now constituting the state, in conside- 
 ration of the debts due from the crown, for services perform- 
 ed by his father, admiral Penn. 
 
 47. The last settled of the original thirteen states, was 
 Georgia, founded in 1732, by General Oglethorpe. This 
 comes within our next succeeding period. At first, Georgia, 
 and even the Floridas, were covered by the Charter, as it was 
 afterwards confirmed and enlarged, which conveyed Carolina 
 to its proprietors. 
 
 48. The three eldest of the American states, it will be per- 
 ceived above, are Virginia, New-York, arid Massachusetts. 
 These have hitherto been the most important and influential 
 in the confederacy. Others, however, from their numbers, 
 are beginning to acquire their just consideration. 
 
 49. The causes of the settlement of the American states, 
 were various. Some were made on mercenary views, the 
 usual principle of colonization, for the particular benefits of 
 the proprietors. This was the case with Virginia. The im- 
 mediate purpose of the settlement of New- York, was com- 
 merce. The Dutch were then particularly distinguished for 
 their commercial and enterprising spirit. Massachusetts, and 
 New-England generally, were planted principally to enjoy, 
 in an unrestricted manner, the institutions of religion. 
 
 50. In the original foundation of three of the states, viz., 
 Rhode Island, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the free tolera- 
 tion of religion was recognized, and these were the first civil 
 communities which acted on a principle that now seems to 
 
256 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 be fast gaining the popular consent. In the ol her colonies-, 
 there was a degree of intolerance on the subject of religion, 
 the fault of the age ; and yet they laid the foundations of a 
 civil community, the freest and best which the world had 
 hitherto seen. In New-England, particularly, they wished 
 to enjoy their religion in peace ; and in shutting out others, 
 whose religious opinions differed from their own, they seem 
 to have justified themselves on the principle of self defence, 
 with a view to be delivered, ever afterwards, from evils simi- 
 lar to those from which they had recently escaped. As, how 
 ever, it must be impossible to prevent differences of opinion 
 on the subject of religion, a civil community would be wise 
 in providing for such a state of things, by suitable and tole- 
 rant regulations. 
 
 51. Many of the first settlers of the country, were men 
 of talents and liberal culture ; and a wilderness has never 
 been planted by a body of people, who were more solicitous 
 for the interests of learning, and general education. Next, 
 after the establishment of the Gospel, their greatest object 
 was to multiply schools and higher seminaries of learning. 
 Indeed, the colonists possessed excellent traits. Their mo- 
 rality and piety, their spirit of enterprise and habits of indus- 
 try, their love of liberty, and attention to education, were un- 
 paralleled in the history of similar efforts. They were not 
 perfect men, but they were the best and the noblest that ever 
 founded an empire. These remarks are intended particular- 
 ly for New-England, though they have a degree of applica- 
 tion to all the American states. 
 
 52. The colonists purchased their lands of the Indians ; 
 and notwithstanding what has been often asserted, respecting 
 the frauds that were practised, there is little reason to question 
 the purity of motive, and the good faith of those who were 
 engaged in these transactions. 
 
 53. The settlers in some of the colonies, experienced at* 
 first but little trouble from the Indians, for many years. This 
 was the case particularly with Massachusetts and Pennsylva- 
 nia. In others, they were molested from this quarter, at a 
 very early period. Connecticut, and particularly Virginia, 
 were obliged, soon after their settlement, to make war against 
 the savages, in self-defence. And all the colonies, sooner or 
 later, suffered in various ways, and especially by contentions 
 
BRITISH COLONIES. 257 
 
 \vitn the natives. It is not to be denied, that in the end, 
 wrong was sometimes done to these miserable tribes. Their 
 ferocity and faithlessness were, occasionally, met with the 
 sternest inflictions of vengeance on the part of the whites. 
 
 Respecting the colonists as a body, during the present pe- 
 riod, it may be remarked, in a very general way, that they 
 struggled long with all the hardships, difficulties, and priva 
 tions incident to new establishments among savages ; that 
 they displayed a heroism and constancy, such as have rarely 
 been witnessed among men, and though tempted to believe, 
 in some instances, that their undertaking would never suc- 
 ceed, yet that their virtues finally overcame every obstacle, 
 and they found themselves before the conclusion of this pe- 
 riod, increasing in wealth and population. 
 
 It may be added, that the colonists were often involved in 
 the wars of the mother country, with other powers ; that a 
 few of their wars with the Indians, affected several of the 
 states at a time, and that a consideration of their common 
 
 f 
 
 exposure, led to a general intercourse with one another, and 
 particularly to the union which was formed between the New- 
 England colonies, in 1 643 ; a union which lasted more than 
 forty years, or until their charters were revoked, and which 
 furnished the example of that nobler confederacy which has 
 since taken place, of all the American states. In general, 
 however, it is with the individual colonies that we are mostly 
 concerned in the history of this period, but the limits of our 
 work will admit only of a very few details, in regard to one 
 or two of the states. 
 
 Two years after the settlement of Connecticut, occurred the war 
 with the Pequots, a tribe of Indians, whose principal residence was 
 on a hill in the present town of Groton These savages had pre- 
 viously made depredations on the infant settlement, and killed seve- 
 ral individuals, and carried others away captive. In this perilous 
 state of affairs, a court, convened at Hartford, determined on war. 
 Ninety men, nearly half the fencible men of the colony, were or- 
 dered to be raised. Forty-two from Hartford, thirty from Windsor, 
 and eighteen from Wethersfield. These troops, together with seventy 
 River and Mohegan Indians, were commanded by Captain Mason, 
 who, sailing down the river, surprised Mystic, one of the principal 
 forts of the enemy, in the present town of Stonington. 
 
 Before the savages could get themselves in readiness, the troops 
 instantly pressed forward and fired. The destruction soon became 
 terrible, but the Indians rallied at length, and made a desperate re- 
 
 22* 
 
258 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD ix. 
 
 sistance. All, however, was in vain. Upon an order to burn them, 
 the work of destruction was completed. Seventy wigwams were in 
 ruins, and between 500 and 600 Indians, lay bleeding on the ground, 
 or smouldering in ashes. With the assistance of a detachment of 
 nearly two hundred men from Massachusetts and Plymouth, the 
 whites pursued the rest of the tribe, who fled towards the Hudson, 
 and, defeating them in another terrible battle, in a great swamp, in 
 Fairfield, the power of the Pequot nation, was entirely prostrated. 
 
 In Virginia, the colonists were soon involved in contests with the 
 Indians. In addition, they suffered severely by the scarcity and 
 badness of provisions the consequence of which was, that diseases 
 swept off one half of their number, in a few months. In the latter 
 part of the year 1609, Captain Smith, whose romantic story has been 
 so often told, and whose name was a defence of the settlers, and a tei - 
 ror to the Indians, returned to England. Soon after his departure. 
 the colonists were reduced to the greatest extremities, having had a 
 company of thirty men slain by the Indians, and their provisions 
 wasted on the occasion. A most distressing famine ensued, the ef- 
 fect of which was the reduction, in six months, of the colonists, from 
 .nearly five hundred to sixty. The remainder embarked for their 
 native home ; but being met by a new company of adventurers, with 
 a large supply of provisions, they were induced to return, and try 
 the fortunes of a wilderness once more. For a number of years, 
 it was only by the arrival of new comers, that the colony w r as pre- 
 served from extinction. At last it began to prosper, from the date 
 of Sir William Berkeley's administration, 1638, which lasted nearly 
 forty years. Before the conclusion of this period, however, the 
 colony experienced the evils of a terrible insurrection, known by 
 the name of Bacon's rebellion, which terminated only with the death 
 of its mover. 
 
 54. The principal events which relate to the colonies, as a 
 body, or to the greater part of them, during the present pe- 
 riod, were Philip's war, in 1675 and 1676, which was the 
 most general and destructive war with the Indians, in which 
 the colonies were ever involved the oppressive measures re- 
 lating to the colonies under the Stuart family, who attempted 
 the destruction of their charters and liberties and the warn 
 occasioned by the hostilities into which the mother country 
 entered with other European powers, usually called king 
 William's war, and queen Anne's war; the former com- 
 mencing in 1690, and continuing to 1697, and the latter com- 
 mencing in 1702, and ending in 1713. 
 
 Philip's war was carried on by a king or sachem of that 
 name, who was at the head of the Wampanoags, and whose re- 
 sidence was at Mount Hope, Rhode Island. This distinguished 
 warrior, designing to exterminate the whites, formed a most exten- 
 sive combination of the Indians. The greatest battle during this 
 
 
 
RUSSIA. 259 
 
 contest. Is known by the name of the Swamp Fight, December. 1675, 
 in the Narraganset country, at the Indian fortress, situated in a large 
 swamp. The English, who were commanded by Josiah Winslow, 
 governor of Plymouth, obtained a great victory, but dearly bought, 
 with the loss of two hundred and thirty men, killed and wounded. 
 The Indians lost more than four times this number, besides many 
 women and children. Though their power was greatly broken by 
 this defeat, they continued their depredations and massacres, until 
 the death of their great warrior, in 1676, and in some parts of New- 
 England, two years later. This was a melancholy period in the an- 
 nals of the country, during which, six hundred men, the flower of 
 its strength, had fallen ; twelve or thirteen towns had been destroyed, 
 and six hundred dwelling houses consumed a terrible destruction, 
 out of a population not exceeding 60,000. 
 
 The oppressive measures, under the Stuart family, were owing, 
 in part, to the tyrannical disposition of the princes of that family, 
 and, in part, to the sinister attempts of certain men, who, having 
 visited the colonies, became hostile to them, and infused their preju- 
 dices into the king and his ministry. Under this baleful influence, 
 the colonies were required to surrender their charters a demand 
 which was complied with, except in the case of Connecticut. The 
 duration of this state of things, however, was short ; the revolution 
 occurring in England, in 1688, when William and Mary were placed 
 on the throne. 
 
 From this time, the colonies, though unmolested by the mother 
 country, in regard to their liberties, suffered by means of her wars 
 with the French, who employed the savages as their auxiliaries. 
 This was a long period of woe and desolation, lasting from 1688 to 
 1713, with an intermission of only four or five years, 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 55. The history of RUSSIA is both obscure and unimpor- 
 tant, until the time of Peter I., surnamed the Great, who as- 
 cended the throne in 1089. Russia, then raised from bar- 
 barism and ignorance, was brought into notice with the civil- 
 ized world; and, by successive advancements, has attained to 
 a rank, in power anO, influence, second to no other state in 
 Europe. To Peter, that country owes all its greatness. 
 
 In regard to the early history of Russia, it is only ascertained, 
 that in the fourth century, the country was possessed by several 
 different tribes. In the tenth century, it is said to have received the 
 light of Christianity. In the fifteenth century, John Basilowitz re- 
 deemed the empire from its subjection to the Tartars, and united the 
 greater part of the country under one monarchy. The sovereigns 
 of Russia, until Ivan Basilowitz IV., in the sixteenth century, bore 
 the title Wenike Knez, " Great Prince," but he added that of czar, 
 which, in the Sclavonican language, signifies king. Peter the Great 
 
260 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 assumed the title of emperor. It was not till the end of the six 
 teentli century, that Siberia was added to the empire, which, to that 
 time, was bounded by the limits of Europe. 
 
 The predecessors of Peter, maintained considerable splendour, as 
 sovereigns; but their dominions were uncultivated, and their sub- 
 jects barbarians. Alexis Michaelowitz, father of Peter, was the first 
 who published a code of laws. 
 
 Peter became master of the empire, by setting aside a weak elder 
 brother, and banishing a factious sister, who had seized the govern- 
 ment. His youth was spent in ignorance and debauchery ; but his 
 new situation immediately displayed his talents, and gave birth tc 
 the wisest plans for the improvement of a barbarous people. 
 
 56. The principal events of his reign, were, his war with 
 the Turks, and taking of Azof, in 1696 his sending an 
 embassy into Holland, which he accompanied in disguise, 
 in order to learn the art of ship building his destruction of 
 the Strelitzes, a body of troops, much resembling the Janiza- 
 ries of Turkey his abolition of the patriarchate of Moscow, 
 which rivalled the authority of the czars the several de- 
 feats he experienced in a war with Charles XII. of Sweden 
 his signal victory over that monarch, in the battle of Pul- 
 towa his building of Petersburg}) and, finally, his institu 
 lion of a numerous infantry, and powerful army. 
 
 Having gained the little knowledge he possessed from foreigners, 
 he resolved to travel in search of more. Appointing De Fort, an 
 able Genevese, his ambassador, he travelled as a private person in 
 his suite, through Germany to Holland, and when he arrived at 
 Amsterdam, engaged himself as a workman in the dock yard, under 
 the name of Peter Michaelof. Here was exhibited the astonishing 
 spectacle of a mighty prince, at the age of twenty-five, quitting the 
 luxury of a court, labouring with his own hands, at a toilsome me- 
 chanic art, fed and clad like the rest of his fellow-workmen, and 
 obeying the orders of his temporary master ! His occupation did 
 not prevent him from attending the lectures on anatomy, surgery, 
 mechanics, and other branches of practical philosophy, cultivated in 
 Holland. From Holland he passed to England, where he was simi- 
 larly employed, and where he gained still higher improvement. 
 At the end of sixteen months, he returned to Moscow, laden with 
 knowledge, and the fruits of experience, which he employed for the 
 benefit of his own subjects. 
 
 Charles the XII. was, at this time, sweeping all before him. He 
 had beaten the czar, in a number of engagements; and, suddenly 
 breaking off a negociation, he entered Russia with 45,000 men, with 
 the design of dictating peace at Moscow. He would probably have 
 accomplished hia object, had he not been induced, by a treacherous 
 promise of aid from the Cossacs, to inarch through the Ukraine, in 
 the midst of winter. Here Peter seized his opportunity, when the 
 
SWEDEN 
 
 enemy's army was wasted by fatigue and famine, and meeting 
 Charles, at Pultowa, he gave him battle, killing 9000 of the Swedes, 
 and taking 14,000 prisoners. 
 
 Peter died in 1725. His usefulness, as a sovereign, is un- 
 questioned ; yet, as a man, he is justly obnoxious to the 
 charge of being ferocious, impatient, passionate, and prodigal 
 of the lives of his subjects. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 57. The history of SWEDEN is unimportant, until the re- 
 volution of 1523, which placed Gustavus Vasa on the throne, 
 who was followed by eight sovereigns to the time of Charles 
 XIL, in 1697. The crown was elective till 1544, when 
 Gustavus persuaded the states to render it hereditary in his 
 family. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, had been united 
 into one kingdom, from the time of Margaret of Denmark, 
 in 1389, to the t^ime of Gustavus. The last king (Christian 
 II.) of the united countries, was so tyrannical, that G ustavus 
 was induced to take up arms against him, and deliver his 
 subjugated countrymen. He introduced Lutheranism into 
 his states, administered the government with great firmness 
 and wisdom ; and, considering the age in which he lived, was 
 one of the most extraordinary of men. 
 
 Two at least of his successors to the period of Charles 
 XII., were eminent sovereigns, viz. Gustavus Adolphus, sur- 
 named the Great, and Christiana. Gustavus was illustrious 
 as a hero, and Christiana was enthusiastically devoted to 
 literature, and distinguished for her patronage of learned 
 men. 
 
 Sweden was the eastern part of the ancient Scandinavia, and, 
 together with Denmark, was first inhabited by the Cimbri, a colony 
 of the Gomerians. From this country came the Goths, the Gepidoe, 
 the Heruli, and the Lombards. The Swedish monarchy is very an- 
 cient ; but the history of its earlier sovereigns is too uncertain, to 
 satisfy the sober enquirer. Eric IX., in the twelfth century, is the 
 first monarch whose reign approximates to chronological truth. 
 There appear to have been nine sovereigns between him and 
 Gustavus Vasa. 
 
 During the oppressive reign of Christian II., Gustavus Vasa was 
 sent as an hostage into Denmark, in 1518, whence he made his 
 escape on hearing of the> massacre at Stockhold of ninety-four 
 senators, among whom his father perished. For a while he con- 
 cealed himself m Dalecarlia ; at length he entered into a small town 
 
262 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 on a day when a fair was held, harangued the country people, and 
 with their assistance took possession of the fortress, and put the 
 Danish commander to death. 
 
 From this moment his life became a scene of triumphs. Follow- 
 ed by his brave Dalecarlians, he besieged Stockholm ; and it hap- 
 pening, when the Danes came to relieve that city, that a sudden 
 frost detained their ships at a great distance from the port, Gusta- 
 vus's soldiers advanced on the ice and set fire to them. This victory 
 opened the gates of Stockholm, and he was proclaimed king. 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus began to reign in 1611. He became a hero 
 in early life, having in his twelfth year been encircled with the 
 laurels of victory. At the age of eighteen he was successfully 
 prosecuting a war with Denmark, which he concluded in 1613 
 with an advantageous peace. He was equally successful in his 
 wars with the Poles and Russians, from whom he took many towns. 
 In his war with the Imperialists, he defeated their forces in the battle 
 of Leipsic, in 1631, and afterwards in that of Lutzen; but in the 
 latter he lost his life. 
 
 Christiana, in 1632, succeeded her father Adolphus when only 
 seven years of age, and during her reign, Sweden preserved its 
 ascendency in the affairs of Germany. She ruled the kingdom with 
 great wisdom and prudence, till 1654, when she resigned her crown 
 to her cousin, Charles Gustavus. She was so eager to quit Sweden, 
 and to reach a land more congenial to the cultivation of science, 
 that when she arrived at a small brook, which separates that country 
 from Denmark, she alighted from her carriage, and leaped over the 
 stream : " At length.'- said she, " I am free, and out of Sweden, 
 whither I hope never to return." She visited Paris, where unbound- 
 ed homage was paid to her genius, but where her manners gave of- 
 fence to the court for want of decency and conformity to rules. 
 Rome, however, became the place of her residence, where she em- 
 braced the Catholic religion, and where she died. 
 
 58. Charles XII. succeeded, in 1697, at the age of fifteen 
 years. He was a competitor of Peter the Great, and divided 
 with him the admiration of Europe. He has been lanked 
 with the greatest conquerors of antiquity, on account of his 
 heroism of character and, extraordinary achievements. But 
 Charles was rather a singular, than a great man. His suc- 
 cess as a warrior, for a time, alarmed and agitated Europe. 
 Soon after his accession, his dominions were attacked on 
 three sides, by Russia, Poland, and Denmark, and he, al- 
 though then only a boy of seventeen years, successively took 
 the field against these powers, and signally defeated them. 
 Poland he humbled in the dust. A negociation having been 
 begun by the czar, Charles abruptly terminated it, and de- 
 clared that he would negociate only at Moscow. The rigour 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS 263 
 
 of a Russian winter, prepared his army for the defeat, wnich 
 it so signally experienced at Pultowa. After this battle, he 
 fled into Turkey, where his conduct seemed to be that of a 
 maniac, rather than of a man in his senses. 
 
 The war with Denmark he despatched m six weeks. The 
 Danish king purchased the safety of his capital and kingdom, by 
 making full indemnity to the duke of Ho'lstein, whose territory he 
 had attempted to wrest from him. 
 
 The Swedish monarch then hastened into Ingria, which the czar 
 had attacked, and at the battle of Narva, with eight thousand men, 
 he defeated an army of eighty thousand Russians, of whom he took 
 thirty thousand prisoners. 
 
 In his chastisement of Poland, he satisfied the dictates of the 
 amplest revenge. He reduced Courland and Lithuania, penetrated 
 into the heart of the kingdom, and subdued the capitals of Warsaw 
 and Cracow. He then, by means of the assembled states, declared 
 the Polish Augustus deposed, and procured Stanislaus, his own de- 
 pendent, to be elected sovereign of Poland. 
 
 When Charles fled into Turkey, he had only eighteen hundred 
 men. He still hoped to dethrone the czar, by engaging the Otto- 
 man power against him. After many efforts the Sultan was induced 
 to send two hundred thousand soldiers against the Russians. But 
 upon the capitulation of Peter's army, peace having been made, 
 Charles was disappointed, and vented his rage against the Turk. 
 He had been hospitably entertained more than three years, but his 
 arrogance becoming insufferable, he was ordered to quit the Turkish 
 dominions. This order he refused to obey, and proceeded immedi- 
 ately to fortify his camp. With only three hundred men, he de- 
 fended himself for some time, against an army of twenty thousand 
 Turks, and only yielded, when he was taken by the legs and arms, 
 and dragged to the tent of the bashaw. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period IX. 
 
 i 
 
 1. Tycho Brahe, a Dane, celebrated as an astronomer. 
 
 2. Cervantes, a Spaniard, the celebrated author of Don 
 Q,uixote. 
 
 3. Shakspeare, the greatest of dramatic poets. 
 
 4. Galileo, an Italian, distinguished for his discoveries in 
 mathematics and astronomy. 
 
 5. Raleigh, an eminent navigator and man of letters. 
 
 6. Bacon, an English philosopher and universal genius. 
 
 7. Kepler, "a German astronomer. 
 
 8. Grotius, a Dutch writer, of various and profound learn- 
 ing. 
 
 9 Des Cartes, a famous French philosopher 
 
264 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 10. Gassendi, a Frenchman, distinguished ay an astrono- 
 mer. 
 
 11 Pascal, an eminent French philosopher and theologian. 
 
 12. Milton, the greatest of epic poets among the moderns. 
 
 13. Corneille, the prince of the French dramatic poets. 
 
 14. Boyle, an Englishman, distinguished in natural philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 15. Dryden, an eminent English poet. 
 
 16. Locke, the greatest among the English metaphysi- 
 cians. 
 
 17. Leibnitz, an acute German philosopher and mathema 
 tician. 
 
 1. TychoBrahe, descended from an illustrious Swedish family, was 
 horn in Denmark, 1546. He was sent by his father to Copenhagen, 
 for the purpose of studying rhetoric and philosophy ; but the great 
 eclipse of the sun on the 21st of August, 1562, engaged him to study 
 astronomy. With this science he was excessively delighted. lie 
 often spent whole nights with a small celestial globe in his hands, in 
 learning the names of the stars, and in the acquisition of a science 
 which he called divine. He was honoured by the noble and learned 
 of his age, and patronized by his sovereign, for a time ; but the ma- 
 lice of his enemies drove him from his country, and he found an 
 asylum in Prague, where he died, in 160]. 
 
 It is said, that his learning made him superstitious, and his philo- 
 sophy irritable, to such a degree, that in a philosophical dispute with 
 some person, the argument rose to such a pitch of personal violence, 
 that he lost his nose. This he supplied by a gold and silver one, 
 admirably constructed. 
 
 The'best of his works are, the Rodolphine Tables, and the Histo- 
 ria Ccnlestis. He opposed the Copernican system, which is a suffi- 
 cient proof of the unsoundness of his judgment. 
 
 2. Cervantes, who is better known by this name than by his sur- 
 name, Saavedra, was born at Madrid, 1549. He led a life of hard- 
 ship and poverty. Before he became an author, he engaged in the 
 military profession, and five years and an half he endured all the 
 horrors of an Algerine captivity. After his release and return to 
 Spain, he began to write plays for his maintenance, but though his 
 pieces were acted with universal applause, he pined in poverty, and 
 at last, found himself in a prison. In his confinement, he began his 
 immortal work Don Quixote, which was not finished till the ex- 
 piration of several years. This work is read and admired in every 
 known language ; but though popular from the beginning, it pro- 
 duced him neither notice nor bread. He was, however, serene 
 amidst his wretchedness. 
 
 In Don Quixote, Cervantes appears the purest of all humourists, 
 gentle, genial, and kind. 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 265 
 
 3. Shakspeare, (William) was born of a respectable family, at 
 Stratford-on-Avon, April, 1546. Few events of his life have been 
 recorded, while scores of volumes have been written on his poetry 
 and on the character of his genius. lie was designed to carry on 
 the trade of his father, which was that of a wool dealer, and with 
 that view, he was early taken from school. He married at the age 
 of seventeen, and soon became the father of a family. An un- 
 fortunate and criminal act, (deer stealing,) which he committed 
 in connexion witli some thoughtless companions, was the means of 
 driving him to London. 
 
 Here, a new scene opened upon him, and he soon laid the foun- 
 dation of a fame, which is unequalled in the history of human genius. 
 He first enlisted among the players, and became an actor on the stage. 
 It is not known that he excelled in the profession of an actor ; the 
 contrary is rather inferred. But from acting, he passed to the wri- 
 ting of plays, which, at first, he adapted to the lower classes; but 
 when his performances had gained the favour of the queen and 
 her court, he aimed at more elaborate compositions. Having by the 
 productions of his pen, and by the management of the play-house, 
 acquired a competent fortune, he retired to his native town, where 
 he lived respected and beloved by his neighbours. Shakspeare died 
 23d April, 1516, in the fifty-third year of his age. 
 
 Several relics of the immortal bard, are still preserved in the house 
 where he was born, the front of which is now occupied as a meat- 
 shop. Among the articles are, his sitting-chair, a table on which 
 he wrote, a Spanish card and dice-box, presented to the poet by 
 the prince of Castile, part of a Spanish match-lock, the remains of 
 the piece with which he shot the deer in Charlicote Park, a table-co- 
 ver, a present from good Queen Bess, &c. &c. This is a place, which 
 is visited by thousands, of all ranks, conditions, and countries, in 
 homage to the genius which was there first brought to light. 
 
 Of Shakspeare, it has been said, almost in the language of adora- 
 tion, " that he is the greatest of poets and of men that he went be- 
 yond all men, and stands in the array of human intellect, like the 
 sun in the system, single and unapproachable." But eulogy has 
 been exhausted on him. After all, it is melancholy to reflect, that 
 amidst his great and incomparable beauties, there are many moral 
 blemishes and defects. 
 
 4. Galileo made discoveries in astronomy, that were too astonish- 
 ing, and too opposite to the doctrines of Aristotle, to escape the cen- 
 sure of the philosophers of tl 3 age ; and no sooner was it known, 
 that he had embraced the Co\ ernican system, than he was sum- 
 moned before Jhe Inquisition. Into its terrible dungeons was this 
 illustrious man twice thrown, where, in the whole, he spent three or 
 four miserable years, and this for embracing opinions then deemed 
 so false in philosophy, and so heretical and contrary to the word of 
 God. 
 
 Among the discoveries that have rendered the name of Galileo 
 mmortal, are his observation of the inequalities on the surface of 
 tne moon, and his knowledge of her vibration, his calculation of the 
 
 23 
 
266 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 longitude by the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, which he first noti- 
 ced, his invention of the cycloid, and his perception of the increas- 
 ing celerity in the descent of bodies. 
 
 He lived seventy-eight years. Towards the close of his long life, 
 he became blind. Milton has finely alluded to him in the lines 
 
 " Like the moon, whose orb 
 Through optic glass, the Tuscan artist views 
 At evening, from the top of Fesole, 
 Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, 
 Rivers, or mountains, on her spotty globe." 
 
 5. Raleigh (Sir Walter) was one of the most brilliant and useful cha- 
 racters of the times in which he lived. His perseverance in making 
 discoveries, first inspired the British nation with that ardour after 
 maritime distinction, which has given both wealth and glory to the 
 empire. He was also a valiant leader, an able negociator, and a man 
 of letters. His works, composed in the obscurity of a dungeon, on 
 history, politics, geography, and philosophy, as well as some good 
 poetical pieces, will make him known to future time. It must be 
 owned, nevertheless, that his genius was cramped by the fashions of 
 the age. 
 
 His life, not indeed free from stain, was clouded by misfortune 
 he became the victim of royal persecution, and his head was finally 
 brought to the block. On the most frivolous and arbitrary charges, 
 king James confined him in the tower thirteen years ; and though 
 he was afterwards released, it was not long before he fell again 
 under the king's suspicion, the consequence of which was his tragical 
 .end, on the 29th Oct. 1618. 
 
 That at one time Sir Walter aspired to the hand of Elizabeth, 
 would seem to be inferred from the following incident. On a win- 
 dow where the queen could see it, he wrote this line 
 
 " Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall." 
 
 Attracting Elizabeth's eye, she replied to it with her usual good 
 sense. 
 
 " If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." 
 
 6. Bacon (Sir Francis) was born 22d January, 1501, in West- 
 minster. His astonishing faculties were early developed, and when 
 only a child he was favourably noticed by Queen Elizabeth, who 
 used to call him her "young lord keeper," alluding to the office held 
 by his father. On the accession of James I., he rose into power he 
 was knighted, and successively made attorney-general and keeper 
 of the seals, lord chancellor, and raised to the peerage. His eleva- 
 tion excited the envy of his enemies, and he was accused of bribery 
 and corruption in the office of lord chancellor. The consequence 
 was, that he was fined 40,000, and sentenced to be imprisoned in 
 the tower. But his fine was remitted by the king, he was restored 
 to the public opinion, and sat in the first parliament called by 
 Oharles. It is a matter of some doubt whether Bacon was guilty of 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 267 
 
 I 
 
 Ihe crime alledged against him. The blame is with much reason 
 supposed to attach to his servants, so that the eulogy of the poet, is 
 more clearly due to him than the poet's censure 
 
 " The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind." 
 
 Bacon was indeed one of the greatest and most universal geniuses, 
 that any age or country has produced. As an author, his " No- 
 vum Organum Scientiarum," has, among his other performances, 
 immortalized his name. He was the first who taught the proper 
 method of studying the sciences : that is, he pointed out the way in 
 which we should begin and carry on our pursuit of knowledge, in 
 order to arrive at truth. In this view he has been very properly 
 denominated "the miner and sapper of philosophy," " the pioneer 
 of nature." " the priest of nature's mysteries." The great princi- 
 ples of the Baconian philosophy, arc now universally established. 
 
 7. Kepler, (John,) though the contemporary of Bacon, and the 
 worthy precursor of Newton, was by no means freed from the illu- 
 sions of the old philosophy. The old or Aristotelian philosophy 
 was the method of anticipating nature, or dictating to her as to 
 what her operations are to be, instead of observing what they ac- 
 tually are, and inferring general truths from particular facts. Thus, 
 Tycho Brahe anticipated nature, in taking it as a certain truth, that 
 the earth must be at rest, though he admitted the reality of the 
 planetary motions. Thus the great Kepler, imagined that the planets 
 must be six in number, because of certain properties of numbers, 
 and he maintained other puerile absurdities, lie was, however, a 
 man of high celebrity as an astronomer, and deservedly commended 
 by most of the great astronomers who succeeded him. He first 
 proved that the planets do not move in circles, but in ellipses ; and 
 that in their motions, they describe equal areas in equal times, &c. 
 
 His earliest years were not improved by education. When, how- 
 ever, he began to study, the turn of his intellect was abundantly 
 manifest. He was born in 1571, and died in 1630. 
 
 8. Grotius (Hugo) was born at Delft, in 1583, and died, in 1645. 
 A singular event of his life, showing the sufferings and dangers of 
 literary men in those times, was the following. In consequence of 
 the persecution of the Arminians, of whom Grotius was one, and 
 an able defender, in 1618, he was doomed to perpetual imprisonment. 
 His confinement was alleviated by his literary occupations, and the 
 assiduities of his wife. The fond care of this worthy woman at 
 last procured his deliverance, after a captivity of nearly two years. 
 On pretence of removing books, which she declared proved injurious 
 to her husband's health, she was permitted to send away a small 
 chest of drawers, of the length of three feet and a half, in which he 
 was confined. Thus, carried by two soldiers from the prison, the 
 chest was then removed to a distance on horseback, and at the house 
 of a friend the illustrious prisoner was set at liberty, pursuing his 
 flight afterwards in the guise of a mason with a rule and a trowel. 
 
 His particular profession was the law, and he pleaded his first 
 cause at the age of seventeen with great eclat. But polite literature 
 
268 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 engaged much of his attention, and he wrote many works on moral 
 and religious subjects, together with histories, poetry, critical notes, 
 epistles, &c. His learning was very various and profound. 
 
 9. Des Cartes, (Renedes,) though a man of genius and extensive 
 attainments, was too much of a theorist. He, however, advanced 
 far beyond his predecessors in many respects, and if lie had done 
 nothing besides introducing a spirit of inquiry, and a wish of ex- 
 amining the mysterious operations of nature, he would have effected 
 much for mankind. He was well acquainted with mathematics and 
 philosophy, and possessed a mind capable of profound meditation 
 and patient inquiry, though highly imaginative. He wrote ingeni- 
 ously on the laws of the universe, but his theory of vortices, ac- 
 counting for the movements of the planetary worlds, is sufficiently 
 visionary. 
 
 He was courted by the learned and the noble, and princes almost 
 vied with one another in paying him their attentions. He died at 
 the age of fifty-four, at Stockholm, but after he had been interred 
 seventeen years, his body was removed to Paris, as his countrymen 
 chose to claim it. 
 
 10. Gassendi, (Peter,) also a native of France, was born in Pro- 
 vence, 1592. He contributed somewhat to weaken the dominion 01 
 Aristotle over the human mind, though lie was not himself altoge- 
 ther based on the true philosophy. He was nevertheless a great 
 man and a great scholar ; and to his genius and labours, the intel- 
 lectual improvements of subsequent ages are not a little owing. His 
 studious habits proved injurious to his constitution, but he was in 
 some degree relieved by phlebotomy. He, however, at length sunk 
 under his chronic complaint, and placing the hand of his faithful 
 amanuensis on his heart, after perceiving that the motion of that 
 spring of life was faint and fluttering, he exclaimed in these last 
 words, " You see what is man's life," and immediately expired, 
 22d Oct., 1655. 
 
 11. Pascal, (Blaise) whose early extraordinary powers and at- 
 tainments astonished the world, was born at Clermont in Auvergne, 
 19th June, 1623. From a child, he inquired into the reasons of 
 every thing, and he could be satisfied with nothing but with such 
 proof as the subject examined would admit. He always sought for 
 demonstration and truth, if they could be attained. 
 
 The following circumstance evinces his \vonderful aptitude foi 
 mathematical studies, and the superiority of his intellect. His father 
 an eminent mathematician, had carefully secured him, as was sup 
 posed, from learning the mathematics, by denying the child the 
 requisite books. The father's object was first to perfect Blaise in the 
 languages; bm the latter extorting from his father by entreaty, a 
 definition of geometry, which was very vague and general, irnme 
 diately entered on the stud}', without any otlnr help. He was then 
 but twelve years of age. He pursued his inquiries clandestinely, 
 till his father happened to enter the room, where he was busy with 
 his bars and rings, (used in place of geometrical lines and circles,) 
 and to his infinite astonishment, found that the child was endeavour- 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 269 
 
 ing to demonstrate what makes the thirty-second proposition of 
 Euclid's first book. He had proceeded thus far in geometry, from 
 axioms and principles which he had laid down, and which he had 
 applie-l in a connected series, through the intervening propositions. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, he composed the ablest treatise on conic sec- 
 lions, that had appeared since the time of the ancients. At the age 
 of nineteen, he contrived a mathematical machine, by which calcu- 
 lati'ms of every kind could be made, without the help of a pen. 
 And at the age of twenty-three, he demonstrated the phenomena o 
 the gravity of the air, and soon after solved a problem, proposed 
 by Mersennus, which had hitherto perplexed the ablest mathema- 
 ticiyns of Europe. 
 
 All these mighty powers and attainments, he consecrated to re- 
 ligion, and Christianity never received a more splendid offering than 
 she did from the genius of Pascal. His religious views and feelings 
 are embodied in his Provincial Letters, and his Thoughts on Re- 
 ligion, &c. works, whose celebrity has not surpassed their merits. 
 
 Voltaire, with his characteristic scorn of piety, calls Pascal, "a 
 sublime madman, born a century too early." 
 
 12. Milton, (John,) was born in London, 1608. His political and 
 controversial writings are justly celebrated, and contain many ad- 
 mirable passages. He was a strenuous asserter and defender of 
 liberty, and, in many of his views on this and kindred subjects, was 
 far in advance of his own age. But as a poet, he is still more justly 
 celebrated, and is, at least, a compeer of Homer and Virgil. His 
 Paradise Lost, is the greatest poem which modern ages have pro- 
 duced. In his life time, the poet never received the meed of praise 
 which was his due; but ample justice has since been accorded to 
 him, and all posterity will render homage to his transcendent genius. 
 
 The incidents of his life are interesting, but they are so well 
 known, that we shall pass them over, except to say that he was 
 thrice married; was subjected to much domestic infelicity, in his 
 first marriage; became blind in writing his Defence of the English 
 People, against the Attack of Salmasius ; suffered not a little from 
 personal and political enemies ; and, finally, died comparatively poor 
 and forsaken by the world. 
 
 It may be added, that he was uncommonly handsome, when 
 young ; was economical in his living, and rigidly abstemious ; and, 
 in religion, was a puritan, with some diversity, however, in his re- 
 ligious views, at the different periods of his life. He died of the 
 gout, in 1674. 
 
 13. Corneille, (Peter,) whose poetical works are among the sub- 
 limest effusions of the French muse, was born at Rouen, 1606. He 
 was brought to the bar, but he soon abandoned it for poetry, which 
 was far more congenial to his taste. He wrote plays, the most cele- 
 brated of which was, the Cid, a tragedy, which drew against him 
 the persecution and obloquy of rival wits and unsuccessful poets. 
 He is said to have been a very meritorious man ; in private life ; 
 liberal, humane, and devout, and rather inclined to melancholy. He 
 died at the age of seventy-nine years. 
 
 28* 
 
270 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD IX. 
 
 14. Boyle, (Robert,) was the seventh son and fourteenth child ol 
 Richard, earl of Cork, and born in 1626. After having visited foreign 
 countries, he retired, in 1646, to his estate at Stalbridge, and, amidst 
 the confusion and tumults of the time, enjoyed there a peaceful soli- 
 tude. He, however, laboured assiduously for the promotion oi 
 learning and religion, to both of which he was devoted in a most 
 exemplary manner. He was eminent in natural philosophy and 
 
 hemistry, in which, from adopting the Baconian method, he made 
 many discoveries. " To him," says Boerhaave, " we owe the secrets 
 of fire, air, water, animals, vegetables, fossils; so that, from his 
 works may be deduced the whole system of natural knowledge." 
 He invented the air-pump, and founded the Royal Society. His re- 
 gard for religion, he showed in the purity of his life, the general 
 tendency of his writings, his aversion to temporal honours, which 
 were abundantly offered him, and his liberal benefactions in aid of 
 benevolent and pious undertakings. His regular charities amounted 
 to 1000 annually. He founded a public .lecture for the defence of 
 divine revelation against unbelievers, and particularly interested 
 himself in the propagation of the Gospel among the nations, send- 
 ing many hundred copies of parts of the New Testaments into the 
 east. He died in his sixty-fifth year. 
 
 15. Dryden, (John,) early gave proof of his superior poetical abili- 
 ties. He continued to write to old age, and improved to the very last, 
 not only in judgment, but in fire, of which, his Ode on St. Cecilia's 
 Day, and his Fables, are a proof. He wrote much, both in poetry 
 and prose, and doubtless too much ; for the rapidity with which he 
 composed, prevented correctness. He produced no less than twen- 
 ty-seven plays, besides a very large number of other works. He 
 excelled less in dramatic composition, than in any other species of 
 poetry. In his prose, he was equalled by few of his age, for judg- 
 ment, criticism, and erudition. He professes himself to have derived, 
 in regard to prose writing, more essential aid from Tillotson, than 
 from any other writer. 
 
 Dr. Johnson's critique on Dryden, is very just and discriminating. 
 The Edinburgh reviewers place him at the head of his line; they 
 think him great as a satirist, but, in respect to genuine poetic power 
 a step lower than the poets of Elizabeth and James. His writings 
 are too much tinctured with the licentiousness of the age, and, in 
 his religious views, the poet was too flexible and accommodating. 
 The year of his birth was 1631 that of his death 1701. 
 
 16. Locke, (John,) so celebrated as a philosopher, and an orna- 
 ment of English literature, was born in 1632. In the field of men- 
 tal and political philosophy, he has won laurels that can never fade. 
 He has been called, " the glory of theorists." 
 
 By the patronage of Lord Shaftsbury, he held a respectable situa- 
 tion under government, and wrote, at that time, several political 
 tracts. The danger of prosecution for high treason, compelled his 
 .ordship, at length, to fly to Holland. Thither Mr. Locke followed 
 him. After a time, the English demanded him of the States Gene- 
 ral, on suspicion ,of being concerned in Momriouth's rebellion 
 
SWEDEN. 271 
 
 Thus persecuted, Locke concealed himself twelve month?, devoting 
 his time to literary labours; and, two years after, when he returned 
 to England, in consequence of the revolution, he published his cele- 
 brated Essay on the Human Understanding, in the composition of 
 which, he had been engaged nine years. The latter portion of his 
 life was passed in religious retirement, and in the composition of 
 theological treatises. He died at the seat of lady Masham, his 
 friend, in 1704, giving emphatic testimony, in what he said, to the 
 vanity of human life. 
 
 17. Leibnitz (William Godfrey) was not undistinguished as a 
 statesman, lawyer, and poet, though he is most celebrated as a 
 mathematician and philosopher. On the principle of the Baconian 
 philosophy, he must be pronounced wanting, in some respects, yet 
 he enjoyed the singular lelicity of being esteemed the greatest and 
 most learned man in Europe. 
 
 In civil life, he had considerable employment, and attained to 
 some distinction. He spent thirteen years in studying the plan of an 
 universal language, but he died before lie had completed the extra- 
 ordinary design. Leibnitz proposed characters which, like those in 
 algebra, might not only be simple, but expressive, and enable men 
 of all nations to converse familiarly together. He died in 1716, o/ 
 those complicated disorders, the gout and the stone, aged seventy. 
 
 In temper, he was passionate ; in character, avaricious. At his 
 death, such a quantity of money was found in his house, hoarded in 
 sacks, that the wife of his nephew r who possessed his property, died 
 vrith excess of joy at the sight. 
 
 PERIOD X. 
 
 T7ie period of the American and French Revolutions ; ex- 
 tending from the death of Charles XII., of Sweden, 
 1718 A. C., to the final restoration of the Bourbons, 
 1815 A. C. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 SECT. 1. In pursuing the history of SWEDEN, a country 
 which at this time excited much attention, on account of the 
 character of its sovereign, we have to record an event, which 
 secured for Sweden a reformation of her government, and 
 saved Europe from the ravages of a fatal ambition. This 
 was the death of Charles XII., who, while besieging a Nor- 
 wegian fortress, was killed by a camion ball, on the llth ol 
 December, 1718. 
 
272 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 While Charles remained 'in Turkey, the czar and the king o 
 Denmark ravaged Sweden on every side. At the same time, through 
 the influence of the czar, Stanislaus had been driven from the throne 
 of Poland, on which Augustus was replaced. This state of affairs 
 made Charles desirous of returning to his own country, especially 
 as he despaired of engaging the sultan in a war with Russia, lie- 
 turning in disguise, he immediately conceived the design of wresting 
 Norway from Denmark. This project, however, he soon abandoned, 
 in consequence of failing in the outset. Sweden was too much 
 exhausted and distracted, and surrounded by too many powerful 
 enemies, to sustain him at that time, in a war of conquest. 
 
 His able minister, Goertz, advised him to a different course, which 
 was, to make peace with the czar, and with him, unite in the attempt 
 to dethrone George I., and reinstate James, on the throne of Great 
 Britain. These measures were agreed upon ; but in the interval ot 
 preparation, Charles, still wishing to wrest Norway from the Banes, 
 made an attack on that country. It was in this expedition that he lost 
 his life. A half pound ball, discharged from a cannon loaded with 
 grape shot, struck his head, while he was exposing himself, with per- 
 fect temerity, to unnecessary danger. Though he expired without a 
 groan, the moment he had received the blow, he instinctively grasped 
 the hilt of his sword, and was found in that position, so characteristic 
 of his temper. 
 
 No conqueror, either of ancient or modern times, ever had a more 
 enthusiastic passion for glory, than Charles XII. This is the clue to 
 all those eccentricities and acts of daring, which have justly entitled 
 him to the epithet of "mad-man." His preceptor asked him, when 
 a pupil, what he thought of Alexander. " I think," fe'aid he, " that 
 I should choose to be like him." " Aye, but," said the tutor, " he 
 lived only thirty- two years." " Oh," answered the prince, " that is 
 Jong enough, when a man has conquered kingdoms." 
 
 After the death of Charles, Sweden, exhausted and impoverished, 
 demanded repose and enjoyed it. She engaged in the pursuits of com- 
 merce, and cultivated the attendant arts. Her islands in the West 
 Indies, were of great consequence to her foreign trade. The states 
 took the opportunity to reform the government, and wisely restricted 
 the prerogatives of the crown. 
 
 2. Charles XII. was succeeded by his sister, Ulrica 
 Eleonora, by the election of the states, who permitted her 
 husband, the prince of Hesse, to be associated with her in 
 the government ; but they greatly limited the power of the 
 sovereign. Ulrica soon resigned the throne to her husband. 
 On his death, in 1751, the states elected Adolplms Frederick, 
 a prince of mild and pacific virtues, but whose reign was 
 rendered most uneasy, by the factions of the senate. After 
 his decease, the sceptre was given to his son, Gustavus III.' 
 in 177J, who, notwithstanding his coronation oath, deprived 
 
PRUSSIA. 273 
 
 the senate- of its privileges, and rendered himself absolute. 
 The despotism, however, which he wrongfully procured, he 
 moderately exercised, and the succeeding part of his reign was 
 marked with peace and prosperity. In 1792, he was assas- 
 sinated, at a masked hall. 
 
 Gustavus effected the change in the government, in the following 
 manner. Having assembled the officers of his army, without making 
 any communication of his design, he repaired to the senate house, 
 >yhere he read a decree, already prepared, for making the crown ab- 
 solute, caused it to be signed by all the members of the senate, and 
 then dismissed the assembly. 
 
 3. Gustavns IV., son of the former, now succeeded to the 
 throne, under the regency of the duke of Sudermania. In 
 1800, he joined the Northern Confederacy against England, 
 but made peace with that power the next year. In 1805, he 
 united with Austria and Russia, in the war against France. 
 He soon after, lost Pomerania and Rngen, and in 1808, Fin- 
 land, which was conquered by Russia. He was dethroned 
 in 1809, and the crown given to the duke of Sudermania. 
 
 The conduct of Gustavus, in the latter part of the period of these 
 wars, was marked by so much extravagance, that he was considered 
 mentally deranged ; and to prevent the total ruin of the kingdom, 
 it was determined to dethrone him. This plan was carried into ef- 
 fect, without difficulty or blood-shed. 
 
 4. The duke of Sudermania, under the title of Charles 
 XIIL, made peace with France ; but the king having no 
 children, Bernadotte, a favourite general of Napoleon, was, 
 through his influence, declared crown prince, and successor 
 to the throne, 1810. Bernadotte, however, has been faithful 
 to the country which adopted him, and he never afforded any 
 aid to his former master. 
 
 Upon the death of Chrrles, in 1818, the crown prince quietly 
 succeeded to the throne. He rendered efficient aid in the wars which 
 terminated in the overthrow of the French emperor. He proves to 
 be a wise prince, and promotes the welfare of his subjects, by salu- 
 tary improvements and reforms. A few years before the accession 
 of Bernadotte, (1814,) Norway was taken from Denmark, and an- 
 nexed to Sweden, in opposition to the wishes and efforts of the Nor- 
 wegians. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 5. PRUSSIA was very little noticed, till some time within 
 the present period, when Frederick li., the Great, raised the 
 kingdom to a high degree of splendour. It had existed as a 
 
274 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 kingdom, from the year 1700, when all the German states 
 acknowledged it as such. It was before stlyed the Electorate 
 of Brandenburgh. 
 
 Tliis country was inhabited by the Borussi, who denominated it 
 Borussia, which has been corrupted to Prussia. They were conquered 
 by the knights of the Teutonic order, whom Cassimer IV., king of 
 Poland, compelled to acknowledge themselves his vassals, and to al- 
 low Polish Prussia to continue under the protection of Poland. 
 
 Modern Prussia, is a kingdom formed of several states, united by 
 alliances and conquests. The house of Brandenburgh, which now 
 occupies the throne, is descended, in a direct line, from the ancient 
 family of Hohenzollern, mentioned in history from the year 800. 
 The more distinguished predecessors of the great Frederick, were 
 Frederick William, surnamed the Great Elector, and Frederick Wil- 
 liam I., the father of the Great Frederick. Frederick William, the 
 Elector, was a prudent and valiant prince. At the commencement 
 of his reign, his electorate resembled a desert ; the villages were 
 burnt, the cities presented nothing but ruins, and a part of his inheri- 
 tance was in the hands of the Swedes. He began by regulating the 
 finances, and discharging his father's unworthy ministers, and by 
 skilful negotiations, regained all the provinces guaranteed to him by 
 the peace of Westphalia. 
 
 Frederick William I., would have been deemed an extraordinary 
 man, had he not been eclipsed by his greater son. As the case is, 
 his talents and management excite a degree of wonder. His father 
 was profuse, and lavished treasures without an object. Frederick 
 William was economical in the extreme, and expended nothing ex- 
 cept on the soldiery. In his dress and diet, he was remarkably sim- 
 ple and plain. He even denied himself the common comforts of 
 life, being wont to say, that a prince ought to spare not only the blood, 
 but the property of his subjects. Voltaire describes this monarch 
 thus. " He used to walk from his palace, clothed in an old blue coat 
 with copper buttons, half way down his thighs ; and when he bought 
 a new one, these buttons were made to serve again. It was in this 
 dress that his majesty, armed with a huge Serjeant's cane, marched 
 forth every day to review his regiment of giants. These giants 
 were his greatest delight, and the things for which he went to the 
 heaviest expense. The men who stood in the first rank of this re- 
 giment, were none of them less than seven feet high ; and he s6nt 
 to purchase them from the farthest parts of Europe, to the borders 
 of Asia." 
 
 FrederickWilliam was a man of vulgar habits, and coarse manners, 
 and often treated his children with a rudeness and asperity, that 
 would have disgraced a savage. According to an account given by 
 his daughter, Wilhelmina, princess of Prussia, it would be difficult 
 to count the canings and the fisticuffs with which he gratified his 
 son, the great Frederick, who could never appear before the king with- 
 out being beaten, or, at least, insulted. The princess, too, had her 
 full share of the brutal liberality of her father, who often struck her. 
 
PRUSSIA. 275 
 
 She tells us, one day, " he seized her by the hand, gave her several 
 blows on the face with his fist, one of which knocked her over." 
 What added to their misfortunes was, the severe diet to which they 
 were condemned, for they were almost literally famishing. There 
 was often nothing at their father's table but garden-stuff, so badly 
 cooked, that it disgusted them. Frequently, indeed, it was impossi- 
 ble to touch it, for, after serving the other guests, Frederic William 
 would spit in the dish, that his children might not break their fast. 
 What a specimen of a prince's court. 
 
 6. Frederick II., the Great, ascended the throne, 1740. 
 His father had left him an efficient and well disciplined army, 
 amounting to sixty-six thousand men. His views were bent 
 on conquest, and on the enlargement of his small territory. 
 With the best army in Europe, he was by no means backward 
 in putting his ambitious projects into execution. The next year 
 after his accession, he revived some obsolete claim to Silesia, 
 and accordingly marched against the Austrians, whom he de- 
 feated at the battle of Molwitz. He effected the conquest of 
 Silesia, in 1 742. He next invaded Saxony, but the part he 
 had already acted, was sufficient to alarm the neighbouring 
 states. Accordingly, Russia, Austria, and France, concluded 
 a treaty of defensive alliance against him. This confedera- 
 cy took place in 1756, and constituted what is called, " the 
 seven years' war," which proved to be an extremely sangui- 
 nary contest. 
 
 The success of this war was various. Frederick maintained his 
 ground against his powerful enemies, sometimes conquering, and 
 sometimes conquered. He lost, perhaps, as many battles as he gain- 
 ed ; but so equal a contest was wonderful, considering the vast su- 
 periority of numbers on the side of his opponents. At last, howe- 
 ver, his affairs became so critical, from his diminishing resources, 
 and the increase of his enemies, that he began to act solely on the de- 
 fensive. But the death of the Russian empress, at this time, afford- 
 ed him the most essential relief. Her successor made peace with 
 the Prussian king, and being joined by the Russian troops, with 
 whose aid, Frederick obtained an important victory, he was enabled 
 to secure an honourable peace witU all the hostile powers. 
 
 In 1772, Frederick added New Prussia to his dominions, 
 which, in conjunction with Russia and Austria, he dismem- 
 bered from Poland. In 1786, he died, at the age of seventy- 
 four years, with the reputation of being the greatest warrior 
 of the time, and one of the most distinguished princes of 
 whom history has preserved any memorial. This distinc 
 
276 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 
 
 tion, however, lies not in. his moral, but in his intellectual 
 endowments. 
 
 Frederick possessed a discernment, energy, activity, decision, 
 and constancy of purpose, which fitted him to act the part of a hero j 
 and, together with these qualities, as much moral perverseness as is 
 required to make a consummate hero. He was not so distinguished 
 for the conduct of a battle, or a campaign, as for resources in adver- 
 sity, "for celerity of operation, and, especially, for the discipline of 
 his troops. An instance of his decision of character, and the seve- 
 nty of his discipline, appears in the following relation : 
 
 Intending to make, in the night, an important movement in his 
 camp, which was in sight of the enemy, he gave orders, that by eight 
 o'clock, all the lights in the camp should be put out, on pain of death. 
 The moment that the time was past, he walked out himself to see whe- 
 ther all were dark. He found a light in the tent of a captain Zietern, 
 which he entered, just as the officer was folding up a letter. Zietern 
 knew him, and instantly fell on his knees, to intreat his mercy. 
 The king asked, to whom he had been writing; he said it was a let- 
 ter to his wife, which he had retained the candle these few minutes 
 beyond the time, in order to finish. The king coolly ordered him to 
 write one line more, which he should dictate. This line was to in- 
 form- his wife, without any explanation, that by such an hour the 
 next day, he should be a dead man. The letter was then sent as had 
 been intended, and the next day the captain was executed. 
 
 Frederick was remarkably attentive to business, and every depart- 
 ment of administration was under his own immediate inspection 
 The most minute particulars of national and domestic policy, did 
 not escape his observation. He extended the limits of his kingdom, 
 and much increased its industry, population, and wealth. 
 
 His intellectual powers were great, and when we consider his 
 situation, and the little care that had been taken of his education, 
 we must acknowledge, that his literary acquisitions were considera- 
 ble. He had much general knowledge of the sciences, and was well 
 conversant with French writers on polite literature. He aimed at 
 the reputation both of philosopher and poet, and was a voluminous 
 author in prose and verse. 
 
 Nothing favourable can be said of his moral and religious charac- 
 ter. He was sceptical, undevout, and addicted to various species of 
 vice. Atheists and libertines were his bosom companions, particu- 
 larly the corrupt ing and flagitious Voltaire. 
 
 7. He was succeeded. 178(3, by Frederick William II., Iiis 
 nephew, an impolitic, pleasure-loving prince, who joined in 
 the league against the French republic, and then deserted his 
 allies. Dying in 1797, he was succeeded by his son Frede- 
 rick William III., who unhappily revived some obsolete pre- 
 tensions to Hanover, in 1805, and on Napoleon's proposing to 
 restore that electorate to the king of England, in 1806, Fre- 
 
. GERMANY* s 277 
 
 -- 
 
 dericktook the field against him, and experienced an titter 
 overthrow at the great battle of Jena, which was fought Oc- 
 tober 14, 1806. 
 
 A hereditary animosity against Austria, prevented a co-operation 
 of strength, when their national existence was threatened. The 
 whole of Germany well united and organized, would, probably, 
 at any time, have resisted the power of Napoleon. But being di- 
 vided, both Prussia and Austria, as well as the lesser states, were 
 overrun and subjected by the fortunate conqueror. Prussia, after 
 neglecting several opportunities of humbling the common enemy, 
 with a strange inconsideration, risked her national existence on the 
 issue of a single battle. She trusted too implicitly in her ancient mi- 
 litary fame, and the beauty of her army, (for there was not a proud- 
 er army in Europe,) and, therefore, fell before her more sagacious 
 and calculating enemy. Frederick was shorn of nearly half of his 
 dominions. 
 
 8. In 1812, the Prussian monarch assisted the French in 
 their Russian campaign ; but on the failure of that enter' 
 prise, joined his forces with those of the emperor Alexander, 
 and contributed to the subsequent overthrow of Napoleon. At 
 the battle of Waterloo, his army, under the valiant Blucher, 
 turned the fortune of the day, and thus essentially contributed 
 to the restoration of the Bourbons. Prussia honourably acquit- 
 ted herself in this great contention, and regained her former 
 territory. Of late years, the Prussian king has been effectu- 
 ally engaged in promoting the intellectual improvement of his 
 people. Perhaps, no monarch in Europe, has done more than 
 he, to advance the true happiness and glory of his kingdom, 
 He has declared, that a Bible shall be put into the hands of 
 every peasant's family in his realm. 
 
 It has been conjectured by politicians, that Prussia cannot long 
 preserve the rank that she has now attained, situated as her territory 
 is, running out in different parcels of lands, of singular shape, and 
 intersected by half of the secondary states of Germany. It is, there- 
 fore, further supposed, that Frederick only waits a favourable oppor- 
 tunity, to consolidate his territory ; and they are little acquainted 
 \vith the intelligence, energy, and ambition of the Prussian people, 
 who imagine they will be backward in attempting any thing which 
 promises to promote their national honour and security. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 9 In the history of GERMANY, during this period, we aie 
 principally concerned with Austria, its more important mem- 
 ber, in which the imperial crown usually resides. From the 
 
 24 
 
278 MODRRN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 commencement of this period, there was no war of any con 
 sequence, till that of the Pragmatic Sanction, which was an 
 engagement of several powers, to secure the Austrian domi- 
 nions to the female children of the emperor Charles VL, in 
 case of the failure of male issue. 
 
 Charles VI. died without male issue, 1740. The house of Austria, 
 in the male line, thus became extinct, after it had governed Austria 
 for several centuries, and the whole of the Austrian dominions now 
 belonged to Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of the emperor. She 
 was accordingly raised to the Austrian throne ; but the neighbour- 
 ing powers, regardless of their engagements, supported the duke of 
 Bavaria, in his claim to the crown. After much opposition, the lat- 
 ter was invested with the imperial dignity, in 1742, under the name 
 of Charles VII. ; but this prince, worn out by a complication of 
 bodily complaints, and by a long train of misfortunes, died two years 
 afterwards. In the mean time, the queen, though nearly overwhelm- 
 ed by her numerous adversaries, finally triumphed over them, and 
 at the peace of 1748, was confirmed in the possession ,of her domi- 
 nions, and her husband, duke of Lorrain, under the tide of Francis 
 I., was raised to the imperial throne. 
 
 10. Francis I., was crowned at Frankfort, in 1745. He 
 continued the war till 1748, when the peace of Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle was concluded, and Maria Theresa obtained the succes- 
 sion of her father. She had all the time been sustained by 
 the affection of her subjects, and had received important aid 
 from Great Britain. 
 
 During the reign of Francis, the " seven years' war," the 
 fiercest that had hitherto been waged in Germany, took place ; 
 but of this, an account has been given in the history of Prussia. 
 
 Maria Theresa, as heiress to the Austrian dominions, was queen 
 of Hungary and Bohemia ; and as the wife of Francis, was empress 
 of Germany. She was a woman distinguished for her heroism, in- 
 telligence, felicity of temper, and captivating condescension. As a 
 wife and parent, she 'was unrivalled ; she was blessed with a nume- 
 rous and amiable progeny, and left her possessions to a son, who 
 was worthy of the empire. She built hospitals, encouraged com- 
 merce and science, and did every thing which humanity and muni- 
 ficence could devise to render her infirm soldiers comfortable. 
 
 11. Joseph II., the son of Francis and Maria, succeeded 
 to the empire, in 1765. He seized Bavaria, on the death of 
 Maximilian IT., the elector, 1777 ; made war two years with 
 Prussia ; reformed the church of Germany, indulging the 
 protestants with the imperial protection, and curtailing the 
 authority of the court of Rome ; dismantled the fortified 
 towns in Brabant ; restrained the excesses of the clergy in 
 
GERMANY. 279 
 
 that country, and carried on a disastrous war against the 
 Turks. During that war, he died. He maintained the cha- 
 racter of a most equitable and tolerant prince. 
 
 Joseph promulgated a decree in favour of the liberty of the 
 press, which had been, hitherto, much circumscribed in the Austrian 
 dominions. He even permitted, that all strictures upon the throne 
 itself might be published, with full security, provided they did not 
 descend to the character of libels and pasquinades. " If they be 
 founded in justice," said he, " we shall profit by them ; if not, we 
 shall disregard them ;" a remark well worthy of his character and 
 dignity. 
 
 It was during the reign of Joseph, that a series of unfavourable 
 seasons had occasioned a general dearth of corn, which was more 
 or less felt in all the countries of Europe ; but in parts of Germany, 
 the scarcity was so great, that vast numbers of people actually pe- 
 rished, and the peasants, in many places, were compelled to unthatch 
 their cottages, to supply the want of provender for their cattle. They 
 themselves, in some instances, subsisted on the bark of beech and 
 alder, mixed with a quantity of spice. A part of this time, terrible 
 inundations overspread the country ; several districts were totally 
 ruined by a flood of the Elbe ; Hamburgh was in a most critical 
 situation ; and the great suburb lying towards the Elbe, was so com- 
 pletely covered with water, that only the tops of the trees were dis- 
 cernible. 
 
 12. Leopold II., brother of Joseph, was invested with the 
 empire, in 1790. Though powerfully solicited to arm against 
 the revolutionists of France, his moderation and prudence 
 kept him aloof from the vortex ; but a speedy death cut short 
 the promise of much excellence. At the time of his death, 
 however, he was preparing to take the field against France. 
 
 After the " seven years' war," the Germanic body remained in 
 comparative quiet, till the French Revolution. During that period, 
 up to the time of the restoration of the Bourbons, Germany suffer- 
 ed more than most other nations. Its territory was the theatre of 
 most of the wars that were waged during the great struggle. This 
 country, however, had been eminently prepared to experience the 
 evils which such an event was calculated to produce. The Germans 
 embraced the fashionable prevailing system of anarchy and irreli- 
 gion, with almost the same ardour which characterized the French 
 themselves ; and their country was early inundated with the deadly 
 publications which proceeded from the school of atheistical disor- 
 ganizes. 
 
 In nearly all the wars of the revolution, and of the subsequent 
 period, Austria has had a share. She has generally been arrayed 
 against -France, and often been beaten. In the production of such a 
 result, some have been disposed to ascribe more to French intrigue, 
 than to the superiority of the French soldiers, or generals, over those 
 of Austria. The archduke Charles, brother of the present emperor 
 
280 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 Francis II., has often shown himself not inferior to any of the com 
 manders of his time. 
 
 13. Francis II., son of Leopold, was crowned in 1792. He 
 has proved to be a prince of mild virtues, and is much re- 
 spected. He prosecuted the contemplated war with the 
 French republic ; but it proving unsuccessful, he concluded 
 the treaty of Campo Formio, in 1797, by which, the Nether- 
 lands were ceded to France. This was the first in that series 
 of hostilities, which distinguished that period of convulsion. 
 
 1 4. Hostilities were renewed in 1799, in Italy, on the part 
 of Austria, assisted by Russia ; for it was evident to the Aus- 
 trian sovereign, that France was bent on aggrandizement. 
 The Russian forces were commanded by Marshal Suwarrow. 
 The war was carried on with great success, on the part of the 
 Austrians and Russians, and the French were in a few months 
 driven out of Italy. Much now might have been accom- 
 plished for the salvation of Europe, had it not been for the 
 jealousy which the Austrian court felt towards their ally. 
 
 This jealousy was, without doubt, excited by the intrigues ol 
 France ; and the consequence was, that Paul, the Russian emperor 
 recalled his victorious troops. 
 
 Austria, left single-handed to sustain the contest, and meet* 
 ing the enemy with scattered forces, suffered most severely 
 in the great battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden. Peace 
 was concluded at Luneville, in 1801. This was the second 
 war, and more humiliating to Austria than the former. 
 
 During the peace, Francis formed a numerous army, and fore 
 seeing the ruin of the German constitution, caused himself to be 
 proclaimed hereditary emperor of Austria, in 1804. 
 
 15. The Austrian sovereign had been mortified too severe- 
 ly, to remain contented at peace. A third warlike coalition 
 was formed between Austria and Russia, against France, in 
 1805. But the destruction of an Austrian army, under Ge- 
 neral Mack, and the fatal battle of Austerlitz, speedily ter- 
 minated this war. T^he same year, the peace of Presburgh 
 followed, in which the Austrian monarchy was far more hum- 
 bled than ever, by the loss of some of its most important pos 
 sessions. 
 
 A part only of the emperor of Russia's forces, had joined those 
 of Francis, when the battle of Austerlitz took place. To this im- 
 prudence, was added the greater one, of risking an engagement 
 without the assistance of the archduke Charles, who, at the distance 
 
GERMANY. 281 
 
 of only a few days' march, was hastening with a victorious army 
 of nearly one hundred thousand men. 
 
 In 1806, several of the states of Germany were united 
 under the name of the " Confederacy of the Rhine," of which 
 Napoleon was acknowledged the head ; and in the course of 
 the same year, Francis was compelled formally to resign the 
 title of emperor of Germany, and to absolve the German 
 states from their reciprocal duties towards the empire. 
 
 According to the terms of this confederacy, all those states of 
 the ancient German empire, that did not accede to the act of federa- 
 tion, were excluded from common protection. By this means, the 
 French emperor united Bavaria, Wirtemburg, Baden, Burg, Darm- 
 stadt, Nassau, Holienzollern, &c., to the political interests of France, 
 and, virtually, raised himself to the head of the German empire. 
 
 16. In 1809, Austria, for the fourth time, took the field 
 against France. In this war, was fought the sanguinary 
 battle of Essling, in which the French emperor, almost for 
 the first time, was beaten in a regular field fight ; but re- 
 ceiving a large reinforcement, he crossed the Danube, from 
 which he had been driven back, and fought the long and ob- 
 stinate battle of Wagram. This battle, lost by Austria, ter- 
 minated the war, and the conditions of peace were soon after 
 settled "by the treaty of Vienna, according to which, Francis 
 was obliged to relinquish a further portion of territory, and 
 consented to bestow his'' eldest daughter and child, Maria 
 Louisa, on the emperor of France. 
 
 In this war, the Austrians had taken wiser measures than before. 
 Their best commanders were in the field ; the archduke Charles, as- 
 sisted by the archduke John, the prince of Lichtenstein, and the 
 prince of Schwartzenburg. The whole strength and resources of the 
 empire were held in requisition ; but Austria had become essentially 
 weakened, and really less a match for France than ever : and, be- 
 sides, the French emperor was in advance of the Austrian. Antici- 
 pating the event of a declaration of war, he was soon prepared for 
 action, and joining his? army, marched at once into the heart of Ger- 
 many. So expeditious was the French emperor, that forty-five 
 days after the declaration of war by Austria, the battle of Essling 
 was fought below Vienna. 
 
 17. In 1813, Austria engaged in a fifth war with France, 
 having united its forces with those of Russia, Prussia, Great 
 Britain, and almost all Europe, in the invasion of France, in 
 obtaining possession of Paris, and in dethroning Napoleon. 
 On this occasion, the emperor accompanied the army, which 
 was commanded by the prince of Schwartzenburg. Then 
 
 24* 
 
2S2 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 was gained the celebrated battle of Leipsic, which produced 
 the overthrow of Napoleon. The whole allied forces were, 
 in this battle, principally commanded by Schwartzenburg, 
 
 When this junction of the greatest part of Europe was formed, 
 Napoleon had just returned from Russia, having lost his great army, 
 composed in part of troops of many European nations, then his tri- 
 butaries. Austria, at first seemed reluctant to take the field, proba- 
 bly on account of its family alliance. A remembrance of former 
 sufferings may also have had its effect. But, though late, the assis- 
 tance of Austria was very efficient. 
 
 It was on hearing of the issue of the battle of Leipsic, which was 
 announced by Schwartzenburg himself, to the emperors of Austria 
 and Russia, and to the king of Prussia, that these three sovereigns, 
 who were viewing the battle from a distant hill, on horseback, im- 
 mediately dismounted, and, on their bended knees, offered a tribute 
 of thanks to the God who had crowned their arms with victory. 
 
 18. On the return of Bonaparte from Elba, in 1815, Au- 
 stria, for the last time, combined with the other powers oi 
 Europe, to dethrone him, and succeeded. At this time, a 
 new union was formed by the states of Germany, designed 
 to secure its future tranquillity, under the title of the Ger- 
 manic Confederation. This was signed at Vienna, by its 
 sovereigns and free cities ; and it is to be hoped that, as it 
 has done hitherto, so it will continue to prove, a powerful 
 preservative against the renewal of those wars, domestic and 
 foreign, of which Germany has so often been the cause and 
 the victim. 
 
 In the new order of things, which succeeded the downfal of the 
 French emperor, Austria manifested a due regard to the rights of 
 the Germanic body, as appears from the nature of the confederation 
 above noticed. The several states have been reinstated, as far as 
 possible, in their former possessions, and Francis is now acknow- 
 ledged, as formerly, the emperor of Germany. 
 
 Shortly after, another union, of a more doubtful character, was 
 formed between the emperors of Austria and Russia, and the king of 
 Prussia, to which they gave the name of the Holy Alliance. The 
 object, in a great measure, seems to have been to confirm their own 
 power, and to suppress any effort, on the part of their subjects, to 
 obtain liberal constitutions. 
 
 The improper views of this confederacy, were openly displayed 
 on the occasion of the Neapolitan revolution. A congress of the 
 three sovereigns, in 1821, issued a manifesto against Naples, in 
 which they plainly avow their hostility to every form of improve- 
 ment. To enforce their views, an Austrian army marched towards 
 the territories of Naples. This alliance may, at the present mo 
 ment, bo considered as virtually dissolved. 
 
POLAND. 283 
 
 POLAND. 
 
 19. POLAND, which existed in independence, dunng a 
 part of the present period, was a nation of some importance, 
 for several ages ; but we feel little interest in its history, till 
 nearly the memorable era when it was blotted out from the 
 list of nations. Its fine situation, and rich natural resources, 
 are strikingly contrasted with its wretched government and 
 institutions ; nor can we, perhaps, find a spot on the globe, 
 where, with so many physical means of securing felicity, a 
 civilized people are found, that have been involved in greater 
 miseries. Its former government, which partook of all the 
 different kinds, with a peculiarly strong infusion of aristocracy, 
 and with a weak executive power, was wholly inadequate to 
 the administration of justice, or the maintenance of peace. 
 Weakness, anarchy and crime within, and injustice, trea- 
 chery, and oppression on the part of others, without, consti- 
 tute a great portion of the history of Poland. Yet its in- 
 habitants were not without some striking and noble charac- 
 teristics. They were a brave and martial people. Amidst 
 their degradation, they cherished the love of liberty in an 
 eminent degree. 
 
 Till the first division and plunder of Poland, in 1772, we 
 find a long list of kings up to the year 842, A. C. But we 
 can record the names of a very few only. 
 
 Poland is denominated by the natives, Poloka ; which is a Scla- 
 vonian word, signifying a level or champain country. Such is the 
 surface of Poland. 
 
 In the history of its sovereigns, we notice the name of Lech V., 
 who is here introduced for the sake of a singular maxim, which he 
 used to utter, and which must be very convenient to a king. " A 
 sovereign is not bound to observe his oath, except when neither his 
 safety nor his advantage requires that he should violate it." His 
 reign, it is said, was the most inauspicious in the annals of the na- 
 tion. 
 
 Cassimer III., the Great, formed a new code of laws, which he 
 committed to writing ; for, before his time, the Poles had only oral 
 traditions. This was in the middle of the fourteenth century. Cas- 
 simer is said to have been a model of integrity, wisdom and pru- 
 dence. 
 
 Sigismund I., whose reign began in 1506, was one of the most 
 accomplished monarchs that ever sat qn the throne of Poland. In his 
 epitaph, which was not composed in the language of exaggeration, 
 
284 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 he was styled the "conqueror of the Russians, Wallachians, and 
 Prussians." and obtained the still more honourable appellation of the 
 " father of his country." He applied himself to the improvement 
 of the manners of his subjects, by inspiring them with a taste for 
 the arts and sr'.ences, and fortified and embellished the cities 
 
 No Polish monarch was more distinguished, on the whole, than 
 John Sobieski, who ascended the throne in 1674. Many of the 
 rulers of Poland were foreigners, but Sobieski was a native, elected 
 on account of his eminent virtues, and military talents. He was 
 particularly distinguished by his wars with the Turks, and his vic- 
 tories over them. The assistance which he rendered to the house 
 of Austria, when Vienna was besieged by an arrny of 200,000 men, 
 has been mentioned in another place. He died in 1696, leaving his 
 country in prosperity and peace. 
 
 Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, was chosen as the succes- 
 sor of Sobieski, after an interregnum of twelve months. The fac- 
 tious nobles, who had been kept in awe under Sobieski, were un - 
 willing to place any one of his family on the throne, and thus showed 
 themselves unworthy of such a sovereign. Augustus made war against 
 Charles XII. of Sweden, mistaking utterly the character of his ene- 
 my. Being defeated and overcome, he was dethroned, and Stanislaus, 
 through the influence of Charles in the diet of Warsaw, was elect- 
 ed to fill his place, in 1704. After the ruin of Charles, at Pultowa, 
 Augustus was restored to the throne, and in 1773, was succeeded by 
 his son Frederick Augustus II., after an interregnum of eight months 
 The reign of the latter was generally tranquil and peaceable, though 
 both before and afterwards, the kingdom was in a very unquiet state, 
 owing to political and religious controversies, as well as foreign wars, 
 
 Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, elected in 1763, was the last 
 king of Poland. He was the creature of Catharine of Russia, placed 
 on the throne, more by the influence of her armies and treasures, 
 than by the free consent of the Polish nobles ; and in the subsequent 
 difficulties of his reign, was unable to manifest the independence of 
 a sovereign. He was finally kept as an honourable prisoner, at Pe- 
 tersburgh, where he died, in 1798. 
 
 20. In 1772, the dismemberment of Poland, by Russia, 
 Prussia, and Austria, which had, for some time, been secret 
 ly meditated, took place, to the utter astonishment of all 
 Europe. This has been stigmatized as one of the most un- 
 principled acts recorded in history. The pretexts of the 
 plunderers, as set forth in their manifestoes, were various ; but 
 they were doubtless encouraged to this act of violence, in 
 consequence of the perpetual divisions in the Polish counsels, 
 and the mutual animosities of the nobility. Indeed, they 
 purposely increased the factions and difficulties in which the 
 nation was involved. 
 
 Prussia laid the train of events, by flattering the Russians with 
 
POLAND. 285 
 
 the idea of giving a king to Poland ; but not designing that Poland 
 should sink into a Russian province, it was contrived on the part of 
 Prussia, to make the Poles dissatisfied with their king. This was 
 easily effected, and in the course of two or three years, nothing could 
 exceed the disorder, dissensions, and weakness of the kingdom. In 
 this situation of affairs, when the Poles were prevented from vindi- 
 cating their sacred rights, the unholy deed of partition was perpe- 
 trated. Each party had previously agreed on its portion, the whole 
 including nearly half of the Polish territory. The Diet was assem- 
 bled, and surrounded by the partitioning powers, it could do no other- 
 wise than sanction, by a legislative act, the crime which these 
 cowers had committed. 
 
 In the division which was made, Frederick seized Polish 
 Prussia, and a part of Great Poland ; the emperor of Austria, 
 the kingdoms of Galicia and Ludomiria ; and Catharine, 
 Polish Livonia, with a part of Lithuania. 
 
 21. In 1791, a revolution took place in Poland; a new 
 constitution was proclaimed, which opened to the middling 
 classes, the avenue to every employment ; and the crown, 
 hitherto elective, was declared to be hereditary. This was 
 done in an assembly of the people, with entire concord. But 
 Poland, despoiled of half her territories, was weak ; and 
 though the change was approved by all Europe, except Russia, 
 the Poles were suffered to become the victims of the Russian 
 empress, and eventually again of the Prussian and Austrian 
 sovereigns. A new division was agreed on, in 1793, which 
 included a considerable portion of the remainder of Poland. 
 
 Catharine first resented the act of the Poles in framing a new 
 constitution, as it was wholly opposed to her ambitious views in re- 
 gard to the remainder of Poland. Frederick William, though he at 
 first expressed his approbation of the measure, yet finally, with un- 
 blushing effrontery, consented, with the others, to act the royal 
 plunderer. 
 
 22. Before, however, this second nefarious project could be 
 executed, it became necessary to encounter the hazards of 
 war. The spirit of the Poles was raised, and under the brave 
 and patriotic Kosciusko, they resisted, for a time, the united 
 force of their powerful enemies. But on the part of enfeebled 
 Poland, numbers were wanting, which could not long be 
 supplied by love of country and a desire of vengeance ; and 
 Kosciusko, after making every effort that man could be ex- 
 pected to make, was defeated and taken prisoner. Under 
 the barbarous Suwarrow, Warsaw was captured and sacked. 
 
286 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 In attempting to defend it, nine thousand gallant Poles 
 perished. 
 
 But the carnage which succeeded the victory, was greater, and 
 has forever tarnished the laurels of the Russian general. The houses 
 were pillaged, women violated, children murdered, and thirty thou- 
 sand victims fell a prey to a ferocity bordering on that of savages. 
 
 Kosciusko, who originated from a noble family, had been a dis- 
 tinguished officer in the United States of America, during the war 
 of the Revolution. The Poles elected him their general, and he 
 proved worthy of their choice. Under more propitious circumstan- 
 ces, he would have been hailed as the deliverer of his country. After 
 his defeat, he was held as a prisoner at Petersburgh, till the death of 
 the empress, in 1797. Upon the accession of Paul, he obtained his 
 freedom, and was favoured with a pension an act on the part of 
 the Russian monarch, which received the applause of the civilized 
 world. Kosciusko has since been in America. 
 
 23. A third and final dismemberment of Poland, took place 
 in 1795. when the three powers appropriated it entirely to 
 themselves. Both Stanislaus and Kosciusko, were secured ; 
 the spirit of the Poles was crushed, and the robbers had only 
 quietly to divide all that remained of their bloody prey. 
 
 At the congress held at Yienna, in 1815, part of Poland 
 was united to the Russian Empire, with the preservation of 
 its own constitution ; and on this event, Alexander, emperor 
 of Russia, assumed the title of king of Poland. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 
 
 24. In the history of RUSSIA, we find Catharine I., the wife 
 of Peter the Great, on the throne, near the commencement 
 of this period. By his appointment, she succeeded him, in 
 1725. She reigned only two years, but with great ability, 
 and pursued the plan begun by her husband, in civilizing her 
 people. 
 
 Catharine was originally the wife of a Swedish soldier, but fall 
 ing into the power of the Russians, she was employed in the gene 
 ral's kitchen, where ]YIenzicoff, one of Peter's favourites, saw and 
 obtained her. Peter having met her at Menzicoff 's house, and being 
 delighted with her understanding, at first made her his mistress, but 
 afterwards married her. She obtained a complete control over the 
 emperor, by her singularly gay and cheerful temper, as well as by 
 her respectful and kind attentions. 
 
 25. Peter II, grandson of Peter the Great, succeeded her, 
 in 1727. He reigned only three years, but his reign was a 
 
RUSSIA. 287 
 
 scene of peace and prosperity. He was extremely beloved 
 by his people. . 
 
 The succession, during several reigns after Peter the Great, seems 
 not to have been regular, or fixed by any certain rules ; yet the prin- 
 ces came to their thrones with little difficulty, and pursued the gene- 
 ral features of that wise policy which Peter adopted. The great 
 object constantly kept in view, was the advancement of civilization 
 and knowledge among the people. 
 
 26. Anne, duchess of Courland, next ascended the throne, 
 in 1730, the male line of the house of Romanow, to which 
 Peter the Great belonged, having become extinct. She was 
 a niece of that monarch. Her reign'was glorious and happy, 
 and comprised the war against Turkey, in 1736 ; the con- 
 quest of the principal towns in Grim Tartary ; and the vic- 
 tory of Choczim over the Turks, in 1739. 
 
 27. On the death of Anne, Ivan, or John, only about two 
 month's old, was elected emperor, 1740 ; but the next year 
 a sudden revolution took place, by which the young prince 
 was deposed, and Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, 
 was proclaimed empress. 
 
 There were strong points of resemblance between her and 
 her father, and like him, she seemed to possess an inherent 
 capacity for reigning. She united benevolence with great 
 political talents, and to her, Russia is indebted for much of 
 its influence in the affairs of Europe and Asia. In 1757, 
 her troops, in conjunction with those of Austria, entered upon 
 ' the seven years' war" against the great Frederick, and her 
 part was so well acted, that had she lived, the Prussian mo- 
 narchy would probably have been in jeopardy, as to its very 
 existence. 
 
 Elizabeth founded the universities of Petersburgh and Moscow 
 and decreed a new code of laws, called Elizabeth's code. It is re- 
 ported that a few years preceding her death, this princess indulged 
 in the most unbounded intemperance and sensuality. 
 
 28. She was succeeded, in 1762, by her nephew, Peter III., 
 son of her elder sister Anne, and consequently grandson of 
 the great Peter. He was at first somewhat popular with his 
 subjects, but they soon became disaffected towards him. He 
 was found to be deficient in talents and strength of charac- 
 ter ; and his wife, Catharine, becoming disgusted with him, 
 and inspired with ambitious views, is supposed to have been 
 
288 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 the mover of the conspiracy by which he was dethroned and 
 murdered, in the first year of his reign. 
 
 Catharine of Anhalt, a *princess of Germany, had been married 
 to Peter several years before his accession ; and as she began her 
 political life with crime, she seems never afterwards to have been 
 scrupulous as to the means with which she executed her plans. It 
 was by the help of her paramour Orloff, that she arrested the em- 
 peror, and procured his deposition and death. Orloff first gave him 
 poisoned brandy to drink, and then strangled him. 
 
 29. Catharine II., who was immediately proclaimed, com- 
 bined with her singular depravation of principle, a powerful 
 intellect. As a woman, she was a disgrace to her sex and to 
 human nature, but as an empress she was great, and justly 
 denominated " the Semiramis of the North." Her reign was 
 brilliant and long, and at once the admiration and terror of 
 all Europe. Notwithstanding the great extent of her empire, 
 she sought continually to enlarge its boundaries. In hei 
 wars with Turkey, Persia, and Poland, she secured immense 
 acquisitions of territory. Her transactions in regard to the 
 dismemberment of Poland, have already been related. In 
 regard to Turkey, her object appears to have been nothing 
 less than the possession of the Ottoman throne in Europe 
 an object which Russia has ever since had at heart. 
 
 One of the victorious wars which Catharine carried on with 
 Turkey, cost her two hundred thousand men, and 200,000,000 rubles ; 
 while it cost the latter three hundred and thirty thousand men, arid 
 200,000,000 piastres a war scarcely less ruinous than triumphant. 
 In this war, Ismail was the last town that surrendered. Twice 
 were the Russians under Suwarrow repulsed ; but at the third at- 
 tack, they scaled the ramparts, forced their way into the place, and 
 put to the sword all who opposed them. Fifteen thousand Russians 
 purchased with their lives the bloody laurels of their leader, who 
 wrote to the empress with his usual brevity, " The haughty Ismail 
 is at your feet." 
 
 30. Catharine was succeeded by her son, Paul Petrowitz, 
 1796, whose reign was the reverse of that of his mother, and 
 who occupied himself with trifles. In 1799, he declared war 
 against revolutionary France, and sent Suwarrow into Italy, 
 who met with great success till he passed into Switzerland, 
 whence he was recalled by his sovereign. In 1801, Paul 
 declared war against England, and obliged Sweden and 
 Denmark to join; but soon afterwards this unhappy monarch 
 was strangled, by some conspirators, who were officers in 
 tiis court. 
 
RUSSIA. 289 
 
 31. Alexander I., the eldest son of Paul, was proclaimed 
 in 1801, at the age of twenty-two. His name will descend 
 with renown to after ages, as the deliverer of enthralled 
 nations. His reign was at first pacific, nor did he make those 
 efforts against France, which seemed desirable at that junc- 
 ture. He, however, became alarmed at length by the am- 
 bition of Bonaparte, and in 1805, formed a coalition with 
 Austria, against the conqueror. 
 
 He was able to effect a junction with only a remnant of 
 the Austrian forces, which had previously been deserted, and 
 being attacked unexpectedly at Austerlitz, he experienced a 
 signal overthrow. He then withdrew his army into Russia, 
 but designing to assist Prussia, the next year he hastened to 
 the scene of war ; but before his army could reach it, the 
 battle of Jena had been fought, and the power of Prussia half 
 annihilated. Russia left alone on the field, maintained the 
 contest with the French emperor for a few months, during 
 which several sanguinary battles were fought, without any 
 decisive advantage on either side. At length the fatal battle 
 of Friedland, obliged Alexander to sign the treatjr of Tilsit. 
 
 In 1808, he engaged in a war with Sweden, in which Fin- 
 land was conquered, and in 1811, he commenced hostilities 
 against Turkey. At this critical time, a mighty contest was 
 about to ensue, which was to decide the fate of a great part 
 of the globe. The refusal of Alexander, in 1812, to concur 
 in Bonaparte's scheme, of excluding British commerce from 
 the whole European continent, highly displeased the latter. 
 Phis circumstance, concurring with the French emperor's de- 
 sire to establish an universal monarchy, induced him to march 
 against Russia, with all the force of the territories under his 
 dominion, and of every state rendered subservient to his 
 views. "In that way," says Prof. Heeren, "a storm of na- 
 tions arose, (about twenty were united under the standard of 
 the conqueror,) unparalleled in history, since the expeditions of 
 Xerxes and Attila." The Russians retreated steadily before 
 the French, not without engaging in several bloody battles, 
 in which the French were victorious, but by means of which 
 they were continually weakened. 
 
 At Borodino, a few miles in advance of Moscow, the Rus- 
 sians made a stand, and here was fought one of the most 
 terrible battles ever recorded. The loss on both sides wag 
 
 25 
 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 nearly equal ; the Russians, however, retired, and the French 
 entered Moscow. But they entered it to witness its confla- 
 gration ; the Russians had set it on fire, and thus deprived 
 the French army of its expected winter quarters. It was 
 obliged to retreat ; and the animosity of the Russians, aided 
 by the terrible severity of the weather, contributed almost to 
 annihilate the most efficient military force that ever invaded 
 a nation. 
 
 Upon the invasion of his dominions, Alexander soon made peace 
 with the Turks, and this on advantageous terms, as has always been 
 the case in the wars between Russia and Turkey. Alexander might 
 have met his foe with an equal number of nations, if he had had 
 time to summon them from the mountains and deserts of Asia. All 
 his troops, divided into three armies, by no means equalled, in num- 
 ber, those of the enemy, which amounted to more than half a mil- 
 lion. But although the collection of the Russian force was only 
 partially effected, yet there was a high moral preparation in the spirit, 
 both of the prince and his people. After one conspiracy in the be- 
 ginning of the contest was detected, and its authors summarily pun- 
 ished, all orders of the people manifested the most determined pur- 
 pose to resist the enemy, submitting to sacrifices, which nothing but 
 devoted patriotism and the deadliest hatred of the invader, could in- 
 spire. Alexander, in his manifesto, declared that he would never 
 make peace, so long as the enemy remained within his empire. And 
 to engage God and religion on the side of Russia, one entire conse- 
 cration of the empire and of the church, was made to the God ot 
 armies.. 
 
 The constant retiring of the Russians, without risking a great bat- 
 tle, greatly weakened the expectation indulged by Bonaparte, oi 
 speedily terminating the war, by penetrating into the heart of the 
 empire. Fire and rapine, by friends and foes, marked the course of 
 the invading army, and seemed to render return impossible. Wilna 
 was occupied the 28th of June. The French advanced with many 
 skirmishes by way of Witepsk to Smolensk, where two of the Rus- 
 sian armies formed a junction, August 6th, while the Prussian aux- 
 iliaries besieged Riga, and the Austrians were maneuvering in Vol- 
 hynia. Smolenk was stormed and destroyed, August 18th ; after 
 which, Koutousoff was vested with the chief command. After the 
 battle of Borodino, the solitary capital was entered, September 14th 
 and 15th. In the Kremlin, the ancient residence of the Czars, the 
 conqueror took up his head quarters, the limit of his expedition, and 
 the grave of his greatness. 
 
 Moscow, fired by its own citizens, fell a victim for the empire ; for 
 such a drama demanded such a catastrophe ; but in its pillars of fire 
 the first dawn of freedom shone over shackled Europe in the farthest 
 East. Instead of a Capua, the army suddenly stood in a waste. 
 ' The campaign may now end," was the proposal of Napoleon ; " the 
 campaign is now beginning," was the reply of Koutousoff. A spee* 
 
RUSSIA. 291 
 
 dy retreat, before the beginning of the winter's cold, might, perhaps, 
 have saved the army ; but the pride of the conqueror disdained this 
 measure, till it was too late. When three-fourths of Moscow were 
 consumed to the ground, just as the fatigued and debilitated army ol 
 the French entered it, needing repose and refreshment, and an un- 
 conquerable Russian army was before it, it was impossible for Na- 
 poleon to stay there. Never was a disappointment more sudden and 
 more bitter. The retreat which he had declined, he was obliged to 
 undertake, and such a retreat, so disastrous and terrific, history never 
 before recorded. 
 
 32. Alexander pursued the enemy beyond the boundaries 
 of his empire, and thus gave the signal for the emancipation 
 of Europe. He first exhorted Prussia to war. She obeyed 
 the call, and others, the late vassals of France, sooner or later, 
 joined his standard. "From this time the storm of nations, 
 which had gathered in the west, against the east, was to be 
 turned from the east against the west." An immediate erup- 
 tion was prevented, by the fortresses and countries which were 
 occupied by the relations of the rulers, and the certainty, that 
 Napoleon had himself escaped. But in the nature of the 
 case, it could not be long ere the subjugated nations should 
 turn upon their falling master. Austria was the last to join 
 the alliance ; her weight in the scale was decisive. 
 
 The campaign of 1813, which thus began, is one of the 
 most memorable in history. Never were more battles fought 
 within a given space of time, and never were greater than 
 some of them. In regard to the battle of Leipsic, which fin- 
 ished the campaign. Heeren says, " If the mass of combat- 
 ants, almost half a million, met on the field, makes it the first 
 battle of modern times, its consequences do so no less." The 
 way was now opened to France itself, in the signal defeat of 
 the French emperor. Accordingly, in the beginning of the 
 year 1814, the respective sovereigns entered Paris, dethroned 
 Napoleon, and replaced on the throne the house of Bourbon. 
 The renown of Alexander was now complete, as the provi- 
 dential deliverer of Europe. 
 
 This prince deceased 1st December, 1825, and was succeeded by 
 Nicholas I. 
 
 The character of Alexander, will appear with advantage on the 
 page of history, and his success in saving Russia and Europe, from 
 me grasp of military ambition, will consecrate his name as the most 
 fortunate of sovereigns. The circumstances under which he enter- 
 ed upon nis reign, were, indeed, calculated fully to bring into action 
 all his faculties. Though inferior to his great antagonist in native 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 intellectual power, he was, perhaps, of all the European sovereigns 
 the most fit, by his indefatigable spirit, to contend with him. He 
 appears to have been guided mainly by a principle of honesty ; and 
 ii several private accounts are to be credited, there are pleasing in- 
 dications, that he was one of the very few princes who can be called 
 truly religious. The most inexplicable part of his character, in a 
 moral view, was his suppression of the Russian Bible Society, which 
 had, a few years before, commenced under his own auspices. 
 /' Since the event, which we have mentioned as the termination of 
 the tenth period, the affairs of the Russians have been generally pros- 
 perous. Besides a successful conflict which they have maintained 
 with Persia, they have rushed into war recently, with their old ene- 
 mies, the Turks j and although the present is the second campaign, 
 they have been met with so vigorous a spirit, on the part of the lat- 
 ter, under their Warlike sultan, Mahmoud II., that the issue of the 
 contest seems somewhat doubtful. Russia puts forth her whole 
 power, and Turkey fights for her existence. Russian successes have, 
 of late, been reported ; but it is altogether probable, that other cam- 
 paigns* will be necessary, in order to drive the Ottomans into Asia, 
 should the other great powers of Europe suffer the contest to con 
 tiritie. 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 House of Brunswick. 
 
 33. George I., Elector of Hanover, had been proclaimed 
 king, by the regency, on the death of Anne, 1714. At the 
 commencement of the present period, he had, therefore, been 
 on the throne about four years. Notwithstanding the divided 
 state of the kingdom, the accession of George took place 
 without the least opposition, tumult, or sign of popular dis- 
 content. 
 
 It was protestantism that gave the house of Brunswick the 
 throne, and it was protestantism that was to preserve it to 
 them. No new maxims, no new continental policy, could 
 therefore become prevalent ; it was the ancient policy of Wil- 
 fliam IIT., modified according to the circumstances of the times. 
 Thus harmony was established between the nation and the 
 government ; and fortunately for the new house, there was 
 for a long time yet, a pretender, who did not permit these 
 maxims to be forgotten. 
 
 * Since the above was penned, a series of splendid victories has attended 
 the Russian arms, in consequence of which, a peace has been concluded be- 
 tween the contending powers, on terms exceedingly humiliating to the Turks. 
 
ENGLAND. 293 
 
 The natural consequence of this policy was, the fall of the 
 lory ministry, which had made itself more than suspected by 
 its conduct towards the pretender, and the restoration of the 
 
 superiority of the whigs. 
 
 George I., was the son of Ernest Augustus, elector of Hanover, 
 and of Sophia, grand-daughter of James I., and was in the 55th year 
 of liis age, when he ascended the throne. 
 
 The Pretender, who was styled the Chevalier St. George, was the 
 son of James II. His exclusion from the throne affected the public 
 tranquillity, for a time. He had his partisans chiefly among the to- 
 ries, and in Scotland ; but the several attempts which they made in 
 his behalf, were ineffectual ; his intrigues were detected ; his forces 
 were ov<*rpowered in battle ; many of the leaders among the rebels 
 were captured and executed ; but the chevalier had the good fortune 
 to escape to France. 
 
 34. In 1720, the king having recommended to the com- 
 mons the consideration of proper means for lessening the na- 
 tional debt, this proved a prelude to the famous South Sea 
 act, which became so ruinous in its consequences. In this 
 scheme, it was believed possible speedily to perform by art, 
 what can be the result only of continued exertion the liqui- 
 dation of the public debt ; but the projects of the South Sea 
 company foundered, and thousands were involved in ruin. 
 As the English government, however, allowed itself no des- 
 potic steps, its credit was preserved entire ; and it found itself 
 able, by a diminution of interest, to establish a sinking fund, 
 which only needed a better administration, to effect its object. 
 
 The character of George I. was that of a wise and good mo- 
 narch, but he was less popular than he might have been, had he staid 
 more at home, and manifested less partiality for his German domi- 
 nions. 
 
 He died suddenly, of a paralytic disorder, on the continent, in the 
 68th year of his age. 
 
 34| George II., succeeded his father, 1727, and, like him* 
 favoured the whigs, and was strongly attached to his German 
 possessions. His character was that of an active, intelligent 
 prince, possessing a violent temper, and a love of war. His 
 administration of affairs was generally equitable, and satisfac- 
 tory to the people. A period of peace, during ten years, in 
 the former part of his reign, happily occurred through want 
 of a plausible pretence for embarking in a war, At length, 
 occasion was found for collision with Spain, and war was 
 declared in 1739. It produced no important results. In 1744, 
 England declared war against France, and assisted Maria 
 
 25* 
 
294 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X, 
 
 Theresa, of Austria, in the war of succession. In this public 
 contest, the principal states of Europe were involved ; and 
 among others, the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy were 
 fought ; the former terminating in favour of the allies, the 
 latter in favour of the French. The British king command- 
 ed, in person, his army on the continent. 
 
 The minister who guided the destinies of England, during this 
 part of the reign of George II., as also during the principal part of 
 the former, was Sir Robert Walpole. Concerning him, the his- 
 toric professor of Gottingen says, " that without the restless ac- 
 tivity which is often called greatness, he was a statesman most wor- 
 thy of respect. He introduced uprightness into politics, at a time, 
 when they were disgraced by the profligate Dubois, and the false 
 Alberoni. But his maxim, to be on good terms with all, entangled 
 him in a web of negociations and relations ; from which, only an 
 island state, like England, could have disengaged itself." Others, 
 however, speak of him as distinguished for the system of corruption 
 and venality which he practised in his administration. 
 
 35. During the absence of the king on the continent, the 
 rebellion in Scotland, 1745, took place, in consequence of an 
 effort made by the son of the old pretender, for the British 
 throne. The young Charles was assisted by Louis XV., 
 and having landed in Scotland, led an army against the royal 
 forces, which he defeated in the battles of Preston Pans, and 
 Falkirk ; but -in the subsequent battle of Culloden, he met 
 with a decisive overthrow. The Stuart family made no more 
 attempts to take possession of the sceptre which they had lost. 
 
 In 1755, war was renewed between France and England, 
 on account of encroachments made on the British territories 
 in North America. The war was not at first very fortunate 
 to the British ; but, at length, they met with signal success, 
 and the result of it was, the surrender of all Canada, on the 
 part of the French. It was in this war, that the brave Wolfe 
 perished, having distinguished himself by the capture of the 
 city of Quebec. 
 
 In the expedition against Quebec, the courage and perseverance 
 of General Wolfe, surmounted incredible difficulties. It was on the 
 Heights of Abraham, which he succeeded in gaining, that he fought 
 and defeated the French army. As he occupied a conspicuous 
 station in the front of the line, he had been aimed at by the enemy's 
 marksmen, and received a shot in the wrist. Wrapping a handker- 
 chief round his hand, he gave his orders, as usual, without betraying 
 the least emotion ; and while he was advancing, at the head of the 
 grenadiers, another ball, unfortunately, pierced the breast of this 
 
ENGLAND. 295 
 
 young hero, who thus fell at the moment when victory was announ- 
 ced. His death was mourned as a national loss. 
 
 36. At this period, the arras of Great Britain were trium- 
 phant in every quarter of the globe ; but in the midst of his 
 successes, the old king suddenly expired, in the 77th year of 
 his age, and in the 34th of his reign. 
 
 37. George III., grandson of the deceased, succeeded him 
 in 1760. He was then in his eighteenth year, and swayed 
 the sceptre during the long period of sixty years ; the longest 
 reign in the annals of Great Britain. It is distinguished as 
 a period of important events, and of the nation's advance- 
 ment in power, wealth, commerce, and the arts. The re- 
 sources of the British, in their great contests, during this 
 reign, appear to have been almost inexhaustible. 
 
 George III. commenced his reign at a favourable period, 
 when the arms of the nation were triumphant, and when 
 Chatham, the ablest and most popular of the British minis- 
 ters, administered the government. His ministry, which be- 
 gan under the former reign, continued from the 20th of Octo- 
 ber, 1756, to the 5th of October, 1761. 
 
 " What five years!" says Heeren. "By the greatness of his 
 own character, he elevated the spirit of his nation, for he was the 
 first to breathe into it a confidence in itself." Upon the resignation 
 of Mr. Pitt, violent political dissensions arose, which were afterwards 
 increased, upon the retirement of the duke of Newcastle. 
 
 38. An ill-judged course of policy, pursued by the ministry 
 towards the American colonies, gave rjse to those animosities, 
 which ended in the separation of the colonies from the mother 
 country. This colonial war commenced in 1775. The elo- 
 quence of Chatham was arrayed against the unjust and op- 
 pressive measures of the British parliament. But his coun- 
 sels were overruled, and after a long and distressing conten- 
 tion wilh the American states, Great Britain acknowledged 
 their independence in 1783. Thus w ; as laid the foundation 
 of a great and rising empire in the new world, which bids 
 fair, in time, to rival the most renowned nations of Europe, 
 and of antiquity. Antecedently to this contention, party 
 spirit had become general and violent in Great Britain, and 
 produced frequent changes in public men and measures. 
 
 In the colonial war, France and Holland, after a time, formed an 
 alliance with the American government, and took part in the con- 
 tention. Though England thus lost important foreign possessions 
 
296 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 and increased her public debt, (from 146,000,000, to 257,000,000| 
 sterling-,) yet she lost nothing in her contest with other powers; her 
 commerce and resources were constantly extending, and her spirit 
 was equal to every effort. 
 
 39. Another important feature of this reign, was the ex- 
 tension of the British possessions in India. The British East 
 India Company, before the year 1766, conquered, and took 
 possession of the kingdom of Bengal, together with Bahar 
 and part of Orissa, a large and flourishing country, contain- 
 ing above 10,000,000 of people, and producing an immense 
 revenue. These territories, afterwards, received a very great 
 addition, as the fruits of several wars, which the Company 
 had with the natives. Hyder Ally, and afterwards Tippoo, 
 his son, distinguished themselves by their opposition to the 
 British encroachments, but they were obliged to submit to 
 superior prowess. 
 
 Tippoo was vanquished by Lord Cornwallis, in 1792, and de 
 prived of one half of his dominions. In 1799, Seringapatani, the 
 capital of Mysore, was taken by Gen. Harris, and Tippoo was slain. 
 
 40. The Irish rebellion, in 1798, and the subsequent union, 
 in 1800, of Ireland and Great Britain, were also important 
 events during this reign. The rebels in Ireland were princi- 
 pally Romanists, the most numerous and least favoured part of 
 the Irish population, whom the spirit of the French revolution 
 had at this time affected. The Act of Union was the favour- 
 ite object of Mr. Pitt, and made Ireland an integral part of 
 the British empire. From the danger of the separation of 
 Ireland from the British sovereignty, the ministry and the par- 
 liament, both had been urged to this project of a legislative 
 incorporation ; and in the anxiety which was felt, were less 
 scrupulous as to the means of securing a majority in both 
 houses, than became the dignity of the empire. For this object, 
 the arts of corruption were employed. The effects of the 
 union, however, have been mutually advantageous. 
 
 A spirit of discontent and revolution, had been working for a 
 long time, in the minds of the Irish people. This was inflamed, by 
 the countenance which the government of France had given to cer- 
 tain insurrectionary projects. With a view to effect a separation 
 from England, and form a close connexion with France, several at- 
 tempts were made on the part of the French, to land troops in Ire- 
 land ; but these attempts proved abortive. The French fleets were 
 either dispersed by storms, or defeated by the valour of the British 
 admirals, Duncan and Warren. 
 
 In the summer of 1793, the spirit of revolution had arisen to such 
 
ENGLAND. 297 
 
 a height, that several counties were in a state of insurrection. Lord 
 Cornwallis was now appointed lord lieutenant, and took command 
 of the government's forces. He engaged the rebels, on several oc- 
 casions, and many lives were lost. Pursued by the vigilance of the 
 government, and despairing of foreign succour, they at last submit- 
 ted. Some of them suffered punishment, others emigrated to 
 America. 
 
 41. The reign of George III., was particularly distinguish- 
 ed, by the wars which grew out of the French revolution. 
 This great event, which will be more particularly noticed in 
 the history of France, commenced in 1789. It threatened 
 in its consequences, the overthrow of all established govern- 
 ments, and deeply convulsed the whole civilized world. From 
 the commencement of the revolution, to the restoration of the 
 Bourbons, in 1815, Europe endured more, in the loss of lives 
 and property, and suffered more misery, than in any other 
 equal portion of time, since it has been known in history. 
 
 The government of Great Britain, early conceiving a just alarm 
 for its own safety, zealously embarked in the European war, with a 
 view to check the dissemination of disorganizing principles, both at 
 home and abroad. All the Christian states in Europe, opposed in 
 their turn, the tyranny and ambitious views of France ; but Great 
 Britain only pursued the object with undeviating constancy, and 
 with a just conception of the character of the common enemy. Wil- 
 liam Pitt, one of the ablest ministers which it ever had, was then at 
 its head. Under his auspices, after various vicissitudes of disap- 
 pointment and success, victory crowned the efforts and sacrifices of 
 the British nation ; efforts and sacrifices, of which history does not, 
 perhaps, record a second example. All Europe was arrayed against 
 her at times ; yet, so far was she from being intimidated, or dis- 
 heartened, that she met the enemy, whether on the sea or land, 
 wherever he was to be found. Her greatest efforts, particularly in 
 the former part of the war, were made on the sea. Here Nelson, the 
 first of naval captains, gained the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen, 
 and Trafalgar, and almost annihilated the maritime power of the 
 continent. In the latter part 3f the contention, Wellington conquer- 
 ed the armies of France, at Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, and 
 Waterloo. 
 
 An interval of peace occurred between the years 1801 and 1803, 
 But this short suspension of arms, was felt to be too long for the 
 safety of the British government, while the emperor of France 
 seemed to set no bounds to his ambition. The war was accordingly 
 renewed ; and though, on the part of the French, the invasion of 
 England was threatened, and her commerce was designed to be ex- 
 cluded from the whole continent, yet one of the projects was aban- 
 doned, and the other proved fruitless. 
 
 In the battle of the Nile, which happened August 1, 1798, the ma- 
 
298 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 ritirae fame of Great Britain was established beyond all competition 
 The French fleet had every advantage of situation, but Nelson cap 
 tured nine ships of the line, and destroyed several others. In the 
 battle of Trafalgar, which was fought on the 21st of October, 1805, 
 the great English hero defeated a powerful fleet of the enemy, con- 
 sisting o' thirty-three ships of the line. His own force amounted 
 to twenty-seven ships of the line. Nineteen of the French and Span- 
 ish ships were captured, though four of them only reached port, the 
 rest having been purposely destroyed, as it was impossible to take 
 care of them on account of tempestuous weather. Subsequently, 
 the greater part of the enemy's ships which escaped, were either 
 wrecked or captured. The day of this great triumph to the Eng 
 lish admiral, was the day of his death. His person was much ex 
 posed in the battle, and being observed by the enemy, he was point- 
 edly assailed by the musketry, and received a mortal wound. 
 
 42. While the resources of Great Britain were called forth 
 in the s^reat European contest, she found, or made an enemy 
 in the United States of America. The long depending dis- 
 putes between the two nations, respecting commercial rights, 
 terminated in hostilities, which were commenced on the part 
 of the United States, in the summer of 1812, by an attack 
 on Canada. This war, though not very vigorously prosecu- 
 ted, inasmuch as the affairs of Europe engrossed the attention 
 of the British ministers, was, nevertheless, marked by uncom- 
 mon acrimony. It continued until the last of the year 1814. 
 
 43. Daring the last ten years of the reign of George III., 
 he was reduced to helplessness, by an inveterate insanity. 
 In the meantime, his son, the prince of Wales, acted as re- 
 gent. In regard to the great contest, the latter pursued the 
 course which had been adopted by his royal father. 
 
 The old king died on the 29th of January, 1820. The subver- 
 sion of his intellect, is supposed to have been brought on, by the 
 sickness and death of his youngest daughter, Amelia, aided by the 
 advance of age, and the toils and anxieties of state. Amelia, when 
 sensible of her approaching dissolution, presented to him a ring, re- 
 questing him to wear it in remembrance of her affection. This ten- 
 der incident, created a sympathy which soon mastered his faculties, 
 and he gave way to an incurable despondency. He was a good 
 monarch, seemed to be guided by religious principle, and was ho- 
 noured and beloved, as the father of his people. His natural endow- 
 ments were not great, though he possessed good sense, and a culti- 
 vated mind. 
 
 His successor, the present king, is George IV., who has, hitherto, 
 generally reigned in peace and prosperity The only war of any 
 consequence which has occurred during his reign, is that which was 
 carried on a few years since in the East. By this, the British pos- 
 
 
FRANCE. 
 
 sessions have been immensely enlarged, particularly by a reduction 
 of a considerable part of the Burrnan empire. To the above we 
 may add, the single battle of Navarino, against the Turkish fleet, in 
 connexion with the naval forces of France and Russia. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 House of Bourbon. Revolution. Napoleon. Bourbons 
 
 restored. 
 
 The successor of Louis XIV. was a great grandson, 
 who ascended the throne under the title of Louis XV., at the 
 age of five years, 1715 A. C. Contrary to the will of the 
 old king, his nephew, Philip of Orleans, obtained the regency. 
 
 Without morals, and without sense of shame, the duke of Orleans 
 was regarded as more profligate than he actually was, and the long 
 continued anxiety respecting the life of the young king, who was 
 sickly, had a strong influence on the politics of the times. Cor- 
 ruption of manners was a natural consequence of such a regency, 
 and the French court was never more dissolute than at this time. 
 
 It was during this regency, that France made an abortive attempt 
 to pay off its debts by means of the paper bank law, and the Missis- 
 sippi scheme, connected with it. These were of no small conse- 
 quence for its future fate, and its whole influence in the European 
 political system. The ruin of thousands of families might be re- 
 paired in time, but it was the arbitrary money operations of the go- 
 vernment, that reduced its credit to irrevocable ruin. From this 
 time, no paper money could be issued in France, under the old con- 
 stitution. The French financial system was ever after in an unset- 
 tled state. 
 
 44. The minister whom Louis chose soon after he came 
 of age, was cardinal Fleury, whose seventeen years' admi- 
 nistration, if it was not free from faults in the interior, secu- 
 red tranquillity to France, and was beneficial to Europe. 
 
 The reign of Louis, which was fifty-nine years, was too 
 long for his reputation as a sovereign, and for the happiness 
 of his people. He was at first styled well-beloved by them, 
 but they had occasion eventually to lay aside that flattering 
 epithet. 
 
 Louis pursued a long course of rapacity, profusion, and tyran- 
 ny, and in the latter part of his reign, he became infamously licen- 
 tious and debauched. He was the slave of his mistresses, and his 
 govern ment was a government of mistresses. The last epoch of his 
 reign, may be compared to what has been mythologically de- 
 nominated the iron age. He became insensible, not only to the 
 disgrace and ruin of his state, but to the loss of his nearest and 
 
300 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 dearest relatives, many of whom deceased during the latter 
 part of his life. 
 
 It is said, that the profusion of this monarch, led him, in the first 
 instance, to undertake the scandalous traffic of a monopoly of corn, 
 which, while it starved his subjects, enabled him to support the ex- 
 travagant claims of his minions and mistresses. It is at least certain, 
 that at his demise, 200,000,000 of livres, in specie, were found in his 
 private treasury, and that their acquisition could be traced to no other 
 source. It is no matter of surprise, that the vices and errors of Louis, 
 particularly his extortions, should have produced difficulties between 
 him and his people. These were manifested in the disputes which 
 he carried on with his parliaments, and in the opposition which they 
 expressed against his rapacious acts. He conducted the controversy, 
 on his part, in so ill-judged and unjust a manner, that affairs grew 
 worse and worse, and fast ripened for that dreadful state of things 
 which followed under his unfortunate successor. 
 
 The aggregate of the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., is one 
 hundred and thirty-one years, which is unparalleled in history. Du- 
 ring so long a period, what treasures were drawn from the French 
 people, in consequence of the ambitious wars of the one, and the 
 profusion and fiscal mismanagement of the other ! And is it to be 
 wondered at, that they felt their burdens to be insupportable ? 
 
 45. Louis XVI., who was grandson of the late king, as- 
 cended the throne in 1774, at the age of twenty years. His 
 situation, from the first, Avas critical and dangerous, beyond 
 the common lot of kings. "With a temper fitted to make a 
 people happy in ordinary circumstances, he was ill calculated 
 for the evil days on which he was fallen, when his subjects 
 were almost maddened by the oppression of their former mas- 
 ter, and now unreasonably jealous of his successor. 
 
 Louis seemed to aim at a prudent and conciliatory course. He 
 early made some removals from office, that were designed to be po- 
 pular, and sought integrity and talents in his ministers. Turgot 
 Necker, and Calonne, were successively placed at the head of the 
 finances. 
 
 After the efforts made by France in favour of American indepen- 
 dence, and the consequent great increase of her debt, her financial 
 situation became alarming, and demanded attention. The disclo- 
 sures and discussions on this subject, led directly to the great con- 
 vulsion which followed. There were other concurrent causes, such 
 as the corruption of religion, and the abuses which existed in the 
 church ; the despotism and profligacy of the government ; the ine- 
 quality, and the enormous burden of taxation ; the hauteur and 
 odious privileges of the nobility and clergy ; the notions respectin 
 liberty and equal rights, generated by the revolution in America, an 
 especially the progress of philosophy, freethinking, and atheism, 
 which the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and others, so effectually 
 aided. These, and perhaps other causes combined, threw a great 
 
 
FRANCE. 301 
 
 nation into madness, and created a revolution which rocked the 
 world. 
 
 A state of things arose not only in France, but among all civilized 
 nations, very different from any which ever existed before. " The 
 contemporary world, which lived in this period," says professor 
 Heeren, " calls it 'the revolutionary ; it is as yet, too early to decide 
 with what name it shall be denoted by posterity, after the lapse of a 
 century ; probably, the constitutional ; for the struggle after regular 
 but free constitutions, is the thread that guides through the whole 
 confusion." 
 
 46. Our limits preclude a minute account of.the revolution 
 which was now about to burst forth. Suffice it to say, that 
 the operations of government being nearly suspended for want 
 of supplies, the king was induced to convoke, first an assem- 
 bly of the notables, next the parliament, and afterwards, the 
 parliament and notables together ; but nothing was effected 
 by their measures. At last, the convocation of the states-gene- 
 ral, May 5th, 1789, was resoited to ; but difficulties arising 
 between the branches of which it was composed, the popular 
 branch soon declared themselves the representatives of the 
 people, and constituted the National Assembly. Conciliatory 
 as the language of the king had been, the measures of this 
 body were dictated by a spirit of opposition to his prerogatives, 
 
 The revolution, properly speaking, began with the destruc- 
 tion of the ancient prison of the state, the Bastile, 14th July, 
 1789. This was followed by other excesses on the part of 
 the populace, till Paris became a field of blood. 
 
 The Stales General consisted of three orders nobility, clergy, 
 and the " tiers etat" or commons. With the commons, a small portion 
 of the nobility and clergy united in calling themselves a national 
 assembly. When this measure was adopted, there actually remain- 
 ed of the monarchy only the name. The king and the royal family 
 were obliged to yield to the popular feeling, which demanded their 
 removal from Versailles to Paris. Here, however, the king was with 
 difficulty preserved from violence, which the mob seemed inclined 
 to offer to his person. He attempted to flee at one time, but his 
 flight was intercepted. 
 
 The progress made by the National Assembly at its earlier sit- 
 tings, in the work of reform, was manifested by several important 
 acts, such as the abolition of titles of nobility, and feudal rights 
 the exclusion of the clergy from all judicial functions the suppres- 
 sion of religious houses and vows and the division of France into 
 eighty-three departments. 
 
 In the year 1790, those political societies began to appear, parti- 
 cularly the Jacobin club, which controlled the measures of the As- 
 sembly in s*j remarkable a degree. 
 
 26 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PfcRiUu JL. 
 
 47. Although Louis accepted the new constitution of 1791, 
 which established the equality of all ranks and was other- 
 wise obsequious to the Assembly, yet the Jacobins were 
 clamorous for the abolition of royalty ; and accordingly, the 
 regal government was abolished, and France declared to be a 
 republic, on the 21st of September, 1792. This was done by 
 a new body, called the National Convention, on the first day 
 of its meeting. The views of the enemies of royalty, were 
 not as yet, fully answered. For the king, nothing further 
 was to remain, than in the language of Manuel the re- 
 porter of the commune, " the right of justifying himself 
 before the sovereign people." He and the royal family were 
 immediately imprisoned in the temple. Soon after, he was 
 brought to the bar of the Convention, and being condemned 
 on several charges brought against him, he was sentenced to 
 suffer death, by the axe of the guillotine, which took place on 
 the 21st January, 1793. 
 
 The fate of Louis has been widely commiserated. His 
 character was that of an intelligent and inoffensive man, but 
 he wanted firmness, to stem the torrent of faction. In death, 
 he displayed a manly dignity and fortitude. 
 
 Among the charges alledged against the king, were, his having 
 supplied the enemies of France with money ; his being the author of 
 the war waged on the French territory ; his having conspired against 
 the liberty of the country, &c. &c. He answered the accusations 
 against him, in a self-possessed and dignified manner. 
 
 The man who was the most influential in procuring the destruc- 
 tion of the king, was the Duke of Orleans, one of the princes of the 
 blood, and a monster of wickedness. 
 
 It was a sublime remark, made by the king's confessor to him, as 
 he mounted the scaffold, on which he was executed, " Offspring of 
 St. Louis," he said, " ascend to heaven." 
 
 48. After the death of the king, the " reign of terror," as 
 it has been denominated, commenced in France, under the 
 revolutionary tribunal erected by Robespierre and his associ- 
 ates. Factions soon arose in the Convention, and their mu- 
 tual jealousy led to the most fearful consequences. The san- 
 guinary excesses of monsters in human form, which France 
 for a long time was doomed to suffer, are too shocking to be 
 described. Besides the countless massacres of the rich and 
 noble, and generally of those who opposed the revolutionary 
 fury, the parties in the Convention sought the destruction of 
 
FRANCE. 303 
 
 one another. Each successive faction, as it triumphed, was 
 at length put down, and made to answer with blood, the cruel- 
 ties which it had committed. Thus these execrable wretches 
 became the instruments of inflicting merited vengeance on 
 one another. The Convention, in its acts, outraged decency, 
 and rendered its infamy immortal, by renouncing the Chris- 
 tian religion. The queen of France, Maria Antoinette, 
 perished by the axe, 16th October, 1 793. Madame Elizabeth, 
 gister of the late king, was beheaded 4th February, 1794. 
 
 The human monster who exercised the longest and most terrific 
 sway, was Robespierre, with his villanous accomplices, at first Dan- 
 ton and Marat, and afterwards Collot d'Herbois, Billand-Varennes, 
 Coulthon, and St. Just. The party which was opposed to Robes- 
 pierre in the Convention, called the Girondin, fell under his ruth- 
 less domination. Among them was the infamous Orleans. He 
 smiled at his condemnation, and made but one request, which was, 
 that his punishment should not be delayed until the following day. 
 On his way to execution, he braved the insults of the multitude, 
 whose contemptible idol he had so long been ; and perished with- 
 out the smallest remorse of conscience. 
 
 Robespierre and his party, were at length put down, and of all 
 the actors and victims of the revolution, he suffered the most in the 
 circumstances of his death, and was the least pitied. In attempting 
 to destroy himself with a pistol, he dreadfully mangled his jaw, and 
 while overwhelmed with indescribable agony from the wound, he 
 was conveyed to the place of execution, surrounded by a populace 
 intoxicated with joy. With him perished eighty-three of his as- 
 sociates. 
 
 49. After the fall of Robespierre, the Jacobin clubs were 
 suppressed, and in the course of the succeeding year, 1795, 
 Oct. 26th, the Convention closed its sittings, having been the 
 means, in all probability, of more human suffering than any 
 other deliberative body that ever met. Two days after, the 
 executive power was vested in a Directory of five, and the 
 legislative power in two Councils. 
 
 50. While these transactions, which belong to the internal 
 history of the revolution, were taking place, the external re- 
 lations of France were seriously affected. The republic had 
 waged a desperate war with the adjoining states, from nearly 
 the commencement of the revolution. These states, particu- 
 larly Austria and Prussia, took the part of Louis and his 
 government, from natural sympathy, from a sense of danger, 
 from resentment at the disorganizing principles which the 
 revolutionists disseminated, and from the desire to restore 
 
304 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 tranquillity, and reinstate the king on his throne. The nu 
 nierous emigrants also, consisting of the nobility, clergy, and 
 rich citizens, who had been enabled to escape from the scene 
 of blood, offered encouragement and aid. Accordingly, seve- 
 ral armies marched to the borders of France, but the repub- 
 lic, up to the time of the Directory, not only sustained itself 
 against the efforts of its enemies, but made the conquest of 
 the Netherlands, changed Holland, then perhaps the richest 
 country in Europe, into a dependency of France, and inva- 
 ded Germany. Such was the energy of the republic, tlutt 
 alone, without allies, it had at command, one million of fight- 
 ing men, in the year 1794. 
 
 51. The government of the Director) 7 , continued till 1799, 
 when the executive power was vested in three consuls, 
 of whom the iirst was Bonaparte, the second Cambaceies, 
 and the. third Le Brim. The Directory had been in several 
 instances unfortunate in the field, and the consulate was de 
 signed to restore, and, as we shall soon see, did effectually re- 
 store, the energy of the government. 
 
 The series of hostile efforts, which the different states op- 
 posed to France directed against that country, are termed 
 coalitions. Including both republican and imperial France, 
 there were six of these coalitions with which she contended ; 
 two under the former character, and four under the latter. In 
 these combined efforts, all the nations of Europe were, at one 
 time or another, engaged. 
 
 The first of these coalitions, includes the wars already ad- 
 verted to, and beginning in 1793, it continued till nearly 
 the time of the consulate. In this coalition, England, Spain, 
 and the Stadtholder, were included. France had decuired 
 war against these powers ; and indeed Portugal, Naples, 
 Tuscany, and the Pope, were involved. 
 
 William Pitt, was the founder and head of these combinations, 
 " He was more correct than others in his estimate of the danger, 
 and no less great in character than in talents, he never capitulated 
 with political maxims. Whatever could be accomplished by gold 
 and perseverance, he accomplished." This war was not merely a 
 conflict of arms, but of clashing elements. An express decree of 
 the Convention, announced the introduction of the sovereignty of the 
 people, in every country which its armies should subdue. 
 
 The nature of the warfare carried on by the combined powers, 
 aroused in France a resistance of despair. This called forth, as has 
 already appeared, a reign of terror, with all its cruelties, and all its 
 
FRANCE 305 
 
 vigour, and sanctioned, at the same time, a maxim more momentous 
 and fearful than a series of victories that every citizen is a soldier. 
 
 The success of France in this war, was signal. At length, some 
 ol the powers, as Prussia, Spain, and the grand duke of Tuscany, 
 withdrew from the coalition, and made peace with the republic. The 
 coalition, however, was not entirely dissolved. It was held together 
 by British gold. A foreign commerce, embracing every quarter of 
 the globe, and aided by an oppressive maritime law, oppressive to 
 neutrals, supplied Great Britain, at this critical time, with wealth, 
 which no other nation, ancient, or modern, possessed in an equal de- 
 gree. 
 
 The war of the continent was carried on with the most vigour 
 against Austria ; but the fate of Austria was not to be decided in 
 Germany ; there, the archduke Charles repelled the armies of the 
 republic. It was to be reached through Italy. This country, there- 
 fore, became the principal theatre of the war, in 1796, 1797. Here, 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, in his 27th year, first entered on the splendid 
 and bloody career he was destined to run. To him the command of 
 the army of Italy was intrusted, February 23d, 1796. One cam- 
 paign gave him Italy ; the second, peace. This was the peace of 
 Carapo Formio. Out of the Austrian and Papal provinces in Italy, 
 a new republic was formed, under the name of the Cisalpine Re- 
 public. 
 
 After the peace of Campo Formio, there was no suitable theatre 
 in Europe, for the hero of the day. Egypt, the land of ancient won- 
 ders, was invaded and seized by the conqueror of Italy, 1798. Pre- 
 pared under the mask of an expedition against England, the execu- 
 tion was yet more wonderful than the preparation. No undertaking 
 ever created such immeasurable anxiety in England. Even the 
 great naval victory at Aboukir, could not allay it, though that victo- 
 ry produced important results. England, therefore, was determined 
 not to rest, till Egypt should be torn from France. 
 
 52. The second coalition was formed in 1799, by means of 
 England and Russia. This was a consequence of the victo- 
 ry of Aboukir. Austria, and some other powers, soon enga- 
 ged in it, making it a more extensive combination than the 
 preceding. Prussia, however, maintained its neutrality. Un- 
 der the mismanagement of the directorial government of 
 France, one campaign gave the victorious allies, Italy, Swit- 
 zerland, and Germany ; but they were headed hy the able 
 archduke Charles, and the dreaded Suwarrow. 
 
 A brief account of the situation of Switzerland will now be given, 
 as here a convenient place is found. That country, in the heart of 
 Europe, had succeeded for three hundred years in avoiding all parti- 
 cipation in those great disputes in which the world had been involv- 
 ed ; but it was destined to come within the vortex of the French re- 
 volution. This country became agitated, and the revolution began 
 in the Pays de Vaud, December, 1797. The evils of the federal consti- 
 
 26* 
 
306 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 tution were disclosed ; there was a want of unity, and the burden 
 at last fell almost exclusively on Berne. The French advanced on 
 two sides, with bloody fights ; Berne was overpowered, March, 1798, 
 and the other cantons were conquered, except tiie three smaller. 
 These made an obstinate resistance, and an honourable capkulatk n. 
 The consequence of the French military operations against Switzer- 
 land was, that the Helvetian Republic was proclaimed, April, 1798. 
 Then followed five unhappy years of war and faction, till the French 
 act of mediation, 1803, restored to the Swiss, their federal, but alter- 
 ed constitution. 
 
 It was at the critical period, when the success of the allies, 
 and their approach towards the borders of France, excited such 
 alarm for the fate of the republic, that Bonaparte returned 
 from Egypt and Syria, to Paris, and overthrew the directorial 
 constitution. The directory abdicated ; the deputies of the 
 people were driven asunder with clubs, and Bonaparte was 
 appointed regent, as first consul. The most import ant results 
 ensued. Factions were quelled ; internal enemies were over- 
 awed ; tranquillity was restored; and new energy and life were 
 infused into every department of the government. From (his 
 time, the popular sovereignty was at an end. The military 
 force of the nation was put in a better train, and a scries of 
 victories and conquests commenced, which have no parallel 
 in modern history. Before Bonaparte put himself at the head 
 of the French armies, Russia had seceded from the coalition, 
 and it was necessary to conquer only Austria, on the continent, 
 feebly aided by Naples, and the south of Germany. The 
 great battles of Marengo and Kohenlinden, besides m; 
 smaller ones, brought Austria to terms, and led the way to 
 the general peace of Amiens, 1802. This peace raised Bona- 
 parte to the zenith of his renown. He was soon after elected 
 first consul for life. At this epoch, he might have ruled Eu- 
 rope, without further contests, had he been able to rule himself. 
 Absolute sovereignty only could suffice, and lie was according- 
 y proclaimed emperor of France, in 1804, to which, the next 
 year, he added the title of king of Italy. This elevation was 
 brought about in consequence of a new war, which had com- 
 menced the preceding year, and which is soon to be spoken of. 
 The peace of Amiens was enjoyed throughout Europe; but it 
 was enjoyed only for a short time. This was to have been expected, 
 when the object for which the war had been waged by the coalition- 
 ists, viz. the freedom of Europe, was farther than ever from being 
 secured. Ever England desired peace, inasmuch as she had effected 
 the deliverance of Egypt. This was with her, after the failure of 
 
FHANCE. 307 
 
 the general object, the turning point. She never could consent to 
 see Egypt a colony of France. Egypt was restored to the Porte, in 
 1800, by means of the successes of Abercrombie, and others. 
 
 From the conflict which has been related, France had retired 
 with its interior well ordered and tranquillized, with an increase of 
 territory, and with the restoration of all its colonies. This seemed 
 to be the work of Napoleon, together with the rebuilding of the al- 
 tars, and the establishment of religious liberty. The project of an 
 universal monarchy, was now in a fair way of being realized. 
 Such a project, Napoleon doubtless had formed, but it was defeated 
 by a concurrence of providential circumstances. No potentate in 
 Europe ever had such resources at command. His sovereignty in the 
 inferior, v;as absolute. Abroad, France extended to the Rhine, and 
 beyond the Alps, and the kingdom of Italy fell under Bonaparte's 
 sceptre ; the rest of Italy, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and the Ger- 
 man states on the Rhine, were kept in dependence by alliances, or 
 by fear, and Hanover was occupied by a French army, in the heart 
 of the Prussian monarchy. 
 
 
 
 53. The third coalition against France, was formed in 1805, 
 by England, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. England was 
 centre. A general rising of Europe was, according to 
 Pitt's plan, to reduce France to its ancient bounds, and the in- 
 dependence of the states was to be secured by judicious regu- 
 lations and divisions. England had been at war with France 
 nearly two years before this combination, the peace of Amiens 
 having continued between these nations scarcely a year. The 
 coalition was most unfortunate. The power of Austria was 
 broken at Uhn. and at, Austerlitz, and the peace of Presburg 
 Mowed, 2Cth December, 1805. The expeditious movements 
 of the French emperor, overthrew the whole plan of the 
 allies. 
 
 The war between England and France alone, which commenced 
 in 1803, was brought on by the refusal of England to give up the 
 island of Malta, which is the bulwark of Egypt, and with that island, 
 the dominion of the Mediterranean. France would not concede 
 these points. Though these nations were professedly at war, there 
 were found few points of contact, as the one, at that time, had no 
 power, except on the sea, and the other none except on land. Great 
 Britain swept from the ocean, all the enemy's forces that could be 
 found on that element, and recovered the colonies that had been re- 
 stored to France. Before the conclusion of this war, it was, that 
 the famous naval battle of Trafalgar was fought. 
 
 The first instance of a royal family being dethroned, by a bare 
 proclamation, occurred at Naples ; and Bonaparte, by placing his el- 
 der brother, Joseph, on that throne, laid the foundation of the do 
 uiinion of his family in Europe, 
 
308 MODERN HISTORV. PERIOD X. 
 
 In this war, Prussia obstinately insisting on neutrality, was not to 
 be gained. And yet, without the accession of this power, it was im- 
 possible to make an efficient attack on France j the northern half of 
 which, was protected by Prussia's neutrality. The consequences, 
 however, of the peace of Presburgh, revealed to Prussia, as well as 
 to the rest of Europe, what was to be expected from the gigantic 
 ambition of Napoleon. It was ascertained that neutrality could not 
 be preserved, towards one who wished for none. Prussia stood dj- 
 rectly in the conqueror's way, and its neutrality was violated with- 
 out hesitation, by the march of French troops through one of its 
 provinces. That power began to make preparations after the war 
 had been actually decided at Ulm and Austerlitz. When, however, 
 the Prussian monarch found that according to the treaty of peace, 
 the quiet of northern Germany was to be purchased, on the condi 
 tion that he was to cede to France several provinces, and occupy 
 Hanover in return, thereby exposing himself to a war with Englanu 
 and Sweden, his embarrassment was extreme. But the scales turn- 
 ed in favour of a war with France, and thus arose a new combi- 
 nation, though the old one could hardly be said to have ceased, since 
 Russia had not wholly retired from the field. 
 
 54. A fourth coalition, as it may perhaps be numbered, 
 was soon matured, 1806, which included Prussia, Russia, 
 Austria, Sweden and England. Prussia, which began the 
 war, w r as utterly overthrown by one battle, that at Jena and 
 Anerstadt. Its capital was entered, and here Bonaparte is- 
 sued the Berlin Decree, announcing the blockade of the British 
 islands. The conqueror's army passed into Poland, and the 
 war was thus transferred from the banks of the Soal, to those 
 of the Vistula, where Russia was under the necessity of de- 
 fending its frontiers. In the course of this war, were fought 
 the obstinate and bloody battles of Pultusk, Eylau, and 
 Friedland, with the Russians. The last only was decisive, 
 and led to a peace, which was concluded at Tilsit, 7th July, 
 1807. Peace was concluded two dnys after with Prussia, by 
 which about one half of the monarchy was returned, as a 
 gift of charity, and this once potent nation, was reduced to a 
 state of second rank. Russia gained a small accession of 
 territory, but both nations agreed to close their harbours and 
 countries against British navigation and trade. All was 
 now French law or influence throughout continental Europe, 
 and all was made to bear against Britain. 
 
 By the peace of Tilsit, Russia had been made beforehand, not 
 merely a spectator, but an active participator in the project of crush 
 ing Britain, by excluding it from all trade and communication with 
 the continent. This was done by the secret articles of the peace. 
 
FRANCE. 309 
 
 England, however, anticipated the enemy's dependance on the fleet of 
 Denmark, and effected its surrender, by the bombardment of Copen- 
 hagen. One consequence of this act was, a declaration of war by 
 Russia against England, and another was an alliance of Denmark 
 with France, which was to open to this latter power the road to 
 Sweden. 
 
 The Berlin Decree was met by the British Orders in Council 
 which prohibited every ship from entering any French port, or any 
 port under French influence, under pain of confiscation. This was 
 followed by the Decree of Warsaw, declaring that all British com- 
 modities, in the Hanseatic cities, were confiscated, without respect oi 
 owners. This decree was retaliated by a strict blockade of the Elbe 
 and the Weser. and by the Order in Council, declaring in blockade, 
 ail ports from which the British fla{. was excluded, and that all ships 
 proceeding thither, should be captu ed, unless they had touched at a 
 British port, and paid a duty. This was answered by the Decree ol 
 Milan, by which every ship which should submit to these conditions, 
 was declared denationalized, and a lawful prize. Thus, neutral pow- 
 ers could have no navigation. Afterwards, the mad Decree of Fon- 
 tainebleau, consigned to the flames, all British manufactures from 
 Naples to Holland, and from Spain to Germany. But Europe could 
 not subsist under the operation of such measures. Industry was 
 fatally paralized. 
 
 55. Napoleon, triumphant and powerful, now wished to 
 enlarge the dominion of his family, by appropriating to his 
 remaining brothers, the thrones of Portugal and Spain. 
 Spain was destined to receive his brother Joseph, whom Mu- 
 rat, the "emperor's brother-in-law, was to succeed in the king- 
 dom of Naples. Louis Bonaparte had before been made 
 king of Holland, and Jerome, king of Westphalia. His de- 
 sign on Portugal failed, though its throne was prostrated. A 
 new and greater throne arose, on the other side of the ocean. 
 Under a British convoy, the royal house of Portugal emi- 
 
 ' / / O 
 
 grated to Brazil. His design on Spain succeeded for a time, 
 by his having artfully secured the person of the Spanish mon- 
 arch, and compelling him to resign his crown, in favour of 
 Joseph Bonaparte, 20th June, 1808. 
 
 This act, to say nothing of its moral character, was a political 
 fault on the part of Napoleon ; the first fatal step which he took, 
 towards his subsequent clownfal. He had already the con- 
 trol of Spain, by his influence. " It was done without a 
 knowledge of the country and nation : an universal insur- 
 rection having ensued, it opened the abyss which devoured 
 alike, the French armies, and the French finances ; and it 
 gave England a theatre for war. But it taught Europe that 
 
310 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 'he people are more powerful than mercenary armies, and it 
 was destined to give freedom to another quarter of the globe." 
 The British, who were called to the aid of Spain, in connex- 
 ion with the Spanish forces, carried on the war from 1808, 
 to 1813. Many battles were fought, in which the English- 
 Spanish troops were generally victorious. Here " the Marl- 
 oorough of the nineteenth century," began his brilliant career. 
 The French were eventually driven out of the country. 
 
 56. While the war in Spain, employed the best forces of 
 the French empire, the insatiable conqueror meditated a new, 
 greater, and more formidable war. That was the war with 
 Russia, in 1812 ; a war which decided the destiny of Europe. 
 It is unnecessary to repeat what has already been said con- 
 cerning this terrible conflict, in the history of Russia. 
 
 57. After Napoleon's defeat, he fled to Paris, and raising 
 another army, he hoped to regain the dominion which he 
 had lost in the east. To oppose him, the Fifth Coalition 
 was formed, consisting of Russia, Prussia, Austria, a part of 
 the Confederation of the Rhine, and Sweden. Of this con- 
 flict also, no particular mention need be made here, since the 
 details have been given elsewhere. It may only be said, that 
 the allies carried the war into the heart of France- -that 
 after much and strenuous fighting, they entered Paris, which 
 capitulated, 30th March, 1814 and that with the capital, 
 France was conquered, because in France, the capital is 
 every thing. 
 
 58. The results of these successes of the allied powers, 
 were important, and great changes took place. The situa- 
 tion of Napoleon becoming extremely critical, he abdicated 
 the throne of France, and was removed to the island of 
 Elba. His mighty empire, reared by a military despotism, 
 fell into ruins. And Louis XVIII. , after an absence of twen- 
 ty-three years from his kingdom, returned and took possession 
 of his rightful throne. 
 
 Bonaparte had it in his power, while the allies held a congress 
 at Chatillon, to preserve the throne and empire, had he been satis- 
 fied with ancient France. But it was fortunate that he demanded 
 too much, and even this, as an intercepted letter of his minister, 
 Maret, afterwards showed, was only a deception. After his defeats 
 in defending France, the senate, lately his slave, openly proposed the 
 deposition of Bonaparte, and he himself, not without many useless 
 attempts in favour of his son, descended from the falling throne 
 
PRANCE. 311 
 
 having executed an unconditional abdication on the part of himself 
 and his heirs, 1st April, 1814. He was soon after escorted to Elba, 
 which he received with full sovereignty, with a pension of two and 
 a hall" millions from the revenues of France, and with a body guard 
 of four hundred men. 
 
 Louis XVIII. had spent his time in Italy, Germany, Russia, and 
 finally England. The same month that restored to France her king, 
 beheld three other princes, who had been driven from their thrones, 
 ascend them again. Pius VII., returned to Rome, Ferdinand VII. 
 to Madrid, and Victor Emanuel to Turin. 
 
 59. To restore the political system of Europe, which had 
 been so completely subverted, a General Congress was as- 
 sembled at Vienna, 1st November, 1814. Six of the crowned 
 heads of Europe were present, united in peace as in war, 
 with a long and splendid list of princes, ambassadors, and 
 ministers. While they were engaged in their difficult and 
 important deliberations, an event occurred which was the 
 cause of the sixth and last coalition of the European powers. 
 " The man of destiny" again made his appearance on the 
 bloody arena where he had lately acted so conspicuous a part, 
 but whence, it was hoped, he had been excluded forever. 
 Having escaped from Elba, Bonaparte, after an unparralleled 
 adventure, reached Paris, and re-seated himself on the im- 
 perial throne. A temporary confusion ensued, but the result 
 proved that the army, and not the nation, was the support of 
 that throne. The great day of Waterloo, the 18th June, 
 1815, buried the hopes of Napoleon Bonaparte in the dust. 
 
 The French king, upon Bonaparte's return to Paris, withdrew to 
 Lille, and afterwards to Ghent. He came back to his capital after 
 an absence of one hundred days, and was the second time seated on 
 his throne. 
 
 In the whole career of Bonaparte, nothing was more extraordina- 
 ry than his progress through France, and re-occupancy of the 
 throne. He landed at Cannes, March 1st, 1815, and in twenty days 
 from that time, accompanied with about fifteen hundred men, he 
 reached, though without opposition, the scene of his former triumphs. 
 No blood was spilt. The previous conspiracy seems not to have 
 been very extensive, because the emperor could, and of course did, 
 rely on the assistance' of the troops. They received him witli en- 
 thusiastic shouts. The nation was held in mute astonishment for a 
 time; but it soon became evident that he had lost in a measure his 
 influence over it. Instead of ruling the parties as formerly, he 
 se^ms to have been swayed by them. So much the more energetic 
 were his warlike preparations he could now indulge no hope of 
 peace. 
 
 It was a happy circumstance that the news of Napoleon's return, 
 
312 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD JL. 
 
 reached the congress of Vienna, while still in session. . The most 
 prompt and decisive measures were adopted. By a special act, he 
 was declared the enemy of the nations, and to have forfeited tlu- 
 protection of the laws. Almost every nation in Europe, small and 
 great, combined against the usurper. The sum of all the contin- 
 gents to be furnished, amounted to 1,057,400 fighting men. A Bri- 
 tish-German and a Prussian army were assembled with the utmost 
 speed, under Wellington and Blucher. Napoleon was equally active, 
 and pressed forward across the boundaries with 170,000 men, 15th 
 June, 1815. lie first met "the gray hero" (Blucher,) at Ligny, 
 who, after a bold resistance was forced back to Wavre. Meanwhile 
 the army of Wellington was drawn up at Waterloo. Napoleon 
 commenced the attack at noon, of the 18th June, with a great su- 
 periority. After an awful conflict, the victory was fluctuating at 
 evening, when Blucher appeared with his auxiliaries, at the right 
 crisis, and decided the battle. 
 
 Bonaparte fled to Paris, abdicated anew in favour of his son, ana 
 after fruitless attempts to escape to America, he surrendered himselt 
 to a British ship of the line ; but instead of being permitted to land 
 in England, as he wished, he was transported to the island of St 
 Helena, Oct. 16th, and was detained as a prisoner of war till his 
 death, which happened 5th May, 1821. 
 
 Thus " on an island rock in the midst of the ocean, died, almost 
 unnoticed, the man, whose name but' a short space before, had filled 
 the world. His plans were wrecked ; from the thraldom, which he 
 was preparing for the nations, there sprang liberty in more than 
 one quarter of the globe. Unknown to himself, he was but the in- 
 strument of a higher power; for his- objects were not its objects. 
 Whatever judgement posterity may pass on him, universal his 
 tcry can view him only from this point." He was the author of 
 several valuable institutions, and effected some propitious, changes, 
 not only in France, but in the rest of Europe ; yet they were pur- 
 chased at too dear a price infinitely dearer than if he had taken 
 Washington, and not Caesar, as his model. Like other great con- 
 querors, he sacrificed the repose, liberty, and happiness of millions 
 to his insatiable ambition. 
 
 France, having been conquered the second time, by the second 
 taking of its capital, was required to indemnify the allies for their 
 expenses and sacrifices. She was left a great and a powerful nation, 
 little less diminished in territory than after the first pacification, 
 which fixed her limits nearly as they were in 1789. The indemnity 
 which the allies received, consisted chiefly in money, and in the 
 occupancy of eighteen fortresses, by a portion of their troops, to be 
 supported" at the cost of France. These troops, however, were all 
 withdrawn long before the term agreed on, which was five years. 
 
 Louis XVIII., whose reign was that of a prudent, though ineffi- 
 cient monarch, died in 1824, and was succeeded by his brother, the 
 Count d' Artois, under the appellation of. Charles X. "he prnu-i- 
 pal cv-'tit of the reign of Louis, was the invasion of Spain, in 1823, 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 by a French army under the Duke d' Angouleme, but without a 
 declaration of war, in consequence of the decisions of the congress 
 of Verona, in 1822. This unjustifiable act resulted in the overthrow 
 of the Cortes ; and the despotism of absolute royalty was immedi- 
 ately re-established. 
 
 ITALIAN STATES. 
 
 60. In the history of ITALY, during modern ages, nothing 
 important occurred till the late convulsions, occasioned by the 
 French revolution. The Italian states shared deeply in them, 
 as has already appeared. It may be only added, that the 
 Congress of Vienna, in 1815, decreed the subdivision of Ita- 
 ly, between the house of Austria, the king of Sardinia, the 
 Pope, and the king of Naples. The free republics of Venice, 
 Genoa, and Lucca, have, in consequence, been amalgamated 
 with arbitrary sovereignties ; and Austria is become the pre- 
 ponderating power of Italy. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 61. Philip V., the monarch of SPAIN, at the commence- 
 ment of this period, reigned till the year 1746. During his 
 long rule, the nation degenerated as before, from the opera- 
 tion of a despotic government, a superstitious and cruel reli- 
 gion, aided by the natural indolence of the people. 
 
 In 1717, the Spaniards took Sardinia; but the next year invaded 
 Sicily, without success. 
 
 62. Philip was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand VI., 1746, 
 who was a mild and pacific prince, but whose reign is barren 
 of those events which usually furnish matter for history. 
 The indolent and effeminate Charles III., brother of Ferdi- 
 nand, succeeded him, in 1759, who reigned till the year 1788. 
 The principal events of his reign were, the formation of the 
 family compact, between France and Spain ; the union of 
 these nations against England, in the American war; and 
 their unsuccessful siege of Gibraltar. 
 
 In the siege of Gibraltar, twelve thousand pieces of heavy ordi- 
 nance were accumulated before the place, for the numerous intended 
 attacks by sea and land ; there were, also, in proportion, gun-boats> 
 bomb-vessels, battering ships, military stores, and ammunition. In- 
 deed, nearly all the frigates and smaller armed vessels of the king- 
 dom, were assembled to afford requisite assistance, and the combined 
 fleets of France and Spain, amounting to about fifty ships of the lino, 
 
 27 ' 
 
314 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 were to cover and support the attack. But all this formidable force 
 was employed in vain, from the almost impregnable situation of the 
 'brt. and the valour of its defenders. It seemed as if so many can- 
 non and other means of destruction, playing upon the rock, would 
 have annihilated it all looked like a mass of fire in and around it, 
 but the loss sustained by the besieged was much less than might 
 have been expected, while that of the Spanish and French was im- 
 mense. The mortification which the Spaniards always have felt, ever 
 since this fortress fell into the hands of the English, was greatly in- 
 creased by the unsuccessful issue of this celebrated siege. 
 
 63. Charles IV. possessed the crown upon the death of his 
 father, 1788. He was an inefficient and unfortunate mo- 
 narch. In 1792, he entered into a league against the French 
 republic, but being defeated, he united with France against 
 Great Britain. After the rupture of the treaty of Amiens, 
 Spain professed to be neutral, till the capture of several of 
 her treasure ships, by a British squadron, after which, the 
 weakness of the government led to an insurrection, and Fer- 
 dinand VII. dethroned his father. 
 
 The father and son, under the influence of French intrigue, 
 afterwards appealed to Napoleon', to whom the father formal- 
 ly surrendered his kingdom, at Bayonne, for the purpose of 
 defeating the claims of his son ; who, after being also obliged 
 to sign a renunciation of the throne, was then treacherously 
 detained a state prisoner, at Compeigne, in France. From 
 this period, the situation of Spain, appears in the account al- 
 ready given concerning France. 
 
 Since the restoration of the general peace, Spain has been more 
 unfortunate than any other of the European communities. Abroad, 
 she has lost her colonies in South America ; at home, the horrors of. 
 anarchy and internal war, and, at length, of despotism and the In- 
 quisition, she has been doomed to bear. 
 
 Portugal has experienced scarcely a milder fate than Spain. Its 
 situation since the emigration of the royal family to Brazil, has been 
 singular, and at the present time, is deplorable. A monarch residing 
 in a colony, and governing the parent state, is altogether a novelty 
 in the history of the world ; yet such has been the fact in regard to 
 the emperor of Brazil. At this moment, the despotism of the usurp- 
 er, Don Miguel, is producing consternation and distress among the 
 adherents of the regular government. 
 
 The history of Portugal, from the time of its independence under 
 John, duke of Braganza, in 1664, to the time of the French revolu- 
 tion, is of so little consequence, that it has been omitted altogether. 
 Since the latter period, the incidental notices which have been given 
 of its affairs, must suffice. It may be remarked, that the Portuguese 
 
THE NETHERLANDS. 316 
 
 are still rich in colonial possessions, notwithstanding they have lost 
 most of what they used to hold in Asia. 
 
 THE NETHERLANDS. 
 
 64. The history of the Netherlands, under the name of 
 Holland, was briefly sketched in the period preceding the 
 last. Holland, as including seven united provinces, and as 
 constituting an independent nation, was the most important 
 portion of the Low Countries. The character of its inhabi- 
 tants, as an eminently enterprising and industrious people, 
 also placed them at the head of these countries. In the ages 
 preceding the French re volution, their commerce was exceed- 
 ed by that of no nation, and wealth from this source poured 
 in upon them apace. Their maritime force was consequently 
 extensive, and they had numerous collisions with their great 
 rivals, the British, who were destined, at last, far to surpass 
 them in riches and naval power. 
 
 Towards the latter part of the eighteenth century, it was 
 apparent, that the Dutch were falling from their high eleva- 
 tion. Indolence, luxury, and avarice, the consequence of 
 wealth, had, in a degree, affected this excellent people ; and 
 their spirit, which would otherwise have been invincible, 
 yielded to French intrigue and military enthusiasm, at the 
 era of the revolution. 
 
 The ten provinces, called Belgium, or Flanders, since 
 they were freed from the Spanish yoke, have been usually 
 divided into Austrian, French, and Dutch Netherlands. 
 Prussia, also, has shared in them ; and, indeed, they have 
 often changed masters. They were swallowed up eventually 
 in the great political vortex, to which reference has been so 
 frequently made. 
 
 No space remains for an account of the stadtholders of Holland, 
 since the time of Maurice, who was mentioned in the eighth period. 
 Nor is their history very important, as the stadtholdership was seve- 
 ral times abolished. During the separate times of its existence, it 
 has been held by the princes of the house of Orange. 
 
 65. After the United Netherlands were overrun by the 
 French, in 1795, and the stadtholder and his family were 
 obliged to flee to England, the whole country was oppressed 
 and plundered by the French, and the melancholy spectacle 
 was presented, of ruined commerce and civil discord, with an 
 
316 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 incredible mass of public and individual suffering. Besides 
 misery at home, there was loss abroad ; and Holland, rich in 
 colonies, was stripped of most of them, by means of the re- 
 volutionary wars, in which she was involved. 
 
 / / 
 
 In 1814, the prince of Orange was recalled, and Flanders 
 being annexed to Holland, and forming one kingdom, he as 
 eumed the title of king of the Netherlands. 
 
 The restoration of the state of the Netherlands, was one of the 
 principal points in the restoration ot the political system of Europe, 
 effected by the congress at Vienna. That its fate was connected 
 with the fate of the Belgic, no less than the Batavian provinces, ap- 
 peared from the fact, that Belgium, in the hands of France, first 
 opened the avenue to universal dominion. It was felt to be necessa- 
 ry, to found there a powerful state, which, at least in alliance with 
 Prussia, should be strong enough for its own defence ; and the union 
 of all the Netherlands into one kingdom, was resolved on by the 
 Congress. The sovereign of the house of Orange adopted tha 
 royal title, and gave them a free constitution. 
 
 TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 66. In the history of TURKEY, we perceive the evidences 
 of a rapid decline, from about the commencement of the 
 present period. The people have been extremely depressed, 
 and the nature of their institutions is such as to preclude, in 
 a great measure, the improvements common to the rest of 
 Europe. Some changes have very recently been effected. 
 The discipline of the army has been improved, and the an- 
 cient body of the Janizaries, so formidable to the government 
 and its master, has been broken up by the present energetic 
 Sultan. Yat the empire, as it respects European dominions, 
 is now on the brink of destruction,* from the victorious ca- 
 reer of the Russians. From its conflicts with that people, it 
 has generally retired, shorn of some portion of its territories, 
 and with diminished strength and resources. With Persia, 
 also, it has often fought, but on more equal terms. 
 
 At the commencement of this period, Achmet III. was the 
 reigning Sultan. He was deposed in 1730, since which time, 
 
 * By the late treaty of peace, which the Sultan ratified, on the 20th Septem- 
 ber, 1829, European Turkey is nominally preserved in independence ; but the 
 terms of pacification were so lavouraoie to Kuoom, that the latter enjoys almost 
 every advantage which would accrue from the actual possession of the 
 country. 
 
TURKISH EMPIRE. 317 
 
 there have been seven sultans, viz. Mahomet V., Osman TIL, 
 Mustapha III., Achmet IV., Selim III., Mustapha IV., and 
 Mahmoud II., the present sultan. 
 
 Under Mustapha III., Turkey and Russia engaged in a furious 
 and bloody war, which lasted from 1769, to 1774. By means of a 
 fleet which sailed to the Archipelago, the Russians seized a part of 
 the Morea, whose inhabitants soon rose in a 'general revolt, and de- 
 clared in favour of Russia. But the sultan sent an army to th 
 Peninsula, and quelled the revolt, inflicting the severest punishment 
 on many of the unhappy Greeks. This war was disastrous to the 
 Turks. " 
 
 The war was renewed by Achmet IV., in 1787, and concluded not 
 until 1792, under Selim III. Important concessions were made to 
 Russia. Koutousoff greatly distinguished himself in this war, as 
 did also Suwarrow. It was during the reign of Selim, that Bona- 
 parte invaded Egypt, and the transactions took place in regard to 
 that country, which have been related in the history of France. 
 Achmet, and also his successor, Mustapha IV., were deposed and 
 murdered by the Janizaries. 
 
 The Porte had kept itself remote from the convulsions connected 
 with the French revolution, with the exception of the war with Rus- 
 sia, from 1809 to 1812, which cost it Bessarabia, and a part of Mol- 
 davia. Assisted by the powerful Bashaw of Egypt, the Porte was 
 more active in Arabia, against the Wechabites. than in Europe, the 
 tranquillity of which it is not for its interest to disturb, if it be itself 
 left in quiet. This, however, has not been suffered to be the case, 
 since the year 1821. Since that time, it has had an almost inces- 
 sant struggle with the Greeks, and lately it has been involved in a 
 ruinous war with Russia. 
 
 The inhabitants of Greece, oppressed beyond endurance by the 
 barbarous Turk, and recalling to remembrance their ancient freedom, 
 and their ancient renown, have asserted their rights by arms. An 
 insurrection broke out simultaneously, in almost every section of the 
 territory, and has been pursued on both sides, on the mainland, and 
 on the sea, with a furious rancour. After eight years of unprecedent- 
 ed suffering, Greece has become effectively free, by its own heroism^ 
 and the interference 01 Russia, France and England. 
 
 The insurrection, which has thus terminated in securing the liber- 
 ties of Greece, broke out in the month of April, 1821, in Moldavia, 
 and almost at the same time, in the Morea, as well as on most of the 
 islands of the Archipelago. Of these islands, the naval force was 
 generally superior to the Turkish. At the end of the year 1821, 
 the Turks were driven from the Morea and the islands, with the ex- 
 ception of the garrisons of several strong fortresses. But these por- 
 tions of Greece, have since been repeatedly harrassed by the vindic- 
 tive Turks, till lately, their contest with Russia, for their own exis- 
 tence, has absorbed every other interest. 
 
 27* 
 
318 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 67. At the commencement of this period, Yong-Tching^ 
 of the twenty-second dynasty, occupied the throne of CHINA. 
 Two emperors of this dynasty, which is that of the Tartars, 
 had preceded him, viz. Chun-tsi, and Kang-hi. A revolution 
 in China, which commenced in 1641, brought the Tartars a 
 second time into power ; hut they were not considered as set- 
 tled, till 1649, which is properly the date of the twenty- 
 second, or the present dynasty. The successors of Yong- 
 Tching, have been men-Long, and Kia-Khing. The name 
 of the present emperor is not known to the author of this 
 work. 
 
 In the reign of Yong-Tching, the Jesuits, who first penetra- 
 ted into the empire, in 1683, were banished, and the Christians were 
 persecuted, not excepting those of the imperial family. In the reign 
 pf the same prince, also, an earthquake took place, at Pekin and its 
 environs, such as had never before been felt in China. The first 
 shocks were so sudden and violent, that in less than a minute, above 
 100.000 inhabitants were buried in the ruins of houses, and a still 
 greater number in the surrounding country, where whole villages 
 and towns were destroyed. 
 
 Kien-Long died in 1795, in the ninetieth year of his age, and in 
 the sixty-second year of his reign. It is said to have been a 
 peaceful and happy, as well as long reign. In 1793, the celebrated 
 British embassy, under Lord Macartney, arrived in China, with a 
 view to the establishment of a commercial intercourse between the 
 two countries. An account of this embassy, has been written by 
 Sir George Staunton. In the estimation of Europe, Kien-Long stood 
 at the head of the sovereigns of half civilized nations. 
 
 Kia-Khing died in 1819, at the time when the famous Russian 
 mission, under Timkowski, was approaching the celestial empire. 
 He was the seventeenth son of Kien-Long, and reigned happily. 
 The Russian mission, took notice that the buttons, which are so con- 
 spicuous in the Chinese official costume, disappeared from all the 
 caps of the loyal Chinese and Mongul officers, and that they, as 
 well as their countrymen, adopted a white dress. This, among them, 
 is the mourning colour, for as good a reason, doubtless, as black 
 among the Europeans, blue among the Persians, and violet among 
 the Turks. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 68. Soon after the beginning of the present period, PERSIA, 
 which was governed for a time by the posterity of Tamer- 
 lane, and afterwards hy the Sophis, had the famous Kouli 
 
 
PERSIA. 319 
 
 Khan, or Nadir Shah, for its sovereign. He had been the 
 general of Abbas III., his predecessor, whom it is supposed 
 he poisoned, and thus supplanted the Sophia family. In 
 1739, he invaded India, and conquered the Mogul empire, 
 taking Delhi, acquiring immense wealth, and committing the 
 most horrible massacres. This monster then took the title 
 of Emperor of the Indies, and returning into Persia, attempt- 
 ed to change the religion, and strangled all the priests, after 
 which, in self defence, he was murdered in his tent, by his 
 own officer. 
 
 After his death, Persia was desolated by civil wars, be- 
 tween various rivals for the throne ; but the country, after 
 being exhausted by these events, settled itself under Kerim 
 .Khan, an able prince, of obscure birth, who died in 1779. 
 On his death', Persia again fell into confusion, till the last of 
 his family was overthrown, and the sovereignty regained by 
 Aga Mahomed Khan, in 1794. He delegated the govern- 
 ment to his sons. 
 
 The origin of the Sophis, is connected with a revolution on ac- 
 count of religion, in the end of the fifteenth century. Hadar, or 
 Sophi, a religious enthusiast, restored or established the sect of Ali 
 in Persia, whom he considered to be the successor of Mahomet, rather 
 than Omar. The Persians liking a doctrine that distinguished them 
 from their enemies, the Turks, and being at the same time exempted 
 from the obligation of performing pilgrimages to Mecca, embraced 
 it in great numbers ; and Ishmael, the son of Sophi, following the 
 example of Mahomet, enforced his opinions by the sword. All Per- 
 sia and Armenia submitted to his arms. His descendants ruled till 
 Ihe time of Kouli Khan. 
 
 Persia has been often conquered, yet the form of its government, 
 and the state of society, have continued nearly the same through 
 almost two thousand years. In a late war with Russia, it has lost 
 Considerable territory. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 69. The vast and populous country under the name of 
 INDIA, makes but an inconsiderable figure in history. Doubt- 
 less, many subjects of an interesting nature might be found, 
 could the modern historian have a fair opportunity of research ; 
 but few have, as yet, appeared, and these in so detached a 
 manner, that a regular account cannot easily be given of the 
 events in Indian history. The mention of this country, sepa- 
 rately from others, has accordingly been omitted till the pre- 
 
320 
 
 MODERN HISTORY.- PERIOD X. 
 
 sent period. Indeed, it has little claim on our attention, in an 
 outline of general history, till very modern times. The few 
 details that can be afforded, both of its earlier and later histo- 
 ry, will appear below. Like most other Asiatic countries, it 
 has been often and easily conquered, but without materially 
 affecting the form of its government, or its manners and cus- 
 toms. Successive dynasties have ruled over most of the ori- 
 ental nations, but they have left the latter where they found 
 them. So far back as authentic records carry us, we find 
 among the people, little or no advances made in civilization, 
 refinement, or knowledge. They are the same in indolence, 
 effeminacy, and luxury, that they were two thousand years 
 ago ; not ignorant, yet without a spirit of enterprise ; accom- 
 plished in certain arts, yet incapable of learning others. 
 
 India was but little known to the ancients. Alexander the Great, 
 first invaded, though he did not conquer it, except in part. The 
 country was afterwards visited by Seleucus, to whose share it fell 
 in the partition of Alexander's empire ; and Antiochus the Great, 
 two hundred years subsequently, made a short expedition thither. 
 
 The Arabians penetrated into Hindoostan, about 710, and founded 
 an empire extending to the Ganges, which, in 1155, was usurped by 
 the Persians. After this, followed the march of Genghis Khan, 
 who is said to have given the name of Mogul, to India ; and subse- 
 quently, the conquering career of Tamerlane, both of which have 
 been elsewhere mentioned. The descendants of Tamerlane enjoy- 
 ed no more than the northern parts, till after 1498, when sultan Ba- 
 ber subdued almost all the country, except the Deccan, Grezerat, 
 and Bengal. 
 
 Aureng Zeeb, who reigned between 1660 and 1707, conquered 
 Bengal, and the greater part of the Deccan. At his death, he left 
 an empire of great extent, and producing a revenue of more than 
 35,000,000 sterling. But a succession of weak princes and wicked 
 iriinisters reduced this vast empire, in the course of fifty years, to in- 
 significance. In 1739, Hindoostan was invaded by Kouli-Khan, wh( 
 annihilated the Mogul empire. It was, however, afterwards reviv- 
 ed, for a time, but soon fell into decay, and can now be scarcely sah~ 
 to exist. 
 
 The British are now the principal possessors of India. Their d( 
 minions in India have been created, first, by the establishment of 
 factories for trade ; 2d, by wars made upon the natives by the resi- 
 dents of those factories ; and lastly, by the capture of the Portuguese, 
 Dutch, and French colonies in India. 
 
 The British Indian dominions, which were extensive before, and 
 which began as early as 1757, have been greatly increased withh 
 the last thirty or thirty-five years. A statement, somewhat recent 
 makes the number of square miles of territory, under British jurhr 
 diction or influence, 776,000, and the population not less than eight] 
 
UNITED STATES. 321 
 
 six millions. To the above it must be added, that their Indian do- 
 minions have been lately increased by a portion of the Burman em- 
 pire, in -consequence of a war with the latter. 
 
 The government of this immense country, is vested in a Governor 
 General, and a council of four, appointed by the British crown, who 
 reside at Calcutta. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 70. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, which, at the be- 
 ginning of this period, were in a colonial condition, assumed 
 before the conclusion of it, their separate and equal station 
 among the nations of the earth. It was with them an era 
 of great events, and the change from colonies to a state of 
 independence, though it lay in the natural course of things^ 
 was equally unexpected and instructive to the world. 
 
 The colonies enjoyed a degree of tranquillity from the 
 peace of Utrecht, to the year 1744. In that year, a war 
 breaking out between Great Britain and France, America was 
 involved in it, the result of which was the capture of Louis- 
 burgh, on the island of Cape Breton, a place of great strength. 
 This conquest was effected principally by the troops of Mas- 
 sachusetts. A small proportion of the soldiers was furnished 
 by the other New England states. The place, however, was 
 restored to France, by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. 
 
 After the peace of Utrecht, the French had built Louisburgh, as a 
 security to their navigation and fishery, and had fortified it at a vast 
 expense. Twenty-five years had been spent upon the fortifications, 
 and though not entirely completed, they were considered the strong- 
 est in America. It was deemed indispensable to take this fortress, as 
 it aiforded a convenient resort to such privateers as disturbed the New 
 England fisheries. Accordingly, efforts were made to engage the co- 
 lonies in the enterprise, and circulars were addressed by the govern- 
 ment of Massachusetts to the colonies as far south as Pennsylvania 
 for their assistance. But New England alone undertook the expedi- 
 tion. Massachusetts furnished nearly three fourths of the troops, who 
 were placed under the command of General Pepperell. 
 
 Their success was peculiar and almost unexpected. With some as- 
 sistance from an English fleet, they brought the French to the neces- 
 sity of surrendering the city of Louisburgh and the island of Cape 
 Breton tc the British king, after a siege of forty-nine days. 
 
 71. In 1746, a powerful French armament was sent against 
 America with a view to revenge the loss of Louisburgh ; but 
 by means of shipwrecks, sickness, and other disasters, it pro- 
 videntially failed of its object. The peace of Aix-la-Cha- 
 
822 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 pelle now took place, which lasted eight years, or until 1756 
 For several succeeding years, powerful efforts were made on 
 the part of the Americans and British, against the places and 
 forts occupied by the French, particularly Louisburgh, Ti- 
 conderoga, Crown Point, Fort du Quesne, (Pittsburgh,) and 
 Niagara. This war, which commenced in 1756, and ended 
 in 1763, is commonly called the French and Indian war. 
 Success eventually attended the Americans and British, and 
 by the peace of Paris, in 1763, all the Canadas, together with 
 Nova Scotia, and the island of Cape Breton, were confirmed 
 to Great Britain. George Washington, the future deliverer 
 of America, first came into public notice during these con- 
 tests. 
 
 The French armament consisted of forty ships of war, fifty-six 
 transports, with three thousand five hundred men, and forty thousand 
 stands of arms, for the use of the French and Indians in Canada. 
 The consternation of the colonies, as might be expected, was great ; 
 but Providence, by the means above mentioned, dispelled their fears, 
 and blasted the hopes of their enemies. 
 
 The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which followed this attempt, 
 left the respective parties, as to their rights and possessions, the same 
 as they were at the commencement of the war. Great losses, how- 
 ever, had been sustained by the colonies in their commerce, and their 
 pecuniary concerns were in a very embarrassed state. The return ot 
 this peace, and its continuance through eight short years, altered the 
 aspect of the colonies much for the better. Commerce again flourished, 
 population increased, settlements were extended, and public credit re- 
 vived. 
 
 The French and Indian war was occasioned by the alleged en- 
 croachments of the French upon the frontiers of the colonies in Ame- 
 rica, belonging to the British crown. Besides the encroachments that 
 were made on Nova Scotia, in the north and west they were settling 
 and fortifying Crown Point, and in the west, were not only attempt- 
 ing to complete a line of forts from the head of St. Lawrence to the 
 Mississippi, but were intrenching far on Virginia. 
 
 By an understanding between England and the colonies, hostili- 
 ties were carried on between the latter and the French during two 
 years, without any formal proclamation of war. The Virginians, 
 who were particularly concerned in the beginning of these hostilities, 
 entrusted to George Washington the difficult and dangerous service 
 of going to the French commandant on the Ohio, a distance of 
 geveral hundred miles, through a wilderness, to demand of him tne 
 reasons of his hostile conduct, and to summon the French to evacu 
 ate their forts at the west. He was then but twenty-one years of 
 age, and at that early period stepped forth the champion of his coun- 
 try's rights. He executed his errand, but the result showed the ne- 
 of force, which w; s accoxdin^ly resorted to under the com- 
 
UNITED STATES. 323 
 
 mand ol Washington. He met with partial success, bat the superior 
 number of the enemy obliged him at length, after surrendering a 
 .ibrt he had taken, to retire to Virginia. 
 
 This was as early as 1754, but in the spring of 1755 more vigorous 
 exertions were made by the colonies against the enemy. Four ex- 
 peditions were planned one against the French in Nova Scotia ; a 
 second against the French on the Ohio ; a third against Crown Point ; 
 and a fourth against Niagara. The expedition against Nova Scotia, 
 which consisted of three thousand men, chiefly from Massachusetts, 
 met with entire success. The expedition against the French on the 
 Ohio was disastrous in the extreme. It was led bv Gen. Braddock, 
 a British officer, at the head of two thousand men. His rashness, 
 hauteur, and ignorance of the mode of Indian warfare, cost him his 
 own life, and that of hundreds of his brave companions. Refusing 
 to take counsel of Washington, he suffered himself to be ambuscaded 
 by a body of French and Indians, who would have destroyed his 
 whole army, had it not been saved by the skill and intrepidity of 
 Washington, his aid on that occasion. The expedition against Crown 
 Point, though it failed as to its main object, yet its results were 
 cheering to the colonies after the gloom occasioned by Braddock's 
 defeat. A body of the enemy which had landed at Southbay, now 
 Whitehall, and which were marching towards Fort Edward to de- 
 stroy the provisions and military stores there, were signally defeated 
 by the Americans under the command of Gen. William Johnson. 
 The expedition against Niagara -was eventually abandoned, on ac- 
 count of the lateness of the season and other unfavorable circum- 
 stances. 
 
 After hostilities had been conducted in this manner for two years, 
 war was declared in 1756 by Great Britain against France, and soon 
 after by France against Great Britain, in turn. The operations of 
 the British till the year 1758 were singularly unsuccessful, through 
 the indecision of the commander-in-chief, the earl of Loudon ; but 
 a change in the English ministry that year, which placed Lord Chat- 
 ham at the head of the administration, materially altered the aspect 
 of affairs. Of three expeditions which were planned and carried 
 into effect in the course of the year, two, viz. those against Louis- 
 burgh and Fort du Q,uesne, succeeded. That against Ticonderoga 
 failed. 
 
 The campaign of 1759 had for its object, the entire conquest of 
 Canada. Accordingly, it was determined on the part of the English 
 and the colonists to attack all the strong holds of the French in that 
 country viz. Ticonderoga and Crown Point, Niagara and Quebec. 
 These were taken in due time, three armies having entered Canada 
 by different routes, nearly at once. The conquest of Quebec was 
 the most important and difficult enterprise undertaken during this 
 war, and has been greatly celebrated through the heroism and death 
 of each of the opposing commanders-in-chief, Wolfe and Montcalm. 
 Wolfe died in the field before the battle was ended, but he lived long 
 enough to know that the victory was his. The words " they fly " 
 caught his ear, as he was sinking in the agonies of death. " Who 
 
324 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 fly," the hero asked. The French," was the reply. Then," said he, 
 " I die happy." Montcalm, in talents, in military skill, and in personal 
 Talour, was not inferior to Wolfe. He lived, after receiving a mortal 
 wound, to be carried to the city, where his last moments were employ 
 ed in writing, with his own hand, a letter to the English general, 
 recommending the French prisoners to his care and humanity. 
 
 72. We come now to the most important period of the 
 American history, that of the Revolution, when the colonies 
 passed from a state of dependence on the Britisli Crown, 
 into free and independent communities. The long che- 
 rished democratic principles realized by the constitutions of 
 most of the provinces, a consequent weaker political connex- 
 ion with the mother country, and the feeling of growing 
 strength, already tried in the seven years' war, were among 
 the causes of the struggle after independence. Nothing 
 was wanting but an occasion for a breach, arid that could 
 not long be wanting. 
 
 73. The origin of the dispute was not so much in any 
 sensible oppression, as in a question of right. Had the 
 British parliament a right to tax the colonies ? Parliament 
 maintained the affirmative ; the colonies denied it, on the 
 ground that they were not represented. Representation and 
 taxation, according to their views, were inseparable. If their 
 property could be taken without their consent, they had no 
 safety. 
 
 74. Tlie dispute arose as early as 1764, occasioned by an 
 act, the avowed purpose of which was to raise a revenue 
 in America without her consent. The famous stamp act 
 followed, March 22d, 1765. This act was peculiarly ob- 
 noxious in its character, aside from the principle which it 
 involved, as a revenue measure. The immediate conse- 
 quence was a great commotion in all the colonies, especially 
 in Massachusetts and Virginia, and a congress was convened 
 at New York in October, which published a declaration oi 
 the people's rights. The stamp act was repealed March 19, 
 1766 ; but the principle was at the same time confirmed, by 
 the bill, declaring the supremacy of the parliament in all 
 cases whatever. 
 
 The stamp act came into operation on the first of November, 1765. 
 In Boston and Portsmouth, the day was ushered in by a funeral 
 tolling of the bells. In the latter place, in the course of the day, a 
 coffin, with appropriate decorations, and inscribed with the word 
 Liberty, was carried to the grave. During the movement of the 
 mourniDg procession, rriinvte guns were fired j and an oration \\as 
 
 
UNITED STATES. 325 
 
 pronounced in favour of the deceased. Similar expression* of griet 
 and indignation, occurred in many parts of the land. In soie places, 
 the stamp officers were obliged to resign, or to secrete themselves, to 
 escape the vengeance of the people. Stamps were not permitted to 
 be landed, and ausiness in many places was conducted without them. 
 At the same time, numerous associations were formed by merchants 
 not to import goods until this odious act was repealed. In this 
 measure they were sustained by the people, who submitted with the 
 utmost cheerfulness to the necessary self-denial. 
 
 75. In agreement with the British doctrine, the ministry 
 soon after attempted to effect its object by means of indirect 
 duties. These were laid on tea, paper, glass, and colours, by 
 the revenue act, June, 1767. The proceeds of these duties 
 were to form a civil list for America, which should be wholly 
 at the disposition of the ministers, for conferring remunera- 
 tions, pensions, (fee. The opposition to this form of taxation, 
 and to every form, being renewed, especially in Boston, 
 which was the centre of the resistance, Lord North abrogated 
 these duties, except the one on tea, in 1770. By this reser- 
 vation the right of taxation was explicitly asserted ; but as 
 the Americans, by voluntary agreement, would make use ot 
 no British commodities, the tea which was brought to thij 
 country could not be sold. The East India Company conse- 
 quently became embarrassed ; and after the repeal of the ex- 
 port tax in England, attempted to gain the Americans by a 
 cheaper price. But, nevertheless, measures were adopted to 
 prevent the importation of tea, and a cargo of it was forcibly 
 seized and thrown into the harbour in Boston, Dec. 26, 1773. 
 
 76. The measures adopted by the Americans, impelled Eng- 
 land to resort to severer acts. These consisted not only in 
 shutting the harbour of Boston, but in regulations by which 
 the charter of Massachusetts was annihilated. It was these 
 regulations which created -the general insurrection, since 
 each colony now saw no security for its former constitution. 
 The Boston port bill was passed, March 25th, 1774. The 
 town was soon occupied by the British troops. 
 
 By the " Boston port bill," that town was precluded from the privi- 
 lege of landing and discharging, or of loading and shipping goods, 
 wares, and merchandise. The bill which destroyed the charter of 
 Massachusetts, made the appointment of the council, justices, judges, 
 &c. dependent on the crown, or its agent. Another bill was after- 
 wards passed, authorizing and directing the governor to send any 
 person indicted for murder, or any other capital offence, to another 
 colony, or to Great Britain, for trial. The indignation occasioned by 
 these acts was extreme. As an expression of their sympathy with 
 28 
 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 the people of Boston in their distress, the house of burgesses in Vir- 
 ginia ordered, that the day on which the Boston port bill was to 
 take effect, should be observed as a day of fasting and prayer. 
 
 77. Great harmony prevailed among the provinces, and a 
 Congress, consisting of deputies from eleven of them, was 
 opened at Philadelphia, Sept. 5th, 1774, which resolved to 
 suspend all commercial intercourse with England, expressing 
 at the same time all dutifulness to the crown. England was 
 thus brought to the alternative of making concessions or a 
 civil war. It chose the latter ; and, notwithstanding the elo- 
 quence even of Chatham and Burke, parliament proclaimed 
 the provincials rebels. 
 
 The name by which this congress is generally known, is " The 
 Continental Congress." After the arrival of the delegates from 
 North Carolina, twelve colonies were represented. Although the 
 power of this congress was only advisory, their resolutions were ap- 
 proved, not only by the people, but also by the authorities, whether 
 established or provincial ; and exerted a commanding influence in 
 consummating that union among the colonies, which had been in- 
 creasing for a number of years. This congress finished their busi- 
 ness, and dissolved themselves in less than eight weeks. It was re- 
 commended by them, that another congress should be assembled in 
 case of necessity. 
 
 78. Hostilities began by the battle of Lexington, 19th 
 April, 1775. New troops arrived from England in May. It 
 was Jioped that a few regiments would be sufficient to put 
 down opposition so profoundly ignorant was the British 
 ministry of the spirit which had been aroused in America. 
 
 The battle of Lexington commenced by an unprovoked attack, 
 from a detachment of British soldiers, who had been sent to destroy 
 the American military stores at Concord, on a few militia who were 
 assembled at Lexington, on account of the alarm occasioned by this 
 movement. Eight of these were killed, and several wounded. The 
 detachment after this went forward, and effected their object ; but the 
 news of the occurrence at Lexington, spreading with the utmost ra- 
 pidity from place to place, brought together the militia in considera- 
 ble numbers, who revenged the deaths of their countrymen, by firing 
 upon the British, from behind walls, hedges, and buildings. The 
 enemy, who lost nearly three hundred men, was astonished and mor- 
 tified by the resistance it met with from the Americans, while the 
 latter were greatly encouraged in their opposition to tyranny. The 
 intelligence of this battle kindled the spirit of war through the length 
 and breadth of the land. 
 
 79. The war, thus rapidly commenced on the part of th< 
 colonies, was soon signalized by the surrender of Ticondero- 
 ga and Crown Point, and by the memorable battle of Bun 
 ker's Hill An expedition led by Arnold and Montgome 
 
CNITED STATES. 327 
 
 against Canada, in Oct. 1775, which was at first successful, 
 at length proved fruitless, and the forts which had been taken, 
 in the progress of the invading army, were, one after another, 
 given up and lost. The war, in general, necessarily became, 
 From its nature, a defensive war ; and who but the modern 
 Fabius, was capable of waging it ? " The greatness of 
 Washington was not founded on splendid talents, but on la- 
 borious years not on quick success, but on enduring perse- 
 verance." 
 
 The battle of Bunker's Hill, although the Americans were obliged 
 to retire from the redoubt they had hastily thrown up, had all the ef- 
 fect of a victory. It showed that America was invincible. It taught 
 the people the importance of stricter discipline, and greater prepara- 
 tions. This battle was fought the 17th of June, 1775, and cost the 
 British, in killed and wounded, one thousand and fifty-four men. The 
 Americans lost, in the whole, four hundred and fifty-three men. 
 
 As military opposition to Great Britain was resolved upon, it be- 
 came necessary to select a leader. This was done by the second 
 continental congress, which met at Philadelphia the 10th of May. 
 The choice unanimously fell on George Washington, who was at 
 that time a member of the body. Several major-generals and brig- 
 adier-generals, were then likewise appointed. The arrival of Wash- 
 ington at Cambridge, to take command of the American army, dif- 
 fused through it universal joy. He soon introduced order and system 
 into the army, and manifested, in all his military operations, that 
 wisdom and that caution, which were more important to America, 
 than his known personal bravery. 
 
 In the northern expedition, the attack on Quebec was unsuccess- 
 ful; and, to the great loss and grief of the, colonies, fatal to the brave 
 Montgomery. Incredible hardships and difficulties had been previ- 
 ously encountered by the army which Washington had despatched, 
 under the command of Arnold. In the same year, 1775, Lord Dun- 
 more, the royal governor of Virginia, obliged to retire from the soil 
 by fear of the provincials, proceeded with an armed naval force to re- 
 duce the town of Norfolk to ashes. The loss of property to the in- 
 habitants was great. Royal government generally terminated this 
 year throughout the country. 
 
 In consequence of Washington's operations, in taking possession of 
 and fortifying Dorchester heights, which commanded the harbour of 
 Boston and the British shipping, the enemy suddenly evacuated the 
 place. This gratifying event happened on the 17th of March, 1776. 
 Washington and his army entered Boston immediately, with every 
 form of victory and triumph. 
 
 The same year, in the south, an unsuccessful attempt was made by 
 Gen. Clinton, and Sir Peter Parker, to destroy the fort on Sullivan's 
 Island, near Charleston, S. C. After an action of upwards of ten 
 hours, the British were obliged to retire, having their ships greatly 
 shattered, and with a loss of two hundred men killed and wounded. 
 
$28 MODERN HISTORY.- -PERIOD X. 
 
 80. It was not long before the idea of an entire separation 
 from England, suggested by the vindictive measures which 
 that country had employed, found every where a hearty re- 
 ception in America. In that event only, was aid to be hoped 
 for in Europe. Accordingly, the thirteen United States were 
 declared independent, 4th July, 1776. After this decisive 
 step, but one happy blow was wanting to give the colonies 
 allies in Europe. That was realized by the capture of Bur 
 goyne and his troops, on the 16th Oct. 1777. This joyful 
 event had been preceded by a period of gloom and disaster in 
 the middle states, while Washington* with the shadow of an 
 army, enfeebled, dispirited, and destitute almost of clothing 
 and necessaries, was closely pursued by a powerful British 
 force through the Jerseys while the enemy had come in 
 possession of the city of New- York, Long Island, Staten Isl- 
 and, and Rhode Island and while the inauspicious opera- 
 tions at Brandywine and Germantown, rilled every American 
 with terror. This sad picture, however, was relieved by the 
 firmness of Congress by the uniform, cautious valour^ and 
 steady perseverance, of the commander-in-chief and by his 
 successes at Trenton and Princeton. Upon the capture of 
 Burgoyne, the French court acknowledged the independence 
 of the United States, and declared war against England. 
 France had Spain and Holland for its allies ; and the war 
 on their part became at first a contest for the dominion of 
 the ocean. On this element the French contended with 
 more glory than usual. But the fate of America, as the 
 event has proved, was to be decided on the continent. 
 
 The idea of independence had not been long broached among the 
 people before the way, in some degree, was prepared to bring the 
 subject before Congress. Accordingly, on the 8th of June, 1776, 
 Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, made a motion before that body, to 
 declare America free and independent. Some reasons existed for 
 delaying the subject for a few weeks, at the expiration of which, viz. 
 on the 4th of July, upon the report of a committee of which Thomas 
 Jefferson was the head, -the thirteen confederate colonies, by their 
 delegates, dissolved their allegiance to the British Crown, and de- 
 clared themselves Free and Independent, under the name of the 
 Thirteen United States of America. This was a decisive and bold 
 step, and constitutes an era in history. It has been the means, in 
 connexion with the eventual success of the struggle, of giving to 
 several other nations liberty and independence. Mexico, and most 
 of the states of South America, have followed this example. 
 
 The period of disaster and gloom which followed in respect to 
 American affairs, deserves a summary notice. Washington, in anti- 
 
 
UNITED STATES. 329 
 
 sipation of the movements of the British, left Boston with his army, 
 and proceeded to New-York, with a view to occupy the latter place. 
 Here his army amounted to between seventeen thousand and eighteen 
 thousand men, a part of whom were encamped near Brooklyn, on 
 Long Island. The enemyxsoon after arrived by sea, with a superior 
 force, and on the 27th of August attacked, with success, that part of the 
 American army which was encamped near Brooklyn. The loss of a 
 thousand of his best troops was most sensibly felt by the commander - 
 in-chief. He soon after evacuated the city, upon which, on the 12th 
 of October, the British army entered it. At White Plains, whither 
 Washington had retired, he was attacked on the 28th of September, by 
 Generals Clinton and Heister. The loss here was several hundreds, 
 and about equal on both sides. 
 
 It is to be remarked, that previously to these recent battles, many 
 of the Americans, in this region, deserted the cause of their country, 
 in consequence of offers or threats held out by his majesty's govern- 
 ment, in several proclamations which were issued at mis period. 
 These occurrences produced a disheartening effect on the people. 
 
 The strong places in the vicinity of New-York were now taken by 
 or given up to the enemy, among which was Fort Washington, which 
 surrendered with nearly three thousand men, after nearly a day's se- 
 vere contest. The American army, now greatly reduced by the 
 return of the militia, (for it was composed of the militia or troops en- 
 listed for a year only,) by sickness, and other casualties of war, 
 crossed the North River into New- Jersey. On the 22d November, 
 the whole force under the command of Washington, did not exceed 
 three thousand five hundred. With this small number, the American 
 general tied before a superior force, under Lord Cornwallis ; and 
 even this remnant of an army was diminished on its march to the 
 Delaware by the expiration of the term of enlistment of the Jersey 
 and Maryland brigades. On crossing the Delaware in the early part 
 of December, General Washington had only about seventeen hundred 
 men. 
 
 Notwithstanding the general aspect of affairs, on the part of Ame- 
 rica, was thus forbidding and gloomy, the continental Congress, so far 
 from betray ing symptoms of despair, manifested more confidence than 
 ever in the cause of their country ; as a proof of which, we may notice 
 the fact, that at this time they were calmly occupied in drawing up 
 various articles of confederation, and perpetual union, among the 
 states. These were adopted on the 4th of October. At the same 
 time, also, the great mass of the American people remained firm and 
 determined in the cause of independence. Congress having become 
 sensible of the impolicy of short enlistments, and a reliance on the 
 irregular services of the militia, determined by bounties of ready 
 money, and promises of land, to raise eighty-eight battalions, to serve 
 during the war. 
 
 Washington, now aware of the necessity of some immediate favoura- 
 ble turn in his military operations, not only to save Philadelphia, which 
 the enemy evidently intended to possess, but to arouse the spirit of the 
 nation, and to secure an army for the succeeding campaign, boldly 
 28* 
 
330 
 
 MODERN HI* 
 
 '. PERIOD X. 
 
 resolved, even with his shadow of an army, to attempt a surprise ot a 
 Dody of Hessians, encamped at Trenton. This he completely effected 
 on the morning of the 26th of December, after suffering great hard- 
 ships in his march, and in crossing the Delaware, in a cold stormy 
 winter night. Many of the Hessians were killed, and more than nine 
 hundred taken prisoners. Having secured these prisoners on the Penn- 
 sylvania side of the Delaware, and re-crossed to Trenton, where he 
 was met by a superior force under Cornwallis, he escaped by a won- 
 derful stratagem, marched to Princeton, and attacked a party of the 
 British, of whom he killed sixty, and took three hundred prisoners. 
 These successes alleviated the gloom which had settled upon the 
 public mind. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the exertions that had been made, the Ameri- 
 can army amounted to little more than seven thousand at the opening 
 of the campaign of 1777. The British, after an indecisive course, 
 some time in the month of August took up their march to Philadel- 
 phia, from the South, having sailed around into the Chesapeake. At 
 Brandy wine, on the llth of September, the Americans met them, but 
 were unsuccessful, having lost probably more than a thousand men 
 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. On the 26th, the British entered 
 Philadelphia without molestation. As, however, a part of their army 
 was stationed at Germantown, six miles from that city, a battle 
 occurred there on the 4th of October, but with defeat again on the 
 part of the Americans. The plan of attack by Washington was 
 judicious, and the commencement of the battle favourable, but failure 
 finally ensued from the inexperience of a part of the troops, and the 
 occurrence of a fog, which increased the darkness of the night. 
 
 The capture of Burgoyne's army had a most important effect on the 
 destiny of America. A part of his force, in pursuance of the plan of 
 operations, which was to invade the states from the north, having 
 been detached to seize a magazine of stores at Bennington, Vermont, 
 was gallantly met and totally defeated, by a party of Vermont troops 
 and some New-Hampshire militia. This loss seriously embarrassed 
 the British commander : he resolved, however, to proceed, and meet- 
 ing the American army under the command of General Gates, at Sa- 
 ratoga, after a succession of contests, he was obliged to capitulate with 
 his whole army, consisting of five thousand and seven effective men. 
 This event increasing the probability that the American arms would 
 finally triumph, decided France to espouse the cause of the United 
 States, and to declare war against Great Britain, as already stated. 
 
 81. The countenance and aid which France offered to the 
 cause of liberty, filled America with rejoicing ; but Washing- 
 ton, however much assisted by the French auxiliaries under 
 Rochambeau, and La Fayette's generous enthusiasm, has the 
 glory of having struck the decisive blow. He surrounded 
 Cornwallis at Yorktown, who was forced to capitulate, Oct. 
 19, 1781, with more than seven thousand prisoners of war. 
 This event had been preceded by considerable fighting du 
 
UNITED STATES. 331 
 
 ring two or three years, though no very vigorous fueasures 
 had been taken on the part of the Americans, and also by 
 numerous depredations on the part of the enemy. The 
 financial state of the country had also been, in the meantime, 
 peculiarly distressing. After the capture of Burgoyne, Eng- 
 land could entertain no more hope of reducing America, and 
 it required only a change of ministers to produce a peace, 
 which was accordingly done. The independence of the 
 United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, and pre- 
 liminaries of peace were signed Nov. 30, 1782, which were 
 changed into a definitive peace, Sept. 3, 1783. 
 
 On the alliance of America with France, it was resolved in Great 
 Britain immediately to evacuate Philadelphia, and to concentrate the 
 royal force in the city of New York, which was accordingly executed. 
 Washington, penetrating the enemy's design, marched in pursuit of the 
 retreating army. On the 28th of June, the two armies engaged at Mon- 
 mouth, and after a severe contest, in which the Americans, upon the 
 whole, obtained the advantage, were separated only by the night. In 
 the morning, it was found that the British general had left the field 
 for New York. 
 
 Hitherto the conquest of the states had been attempted by proceed- 
 ing from north to south : but before the close of the year 1778 that 
 arrangement was changed, and the southern states became the prin- 
 cipal theatre of the enemy's operations. Savannah, and with it the 
 state of Georgia itself, soon fell into the power of the English under 
 Col. Campbell, who was sent thither at the head of two thousand 
 men. Nothing decisive occurred during the campaign of 1779, on 
 either side. Actuated by motives of plunder, the British fitted out 
 an expedition from New York to Virginia, which took possession of 
 large naval stores, magazines of provisions, and great quantities of 
 tobacco. A similar expedition, under the command of Gov. Tryon, 
 was projected against several sea-port towns of Connecticut. New 
 Haven suffered from pillage ; and East Haven, Fairfield, Norvvalk, 
 and Green Farms, were wantonly burned. 
 
 During this campaign there was scarcely an important expedition 
 attempted by the Americans against the English. Two only need be 
 named, viz. one under Gen. Wayne, against Stony Point, on the 
 Hudson, and the other under Gen. Sullivan, against the Six Nations, 
 both of. which were successful. The deficiency of exertion on the 
 part of America during this campaign, was owing principally to two 
 causes. One was, the failure of the French fleet in every scheme un 
 dertaken in behalf of the Americans. This operated by way of dis- 
 couragement, since much had been expected from that quarter. Ano- 
 ther cause, still more strongly operating, was the daily depreciation 
 of American money, consisting of bills of credit. It has commonly 
 been called " continental currency." From the state of public finan 
 ces, Congress seemed to be under the necessity of adopting some 
 such expedient, and accordingly emitted bills of credit, representing 
 
332 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 specie, under an engagement of the country ultimately to redeem 
 them, by an exchange of gold and silver. These, in the course of 
 five years, or up to the year 1780, amounted to the immense sum of 
 two hundred millions. But long before they had reached that 
 amount, they had begun to depreciate, till finally they became of little 
 or no value. Under these circumstances, it was with the greatest 
 difficulty that an army could be raised, and necessaries provided for 
 its subsistence. This system produced many other evils, but they 
 cannot here be enumerated. 
 
 In 1780, Charleston, the capital of South Carolina, after a gallant 
 resistance, fell into the hands of the enemy. The state was, in a 
 measure, overawed by the British force .which was kept there in dif- 
 ferent garrisons, but the spirit of liberty often broke forth in attacks 
 upon the enemy. After there was a sufficient concentration of force, 
 by the arrival of Gen. Gates and his army at ihe south, the Ameri- 
 cans ventured a general battle with the enemy, but were repulsed 
 through the unpardonable failure of the militia. This occurred at 
 Camden on the 16th of Aug. 1780. 
 
 While the campaign of 1780 was thus filled with important events 
 in the southern department, it passed away in the north in a series 
 of disappointments and distress. The treachery of Arnold had at 
 one time nearly proved fatal to his country. He himself escaped, 
 but the victim of his measures, Major Andre, a British spy, who was 
 engaged in the negotiation between Arnold and the enemy, expiated 
 his crime on the gallows. 
 
 General Greene having succeeded Gen. Gates in the southern army, 
 soon after his appointment despatched Gen. Morgan against Tarle- 
 ton, in South Carolina, between whom was fought the memorable 
 battle of Cowpens, in which the Americans obtained a signal victory. 
 This occurred on the 17th of Jan. 1781. On the 8th of March fol- 
 lowing, General Greene and Lord Cornwallis joined battle at Guilford 
 Court House, in which the Americans were repulsed. Several othe 
 battles took place in the south, in which, although the Americans were 
 generally defeated, the force of the enemy was so weakened, that it 
 retired to Charleston, leaving the rest of South Carolina in the 
 hands of the Americans. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis had now directed his march towards Virginia, 
 and having received considerable reinforcements, the expectation was 
 indulged that this state would soon yield to his arms. The Marquis 
 de la Fayette having been previously despatched to Virginia, to co- 
 operate with a French fleet within the waters of that state, in the 
 capture of Arnold ,who was committing depredations there, was soon 
 called to oppose Cornwallis. Prudence forbade him from risking an 
 engagement with the superior force of the enemy, and Cornwallis, 
 after having in vain sought to give him battle, retired to Yorktown, 
 near the mouth of York river. 
 
 It was at Yorktown where the scene of the revolution was substan- 
 tially closed. Washington, joined by Count de Rochambeau, drew 
 off his forces from New York, where he had at first designed to at- 
 tack Clinton, and marched towards Virginia. Here he was joined bv 
 
UNITED STATES. 333 
 
 the troops under La Fayette, and a French fleet commanded by Count 
 de Grasse, and being in sufficient force to attempt the siege of York- 
 town, on the 6th of October it was commenced in form. The French 
 fleet had proceeded up to the mouth of York river, to prevent Corn- 
 wallis either from retreating or receiving assistance. Seldom, if 
 ever, during the revolutionary struggle, did Washington or his troops 
 appear before the enemy with more cool determination, or pursue him 
 with more persevering ardour, than at the siege of this place. The 
 result we have already mentioned. Upon this event the Americans 
 indulged in the most enthusiastic joy, and the names of Washington 
 Rochambeau, De Grasse, and La Fayette, rang through the land. 
 
 On the 3d of Nov. 1783, a little more than two years after the bat- 
 tle at Yorktown, the American army was disbanded, and the great 
 Washington bid a final adieu to the partners of his toils and his vic- 
 tories. The gratitude of America to her providential deliverer knew 
 no bounds. 
 
 82. The new republic at first languished under its liberty. 
 The first constitution, which was formed during the war, cre- 
 ated a federal government without strength and without 
 credit. But the constitution of 1789, which is the present 
 form of government, gave it a very desirable degree of soli- 
 dity, and based the public credit on a system of finances for 
 the union. Under this constitution Washington was chosen 
 the first president, in which character he was no less essen- 
 tial to the welfare of the country, than in that of a general 
 " The Union can, perhaps, be preserved only by having great 
 men in the first offices." This is the judgment of the liberal 
 and learned historian, Heeren. Commerce felt the first great 
 influence of the new republic, and almost all the maritime 
 nations hastened to form treaties with it. The consequence 
 was, that wealth and prosperity poured in upon the country 
 apace. Seldom can a nation so increase, because it is seldom 
 so favoured by circumstances. America, preserving its neu- 
 trality during most of the European maritime wars, had such 
 a vast carrying trade, especially between the West Indies 
 and Europe, that its commercial navigation was hardly sur- 
 passed by that of the British. 
 
 The evils existing under the early confederacy, after the termina- 
 tion of the revolutionary struggle, were so great, that there was im- 
 minent danger of losing all that had been gained. The powers of 
 the government were in general small, and in respect to so vital a 
 point as the payment of the public debt, contracted during the war, 
 Congress could only recommend to the individual states to raise 
 money for that purpose. In this and in other things there was by no 
 means entire union among the states, and especially owing to mutual 
 jealousies and the want of power, were they obliged to suffer from 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 ie regulations of foreign governments in respect to trade. Tnis 
 condition of things led to the consideration of a stronger bond of union, 
 imong these independent communities. 
 
 That bond was found in the Federal Constitution, which was 
 resented to Congress on the 17th of September, 1787, who shortly 
 ifter sent it to the several states for their consideration. It had been 
 Irawn up by commissioners from the states, who on the 19th of 
 
 tay assembled at the city of Philadelphia, with Washington at their 
 
 lead. By the terms of the instrument, it was to be carried into ope- 
 ration by Congress, as soon as nine states should have ratified it. Its 
 fate was at length settled by the adoption of it, on the part of eleven 
 states. From this time the attention of all classes of people, Fede- 
 ralists and anti-Federalists, (those in favour, and those against the new 
 Constitution,) was directed to Washington, as their first president. 
 
 te was accordingly elected to that office on March 3d. 1789. 
 
 The acts of his administration were, as it might be expected, emi- 
 nently wise ; though some of them were carried through, not without 
 difficulty, owing to the spirit of party that had begun to arise. He 
 rvas subjected at times to unjust censure, though the event proved, 
 that the vast majority of his fellow citizens could not forget their 
 obligations to so distinguished a benefactor of his country. After the , 
 first term of his office expired, he was unanimously elected president 
 of the nation for a succeeding term, notwithstanding his wishes for 
 retirement. Among the more important events that occurred during 
 Washington's administration, we may summarily name the following, 
 viz. the disturbances between the Indians and the whites on our fron- 
 tiers the difficulties growing out of the mission of Genet, the French 
 envoy, who sought to entangle America into an alliance with the 
 French republic the suppression of the slave trade in American 
 ports the admission of three states into the union, Vermont, Ken- 
 tucky, and Tennessee the negotiation of Mr. Jay's treaty, by which 
 
 the frontiers were secured against the remorseless savage and the 
 insurrection in Pennsylvania, occasioned by duties laid on home- 
 made spirits. 
 
 83. John Adams, of Massachusetts, was chosen the suc- 
 cessor of Washington in 1797. He retained the presidency 
 during only one term. Some of the measures of his admi- 
 nistration were peculiarly offensive to those who had been op- 
 posed to the policy of Washington, and the federal party ; 
 and the political strife which had been for some time begun, 
 greatly increased, until Mr. Jefferson, the opponent of Mr. 
 Adams, was placed at the head of the government. This 
 took place in 1801. Under Adams's administration, the ag- 
 gressions of the French republic were repelled with spirit- 
 preparations were made for war but, happily, at the very 
 crisis, a treaty of peace was concluded at Paris, September 
 30th, 1800, under the auspices of Bonaparte. Mr. Jefferson, 
 
 
i 
 
 y T^ 
 
 UNITED 
 
 after nis .first term of office had expired, 
 for another term. The times of peace and prosperity, which, 
 with few abatements, were enjoyed under the former admi- 
 nistrations, continued till nearly the close of his. 
 
 It was perhaps impossible for the United States always to 
 continue on terms of amity with the belligerent powers of 
 Europe. Disputes arose both with France and England, es- 
 pecially with the latter, who saw in America a formidable 
 rival. These disputes finally impelled the states to have re- 
 course to the unexampled resolution of a voluntary suspension 
 of their own commerce. On the 22d of December, 1807, 
 Congress passed an act laying an embargo on all vessels 
 within the jurisdiction of the United States. This was fol- 
 lowed, March 1st, 1808, by an act interdicting commercial 
 intercourse with France and Great Britain. This restrictive 
 plan continued, in respect to France, until the 2d of Novem- 
 ber, 1810, and in respect to Great Britain, with one short 
 suspension, until April 4th, 1812, when an embargo was laid 
 on all American vessels, preparatory to a war with the latter 
 power. It was hoped, on the part of the American govern - 
 ment, that a suspension of all commercial relations with the 
 belligerents, would induce them to rescind those edicts by 
 which they had annihilated neutral rights on the ocean ; but 
 this failing ultimately in respect to Great Britain, war ensued 
 between that power and the United States a declaration of 
 which was made by Congress on the 18th of June, 1812. In 
 this contest, the young American navy gained a glorious 
 distinction, the army did less, the capital itself became the 
 spoils of the English, but New Orleans was defended with 
 courage and success. The negotiations at Ghent led, in a 
 happy hour, to a much needed peace, 14th December, 1814 
 The war took place during the presidency of Mr. Madison, 
 who was inducted into the office in 1809. Mr. Madison, like 
 Mr. Jefferson before him, served through two terms of the 
 presidential office, retiring in 1817, when he was succeeded- 
 by James Monroe. The principal events that marked the 
 administrations of Jefferson and Madison, besides those above 
 noticed, were, under Mr. Jefferson the admission of Ohio 
 into the Union, the conclusion of the war with Tripoli, the 
 revolutionary projects of Col. Burr, and the purchase of Loui- 
 siana; and, under Mr. Madison the establishment of the Bank 
 
336 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 of the United States, and the admission of Louisiana and In 
 diana into the Union. 
 
 A few details only can be given respecting the war with Great 
 Britain. The principal grounds of war, as set forth in the presi- 
 dent's message, were -the impressment of American seamen by the 
 British the blockade of her enemy's ports, supported by no adequate 
 force, in consequence of which the American commerce had been 
 plundered in every sea, and the great staples of the country cut off 
 from their legitimate markets and the British orders in council. 
 Both Congress and the country, during the whole period of the con- 
 tention, were very much divided respecting both the justice and the 
 expediency of it. The nation was not well prepared for the under- 
 taking, and especially was the want of officers at first severely felt. 
 
 The commencement of the war, in the operations against Canada, 
 was marked by disaster. General Hull, who had been sent at the 
 head of two thousand and five hundred men to Detroit, with a view 
 to putting an end to Indian hostilities in that country, surrendered his 
 whole army to General Brock, without a battle, and with it the Fort 
 at Detroit. This event occurred on the 16th of August. The battle 
 of dueenstown, which soon followed, was bravely fought, and ap- 
 peared at first to be successful, but by successive reinforcements the 
 enemy at length gamed the day. The brave British commander, 
 General Brock, was, however, killed during the engagement. This 
 battle was fought on the 13th of October, 1812. 
 
 But while disaster attended the operations of the Americans on 
 land, victory crowned the efforts of their infant navy. The charm 
 of British invincibility on the ocean, was almost, for the first time, 
 broken. Capt. Isaac Hull, of the frigate Constitution, obtained the 
 first triumph over the enemy on his own peculiar element, in the 
 capture of the British frigate Guerriere. This occurred about the 
 middle of August, 1812. On the 17th of October another victory was 
 obtained by Capt. Jones, of the sloop of war Wasp over the Fro- 
 lick. Before the expiration of the month, Commodore Decatur, of 
 the frigate United States, captured the Macedonian, a frigate of the 
 largest class, mounting forty-nine guns, and manned with three hun- 
 dred men. And. finally, just at the close of the year, a second victo- 
 ry was achieved by the Constitution, then commanded by Com. 
 Bainbridge, over the Java, a frigate of thirty-eight guns, but carrying 
 forty-nine. 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1813, a battle was fought at the 
 t river Raisin, between a detachment of the north-western army un- 
 der Gen. Winchester, and a superior force of British and Indians 
 under Gen. Proctor, the result of which was fatal to the Americans, 
 since, upon their surrender as prisoners of war, nearly all of them 
 were inhumanly massacred by the Indians. 
 
 During the winter, another naval victory was obtained by the 
 Americans, in the capture of the sloop of war Peacock, by the Hor- 
 net, under Capt. Lawrence. This, however, was followed on the 1st 
 of June, by the loss of the Chesapeake, under the same officer, who 
 had been promoted to the command of it, in an engagement with the 
 
 
UNITED STATES. 337 
 
 Shannon, off Boston harbour. The Argus, also, was soon after cap- 
 tured by a British ship of war. This, however, was but a temporary 
 ill success of the American navy. No other considerable vessel, ex- 
 cept the Essex, under the command of Com. Porter, after this, fell 
 into the hands of the enemy ; while on the part of the Americans, 
 beside victories in single ships, two several fleet engagements ended 
 in the complete triumph of the American navy. These occurred, 
 the one on Lake Erie, under Com. Perry, and the other on Lake 
 Clmrnplain, under Com. Macdonough. 
 
 In the early part of the spring of 1813, a successful attack was 
 made by the Americans upon York, the capital of Upper Canada, 
 which fell into their hands. In this battle, the brave Gen. Pike per- 
 ished. On the sea-board, during this year, the British shipping in 
 our waters blockaded several important places, and made a number 
 of predatory excursions, in which much property was plundered and 
 destroyed. In the north-west, success attended the Americans un- 
 der Gen. Harrison, and Detroit fell into his hands. This event gave 
 security to the frontiers. A more extended plan of attack on Cana- 
 da was now formed by the American army under Gen. Wilkinson ; 
 but, from various causes, very little was effected. During the re- 
 mainder of the year, several events of importance occurred as the 
 capture of Washington, and the destruction of the public buildings 
 of the place, and the defence of Baltimore. But we can give no 
 more details respecting this war, except to add, that the battle of New 
 Orleans, tinder Gen. Jackson, occurred on the 8th of Jan. the succeed- 
 ing year, after negotiations for peace had been set on foot with the 
 promise of success. 
 
 84. The war with England failed of its immediate object, 
 but it showed us our strength and our weakness, and perhaps 
 tended to consolidate our union. It caused us to feel the ne- 
 cessity of a navy, and, connected with the previous prohibi- 
 tions of commerce, gave an impulse to our manufacturing 
 industry. With the return of peace, our trade was diffused 
 over every sea. The presidency of Monroe continued through 
 two terms, and was an era of good feelings. Five states were 
 added to the union during his administration. But the period 
 of internal concord and good will soon came to a close. Party 
 altercations arose in the choice of Mr. Monroe's successor, 
 John Q. Adams, in 1825, and have continued with more 01 
 less violence, under the administration of President Jackson, 
 who was elected to the high office in 1829. The measures, 
 however, of these officers have been approved by respectable 
 majorities of the American people. It may be remarked, gene- 
 rally, that amidst unexampled prosperity, party spirit has too 
 often raged; not without danger to the republic, but love of 
 country has in the end prevailed. Thus, we trust, it ever will 
 29 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD x. 
 
 be, through the favoring providence of God. He has been 
 better to us as a nation, than either cur deserts or fears would 
 have led us to expect. 
 
 Soon after the conclusion of the war, the attention of congress was 
 turned towards the establishment of a national bank. The subject 
 presented great difficulties at ttie time ; but the measure was carried, 
 and a bill, incorporating the "Bank of the United States," received 
 the signature of President Madison on the 10th of April, 1816. The 
 capital of the bank was fixed at thirty-five millions of dollars, and its 
 duration, twenty years. Great efforts have lately been made to obtain 
 a recharter of the institution, but they have all hitherto failed. 
 
 Soon after the accession of President Monroe, he made a tour 
 through the northern and middle states, which, besides the great pub- 
 lic objects he had in view, in respect to the defence of the Atlantic 
 board, served very much to conciliate the affections of all classes of 
 his fellow-citizens. 
 
 Early in the presidency of Monroe, an expedition, which had been 
 set on foot by a number of adventurers from different countries, against 
 East and West Florida, was terminated by the troops of the United 
 States. These adventurers claimed to be acting under the authority 
 of some of the South American colonies, and had formed an establish- 
 ment at Amelia Island, a Spanish province, then the subject of nego- 
 tiation between the United States and Spain. Their avow 7 ed object 
 being an invasion of the Floridas, and of course an invasion of a part 
 of the United States, the American government deemed itself autho- 
 rized, without designing any hostility to Spain, to take possession 
 of Amelia Island, their head quarters. Accordingly, a naval force, 
 with the necessary troops, was despatched under the command of 
 Captains Henley and Bunkhead, to whom Amelia Island was surren- 
 dered on the 24th of December, without the effusion of blood. The 
 suppression of Galvezton, a similar establishment on an island off 
 the coast of Texas, followed soon after.* 
 
 The states which were admitted into the union during the adminis- 
 tration of Monroe, were Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and 
 Missouri. Mississippi was received in Dec. 1817. Some parts of 
 it had been early visited and settled by the French. They claimed 
 the countiy until the treaty of 1763, when they ceded their posses 
 sions east of the river to the English. Illinois adopted a state cor 
 stitution in 1818, and in the same year was admitted as a member of 
 the union. The first settlements in Illinois were made by the French, 
 and for a time, they were in a flourishing condition. Afterwards, 
 however, they fell into decay. In 1762, all the country to the east of 
 the Mississippi was ceded to the British ; Illinois of course passed 
 with the rest. After the war of the revolution, Virginia and some 
 other states claimed the whole country north and west of the Ohio, 
 but they saw fit at length to relinquish their claims to the general 
 government. Alabama was admitted into the union in the latter parl 
 of the year 1819. This country continued the hunting ground ol 
 * Goodrich's History of the United States 
 
 
UNITED STATES. 33* 
 
 savages, until some time after the American revolution. In 1817 the 
 eastern portion of the Mississippi territory, which included wha- 
 are now the states of Mississippi and Alabama, was formed into a 
 territorial government, and received the latter name. Maine was 
 admitted as an independent state into the union, in the year 1820. It 
 had been a part of Massachusetts, and after several ineffectual at- 
 tempts to obtain a majority of its people in favor of a separation, the 
 object was accomplished in the year 1819. The separation took place 
 amicably. Missouri was declared by the president's proclamation, 
 to be an independent state, and a member of the federal union, in the 
 year 1821. Missouri with Louisiana remained in the possession of 
 Spain through the war of the revolution, until the cession of the whole 
 country to France in 1801, by which latter power it was ceded to the 
 United States in 1803. The admission of Missouri into the union 
 was attended with some difficulty, on account of a bill which was in- 
 troduced into congress, providing for the interdiction of slavery in 
 that state. Warm debates arose, and the matter was settled only 
 through a compromise, by which slavery was tolerated in Missouri, 
 and forbidden in all that part of original Louisiana lying north ol 
 36 30' north latitude, and beyond the limits of the state. 
 
 An Indian war of some importance was carried on in 1818, under 
 the presidency of Monroe. It is called the Seminole war, as a tribe of 
 Indians of that name were principally concerned in it. It ended in their 
 complete discomfiture. They consisted originally of fugitives from 
 the northern tribes, resident within the southern states, and were then 
 living partly on the borders of Florida, but mostly within the bounda- 
 ries of that country. They had made aggressions on the white habi- 
 tants of the United States, and had been guilty of repeated murders. 
 This state of things determined the government of the country to 
 inilict an exemplary chastisement on the barbarous offenders. An 
 armed force was sent for this purpose, and after pursuing the enemy 
 into Florida, and taking possession of several Spanish forts, the dif- 
 ficulty was terminated by their complete dispersion. Gen. Jackson 
 was the leader in this war. He rendered a signal service to his 
 country, but some parts of his conduct were deemed highly excep- 
 tionable, by a portion of the community. His appeal to the people of 
 West Tennessee, calling for volunteers instead of applying to the 
 governor for a draft of the militia his course in relation to the trial 
 and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two Englishmen, who 
 were charged with giving encouragement and aid to the Indians 
 and his occupation of St. Marks and Pensacola were subjects much 
 commented upon in the public prints, and eloquently debated in the 
 American congress. The general escaped the censure of that body, 
 notwithstanding the efforts that were made to cast a stigma upon his 
 conduct. 
 
 In the year 1819, a convention was concluded between Great Bri- 
 tain and the United States, some of the articles of which were, that 
 the citizens of the United States have liberty, in common with the 
 subjects of Great Britain, to take fish, on the southern, western, and 
 northern coast of Newfoundland, &c. that the northern boundaiies 
 
340 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X 
 
 of the United States should extend from the Lake of the Woods u 
 the Stony Mountains and that the commercial convention betweei 
 the two countries concluded at London, in 1815, should be continue* 
 for the term of ten years. 
 
 In the year above named, (1819,) Spain, by its minister at Wash- 
 ington, ceded to the United States, East and West Florida, with al 
 the islands adjacent. This country, which was discovered as earb 
 as 1497 by Cabot, was held first by the Spaniards, next by the En- 
 glish, and then by the Spaniards again. Its cession to the Unitet 
 States was accompanied not without vexatious delays on the part oi 
 the Spanish government. It was not until a forcible execution of the 
 treaty which had been made, but not ratified, was about to be pro- 
 posed by the United States, that the treaty was ratified by his Catho- 
 lic Majesty. As an indemnity to the citizens of the United States, 
 on account of Spanish spoliations and injuries, a sum not exceeding 
 five millions of dollars was to be paid by the American government, 
 out of the proceeds of sales of lands in Florida, or in stock, or money. 
 
 During the administration of President Monroe, a territorial go- 
 vernment was formed for the Arkansas, and for Florida, the former 
 in 1819 and the latter in 1822. The Arkansas was the southern part 
 of what in 1812 constituted the Territory of Missouri. A division 
 of the territory was made in 1819, the northern district being called 
 Missouri, and the southern formed into a territorial government by the 
 name of Arkansas. 
 
 In the second session of the seventeenth congress. President Monroe 
 introduced to the notice of congress, the subject of the piracy prac- 
 tised in the West Indies upon American seamen, and recommended 
 the immediate organization of an efficient force to suppress it. Mea- 
 sures were soon adopted by the government to put a stop to this in- 
 famous business, and the object was promptly effected under Commo- 
 dore Porter, who sailed with a competent naval force to the scene of 
 the depredations. 
 
 The year 1824 was signalized by the visit of the Marquis L 
 Fayette to this country. He was accompanied by his son, and M. L 
 Vasseur, his secretary. Landing at New York, he was receivec 
 with the most enthusiastic feelings of admiration and gratitude. Du- 
 ring his stay in this country, he visited almost every important part 
 of it, and in every place he was welcomed, as emphatically the na- 
 tion's guest. The important services which he rendered to the Unitec 
 States in the war of the revolution, were thus rewarded with the he 
 mage of a great people ; while the American congress responded tc 
 the public demonstrations of respect, by voting him two hundrec 
 thousand dollars, and a township of land, as a compensation for his 
 services and expenditures. In the autumn of 1825 he took passage ii 
 the ship Brandy wine for France, where he has since figured in man] 
 
 interesting scenes. 
 
 The presidency of John Q,. Adams, which commenced in 1825, 
 and continued for one term only, encountered a bitter storm of oppo- 
 sition from the beginning. Party spirit too far gained the ascendancy 
 to allow full justice to the measures of his administration. This may 
 
 
UNITED STATES. 341 
 
 6r sougnt partly from the circumstances under which he came into 
 office. The choice of president not being settled by the electoral vole, 
 devolved on the house of representatives. Mr. Adams was chosen by 
 this body, but inasmuch as Gen. Jackson had a plurality of votes in 
 the electoral college, many conceived that injustice was done to the 
 general, and to the expectations of the country, and that the election 
 of Mr. Adams was effected by bribery and corruption. Notwithstand- 
 ing the difficulty of his situation, he secured a large share of respect, 
 not only personally, but as an executive officer. The agitating sub- 
 ject of the tariff of duties on imports, was extensively discussed du- 
 ring the term of his administration, and some of its principles were 
 settled, at least, for a time. 
 
 Andrew Jackson took the oath of office as president of the United 
 States, on the fourth of March, 1829. The country was at that time 
 in a flourishing condition, peace was enjoyed abroad, and the national 
 debt had been greatly diminished. He entered upon the performance 
 of his duties with energy and decision ; but the causes of collision and 
 oarty alienation which had sprung up in connection with the election 
 )f his predecessor, have continued at woik to the present time, and 
 ^resented serious obstacles to the execution o-f his plans. The cha- 
 /acter of his admin istraiion hitherto has been strongly marked, and 
 tie seems destined to achieve most of the objects which he has had at 
 heart. 
 
 President Jackson's cabinet consisted of Martin Van Buren as 
 secretary of state, John D. Ingham as secretary of the treasury, John 
 H. Eaton as secretary of war, John Branch as secretary of the navy, 
 and John M'Pherson Berrien as attorney-general. This cabinet con- 
 tinued but a little more than two years, when it was dissolved in a 
 manner that occasioned great surprise throughout the country. 
 
 A favorite measure with President Jackson, has been the removal 
 of the Indians in the southern states, beyond the limits of the republic, 
 to be congregated into a community by themselves, under the care of 
 the general government. In the contests which the state of Georgia 
 has had with the tribe "of Cherokees within her borders, and with the 
 United States, on the subject, Gen. Jackson has ever favored the pre- 
 tensions of that state. On the 24th May, 1830, a bill for removing 
 the Indians passed the house of representatives, by a vote of 102 to 97. 
 Arising out of this controversy, history has to record the surprising 
 fact, that three Christian missionaries, Messrs. Butler, Trott, and 
 Worcester were sentenced by the superior court of Georgia at Law- 
 renceville, to four years imprisonment at hard labor, in the peniten- 
 'iary, for residing in the territory occupied by the Cherokees, Avithout 
 taking an oath to support the constitution and laws of Georgia. It is 
 consoling, however, to know, and it will appear on the page of history 
 to the latest time, that the supreme court of the United States decided 
 in the case of these missionaries, that the law of Georgia under which 
 they were imprisoned, and by which the state assumed jurisdiction 
 over the Indian territory, is contrary to the laws and treaties of the 
 United States, and therefore null and void. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1831, a treaty was made between the 
 29* 
 
342 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 United States and the Creek Indians, by which the latter 
 the United States, all their lands east of the Mississippi river. In 
 the same year, the ratification of the treaties of commerce, navigation, 
 and of the limits between the United States and Mexico, was ex- 
 changed at Washington. In June, of the same year, a bill for the 
 further relief of the surviving offices and soldiers of the American 
 revolution, having passed both houses of Congress, received the sig- 
 nature of the president. The same year was further signalized by the 
 new tariff act, which passed the senate by a vote of thirty-two to 
 sixteen, and also by the act which extended the charter of the Bank 
 of the United States, but which, though passed by the senate, by a vote 
 of 28 to 20, and the house of representatives, by a vote of 105 to 83, 
 was returned by President Jackson to the senate with his objections 
 to signing it; and less than two thirds voting for its passage, was re- 
 jected. 
 
 On account of the laws respecting the tariff, difficulties of a serious 
 nature arose between the general government and some parts of the 
 union, particularly South Carolina. In the month of October, 1832, 
 an act passed in the legislature of that state, requiring " a convention 
 of delegates of the people of that state to assemble at Columbia, on 
 the 3d Monday of November, then and there to take into considera- 
 tion the several acts of congress of the United States, imposing duties 
 on foreign imports for the protection of domestic manufactures, or for 
 other unauthorized objects; to determine on the character thereof, 
 and to devise the means of redress ; and further in like manner to take 
 into consideration such of the acts of said congress, laying duties on 
 imports, as may be passed in amendment of, or substitution for, the 
 act or acts aforesaid, and all other laws and acts of the government 
 of the United States, which shall be passed or done for the purpose 
 of more effectually executing and enforcing the same." 
 
 The convention of delegates of the state of South Carolina thus 
 assembled at Columbia, passed an Ordinance, (unless the acts of 
 congress imposing duties on imports should be repealed.) declaring 
 and ordaining " that the several acts and parts of acts of the congress 
 of the United States, purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties 
 and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities, and now 
 having actual operation and effect within the United States, and more 
 especially, 'An act entitled an act, in alteration of the several acts 
 imposing duties on imports, approved on the 19th of May, '1S2S, arid 
 also an act entitled an act, to alter and amend the several acts im- 
 posing duties on imports, approved on the 14th of July, 1832,' are 
 unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate 
 the true meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void, and no 
 law, nor binding upon this state, its officers or citizens- and all pro- 
 mises, contracts, and obligations, made and entered into, or to be made 
 and entered into, with the purpose to secure the duties imposed by 
 the said acts, and all judicial proceedings which shaH be hereafter 
 had in affirmance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and void." 
 
 Soon after the meeting of congress on that year, President Jackson 
 issued his proclamation, stating his views of the constitution and laws 
 
applicable to tae measures adopted by the convention of South Caro- 
 'ina, and to the reasons put forth to sustain them, declaring the course 
 which duty would require him to pursue, and warning the people of 
 South Carolina of the consequences which must result from the ob- 
 servance of the dictates of the convention. 
 
 This document was well received in most parts of the United 
 States, as it addressed itself to the patriotism of the people, and 
 gave a correct exposition of the principles of the constitution. The 
 president soon after communicated a message to congress, laying 
 before it the acts and proceedings of South Carolina, giving informa- 
 tion respecting the measures which he had already taken for the 
 collection of the revenue, and suggesting such further measures as 
 he deemed necessary. Following this communication, a bill for col- 
 lecting the revenue, called the " enforcing bill," passed in the house 
 of representatives, after an animated debate of several weeks. This 
 occurred on the first of March. 1833, and on the eleventh of the same 
 month, the state convention of South Carolina assembled, and in the 
 course of a few r days passed two ordinances. The first repealed the 
 nullification ordinance of the .preceding year, and most of the laws 
 passed by the legislature, in pursuance thereof. The other was an 
 ordinance to nullify the late act of congress, further providing for the 
 collection of the national revenue. 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 85. The provinces of SOUTH AMERICA, which were colo- 
 nized by Europeans, continued, with little variations in their 
 circumstances, from the time of their settlement, to the con- 
 vulsions attending the French revolution. Those convul- 
 sions, inasmuch as they affected the parent countries, also 
 reached them. Within the present century they have be 
 come independent sovereign states, generally with republican 
 governments, resembling that of North America. Brazil, 
 belonging to the Portuguese, having ceased to be a colony, is 
 styled by its ruler, an empire. The Spanish provinces had 
 a long struggle for liberty and independence, which they 
 have attained, so far as concerns the interference of the 
 mother country. If our information be correct, all of 
 them have not yet agreed on permanent forms of govern- 
 ment. Seven states are already enumerated among the 
 free governments of the South, viz., 1. Colombia ; 2. La 
 Plata ; 3. Chili ; 4. Mexico ; 5. Peru ; 6. The Capitania of 
 G uatimala ; 7. Bolivia, formed out of the provinces of Upper 
 Peru. 
 
 The struggle for freedom in the Spanish provinces, did not origi 
 
344 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 nate in the intention of an entire separation from the Spanish throne, 
 but from resistance to the usurpation of Napoleon and his brother. 
 The insurgents were, therefore, no more rebels, than the Spaniards 
 themselves. But they were as unwilling to be ruled by Spanish 
 Juntas, as by their viceroys, in whom they could not confide. Like 
 the Spanish, they established Juntas of their own, during the im- 
 prisonment of their lawful king. Meanwhile, after the erection of 
 the regency in the mother country, and after its refusal to comply 
 with their just demands, they would not recognize its authority, nor 
 that of the Cortez assembled by it ; upon this they were declared 
 rebels. After the accession of Ferdinand VII., they had gone toe 
 far to retreat. His violence and insincerity finished the rest. 
 
 Distinguished Characters in Period X. 
 
 1. Addison, an elegant English essayist and poet. 
 
 2. Newton, a most profound mathematician and philosopher. 
 
 3. Boerhaave, a skilful and learned Dutch physician. 
 
 4. Pope, an eminent English poet. 
 
 5. Swift, distinguished as a wit, poet, and prose writer. 
 
 6. Montesquieu, a Frenchman, a great political philosopher. 
 
 7. Edwards, an illustrious American metaphysician and 
 divine. 
 
 8. Hume, a Scotchman, an able historian, and an acute 
 and skeptical writer. 
 
 9. Voltaire, a French poet and writer of great celebrity. 
 
 10. Linnaeus, a Swede, the father of botany. 
 
 11. Rousseau, a renowned Swiss philosopher, and fine writer. 
 
 12. Pitt, a distinguished statesman and orator. 
 
 1 3. Metastasio, the most illustrious poet of modern Itaty. 
 
 14. Euler, a renowned Swiss mathematician. 
 
 15. Johnson, an eminent lexicographer, critic, and essayist 
 
 16. Franklin, an American, a. distinguished philosopher 
 and discoverer of electricity. 
 
 17. Gibbon, an eminent English historian. 
 
 18. Burns, a Scotch poet, a great untaught genius. 
 
 19. Burke, an Irishman distinguished for eloquence and 
 political knowledge. 
 
 20. Washington, an eminent statesman and warrior, am 
 father of the American republic. 
 
 21. Cowper, a celebrated English poet. 
 
 22. Klopstock, a German poet of great repute. 
 
 22 Heyne, an eminent German critic and scholar. 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 345 
 
 24. M. de Stael, a learned and accomplished French female 
 writer. 
 
 25. 'Dvvight, a celebrated American divine and belles-lettres 
 scholar. 
 
 26. Buonaparte, a renowned warrior, conqueror, and states- 
 man. 
 
 1. Addison, (Joseph,) " so great in prose, so little in poetry,"* was 
 the son of a clergyman, and born in 1672. He was educated at Ox- 
 ford, where he so cultivated and improved his mind, by the compo- 
 sition of Latin verses, that he acquired an uncommon correctness 
 of style, and elegance of diction. His merits, as a writer, procured 
 for him public employment, and he even became, in 1717, secretary 
 of state ; a place, however, to which he was unequal, as he possessed 
 neither boldness nor eloquence. He was unable to defend the 
 measures of government in the House of Commons, and only wasted 
 away his time in his office, in quest of fine expressions. 
 
 Late in life, he married the countess dowager of Warwick and 
 Holland ; but if this event added to his elevation, it diminished his 
 happiness, for she ever remembered her rank, and treated him with 
 very little ceremony ; an emphatic warning against ambitious love. 
 He died at the age of fifty-seven. 
 
 The Spectator, of which the most admired pieces came from the 
 pen of Addison, has immortalized his name. In that work, and in 
 most of his other prose productions, he is remarkable for a delicate 
 and gentle humour, and an entertaining seriousness. His style is 
 admirable, for purity and ease ; and the idiomatic excellence of the 
 English language, is seen in his pages, to the greatest advantage. 
 Some have thought well of his poetry ; and his tragedy of Cato, ac- 
 cording to the French notions, would be pronounced one of the best 
 in the English drama. But others have a very different opinion of 
 Addison's poetry, and at the present day, it certainly does not stand 
 very high in public esteem. 
 
 2. Newton, (Sir Isaac,) the most illustrious philosopher and ma- 
 thematician that ever lived, was born in 1642, and died in 1727. 
 The place of his nativity, was Woolstrope, in Lincolnshire. Particu- 
 lar care was bestowed on his education by his mother, for he early 
 lost his father. At the age of eighteen, he entered Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, and there he began to show the astonishing strength of 
 his mind in the mathematics. At the age of twenty-two, he discov- 
 ered the method of fluxions, which he afterwards greatly improved. 
 His next pursuit was the grinding of optical glasses, for the improve- 
 ment of telescopes, and soon after, connected with his investigation 
 of the prism, followed his new theory of light and colours. His great- 
 est discovery, and the greatest that the world ever saw, viz., the prin 
 ciple of gravitation, next succeeded. His immortal work, the Prin 
 cipia, was published in 1687. The friendship of the earl of Halifax, 
 
 * Edin. Review 
 
346 MODERN HISTORY PERIOD X. 
 
 now procured for him a very lucrative employment, in being made 
 master of the mint. His reputation extended with every effort of 
 his genius, and he enjoyed numerous honours, and the favour oi 
 princes. 
 
 He began to be affected with disease, about the age of eighty. An 
 incontinence of urine, and the excruciating pains of a stone in the 
 bladder, were the melancholy presages of approaching dissolution. 
 He, however, lived about five years from this time. For a few weeks 
 before his death, the agonies which he suffered were very great yet 
 he bore them with exemplary patience, and though, from the severe 
 paroxysms which he endured, large drops of sweat ran down his 
 cheeks, he preserved his usual smile of cheerfulness and serenity. 
 
 The character of Newton, is represented as being amiable, and 
 adorned with the virtues of a Christian. Irreverence towards the 
 Deity, or the holy scriptures, always drew from him the severest 
 censure. The bible he made his favourite study. His person was 
 of a middle stature, and his countenance, though venerable and 
 pleasant, did not indicate that transcendant sagacity, which he is 
 known to have possessed. 
 
 It is superfluous to comment on his intellectual superiority. A 
 celebrated \\ riter has observed, that if the literati of all ages and na- 
 tions could meet in one assembly, they would choose Sir Isaac New- 
 ton for their president. In his researches, he proceeded on the 
 method laid down by Bacon, but with a clearness and strength of 
 comprehension in abstruse studies, even exceeding the father of ex- 
 perimental philosophy. 
 
 3. Boerhaave, (Herman,) was born near Leyden, in 1C68. He 
 was intended for the ministry by his father, but the circumstance, 
 that in.his twelfth year only, he cured a distressing complaint with 
 which he was afflicted, and which baffled all the powers of his sur- 
 geon, turned his thoughts to the medical profession. Still, however, 
 he studied theology in connection with it. He stood at the head of 
 his profession, and as a lecturer on physic and botany, he became 
 renowned, not only in his own country, but throughout Europe, so 
 that students resorted to him from all quarters. His powers of mind 
 were vast, and his learning extended to almost every subject of hu- 
 man investigation. He was a great and good man. His valuable 
 works are in Latin, and all on medical, botanical, and chemical sub- 
 jects. His death occurred in 1738. 
 
 4. Pope, (Alexander,) who died in 1774, aged fifty-six years, was 
 a native of Condon. After having been at school a few years, he 
 went, at the age of twelve, to live with his parents at Binfield, in 
 Windsor forest, and first discovered, or rather improved his taste for 
 poetry, by reading the translated works of Virgil and Ovid; but es- 
 pecially the poems of Spenser, Waller and Dryden. He early be- 
 gan to try his strength in poetry, and so early, that 'to use his own 
 expression, he " lisped in numbers." His first regular composition 
 seems, however, to have been his Ode on Solitude, written when he 
 was about twelve years old. Four years after this, when he began 
 his pastorals, his merit introduced him into the society of the wits of thft 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 317 
 
 age ; and he became the wonder of the literary world, when, at less 
 than the age of twenty, he published his Essay on Criticism. This is, 
 perhaps, as faultless a piece of composition, as the history of youth- 
 ful genius has ever recorded. It evinces all the mature reflection) 
 and developed capacities of age. But the fame of the Essay was 
 soon surpassed by the Rape of the Lock, which he produced at the 
 age of twenty-four. The Temple of Fame, next engaged the pub- 
 lic attention. His next great effort, was the translation of Homer's 
 Iliad, from which he realized a fortune, receiving 6000. from his 
 subscribers, and 12,000, from his bookseller. After this, he wrote 
 several other works, particularly the Dunciad, a work of the keen- 
 est satire, and the Essay on Man, which, though beautiful in language, 
 and elaborate in disquisition, shews the writer to have been skeptical, 
 as to religion. 
 
 Pope was bred a Roman catholic, but, in the latter part of his life, 
 he attended the service of the English church. In his person, he 
 was diminutive, and somewhat crooked when tauntingly reminded 
 of it, he would say, " God mend me." In disposition, he was fretful 
 and easily displeased, and, to his no small reproach, it must be said, 
 that he was capricious in his friendships. His manners were easy, 
 and his wit fascinating. Many of the great and noble were his ad- 
 mirers, but he made them feel, that he did not servilely adore supe- 
 riority of rank. 
 
 Puny and delicate as the constitution of this poet was, his life was 
 prolonged to his fifty-sixth year, by means of peculiar care and tem- 
 perance. 
 
 5. Swift, (Jonathan,) was born in Ireland, in 1667. He was de- 
 scended, however, from an ancient English family. In early life, lie 
 was poor, but his relatives furnished him with the means of pro- 
 curing his education. So indifferent a scholar was he at the univer- 
 sity, that he obtained his first degree only by special favour. This 
 mortification of his feelings, had a most propitious effect on his lite- 
 rary progress, for it stimulated him to a methodical and diligent ap- 
 plication to his books, during several succeeding years. Swift, un- 
 der the auspices of Sir William Temple, with whom he had formed 
 an intimacy, might have risen in civil or military life, as the king, 
 in one instance, offered to make him captain of horse; but his 
 thoughts were directed to the church. A little after the year 1694, 
 he took orders, and engaged in the duties of a parish priest. His 
 hopes of preferment were, from time to time, disappointed. He had 
 expected some fat benefice in the English church, and even looked 
 to a bishoprick ; but he attained only the deanery of St. Patrick, Dub- 
 lin. After the accession cf queen Anne, he became deeply engaged 
 in political controversy, and wrote some able political works. He 
 died in a state of alienation and weakness, in 1745. 
 
 The works of Swift are numerous, and highly respectable for the 
 ability they display. He wrote in a pure and plain style, and had, 
 as Johnson says, " an equable tenor Of easy language, which rather 
 trickles than flows." The effects of his writings were very decisive, 
 nt the time, and some of them are still read with great pleasure. His 
 
MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 Gulliver's Travels, and his Tale of a Tub. have lost nothing of theii 
 popularity. 
 
 Swift was an eccentric being-, and little better than a madman. 
 He delighted to differ from all other men, on those subjects, or in re- 
 gard to those interests, in which all other men are agreed. Though 
 married, he was never known to be in company with his wife, ex- 
 cept in the presence of a third person. lie was strongly attached to 
 her, and yet his strange cruelty broke her heart. Like some men, 
 however, he was avaricious. " He made a rule to himself, to give 
 but one piece at a time, and therefore always stored his pocket with 
 coins of different value." But what he did give, was graced neither 
 with tenderness nor civility. "When his friends, of either sex, 
 came to him, in expectation of a dinner, his custom was to give 
 every one a shilling, that they night please themselves with pro- 
 vision. At last, his avarice grew too powerful for his kindness ; he 
 would refuse a bottle of wine ; ana, in Ireland, no man visits where 
 he cannot drink." Whether he really believed in the truth of Chris- 
 tianity, is, to say the least, doubtful. His professed dread of hypo- 
 crisy, might rather be termed the fear of man, or indifference to re- 
 ligion, when it induced him to read prayers to his servant, every 
 morning, with such dexterous secresy, that Dr. Delany was six 
 months in his house before he knew it. 
 
 6. Montesquieu (Charles de Sccondat) was born at Brede, near 
 Bordeaux, 1689, of a noble family. He devoted himself early to 
 literature, and first displayed strong powers cf mind in his Per- 
 sian Letters. His great work, that which has conferred on him an 
 immortal name, is, his Spirit of Law?. In this production, he dis- 
 plays astonishing depth of thought, vigour of imagination, and so- 
 lidity of judgment, and deserves tire honourable appellation of ihr 
 Legislator of the Human Race. While he was engaged in thai 
 work, he visited several countries for information, as Germany, 
 Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, and England. In the last he 
 resided -two years, where he wars greatly honoured. It was an ob- 
 servation of his, "that England was the country where to think, and 
 France where to live." 
 
 7. Edwards, (Jonathan,) so advantageously known at home and 
 abroad, for the power of his intellect, and the usefulness of his wri- 
 tings, was a native of Windsor, Connecticut. He was born in 1703, 
 graduated at Yale College, in 1720, where lie spent two years, as a 
 tutor; settled in the ministry at Northampton, 1727, whence he was 
 removed j appointed missionary to the Indians, at Stockbridge, In 
 1751 ; and called to the presidency of Nassau Hall, in 1758. He had 
 scarcely entered on the duties of that station, when he fell a victim 
 to the small pox, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. 
 
 President Edwards was one of the greatest and best men of mo- 
 dern times. He possessed an acute metaphysical turn of mind, 
 which he most usefully employed in the investigation of divine 
 truth. His treatise on the Will, is deservedly ranked as one of the 
 ablest productions of the human mind. This work did that for the 
 moral nature of man, which Locke's Essay on the Understanding 
 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 349 
 
 did for man's intellectual nature. It settled several controverted 
 subjects, which had perplexed the divines and philosophers, who 
 went before him. Edwards, as a metaphysician, stands by the side 
 of Locke, Bacon, and Aristotle ; while, as a Christian, he was pre- 
 eminent in conscientiousness, humility, fear of God, and faithfulness 
 to the spiritual interests of men. There is ah awful power in his 
 sermons. His Treatise on the Affections, is an invaluable book, 
 which no Christian, probably, ever read without profit. 
 
 8. Hume (David) was designed, by his family, for the law, but 
 the turn of his mind led him to literary pursuits. For this purpose, 
 he retired to France, and, though he possessed slender means, he 
 was able, by the most rigid economy, to pursue his studies in that 
 country. Here he wrote his treatise of Human Nature. In 1742, 
 the first part of his Essays appeared. His Political Discourses, and 
 his Inquiries concerning the Principles of Morals, followed, in 1752, 
 At different periods afterwards, the several portions of his English 
 History were given to the public. These works were little noticed 
 at first, unless his History be excepted, but some of then? gradually 
 grew into reputation, and he realized, from the latter works particu- 
 larly, a handsome reward. This, together with the avails of other 
 employments, made him, in his own view, very opulent, as he pos- 
 sessed a revenue of 1000 a year. He was born at Edinburgh, 171 1> 
 and died at the same place, 1776. 
 
 Hume, doubtless, is an able writer, ingenious, subtile, and acute ; 
 but the sophistry of his arguments, on the subject of morals and re- 
 ligion, is unworthy of a man of his penetration. He knew better 
 than to use the fallacious language with which he has often clothed 
 his thoughts, and by means of which he has confounded truth with 
 error, and right with wrong. 
 
 9. Voltaire (Marie Francis Arouet de) was a Parisian by birth. 
 He died in 1778, at the age of eighty-four. For a long period, he 
 was a sort of dictator in the republic of letters on the continent. 
 By his free remarks on government and religion, he contributed^ 
 perhaps more than any other man, to lay the foundation of that 
 state of things which afterwards existed in France, known under the 
 name of the Revolution. 
 
 In early life, he evinced superior powers of mind, and especially 
 a sprightly imagination. He wrote verses, he says, before he left 
 his cradle. His fondness for satire, directed against the government, 
 procured his imprisonment in the bastile, till he was liberated by 
 the interference of the duke of Orleans. After this event, he devoted 
 himself more entirely to the composition of poetry. His principal 
 efforts were directed towards the drama ; and his Alzire, Mahomet, 
 and Merope, placed him at the head of the dramatic poets of France. 
 His Henriade, an epic poem, he had previously published in Eng- 
 land. Encouraged by the Prussian monarch, he spent some time at 
 the court of Berlin ; but he at last fixed his residence in a village on 
 the borders of France, named Ferney. The boldness and effrontery 
 of his muse, had rendered a residence in the French capital vexa- 
 tious, and even dangerous to him, and hence he willingly left h : s 
 30 
 
350 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 country at different times, and at last retired to a remote corner 
 of it, so that he might pursue his studies in quiet. Here he con- 
 tinued long to direct the taste and literature of the age. He died at 
 Paris, while visiting that city ; and according to some accounts, he 
 departed in great horror, from reflections on the irreligious tenden- 
 cy of his writings. The blasphemous atheist often, indeed, ap- 
 peared in his works. 
 
 The following particulars respecting Voltaire, are given from a 
 contemporaneous account. Many others might be added. " The 
 most piercing eyes I ever beheld," says Dr. Moore, " are those of 
 Voltaire, now in his eightieth year. His whole countenance is ex- 
 pressive of genius, observation, and extreme sensibility. In the 
 morning, he has a look of anxiety and discontent, which gradually 
 wears off, and after dinner, he seems cheerful ; yet, an air of irony 
 never entirely forsakes his face, but may always be observed lurking 
 in his features, whether he frowns or smiles. By far the greater part 
 of his time is spent in his study, and whether he reads himself, or 
 listens to another, he always has a pen in his hands to take notes, or 
 make remarks." 
 
 10. Linnreus (Charles Von) was the son of a Swedish clergyman, 
 born in the province of Smaland, 1707. He practised physic with 
 such popularity and success, that at the age of thirty-four, he was 
 nominated professor of physic and botany in the university of Up- 
 sal, where he had been educated. His sovereign duly noticed his 
 services, and besides other favours, conferred on him the honour 
 of nobility. With an unparalleled ardour after knowledge, Linnaeus 
 undertook to explore the inhospitable deserts of Lapland, and through 
 ten degrees of latitude, he exposed himself, generally on foot, to every 
 sort of fatigue. He afterwards visited other countries. He died in 
 1778, having been seized with an apoplexy two years before. 
 
 To his sagacity and discernment, science is indebted for the useful 
 and familiar division of plants, of animals, &c. into classes. To the 
 most extensive knowledge, he united the most indefatigable industry, 
 and before his publication of his Genera Plantarum, he most minute- 
 ly examined the characters of more than eight hundred plants. 
 
 11. Rousseau (Johrf James) was born in Geneva, in 1712. He 
 was of a weakly constitution, but his mind was strong and active, 
 and the early reading of Plutarch and Tacitus expanded his ideas, 
 and inspired him with courage. His life was somewhat eventful, 
 though we cannot dwell on the particulars. The strangeness and 
 inconstancy of his character, subjected him to no inconsiderable ca- 
 lamities ; and, while by nature he was formed to enjoy the pleasures 
 of the world in perfection, he endured self-inflicted tortures to such 
 an extent, as to leave the balance of pleasure very little, if at all, in 
 his favour. He had a perpetual hankering after some unattainable 
 state of voluptuous virtue. Though equally skeptical with Hume 
 and Voltaire, he quarrelled with the one, who was his protector in 
 England, and he incurred the persecution of the other, for maintain- 
 ing the immoral tendency of the stage. (Strange to tell, he had 
 written for the stage himself j but he was a creature of inconsistency.) 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 351 
 
 % 
 
 Some of his opinions were so obnoxious, that the popular indigna- 
 tion was aroused against him, and he was obliged to flee from place 
 to place on the continent, and, in fact, he found no asylum till he 
 reached England. At length, however, he returned to Geneva, and 
 spent the last years of his life in the company of a few friends, and 
 resigned himself to peaceful studies. He died of an apoplexy, in 
 1778, aged sixty-six years. 
 
 His works show him to have been a man of transcendent genius, 
 but convict him of the utmost eccentricity, joined with licentious- 
 ness and skepticism. He may be called the Diogenes of modem 
 times. His literary career commenced at the age of thirty-eight, 
 by a prize essay, in which he maintained the superiority of savage 
 nature to the comforts of domestic and social life. This opinion he 
 defended, for a long time, against all Europe. His New Heloise, and 
 his Emilius, moral romances, attained to a great celebrity. His Con- 
 fessions, a work published after his death, is one of the most singu- 
 lar productions of the human mind. 
 
 12. Pitt (William) was earl of Chatham, and is commonly known 
 by that name. He was born in 1708. At the age of twenty-seven, 
 he was elected a member of parliament, and soon began to distin- 
 guish himself as an eloquent and well-informed speaker. He enlist- 
 ed early in the ranks of opposition, and in his speeches displayed 
 such acuteness, vehemence, and depth of argumentation, as asto- 
 nished the house, and marked him as worthy of the highest offices 
 of the state. Wealth now poured in upon him, from private bene- 
 factions, and from his public employments. In 1756, he received 
 the seals of secretary of state for the southern department ; but his 
 continuance in office was of short duration. His popularity, ho we 
 ver, with the mass of the nation, recalled him to the secretaryship 
 in 1757. This restoration was the beginning of a new era of splen- 
 did conquests, and of national glory. At the accession of George 
 III., his resignation took place, accompanied not only by a nation's 
 regrets, but by the most substantial testimonials of his worth, on the 
 part of' the government. He deprecated, with all his eloquence, 
 the measures relating to the American war, in the house of lords. 
 His constitution, however, was, at this time, so enfeebled, that on 
 one of these occasions, as he arose to speak, he fell into a fit, and. 
 died in a few days. 
 
 As a statesman and orator, he stands, perhaps, at the head of the 
 men of his profession, in modern times. It is said, that W r alpole, 
 the minister, surrounded with power, and the unshaken support of a 
 decided majority, never heard his voice, in the house of commons, 
 without being alarmed and thunder-struck. 
 
 13. Metastasio (Pietro Bonaventura) early began the exercise of 
 the poetic art. At the age of ten, he often collected little audiences, 
 who listened with attention and admiration to the sweetness of his 
 extemporary verses. He found a patron in the celebrated Gravina ; 
 and without neglecting the muses, he first studied the law ; but at 
 last assumed the clerical habit. Gravina, at his death, left the poet 
 his whole fortune, worth 15,000 crowns, which the latter dissipated 
 
352 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 in two years by his convivial and hospitable habits. He now wrote 
 for the stage, at the solicitation of Bulgarella, the celebrated singer, 
 and soon found himself the object of general admiration. A very 
 large portion of his life, he spent at Vienna, enjoying the patronage 
 of the sovereigns of Austria. He died at the age of eighty-four. 
 Rome was the place of his birth, Vienna of his death. 
 
 His works consist of twenty-six operas, eight sacred dramas, be- 
 sides masques, sonnets, and other poetical miscellanies. They have 
 been translated into various languages, and possess a high reputa- 
 tion. The sweetest pictures of virtue and morality are delineated in 
 his. writings; nor is he wanting in flights of sublimity. It is said, 
 that Metastasio believed in no poetic inspiration, or propitious sea- 
 sons for the composition of poetry, and that he trusted to no such 
 thing in himself, but always set himself down calmly to his prescrib- 
 ed task, and completed it as he would any other piece of business. 
 
 14. Euler (Leonard) was born at Basil, 1707. His father intend- 
 ed him for the ministry, but the genius of his son was bent to philo- 
 sophical pursuits. In 1727, he went with the Bernouillis to Peters- 
 burg. Here his publications ranked him among the greatest of phi- 
 losophers. In 1740, he gained, with Maclaurin and D. Bernouilli, 
 the prize of the academy of Paris, on the nature of tides. In 1741, 
 he removed to Berlin, at the invitation of the king of Prussia, and 
 assisted that monarch in the establishment of an academy of scien- 
 ces. Here he produced his theory of the motions of the planets and 
 comets, that of magnetism, &c. He died suddenly, while convers- 
 ing with a friend, on the new planet, and as he was playing with 
 one of his grand- children, at tea time. He was attacked by a fit of 
 apoplexy. " I am dying," were his last words, and in a few hours 
 after, he expired, aged 76 years. 
 
 His mental powers were astonishing. While his fellow academi- 
 cians asked four months to complete an important calculation, he 
 finished it in three days, but so intense had been his application that 
 it produced a fever, by which he lost the sight of one of his eyes. 
 In one night, he calculated in his head, the six first powers of all the 
 numbers above twenty, which he repeated the next day most correct- 
 ly to his astonished friends. His erudition was immense. He read 
 all the Latin classics, and had the history of all ages and nations, 
 even to the minutest facts, ever present to his mind. Indeed, so re- 
 tentive was his memory, that he could repeat the whole of the 
 ^Eneid. 
 
 In society he was never absent like Newton or Adam Smith ; but 
 like Hutton and Hume, he was thoughtless and playful in his hours 
 of relaxation, and entered into all the trifles and frivolous anecdotes 
 with which many choose to kill time while in company. 
 
 . 15. Johnson, (Samuel,) surpassed by no one in literature, was born 
 at Litchfield, 1709. He was educated at Oxford in part the insol- 
 vency of his father obliging him to leave the university premature- 
 ly. Involved in poverty, and with unpromising prospects before 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 353 
 
 him, he tried various expedients to obtain a livelihood, but abandon- 
 ed them successively, till in company with his pupil Garrick, he 
 went to London in quest of employment, in 1737. From this period 
 till 1762, he was engaged in literary labours, under the pressure of 
 poverty and disappointment. A part of the fruit of these labours 
 were his immortal works, the English Dictionary and the Rambler. 
 He completed his Dictionary, in the space of seven years, and re- 
 ceived for it 1575 ; but owing to the urgency of his wants, the 
 money had been advanced during the composition of the work. 
 During this period he was once arrested for a debt of five guineas, 
 from which he was relieved by the kindness of Richardson. His 
 services to literature were not, however, to pass unrewarded ; for, in 
 1762, he was presented by the king with a pension of 300 per 
 annum, as the grant expresses it, for the moral tendency of his 
 writings. The Lives of the Poets, he began in 1777, and complet- 
 ed in 1781. This is a noble model of that description of writing, 
 and embodies some of the choicest criticism in the English language. 
 
 The inflictions of disease now began to be felt, and Johnson con- 
 templated, not without gloomy apprehensions, the end of his earthly 
 being. His fear of this event was excessive, for his temperament 
 was deeply melancholic, and he did not at first perceive the true 
 ground of confidence for sinful men. At least, his mind was not 
 satisfied on this subject. But as he approached the tomb, darkness 
 fled from his soul. He was soothed and cheered, he saw the proper 
 ground of confidence, and departed with the faith and consolation 
 of a Christian. 
 
 Johnson's works are numerous ; none are indifferent, and some are 
 of the highest order of literary excellence. His powers of conversa- 
 tion were admirable. The particulars of his life, character, opinions, 
 connexions, &c. have been minutely recorded by Strahan, Mrs. Piozzi, 
 Boswell, and others. 
 
 16.' Franklin (Benjamin) was born at Boston, Mass., 1706. In 
 his youth lie was apprenticed to an uncle in the business of print- 
 ing ; and eager after knowledge, he read attentively, in the night, 
 the works which he had printed in the day. In this way he early 
 amassed a valuable stock of information, and as he possessed a re- 
 flecting and philosophizing, and withal a practical sort of mind, he 
 turned his knowledge to the best account. After he commenced 
 business for himself in Philadelphia, he soon rose in public esteem, 
 so that he was called to offices of trust in the commonwealth, and 
 finally, in the contention of the colonies with the mother country, he 
 acted a most conspicuous and useful part. He was a member of the 
 American congress during that eventful period. Several times in 
 the course of his life, he went to Europe, where he was received 
 with the distinction due to his pre-eminent worth as a statesman and 
 philosopher. As a public negociator, he effectually secured the 
 honour and the interests of his country. He died governor of Penn- 
 sylvania, full of years and glory, 1790, aged eighty-four years. His 
 discoveries in science have associated his name with that of Newton. 
 30* 
 
354 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 He is the father of that branch of philosophy which explains 
 laws of the electric fluid ; and the utility of the lightning rod, wilJ 
 forever point him out as a temporal benefactor of the human race. 
 His political reflections have placed him by the side of the greatesl 
 legislators of antiquity 
 
 17. Gibbon (Edward) was born at Putney, 1737, of a respectable 
 And ancient family. He acquitted himself poorly at the university, 
 and it would seem, from his own account, that he was not much in 
 the fault. " The fellows," he says, " were easy decent men, who 
 supinely enjoyed the gifts of their founder ; their days were filled 
 by a series of uniform employments ; the chapel and the hall, the 
 coffee-house, and the common room, till they retired weary and well 
 satisfied, to a long slumber. From the toil of reading, or thinking, 
 or writing, they had absolved their consciences." The student with 
 such examples before him, might well be excused for indolence. 
 Gibbon afterwards, when at Lausanne, paid much attention to classi- 
 cal literature, and acquired such a perfect knowledge of the French 
 language, that he could both speak and write it with as much facility 
 as his own. A portion of his printed works is in French. 
 
 The great work which has immortalized Gibbon, is his Decline 
 and Fall of the Koman Empire. It was in the midst of the ruins 
 of Rome, that he conceived the idea of this magnificent topic. This 
 history cost him twenty years of labour. His resources for it he 
 derived, in a considerable degree, from his own library, which con- 
 sisted of ten thousand volumes. It is an elaborate and splendid 
 production, and generally accurate. But his account of the causes 
 of the progress of Christianity, is highly exceptionable, and he ap- 
 pears throughout the work, a thoroughgoing skeptic and unbeliever. 
 His sneers at the holy religion of the Saviour, very much detract 
 from the value of the work. He received from his booksellers, 
 eight thousand pounds for his history. 
 
 Among his miscellaneous works, are a volume or two of letters, 
 highly spirited and entertaining, and rich with the stores of an 
 elegant, cultivated, and playful mind. These, however, are also 
 tinctured, with infidelity. He wrote memoirs of himself. He ac- 
 knowledges that from the Provincial Letters of Pascal, he " learned, 
 to manage the weapon of grave and temperate irony, even on sub- 
 jects of ecclesiastical solemnity." In describing the characteristics 
 of his intellect, he says, " Wit I have none ; my imagination is 
 rather strong than pleasing ; my memory both capacious and re- 
 tentive. The shining qualities of my understanding are extensive- 
 ness and penetration, but I want both quickness and exactness." 
 He died of a dropsy, in 1794. 
 
 18. Burns (Robert) was born, 1759, at Ayr, in Scotland. Though 
 a ploughman originally, he rose to high poetical fame. He has been 
 called the greatest untaught poet since Shakspeare. His poems, 
 which are in the Scotch dialect, possess uncommon beauty, and an 
 elegant simplicity. He no sooner appeared in print, than he was 
 noticed and drawn from the plough, to associate with men of letters 
 and opulence. By the exertions of his friends, a handsome sub- 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 355 
 
 scription of nearly one thousand one hundred pounds was raised 
 for him, and a place in the excise was obtained, and a farm rented, 
 where he might exercise his genius, and live in comfortable affluence. 
 But the change ruined him. He became a sot, and indulged in 
 licentious pleasures, till his constitution gave way, and the tomb re- 
 ceived him. His age was thirty-nine. 
 
 19. Burke (Edmund) was the son of a respectable attorney, at 
 Carlow, in Ireland, where he was born, 1730. He took his bache- 
 lor's degree at Trinity College, Dublin, where, it is said, he was not 
 much distinguished. In 1753, he came to London, and entered at 
 the Middle Temple. With all his powers of elocution, he paid no 
 serious attention to the law, but devoted his time principally to 
 literature and politics. His style and arguments as a writer, soon 
 attracted notice, and his Essay on the Sublime, procured for him 
 distinction. He therefore became a public man, and in 1765, was 
 introduced into parliament. He then joined to the character of a 
 most elegant writer, that of a most eloquent speaker. The American 
 
 . war, he denounced with great vehemence and justice, and was so 
 happy at length as to witness its termination. When the French 
 revolution broke out, he became alarmed at the progress of licen- 
 tious principles, and with a view to counteract them in England, he 
 published his celebrated Reflections. His Anti-Gallican zeal brought 
 on a rupture between him and his former associates Mr. Fox and 
 others. From this time, though he affected to be as fond of liberty 
 as ever, he favoured the administration of Mr. Pitt, and the court 
 rewarded him with a large pension for his able services. By many, 
 in his high- wrought enthusiasm in favour of the war against France, 
 he was considered as the oracle and bulwark of the country. Some 
 time before his death, Mr. Burke retired from public life, but though 
 loaded with honours, he sunk, three years after, a melancholy victim 
 to the recent loss of his only and dearly beloved son. His death 
 occured in 1797. 
 
 As an author, his merits are universally acknowledged. He was 
 copious, elegant, and forcible. His pieces are numerous. His Re- 
 flections were so interesting in the public opinion, that 18,000 copies 
 were sold in a few weeks. 
 
 20. Washington, (George,) who has filled the world with his own, 
 and his country's glory, was born 1732, in the county of Fairfax, in 
 Virginia, where his father was possessed of large landed property. 
 Washington was educated under the care of a private tutor, and 
 after making rapid progress in mathematics and engineering, he em- 
 braced the military profession. Here he displayed his great talents, 
 particularly his wisdom and caution, and showed himself master of 
 the knowledge of military stratagems. Eminent also was his per- 
 sonal valour, and he proved he could fight, whenever he calculated 
 upon the prospect of decisive advantage, or certain victory. He had 
 greatly distinguished himself in several expeditions in his native 
 state, before he was called to the command of the American army, 
 in the war of the Revolution. How ably he sustained his country's 
 causf, and to what a successful termination he brought the great 
 
356 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 struggle, our readers need not be informed. As a military captain, 
 he ranks among the greatest, whether of ancient or modern times. 
 But in some respects, he is beyond a comparison with the most ce- 
 lebrated heroes. He had no stain of an unhallowed ambition. At 
 the close of the war, America was in his power, but instead of a 
 dictator, he became one of her most obedient sons. Military com- 
 mand he assumed as a duty, and whenever an opportunity offered, 
 he hastened to resign it, that he might retire to the shades and peace 
 of private life. 
 
 Washington was the first president of the United States, and was 
 inaugurated into that high office, in 1789. Having served during 
 two presidential terms, he declined the honour which his country- 
 men would doubtless have again conferred upon him, and sought 
 the gratifications of his farm at Mount Vernon. The All-wise Dis- 
 poser did not suffer him to enjoy many years in his peaceful retire- 
 ment. He was called away from life, rather unexpectedly, after a 
 few days illness, 14th December, 1799. " He was buried with due 
 national honours. America, in a public mourning, deplored in him 
 the loss of her father, and of her friend, and a new city was erected 
 on the borders of the Potomac, which, in becoming the capital of 
 the United States, records to distant times, in bearing his name, the 
 services, the patriotism, and the glories of her great and illustrious 
 founder." 
 
 Besides the qualities which distinguish the warrior and statesman, 
 Washington was endowed with every virtue of humanity. His pas- 
 sions were naturally strong, but he attained to a wonderful command 
 of them. He was modest, condescending, and affable, and excellent 
 in all the relations of private arid domestic life. His punctuality and 
 method in managing his multifarious concerns, are a model to every 
 one. And his exemplary conduct,, as a Christian, and his calmness 
 in death inspire the belief that his memorial is on high. 
 
 21. Cowper, (William,) who died in 1800, was son of Dr. Cow- 
 per, chaplain to George II., and rector of Berkhampstead, Herts. He 
 was in his eighteenth year, when he left Westminster school, and as 
 he was destined for the law, he entered at the Inner Temple, and at 
 the age of thirty-one, was apprenticed clerk in the house of lords. 
 But weakness of nerves, and the most distressing diffidence, unfitted 
 him for public employment of any kind. He soon fell into a re- 
 ligious melancholy, which arose to such a height, that in a fit of des- 
 peration, he attempted his own life, but was providentially saved 
 from so awful an end. He, however, attained at length the cheering 
 and serene hope of religion. He became an author, not until he was 
 fifty years of age. His first volume of poems, appeared in 1782, 
 and in 1785, his second volume, which raised towards him the gene- 
 ral voice of approbation. He afterwards executed a valuable trans- 
 lation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, in blank verse. 
 
 About this time, (1787,) a similarity of literary undertakings, 
 brought Cowper and Hayley the poet, into an intercourse of friend- 
 ship, which continued to the last period of life. Hayley has com- 
 memorated the genius and virtues of his friend, in an interesting and 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 357 
 
 elegant account of his life and poetic labours. In this account, many 
 of Cowper's letters are embodied, which, together with a volume or 
 two, since published, place him at the head of English epistolary 
 writing. In 1794, the king, as became the sovereign of an enlight- 
 ened nation, honourably bestowed upon the poet a pension of three 
 hundred pounds per annum. But the bounty came too late to be 
 much enjoyed. Cowper was again sunk into dejection and religious 
 melancholy, which continued, with few intervals of reason and hope, 
 till he ceased to be an inhabitant of this world. He died at the age 
 of seventy. 
 
 The Task, is Cowper's most celebrated work, and abounds in 
 beauties of every kind. It exhibits religion, particularly, in a most 
 engaging form. 
 
 22. Klopstock (Frederick Theophilus) was born at Quedlinburg, 
 in 1724. He studied theology at Jena, where he wrote a great part 
 of his Messiah, which he published in 1747. His name is immor- 
 talized chiefly by this poem. Though at the time of its publication, 
 it was cens.ured by some, it was admired by more, and Bodmer, and 
 the Swiss in general, were loud in its praises. Klopstock was in- 
 vited into their country, whence he was called to Copenhagen, by 
 the most flattering promises, which were amply fulfilled. He died 
 in 1803. His funeral was conducted with extraordinary pomp. It 
 was attended by the senate of Hamburgh, where, at the time of his 
 decease, he was residing as Danish legate. The diplomatic body, 
 also the clergy, men of letters, and merchants, honoured his remains 
 by their presence. The whole constituted a procession of seventy- 
 six coaches. At Altona, it was joined by fifty more carriages, to 
 the village of Ottensen, where he was buried, with every ceremony 
 expressive of profound regard. 
 
 As a writer, he is characterized by a fervid imagination ; but though 
 rich in imagery, and lofty in sentiment, he is frquently obscure and 
 turgid. Besides the Messiah, he was the author of three tragedies, 
 called the Death of Adam, Solomon, and David. 
 
 23. Heyne (Christian Gottlieb) was born in Silesia, 1729. He 
 succeeded Gesner. in 1763, in the professorship of Rhetoric, at Got- 
 tingen, where also he became secretary to the society of Sciences. 
 He drew up a catalogue of the library at Gottingen, which made 150 
 folio volumes. King George III. placed his three younger sons un- 
 der his care, and they all treated him with the greatest respect. 
 He died suddenly, in 1812. As an editor of the classics, he is just- 
 ly celebrated, and his critical skill has been the admiration of the 
 learned world. He is the first of his class. From poverty and ob- 
 scurity, he arose to comfort and fame, and he is an encouraging in- 
 stance of the rewards which often attend diligent and well-directed 
 mental efforts. 
 
 24. Stael, (Anne Louisa Germaine Necker,) a baroness, was the 
 daughter of the celebrated M. Necker, and born at Paris, 1766. She 
 received a liberal education, and early displayed extraordinary ta- 
 lents. Her understanding was of a masculine character. Perhaps no 
 female of ancient or modern times, has equalled her in native strength 
 

 358 MODERN HISTORY. PERIOD X. 
 
 of intellect, especially as manifested in an elegant and profound phi- 
 losophy. In 1786, she married baron de Stael, a Swede, by whom 
 she had four children, two of whom only survived her. She began 
 her literary career, 1789, in Letters on the Writings and Character 
 of Rousseau, and soon afterwards took an active part in the French 
 Revolution. At Paris, she engaged in political intrigues, to which 
 she had a great propensity. The consequence was, that she offend- 
 ed Buonaparte, who banished her from the capital. From this, she 
 went to Germany, next to Italy, and twice visited England. She 
 died in 1817. Her works are highly finished productions, among 
 which may be particularly noticed, her Corinne, or Italy, a novel, 
 and her book on The Influence of Literature upon Society. She 
 seems to have been a votary of the new philosophy, so called. 
 
 25. Dwight (Timothy) was born at Northampton, Mass., on the 
 14th of May, 1752. He was a grandson, on the mother's side, of 
 the illustrious Edwards. His great capacity was early displayed, 
 and to his excellent mother he was peculiarly indebted, by her pre- 
 cepts and example, for the moral and intellectual qualities with 
 which he was so richly gifted. At the age of seventeen he took 
 the bachelor's degree at Yale College, and two years afterwards, he 
 was elected a tutor of that institution. In the tutorship he continu- 
 ed six years, after which he was variously employed for several 
 years, residing for the most part of the time in his native place. In 
 1783, he was settled in the Christian ministry, over the parish, of 
 Greenfield, in the town of Fairfield, Con. Here he continued twelve 
 years, and acquired a high reputation as an eloquent preacher, and 
 faithful pastor. His fame also, as a teacher of youth, (for he had 
 previously been much engaged in that business,) was greatly ex- 
 tended, by the academy which he established and superintended in 
 that place. During this period he published his Conquest of Canaan, 
 and his Greenfield Hill ; the one an epic, in eleven books, which was 
 completed in his twenty-fourth year, the other a descriptive and 
 didactic poem, in seven books. 
 
 In 1795, he was elected to the presidency of Yale College, which 
 station he retained till his death, in 1817. Under his auspices, tha 4 
 institution flourished in a most remarkable degree; every departmen 
 was improved ; the standard of literary attainments - was greatl 
 raised ; extensive religious reformations took place ; and the num- 
 ber of students, by the time of his death, had increased nearly 
 three-fold. 
 
 His death, which, under the visitation of a protracted and most 
 severe disease, took place before he had reached the ordinary bounds 
 of human life, gave a shock alike to the republic of letters and to 
 the church of God. It was lamented as the fall of one of the great- 
 est, best, and most useful men that have adorned the annals oi this 
 country. 
 
 Since his death, his theological lectures, under the title of r Theology, 
 have been published in five octavo volumes, and have passed through 
 several large editions, both in the United States and Great Britain 
 No American work, it is believed, has ever been more popular in *' 
 
DISTINGUISHED CHARACTERS. 359 
 
 latter country, than this. His Travels also, have been extensively 
 circulated at home and abroad. 
 
 26. Buonaparte (Napoleon) was a native of Corsica, where he 
 was born, in 1769. His education was chiefly military, though the 
 wonderful powers of his mind, enabled him. to appear with advan- 
 tage on almost every subject which engages human, attention. The 
 times in which he entered on the stage of action, were big with 
 events, and afforded him rare occasions for the display of his talents, 
 and for the gratification of that inordinate ambition which was so 
 natural to him. The revolution in France was beginning to bear 
 down all the land marks of former ages, and Buonaparte embraced 
 the opportunity of playing his part on that imposing theatre. By 
 a masterly management, and by a series of successes, he rose in the 
 military profession, till he was placed at the head of it, and till he 
 eventually placed himself at the head, not only of France, but of 
 almost all the nations of continental Europe. From the time he 
 was appointed to the command of the army of Italy, in 1796, to 
 near the termination of the campaign against Russia, he met with 
 an almost uninterrupted series of brilliant successes and victories, 
 dictating peace to one nation after another, till the idea of an uni- 
 versal empire seemed likely to be realized. From that period, 
 though he gained two or three important victories, he met in gene- 
 ral with sad reverses; but it was not until nearly the whole o* 
 Europe was allied against him, that he was crushed. Twice he 
 abdicated the throne: in the former instance, retaining the sove- 
 reignty of the island of Elba, whither he retired for a time, only 
 again to seize on his dominion : in the latter instance, after his de- 
 feat in the battle of Waterloo, fleeing to a British fleet with a view 
 to protection. He was, however, exiled to St. Helena, and continued 
 there, guarded by a body of British troops, till his death, which oc- 
 curred on the 6th May, 1821 ; having been kept in confinement be- 
 tween five and six years. 
 
 Buonaparte has received, and will continue to receive the applauses 
 or execrations of mankind, according as they view his mighty 
 achievements, connected with the good which has incidently grown 
 out of them, or with the evil Vhich they directly produced, and 
 which the author did not care to avert from the world. 
 
GENERAL VIEWS: 
 
 OR A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PECULIAR INSTITUTIONS 
 OF THE MIDDLE AGES, AS THE FEUDAL SYSTEM, CHI- 
 VALRY, &c.; ALSO OF THE MANNERS AND CHARAC- 
 TER OF THE GOTHIC NATIONS; LEARNING AND -THE 
 ARTS; DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS; INCIDENTS 
 AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS; AND THE PRESENT 
 STATE OF SEVERAL NATIONS IN RESPECT TO AG- 
 RICULTURE, ROADS, CONVEYANCES, INTERCOURSE, 
 EDUCATION, MANUFACTURES,&c.; AND FINALLY, OF 
 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The Feudal System, 
 
 SECT. 1. A peculiar system of policy prevailed among all 
 the nations of Europe, at an early period. Singular as it 
 seems, and different from the establishments of the present 
 times, it was the general state of society, among the ancestors 
 of modern Europe. This was the Feudal System. 
 . The Feudal System, means that tenure on which the 
 owners of land held their possessions, viz., an obligation to 
 perform military service, whenever required by the chief to 
 whom they owed allegiance. Such is i*s nature 5 its origin 
 and history, its principle and its effects will be soon pointed 
 out. 
 
 It was on the following plan, that the feudal policy was ar- 
 ranged : every freeman or soldier, upon receiving an allotment of 
 conquered lands, bound himself to appear in arms against the com- 
 mon enemy, whenever his leader should call upon him for this pur- 
 pose. This military service was the condition upon which every 
 one received, and the tenure by which he continued to hold his lands. 
 It was not at first considered either a degradation or hardship. The 
 same service which a vassal owed to his lord, was due from the lord 
 to his king. The king required those among whom the conquered 
 lands were distributed, to repair to his standard, with a number of 
 followers, in proportion to the extent of their respective estates, and 
 to assist him in his expeditions. This service was due to the king; 
 but when obedience was refused, it could be enforced, not by civil 
 regulations, but only by war Under such a system, the nobles or 
 
 
FEUDAL SYSTEM. 
 
 barons, enjoyed a subordinate sovereignty, in their own dominions ; 
 while their vassals or dependants, were in complete subjection to 
 their will. 
 
 2. The origin of this institution lies in a remote antiquity 
 Some writers have attributed it to the kings of the Franks, 
 who, after the conquest of Gaul, are supposed to have divi- 
 ded their lands among their followers, on the condition of 
 military service. But we must look for it to a remoter source. 
 It is consonant with the usages of all warlike, barbarous na- 
 tions, among whom we remark a strict subordination of the 
 members of a tribe, to their chief or leader. This subordi- 
 nation affords the clue to the general policy, and so far as the 
 history of it can be traced, it is a fact, that Julius Ca3sar 
 noticed it among the Gaulish nations, before the Christian era. 
 
 With the Gauls, this subordination was peculiarly strong, and 
 subsisted not only between the soldiers and their commander, but 
 between the inferior towns or villages, and the canton or province 
 to which they belonged. 
 
 When in peace, every man cultivated his land, free of all taxation, 
 and subject to no other burden, than that of military service, requi- 
 red by his chief. When the province was at war, each village, though 
 taxed to furnish only a certain number of soldiers, was bound to send, 
 on the day appointed for a general muster, all the males capable of 
 bearing arms, from whom the rated number was selected by the chief 
 of the province. 
 
 This relation between soldiers and their commander, sub- 
 sisted among the Franks, as well as among the Gauls. It 
 subsisted among the Romans also, who, to check the inroads 
 of the barbarian nations, and to secure their distant conquests, 
 were obliged to maintain fixed garrisons on their frontiers. 
 To each officer in those garrisons, it was customary to as- 
 sign a portion of land, as the pledge and pay of his service. 
 These gifts were named benficia or fiefs. 
 
 When the Franks overran Gaul, a great part of the land was 
 found in the hands of the Romans, held by this tenure, as the rest 
 was found so held by the Gauls. The conquerors, accustomed to 
 the same policy, would naturally adopt it, in the partition of their 
 new conquests, each man being bound to service, on receiving his 
 share of the land. 
 
 The fiefs were at first revocable by the sovereign, and reverted to 
 him on the death of the vassal. But the possession of fiefs, under 
 the imbecile Merovingian kings, at length obtained independency 
 and security of property. 
 
 It was a consequence of a fief becoming hereditary, that it should 
 Lc capable of being given out in portions, and that the vassal him- 
 31 
 
362 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 self, holding his lands of the sovereign, by the tenure of military 
 service, should be able to create a train of inferior vassals, by giving 
 to them parts of his estate, to be held on the same condition, of fol- 
 lowing his standard in battle, rendering him homage as their lord, 
 and paying, as a symbol of their subjection, a small annual present, 
 
 3. The principle of policy upon which this singular estab- 
 lishment was founded, was self-protection. The new settlers 
 in a country, wished to secure themselves, not only against 
 the attacks of the inhabitants whom they had expelled from 
 their possessions, but especially against the inroads of fresh 
 invaders. ' But unfortunately for the peace of society, it was 
 attended with many evils, especially after the land had be- 
 come unalienable property. 
 
 The effects, therefore, of the feudal system, demand some 
 notice in this place. It was natural, in those disorderly times, 
 when the authority of government, and the obligation ol 
 general laws, were extremely weak, that the superior or over- 
 lord should acquire both a civil and criminal jurisdiction over 
 his vassals. Such power, in their hands, must have been an en- 
 gine of oppression. They moreover exercised the privilege of 
 coining money, and carried on wars against their private 
 enemies. So situated, they disdained to consider themselves 
 as subjects ; and the consequence was, that a kingdom was 
 broken into as many separate principalities, as it contained 
 powerful nobles ; and the occasions of war thus became innu- 
 merable. 
 
 Every country in Europe was wasted, or kept in continual alarm, 
 by the feuds of the barons, and in every country, vast multitudes ot 
 castles and places of strength, were erected for the security of des- 
 potic chieftains, against domestic invasions. 
 
 In the reign of Stephen of England, when the feudal system was 
 at its height, not less than one thousand castles, with their depen- 
 dencies, had been erected in the southern part of the Island. Pri- 
 vate retaliation and revenge were the only law in the minds of proud 
 and ferocious chieftains. The edicts of kings and magistrates were 
 trampled on. A baron who was provoked by injury, met his adver- 
 sary at the head of his vassals, in hostile array, and sought redress 
 only by his sword. The most numerous and useful part of the com- 
 munity, the common people, were no better than slaves, and though 
 not chained by the leg, as was the fact with slaves among the Ro- 
 mans, yet they were transferred from one lord to another, like cat- 
 tle, and the implements of husbandry. They were styled serfs or 
 'illeins, a name implying their servitude and degradation. 
 
 In this state of things, neither the innocent could be protected, nor 
 the guilty punished, by the regal authority. A general anarchy pre- 
 
CHIVALRY. 36S 
 
 vailea ; the feelings of the people became familiarized to violence 
 and blood, to despotism and injustice ; intellectual and moral im- 
 provement was suspended, the arts and sciences were banished, the 
 light of Christianity was obscured, and only the stern and rough 
 virtues were nourished. Never was there a period in the annals of 
 Europe so filled with atrocious actions, as that which intervened 
 from the seventh to the eleventh century, the era of the prevalence 
 of the feudal system. 
 
 At the commencement of the twelfth century, this unhappy state 
 of things began to abate, and government, laws and manners, exert- 
 ed a degree of influence on the minds of men. Chivalry produced 
 a propitious effect, and a variety of other causes, operated to check 
 the licentiousness of the barons, and to soften their ferocity. Per- 
 haps no one cause was more efficacious, than the establishment of 
 standing armies, in the fifteenth century. This engine, wielded by 
 kings, crushed the power of the nobles, and reduced them to order 
 and obedience. 
 
 * 
 
 The first monarch who adopted this measure, was Charles VII. of 
 France, in the year 1445 ; but so opposed was it to the genius of feudal- 
 ism, that it required the greatest boldness to carry it into execution. 
 Charles, however, did not shrink from the attempt. He retained a 
 large body of forces in his service, and appointed funds for their 
 regular payment. The principal nobility soon repaired to his stan- 
 dard ; and as the feudal militia were only occasionally called out, 
 they were in time regarded with contempt by regular soldiers. This 
 example was followed by the politic Henry VII., of England. 
 
 Chivalry. 
 
 SECT. 1. Nature, Origin, and First Appearance. 
 Chivalry, or knighthood, was an institution common to Eu- 
 rope, during the middle ages, having principally for its ob- 
 ject, the correction of those evils that were peculiar to the 
 state of society which then existed. The feudal system at 
 that time prevailed, the disorders flowing from which, con- 
 nected with the ignorance and barbarism of the people, ren- 
 dered some such institution as chivalry, necessary, provided a 
 better could not be found. Considered in this aspect, chival- 
 ry was co-existent with feudalism. It was designed as a cor- 
 rective of feudal despotism, injustice, and licentiousness. It 
 sought to support the weak, to protect the oppressed, to re- 
 strain the lawless, to refine the rude, to avenge wrongs, and, 
 especially, to maintain the rights, and defend the purity of 
 the female sex. In its elements, it combined bravery, honour, 
 courtesy, love, and religion. 
 
364 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 In the origin of the term chivalry, or knighthood, reference was 
 had to the nature of its duties, which were performed on horseback. 
 Hence, the languages which were formed on a Latin basis, derived 
 their phrases descriptive of military duties on horseback, from cabal- 
 lus, a horse ; cabillarius, a horseman ; and cabillare, to ride the 
 letter b, being pronounced like v, in the south of Europe. In all 
 languages of Teutonic origin, the same circumstance was expressed 
 by words literally signifying service. The German knight, the Sax- 
 on cniht, are synonymous with the French cavalier, the Italian ca- 
 valiere, &c. The word, rider, also designated the same person. 
 
 Chivalry was, in many respects, a beautiful and beneficial form oi 
 manners, though in others, it was highly objectionable, as will ap- 
 pear in the sequel. We must not, however, confound the extrava- 
 gant knight-errantry of the old romances, or even the natural chi 
 valry common to most nations, with the gallant and Christian chi- 
 valry of Europe, which constituted a military barrier against oppres- 
 sion. That was, in some degree, a moral institution, which sought 
 to make travelling safe, and the intercourse of society refined and 
 liberal, though it would have been more moral, had it not itself em 
 ployed violence. 
 
 Chivalry had its origin in that state of society in which 
 the feudal system arose ; and regarded particularly in a mi- 
 litary light, we find it a part of the earliest condition of most 
 of the European world. Its foundation, in fact, was the an- 
 cient character of Europe, and it grew into the form and con 
 sistency which it at length assumed, from the following prac- 
 tices common among the early Europeans, particularly the 
 Germans, viz. from receiving their weapons in an assembly 
 of the nations associating in clans, protecting arid revering 
 women, and performing acts of service when affection and 
 duty commanded them. 
 
 The exact time when these elements were framed into 
 that system of thought and action, which we call chivalry, 
 it is impossible to tell. Knighthood was certainly a distinc- 
 tion of society before the days of Charlemagne. But it want- 
 ed religion. When it began to be marked by religious rites, 
 it formed a regular institution, Its union with religion, took 
 place somewhere between the ninth and eleventh centuries. 
 Its character was raised and perfected by the crusades. 
 
 Religious rites were not used in the days of Charlemagne, for he 
 girt the military sword on his son, Louis the Good, according to the 
 rude principles of ancient Germanic chivalry ; and a century after- 
 wards, we read of the English Edward the Elder, clothing Athel- 
 stan, in a soldier's dress of scarlet, and fastening around him a gir- 
 dle, ornamented with precious stones, in which a Saxon sword, in a 
 
CHIVALRY. 365 
 
 sheath of gold, was inserted; In the century following, however, 
 during the reign of Edward the Confessor, we meet with the story 
 of Hereward, a very noble Anglo-Saxon youth, being knighted by 
 the abbot of Peterborough. He made confession of his sins, and 
 after he had received absolution, he earnestly prayed to be made a 
 legitimate knight. 
 
 Knighthood was always, and essentially, a personal distinction, 
 and in this respect, different from nobility. The nobility of Europe 
 were the lords of particular districts of a country, and although ori- 
 ginally they held their dignities only for life, yet their title soon be- 
 came hereditary. 
 
 Every person of noble birth, was required, when twelve years old 
 to take a solemn oath, before the bishop of his diocese, to defend the 
 oppressed, &c. This was ordained at the Council of Clermont, in 
 the eleventh century ; thus giving a public and sacred sanction to 
 the humanities of chivalry. But besides the nobility, others might 
 be promoted into the order, by meritorious valour. 
 
 Almost the whole of Europe was affected with the chival- 
 ric spirit. It flourished most, however, in France, Spain, and 
 Germany, and more early developed itself as a fixed princi- 
 ple of action, in these countries than in others. England, at 
 length, was riot undistinguished for its chivalry. 
 
 2. Degrees of Chivalry. There were three degrees in 
 the chivalry of Europe : knights bannarets, knights, and 
 esquires. 
 
 A soldier must have passed through the ranks of esquire, 
 and knight, before he could be classed with the knights ban- 
 narets. That high dignity could be possessed only by a 
 knight, who had served for a length of years in the wars, and 
 with distinction, and who had a considerable retinue of men- 
 at arms, and other soldiers. 
 
 The privileges of a knight bannaret, were considerable. He did 
 not fight under the standard of any baron ; but he formed his sol- 
 diers under his own. The baron and bannaret, as soldiers, were of 
 equal authority. 
 
 The second and most numerous class of chivalric heroes, 
 consisted of knights. A general qualification for knighthood, 
 was noble or gentle birth, which, in its widest signification, 
 expressed a state of independence. 
 
 There was no fixed amount of estate necessary for knighthood. 
 It was, however, a costly dignity, and many were obliged to forego 
 it, on account of its expenses. 
 
 Though it was often bestowed as an ornament of custom on the 
 nobility and gentry of a state, it never altogether lost its character of 
 being a reward of merit. Men-at-arms, and other soldiers, were often 
 exalted to the class of knights. 
 
 31* 
 
366 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 The last class of chivalry, the squirehood, wag composed 
 of a body of efficient soldiers, inferior in rank to the knight, 
 and superior to the men-at-arms. Many of them, on various 
 accounts, remained in this station, during all their military 
 career. 
 
 It was a maxim in chivalry, that a man had better be a good 
 esquire, than a bad knight. Military honours could be reached by 
 the squirehood, as well as by the knighthood of a country. 
 
 3. Education of a Knight. The education of a knight 
 in the family of a feudal lord, generally commenced at the 
 age of seven or eight years. The place of education was 
 sometimes a school appointed by the nobles of the country, 
 but most frequently the nobleman's own castle, or that of 
 some brother nobleman, served. 
 
 The duties of the boy, for the first seven years of his service, 
 were chiefly personal. He learned the dignity and beauty of obedi- 
 ence, being made to feel it a privilege to attend the lord and his 
 lady in the hall, and follow them in their exercises of war and pas- 
 time. The intellectual and moral education of the boy was given 
 by the ladies of the court. 
 
 From the lips of the ladies, the gentle youth learned both his 
 catechism and the art of love. He was directed to regard some one 
 lady of the court as the type of the future mistress of his heart ; 
 she was the object of all his hopes and wishes ; to her he was duti- 
 ful, faithful, and courteous. 
 
 The ingredients of religion, love, and war, were strangely com- 
 bined in chivalry. Surrounded by noble females and valorous 
 cavaliers, the first impressions of the future knight were on these 
 subjects ; and he was taught to regard chivalry and its honours, as 
 the most noble object of ambition. 
 
 The military exercises of the youth were not many ; and 
 they were important only as they were the earliest ideas of 
 his life. During the first seven years, he was called a valet 
 damoiseauj. or a page in the old English ballads a child. 
 
 During this period, he was taught to leap over trenches, to launch 
 or cast spears and darts, to sustain the shield, in his walk to imitate 
 the measured tread of the soldier, and in mock battle to fight against 
 stakes or his youthful companions. 
 
 At the age of fourteen, he received the title of armiger, or 
 esquire ; and though he was then authorized to carry arms, 
 yet his personal domestic service continued for some time. 
 His education was not completed, till the age of twenty-one. 
 
 The esquire prepared the refection in the morning ; and at 
 dinner, he, as well as the pages, attended at the table, and presented 
 to the lord and his guests the water used for washing. The knight 
 
 
CHIVALRY. 367 
 
 and tire squire never sat before the same table, not even in the case 
 of father and son so strict was the principle of chivalric subordina- 
 tion. The squires often made the beds of their lords. Each one 
 had his respective duties one was the squire of the chamber, or 
 the chamberlain, and another the carrying squire. But their many 
 duties cannot here be described. Spenser, in the following stanza, 
 beautifully paints the domestic squire discharging some of his 
 duties. 
 
 " There fairly them receives a gentle squire, 
 
 Of mild demeanor and rare courtesy 
 
 Right cleanly clad in comely sad attire ; 
 
 In word and deed that show'd great modesty, 
 
 And knew his good to all of each degree, 
 
 Hight reverence. He them with speeches meet 
 
 Does faire entreat, no courting nicety, 
 
 But simple, true, and eke unfained sweet, 
 
 As might become a squire so great persons to greet." 
 
 In the life of a squire, the anxieties of love, and military exercises, 
 were commingled. Chaucer delightfully paints the softer employ- 
 ment. 
 
 " Singing he was or floyting all the 
 
 He was as fresh as is the month of May, 
 
 He could songs make, and well endite, 
 
 Just and eke dance, and well pourtraie and write ; 
 
 So hote he loved, that by nighterdale* 
 
 He slept no more than doth the nightingale." 
 
 He practised every mode by which strength and activity could 
 be given to the body. He learned to endure hunger and thirst, heat 
 and cold, in their extremes, and to plunge all covered \vith dust into 
 the running stream. He accustomed himself to wield the sword, to 
 thrust the lance, to strike with the axe, and to wear armour. But 
 no exercise was more important than that of horsemanship. Of the 
 true knight, it could be said, 
 
 " Wei could he sit on horse and fair ride." 
 
 4. .Inauguration of a Knight. The full dignity of 
 knighthood, was seldom conferred on a squire before the age 
 of twenty-one. The ceremonies of inauguration were so- 
 lemn. The preparation consisted in prayer, confession, and 
 fasting was accompanied by clothing him with a white 
 dress, which was considered symbolical of the purity of his 
 new character : and by throwing over him a red garment, 
 which was to mark his resolution to shed his blood in the 
 cause of heaven. These and other rites were a necessary 
 preliminary. 
 
 * Night-timo. 
 
368 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 A church, or hall of a castle, was generally the place of 
 inauguration. The candidate first offered his sword to the 
 priest, who blessed it. Before it was returned to him, he took 
 his oaths of chivalry. 
 
 He solemnly swore to defend the church, to attack the wicked, 
 to respect the priesthood, to protect women and the poor, to pre- 
 serve the country in tranquillity, and to shed his blood, even to the 
 last drop, in behalf of his brethren. 
 
 The young warrior having kneeled with clasped hands 
 before the supreme lord in the assembly, (a purely feudal 
 ceremony,) and having declared that his only object is to 
 maintain religion and chivalry, was now invested with all 
 the exterior marks of the order. The knights and ladies of 
 the court attended on him, and delivered to him the various 
 pieces of his harness. 
 
 The armour varied at different periods and in different countries, 
 but some matters were of permanent usage. The spurs were al- 
 ways put on first, and the sword was belted on last. 
 
 The concluding sign of being dubbed or adopted into the 
 order of knighthood, was a slight blow given by the lord to 
 the cavalier, and called the accolade, from the part of the 
 body, the neck, whereon it was struck. The lord then pro- 
 claimed him a knight, in the name of God and the saints 
 
 The ceremonies of inauguration, which have been concisely des- 
 cribed, were gone through when, knighthood was conferred on great 
 and public occasions of festivity, but they often gave place to the 
 power of rank, and the necessity of circumstances. Princes were 
 exempted from the laborious offices of page and squire. Men who 
 were distinguished soldiers were often adopted into chivalry on the 
 eve of a battle, as it was considered that a sense of their new 
 honours would inspire their highest gallantry. 
 
 5. Equipment of a knight. The horse of the cavalier 
 was his peculiar pride, and skill in the management of the 
 animal was a distinction deemed worthy of every effort. The 
 knigbt bore about with him a variety of the instruments of 
 death. His chief offensive weapon was the lance. His other 
 offensive weapons were a sword, (a favourite weapon,) dag- 
 ger, battle-axe, and maces. His defensive armour was also 
 various. He had his shield, helmet with its visor and beaver, 
 and body harness made of plates of steel, to which different 
 names were given according to the different parts of the body 
 which it covered. A long flowing robe, reaching down to the 
 heels, constituted the dress of the knight. 
 
CHIVALRY. 369 
 
 Some of the defensive armour was so constructed, that it could 
 be rolled up, and carried by the squire on horseback. It was too 
 rigid, heavy, and cumbersome to be worn for a long time together, 
 though the knights were often subjected to that inconvenience, 
 When they were completely armed, no weapon could reach the bo- 
 dy. It was not often that a knight could be killed, except by being 
 unhorsed. In that event, a thin dagger, which was worn by each 
 assailant, was employed. This could be thrust into the body between 
 the plates. 
 
 It is only in romance, that we read of swords cutting through that 
 solid front of iron, by which a knight was protected. The only way 
 in which death could be inflicted, when he was mounted, was, by 
 thrusting a lance through the small hole in the visor. Such a mode 
 of death was not very common, for the cavalier always bent his face 
 almost to the saddle-bow, when he charged. He might, however, 
 be unhorsed, in the shock of meeting. In that case, he was at the 
 mercy of the foe, who was in the better condition. 
 
 The horse of the knight was defended by mail, or plate, agreeably 
 to the fashion of the age. His head, chest, and flanks, were either 
 wholly or partially protected, and sometimes, on occasions of pomp, 
 he was clad in complete steel. 
 
 6. The Chivalric Character. In the character of a true 
 knight, were combined many virtues and noble endowments. 
 It necessarily included, also, some prominent defects. Com- 
 panionship in Arms, was a sacred principle, and a knight 
 would fly to the relief of his companion in arms, even were his 
 services demanded by a female, at the time. His valour was 
 connected with modesty, and both were, in the highest de- 
 gree, conspicuous. In chivalric war, much humanity was 
 displayed, though in contentions of a different kind, it was 
 unhappily suppressed. As a knight fought for the church, he 
 was intolerant, and towards infidels and heretics he ceased to 
 exhibit his wonted forbearance. His sense of honour was 
 keen, and his independence was consistent with discipline 
 and submission. His whole course was dictated by a regard 
 to religion. His devotions were frequent. Religion entered 
 into all the observances of chivalry, but it was only the religion 
 of the times a form rather than spirit too corrupt to be a safe 
 guide. The knight, finally, was characterized by a very re- 
 markable fidelity to obligations, by generosity, and by courtesy. 
 
 Companionship in arms, was the strongest tie in chivalry : 
 
 " From this day forward ever mo, 
 Neither fail, either for weal or wo, 
 To help other at need. 
 Brother, be now true to me^ 
 And I shall be as true to thee. 
 
370 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 Such a thirst for renown in arms, for the display of valiancy, had 
 a knight, that he would sometimes attempt the very height of he- 
 roism, and engage in the execution of impossibilities. It was this 
 passion, which dictated many of his vows. Certain young knights 
 of England, during the French wars of Edward III., each bound up 
 one of his eyes with a silk ribbon, and swore before the ladies and 
 the peacock, that he would not see with both eyes, until he had ac- 
 omplished certain deeds of arms in France. 
 The valiancy of chivalry was finely chastened by humility : 
 
 " And of his port, as meek as is a maid.' 
 
 Every hero, as well as Chaucer's knight, demeaned himself in all 
 things, as if God solely had controlled ; and in the divine name, used 
 his arms, without vaunting or praising himself; for praise was regard- 
 ed as blame, in the mouth of him who commended his own actions. 
 
 The clemency of chivalry was often shown, especially in sparing 
 inferior people. As a knight could gain no honour in slaying an un- 
 armed peasantry, so he seldom attacked one of this class ; and even 
 an enemy of his own order, if prostrate and supplicating, was not often 
 despatched. 
 
 Still, he was ruthless towards the infidel and heretic. He knew 
 no other argument than the sword, to gainsay the infidel, and he 
 was ready, at all times, to " thrust it into the belly of a heretic as lar 
 as it would go." 
 
 Of his moral virtues, perfect fidelity to a promise was very con- 
 spicuous ; for his nobleness disdained any compromise with conve- 
 nience or circumstances. However absurd the vow, still he was 
 compelled to perform it, in all the strictness of the letter. 
 
 Knights were renowned for their courtesy; and this principle, like 
 every other blessing of modern times, had its origin in the Christian 
 religion. The world thought, that courtesy and chivalry accorded 
 together, and that villanous and foul words, were contrary to an 
 order which was founded on piety. A knight was always spoken ol 
 as gentle. The following anecdote curiously marks this quality of 
 chivalric manners. The wife and sister of Du Gueselin, were once 
 living in a castle, which was attacked by a force of Normans and 
 Englishmen. The success was great and important ; but public in- 
 dignation was excited against the invaders, because they had trans- 
 gressed the license of war, in being guilty of the uncourteous action 
 of surprising and disturbing ladies while they were asleep. 
 
 7. Every day life of the Knight. The military and mo- 
 ral qualities of knighthood, were fostered by all the circum- 
 stances of chivalric life, even those of a peaceful nature. 
 Their common life was one of amusement and revelry, in 
 which the images of their favourite pursuits were easily re- 
 called to their minds. They passed most of their hours of 
 peace, in the diversions of falconry and chess-playing, in lis 
 tening to the minstrels, who sung the feats of chivalry, in read 
 
CHIVALRY. 371 
 
 ing romances, and in conversation, which turned almost 
 wholly on love and war. Entertainments, also, at each 
 other's castles, were frequent; in these, the utmost merriment 
 
 prevailed. 
 
 The minstrel's lay, the poetry of the troubadour, the romance of 
 the learned clerk all spoke of arms and amours of the duties and 
 sports of chivalry. Every baronial knight had his gay troop of min- 
 strels, that accompanied him to the field, and afterwards chanted in 
 his hall the martial deeds which had renowned his family. 
 
 At their entertainments, the knights were wont to repose on 
 couches, or sit on benches. The guests were placed two by two, 
 and only one plate was allotted to each pair ; for to eat on the same 
 trencher or plate with any one, was considered the strongest mark 
 of friendship or love. Peacocks and pheasants were the peculiar 
 food of knights, on great and festival occasions. 
 
 8. The Chivalric lady-love. The females of chivalry, 
 possessed a distinct and peculiar character. The lady, like 
 the knight, was regularly trained up to become, at length, the 
 mistress of his affections. She was commonly educated in 
 the castle of some knight or baron, her father's friend. One 
 of the first duties or accomplishments which she learned, was 
 that, of courtesy, and condescension to her inferiors. In those 
 days, her mental education was not of a high polish. Some 
 knowledge of medicine was deemed desirable, as chivalry re- 
 quired her to take care of her wounded knight. Her dress 
 was required to be plain, except on festive occasions. 
 
 The only tasks on her intellect, were to repeat the prayers of the 
 church, to sing a brief piece of poetry, or the longer romaunt. She 
 could also play on the harp. Sometimes the graver sciences were 
 introduced into female education. There were solitary instances, in 
 which might be applied what was sung of Felice, the daughter of 
 the earl of Warwick. 
 
 K Busy they (her masters) were that maiden to leer, 
 
 And they lered her of astronomy 
 
 Of armsmetrick, and of geometry ; 
 
 Of sophistry she was also witty, 
 
 Of rhetorick and of other clergy ; 
 
 Learned she was in musick, 
 
 Of clergy was her none like." 
 
 In that singular system of manners which we call chivalric, love, 
 next to religion, was the most influential principle. In many instan - 
 ces, it was doubtless the most influential. The true knight was a 
 more perfect personification of love, than poets and romancers ever 
 dreamed. The fair object of his passion, reigned in his heart, with 
 absolute dominion. 
 
 Every gallant spirit of " gentle" Gower's days, the reign of Ed- 
 ward III., said of his mistress. 
 
372 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 " What thing she bid me do, I do, 
 And where she bid me go, I go." 
 
 Chivalric love, had both its absurdities and impieties. Knights 
 were not satisfied to fight in defence of the ladies, and to joust ir 
 their honour, but from the extravagance of their love, each knight 
 maintained at the point of his lance, that his mistress surpassed alJ 
 other ladies in beauty. 
 
 Chivalric love, became a foe to the distictions of wealth and rank, 
 and many a knight, whose whole fortune lay in his prowess, gained 
 the hand of high born beauty. 
 
 In chivalry there was always a generous consideration for 
 woman. Hence proceeded the honorable maxim, that it was 
 not just or courteous to take ladies in war. 
 
 In the wars of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the emperor 
 Conrad, as an offended sovereign, had refused all terms of capitula 
 tion to the garrison of Winnisberg ; but as a courteous knight, ho 
 permitted the women to depart with such of their precious effects as 
 they themselves could transport. The gates of the town were 
 thrown open, and a long procession of matrons, each bearing a hus- 
 band or a father, or brother, on her shoulders, passed in safety 
 through the applauding camp. 
 
 9. Tournaments and Jousts. Tournaments and jousts, 
 were both the offspring and the cherisher of chivalry. No 
 amusement or exercise was so delighted in by gallant knights 
 and beauteous ladies, by kings, the nobility, and the gentry, 
 as these images of war. They were often splendid beyond 
 description, especially at coronations, the marriage of princes, 
 and important victories. 
 
 Tournaments were military exercises, performed by two 
 parties of cavaliers, with hurtless weapons. 
 
 If the occasion was high and solemn, it was announced at the 
 courts of different sovereigns, by heralds, sent by the king who pro- 
 posed to hold the martial exercise ; and all those who valued their 
 knighthood, together with respected dames and maidens, were invi- 
 ted to repair to the appointed city, and prove their chivalry. Not 
 knights alone, but kings and princes, pricked over the plain in gal- 
 lant and graceful array ; for though they were not expected to stoop 
 to many knightly observances, they were eager to prove their chi- 
 valric character, by deeds of valour. For this they overlooked the 
 pride of station 
 
 Not every knight might tourney. He must have been guilty ol 
 no unchivalric deportment. He must never have blasphemed God, 
 or offended the ladies ; must never have been false, ungrateful, or 
 deserted a brother-in-arms in battle. The rules of tourneying, how- 
 ever, were sometimes evaded. Young knights, particularly, often 
 concealed their names, and came in disguise. 
 
 The place of combat was, the lists, a large space, surround 
 
CHIVALRY. 373 
 
 ed by ropes or railing, in single or double rows. Sometimes 
 there was a wooden division in the lists or area, to prevent 
 the horses of the adverse knights from careering against one 
 another. 
 
 The ladies were the supreme judges of tournaments ; but 
 they generally deputed their power to a knight, who was cal- 
 led on this account, the Knight of Honour. They some- 
 times proposed the rewards, such as a diamond, ruby, &c. 
 But the meed of renown was oftener military. 
 
 When the knights reached the lists, their arms were examined 
 by the constable, in order that only hurtless ones might be used. 
 But, notwithstanding this regulation, there existed a strong disposi- 
 tion, in many instances, to convert tournaments into real battles. 
 Victory at a tournament was scarcely less glorious than victory in 
 the field. The ladies, the minstrels, and the whole assembled mul- 
 titude, acclaimed the conqueror. The practice of converting the 
 elegant tournament into a deadly fray, occasioned an oath to be im- 
 posed on all knights, that they would frequent tournaments, solely, 
 to learn military exercises. 
 
 The chivalric bands were so well poised, that one encounter seldom 
 terminated the sport. The lances were broken, horses and knights 
 overthrown, and the tide of victory flowed to either end of the lists. 
 The air was rent with names of ladies. Each knight called upon 
 his mistress to assist him, thinking that there was a magic in beauty, 
 to sustain his strength and courage. Death sometimes, though not 
 often, ensued. It was on the whole a hazardous and dissolute amuse- 
 ment. The revelry which followed, lasted often two or three days. 
 The court of Rome was justly hostile to tournaments, and thunder- 
 ed its denial of Christian sepulture to those who fell in a tilting 
 ground ; but still the practice went on. 
 
 Of jousts, there were two sorts ; the joust to the utterance, 
 and the joust of peace. The former expressed a single com- 
 bat between two knights, who were generally of different 
 nations. In strictness of speech, the judicial combat was a 
 joust to the utterance; and so was every duel, whether lawful or 
 unlawful ; but with such jousts, chivalry has no direct con- 
 cern, though the absurd and iniquitous practice of modern 
 duelling, grew out of its principles. 
 
 The joust was not so favourite an amusement as the tournament, 
 for baronial pomp was not necessary to its display ; often was it held 
 without a store of bright ladies distributing the prize. 
 
 The joust of peace often took place at the conclusion of a 
 
 tournament. A knight who had acquired honour, would 
 
 ride about the lists, and call on the surrounding cavaliers, by 
 
 their valiancy, and for the love of the ladies, to encounter him 
 
 32 
 
374 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 in three strokes of the lance. The joust was more frequent- 
 ly held at a place expressly appointed for the occasion. The 
 mode of combat was always specifically described. 
 
 Jousts possessed a more martial character than tourna- 
 ments. Such usually was the dexterity of the combatants, 
 that the encounter of the lance was seldom fatal. 
 
 Through the long period of the middle ages, tournaments and 
 jousts were the elegant pastimes of Europe and Greece. Knight- 
 hood had its triumph over classical institutions, when the games of 
 chivalry were played in the circus of Constantinople. In the West 
 they survived chivalry itself, whose image they had reflected and 
 brightened, for changes in the military art, did not immediately af- 
 fect manners ; and the world long clung with fondness to those 
 splendid and graceful, though dissipating shows which had thrown 
 light and elegance over the warriors and dames of yore. 
 
 10. Orders of Knighthood. Chivalry had its various 
 orders, or associations of cavaliers, formed for specific purposes, 
 generally of a benevolent character. Ten of them remain 
 to the present time. Most of the present orders are otherwise 
 than of a chivalric origin. The orders of chivalry were of 
 two general descriptions, viz. religious and ^military. They 
 extended over various countries, particularly the Holy Land, 
 England, Spain, France, and Italy. Some of the religious 
 orders were those of the Templars, St. James, Calatrava, 
 Alcantara, the Lady of Mercy, and St. Michael. In the re- 
 ligious orders, the cavaliers were bound by the three great 
 monastic vows, of chastity, poverty, and obedience. 
 
 The military orders, were imitations of the religious. Those 
 of the Garter, th 3 Golden Fleece, and St. Michael, in France, 
 were clearly of cMvalric origin. Many others that now ex- 
 ist, cannot boast cf such a descent. All these institutions had 
 particular rules by which they professed to be governed, but 
 they varied with the spirit of the times. They need not 
 here be recited. 
 
 Our limits will not permit us to describe the character and pro- 
 gress of chivalry in the several countries in which it flourished, or 
 to detail the exploits of renowned individuals. It belongs to this 
 work to sketch only the general features of the system, which has 
 been done. It remains now to notice the merits and effects 
 chivalry. 
 
 11. Merits and Effects of Chivalry. Chivalry was, 
 many respects, a whimsical institution ; but it well suited t 
 period in which it rose and flourished, and seems to hav 
 
CHIVALRY. 375 
 
 been needed in those ages. It was probably the best system 
 that could have been adopted to aid the improvement of so- 
 ciety, at a time when Christianity was so deeply corrupted. 
 The principles of this religion, as it was then understood and 
 practised, were incorporated in it ; and much of the good 
 which it included, was the fruit of the Gospel. Its theory, 
 however, was in several respects indefensible, and its practice 
 was mrely ever so good as its theory. Still we find much to 
 admire in chivalry, considering the character of the nations 
 among wliom it prevailed. 
 
 "The patriarchal system of manners, shaped and sanctioned by 
 Christianity, formed the fabric of chivalry; and romance, with its 
 many coloured hues, gave it light and beauty. The early ages of 
 Europe gaily moved in all the wildness and vigour of youth; imagi- 
 nation freshened and heightened every pleasure ; the world was a 
 vision, and life a dream. The common and palpable value of an ob- 
 ject, was never looked at, but every thing was viewed in its connec- 
 tion with fancy and sentiment. Prudence and calculation were not 
 suffered to check noble aspirations ; duties were not cautiously re- 
 garded with a view to limit the performance of them ; for every 
 principle was not only practised with zeal, but the same fervid wish 
 to do well, lent it new obligations. From these feelings proceeded 
 all the graceful refinements, all the romance of chivalry." 
 
 This institution fostered civilization, and was therefore needed in 
 a barbarous age. It refined the manners, and added harmony to 
 social intercourse, where otherwise little but rudeness and misrule 
 would have prevailed. It contributed to the safety and order of 
 society, inasmuch as it thinned the ranks of robbers and ruffians. 
 It infused kind and beneficent feelings into the bosom, and enjoined 
 external propriety of conduct, and courtesy of behaviour. It culti- 
 vated a humanity which was not limited by kindred or country. 
 As chivalry was spread over Europe, it formed mankind into one 
 band, one order of men. The features of war were softened by its 
 influence. It taught the warrior gentleness and clemency. A nice 
 sense of honour and a scrupulous regard of truth were fostered by 
 its maxims. It was a principle, as well as a feeling and a love in 
 chivalry, to guard and cherish woman, and many of its amenities 
 proceeded from her mild influence. In fine, it corrected the peculiar 
 evils of the feudal system, haughtiness, tyranny, oppression, and 
 misrule. 
 
 Notwithstanding these beneficial effects of chivalry, it must be 
 acknowledged that other effects attended it, which may well qualify 
 the language of praise. Still we are willing to believe, that it did 
 more good than mischief, in a secular view. It has, however, been 
 more condemn 3d than lauded, and every one knows the exquisite 
 ridicule which has been thrown upon it, or rather upon its extra*"* 
 gancies, by the inimitable author of Don Quixote. It resulted TI 
 
376 GENERAL VIEWS, 
 
 some degree in looseness of morals, in respect even to the intercourse 
 of the sexes ; the purity of which it so highly professed to regard 
 and defend. Instances of gross violence and injustice in the con- 
 duct of knights, too often appeared ; and it nourished feelings of re- 
 sentment and the love of war. While it stript war of many 
 features of savageness by the civilities and courtesies with, which it 
 surrounded it, it at the same time nourished that proud and sensi- 
 tive spirit, falsely called honour, which suffers no wound, without 
 seeking redress in the private duel. 
 
 These, it is thought, are mostly exceptions to its general spirit and 
 tendency ; and as to individual persons, it is doubtless too true, that 
 recreant knights may be found, on the same principle, that false pro- 
 fessors may be found of the only true religion on earth, viz., the im- 
 perfection of human nature. 
 
 A witty old English author says, that "errant knights were arrant 
 knaves." And another remarks, that "their horses groan under the 
 burden, not of weapons, but of wine; not with lances, but cheeses ; 
 not with swords, but with bottles ; not with spears, fort with spits." 
 This is spleen. 
 
 It is difficult to define the precise period of the duration of 
 chivalry. It was a light which was kindled in a dark age, 
 and it went out when that age was beginning to be brightened 
 with superior luminaries. Viewing the subject in its great 
 and leading bearings, chivalry may be said to he coeval with 
 the middle ages of Europe, and all its power ceased when 
 new systems of warfare were matured, when tlie revival of 
 letters was complete and general, and the reformation of re- 
 ligion gave a new subject for the feelings and thoughts of 
 men. 
 
 Romances, 
 
 A peculiarity of the middle ages, connected with chivalry 
 and subservient to it, was the production of Romances. These 
 were books which describe an extravagant kind of chivalry, 
 and were then read with singular avidity, and indeed con- 
 stituted the principal reading of the people. They were so 
 called, from the language in which they were written ; Ro- 
 mance, a mixture of the Gallic and Latin. They first ap- 
 peared about the middle of the twelfth century, and their ori- 
 gin is to be traced to the Proven9al Troubadours, a sort of 
 story tellers and bards in Provence. In these productions, it 
 has been observed, appeared the first dawnings of modern 
 
 literature. 
 
 The more ancient romances did not record contemporary events, 
 since fiction or exaggeration here would have been detected. Theii 
 
 
 
PILGRIMAGES. 377 
 
 V + 
 
 subjects were an ideal chivalry. They depicted not only knights, 
 setting forth to redress all manner of wrongs, but magicians, dra- 
 gons and giants, invulnerable men. winged horses, enchanted armour, 
 and enchanted castles ; adventures which nobody could really be- 
 lieve, but the possibility of which, owing to the ignorance and su- 
 perstition of the times, might have been admitted by the readers. 
 
 Among others of the early romances, the following were celebra- 
 ted, viz: the Seven Champions of Christendom, Sir Launcelot, 
 Ainadis de Gaul, Charlemagne and his Twelve Peers, King Arthur 
 and the noble knights of the Round Table. From these sprung a 
 progeny no less wild and extravagant, till in a subsequent era, at a 
 considerable distance, a revolution occurred in this species of wri- 
 ting. Romances of a new order, appeared in the Astraea of Durfe, 
 the Grand Cyrus, the Clelia and Cleopatra, of Mad. Scuderi, and 
 others, which, though leaving out the dragons and necromancers, 
 Vvvre still unnatural, and too marvellous for belief. Both classes of 
 these productions, partook of a moral and virtuous turn, and highly 
 extolled heroism, generosity, and piety. The familiar novel of mod- 
 ern ages, was the last form of the Romance. 
 
 These books, as an author has observed, "composed upon the 
 striking subjects of gallantry, war, satire, and history, first awaken- 
 ed Europe from its ignorance and lethargy, amused the minds of 
 men with grotesque and lively images and descriptions, and first 
 taught them to think, reflect, and judge upon subjects of imagina- 
 tion." Much of the popular literature of Italy, consisted of roman- 
 ces ; and the chief topics of them were the exploits, both, in arms 
 and amours, of Charlemagne and his Paladins. In England, so much 
 vva? thought of romances, that Caxton, the father of English print- 
 ing, could exhort, " Read the noble volumes of St. Graal. of Laun- 
 cek> f , of Perceforest, of Gawayn, of Tristem, of Galaod. of Perce- 
 val, and many more. Then shall you see manhood, courtesy, and 
 geniilness." 
 
 Pilgrimages. 
 
 The pilgrimages so common to the people of Europe, be 
 fore and at' the time of the crusades, were journeys under 
 taken to some holy place, in order to adore the relics of some 
 deceased saint. They were considered meritorious acts, a re- 
 ligious discipline of great importance. It was about the mid- 
 dle ages of the church, that pilgrimages began to be made, 
 but their reputation was highest after the end of the eleventh 
 century, when almost every one was inclined to visit places cf 
 devotion, not excepting kings and princes, and even bishope 
 did not hesitate to absent themselves from their churches, on 
 the same account. The places most visited, were Jerusalem, 
 Rome, Tours, and Compostella. 
 
 Jerusalem, as the resort of pilgrims, was far the most famous 
 32* 
 
378 GENERAL VIEWS, 
 
 and all the wars of the crusades were occasioned on account of that 
 place. As to Compostella, we find that in 1428, abundances of li- 
 censes were granted by the crown of England, to captains of Eng- 
 lish ships, for carrying numbers of devout persons thither, to the 
 shrine of St. James, provided, however, that those pilgrims should 
 first bind themselves by an oath, not to take any thing prejudicial to 
 England, nor to reveal any of its secrets, nor to carry out with them 
 *my more gold or silver, than what would be sufficient for their 
 reasonable expenses, 
 
 In almost every country where popery has been established, pil- 
 grimages have been common. In England, the shrine of St. Tho- 
 mas-a-Becket, was the chief resort of the pious, and in Scotland, St. 
 Andrew's, where, as tradition informs us, was deposited a leg of the 
 holy apostle ! In Ireland, pilgrimages have been continued, even 
 down to modern times. 
 
 Manners and Character of the Gothic, or Scandinavian 
 
 Nations. 
 
 The brevity of the plan of this work, will not admit a separate ac- 
 count of the manners and character of the various nations, whose 
 history it narrates. The genius and national character of the Ro- 
 mans, during the long period in which they were masters of the 
 world, have been exhibited to some extent in the political history of 
 that people. The manners and character of the present nations of 
 Europe, and of nations decended from them, in other parts of the 
 globe, except the particulars included in the account of -chivalry, 
 the feudal system, &c. already given, must be learned from more ex- 
 tended works. But in regard to those barbarous nations of the north, 
 who conquered the Roman empire, and from whom many of the 
 present European communities are descended, it is proper that some- 
 thing should be said in these General Views. The manners and in- 
 stitutions of these tribes, are curious objects of inquiry, from their 
 influence on the constitutions and national character of most of the 
 modern kingdoms of Europe. The inhabitants of these kingdoms 
 are a mixed race, compounded of the Goths and of the nations whom 
 they subdued, and consequently the manners, laws, and institutions 
 of the conquerors and the conquered, would naturally affect and 
 modify those of one another. 
 
 The Gothic, or Scandinavian nations, were the Goths, 
 properly so called, the GepicUie, the Lombards, the Heruli, 
 and the Yandals. Other barbarous tribes from the north of 
 Asia or Europe, were the Huns, Alains, Bulgari, Suevi, 
 Burgundians, Franks, Alemani, Normans, Saxons, (fee. The . 
 parts which these various nations acted, in the political histo- 
 ry of the world, have been described in the proper place. 
 Their manners, character, (fee. particularly those of the Scan- 
 
GOTHIC NATIONS. 379 
 
 dinavian tribes, may be learned, in part, from thb following 
 brief account. 
 
 (1.) Some characteristics were common to them all. What- 
 ever difference of manners and customs there may have been 
 among the various tribes of Scandinavian origin, the promi- 
 nent features of their character, appear to have been the 
 same. They were formed by all their habits and education 
 for a brave and conquering race. The corrupted Roman 
 world could not but fall before a people, whose bodily frame 
 was invigorated by the climate which they inhabited, and 
 inured to danger and fatigue, whose habitual occupation was 
 war, and whose religion taught them that the loss of life in 
 battle, was a certain passport to the halls of Odin. 
 
 The Scandinavian and Scythian nations, probably had the same 
 origin, inasmuch as they agreed in manners and institutions. The 
 characteristics of the Scythians, as given by Herodotus, may be ap- 
 plied to the Scandinavians. Their life was spent in hunting, pastu- 
 rage, and predatory war. They entertained a high respect for their 
 \vomen r despised learning, and for many ages had no other record? 
 than the .songs of their bards. 
 
 The theology of the Scandinavians, was a proper index of their 
 manners. One of their leading articles in religion, was to be intre- 
 pid in fight. As, moreover, they believed the world to be the work 
 of some superior intelligences, so they held that it was regulated 
 and fixed by an unalterable destiny. These notions had a won- 
 derful effect on the national manners, and on the conduct of in- 
 dividuals. The Scandinavian had no other delight, than what war 
 afforded ; he entertained an absolute contempt of danger and of 
 death r and the larger the number of his enemies slain in battle, the 
 more highly was he esteemed by others, and himself. The solace of 
 his departing spirit, was a recital of his acts of carnage. 
 
 His God was Odin, a God clothed with every terror, and delighting 
 in war, revenge and slaughter. From him and Frea, the heavenly 
 mother, sprung various lesser divinities ; as Thor, who perpetually 
 wnrs against LoRe and his evil giants ; and the virgins of the Val 
 halla, whose office it is to minister to the departed heroes. The 
 joys of paradise are fighting, perpetual carnage, and drinking beer 
 out of the skulls of their enemies. Of these joys, the cowardly are 
 never suffered to partake. 
 
 There was a great similarity between the manners of the Scandi- 
 navians, and those of the ancient Germans. The latter, however, 
 seem to have sprung from a different origin. The Germans as well 
 as the Gauls, were branches of the Celtfe, a great original nation, 
 who inhabited most of the countries of Europe, south of the Baltic, 
 before they were invaded by the Scandinavian tribes. The religion 
 of the Celta3, differed in some respects from that of their northern 
 neighbours, though it was founded on the same principles. It was 
 
380 
 
 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 the Druidical system. They usually performed their devotions in 
 sacred groves, woods or forests. Of their sacrifices, horses were ac- 
 counted the most acceptable, but their altars, like those of most bar- 
 barous nations, were sometimes sprinkled with human blond. 
 
 The warriors of Scandinavia, upon their settlement in trie provin- 
 ces of the Roman empire, soon lost much of their native ferocity and 
 barbarism. Sometime previously to this, change in their condition, 
 they had nominally embraced Christianity, and their morality had 
 become respectable. The Gothic conquerors of Rome, generally 
 spared the noble works of art, and Theodoric the Great, at the head 
 of the Gothic monarchy in Italy, was an excellent sovereign, mild, 
 indulgent, prudent, and enlightened. Under this monarch, and even 
 under Alaric, Amalasonte, and Totila, the Romans were treated with 
 an indulgence which they could scarcely have expected. Their 
 government was monarchical ; at first elective, afterwards heredita- 
 ry, in the sense that the sovereign on his death bed appointed his 
 successor. 
 
 (2.) A few things may be noticed as applicable to particu 
 iar tribes. There were some diversities of character and in 
 
 stitutions, that throw additional light on the genius and man- 
 ners of modern civilized nations. 
 
 The Goths, properly so called, appear to have been famed, even 
 in the earliest ages, for their hospitality and kindness to strangers. 
 They encouraged the study of philosophy, above all other barbarous 
 nations: and Horace has bestowed some warm encomiums on th<; 
 virtue of their women. Poligamy, however, was universally coun- 
 tenanced among them ; and their martial disposition, induced them 
 to commit many unwarrantable depredations on the territories o{ 
 their neighbours. Their principal weapons consisted of bearded 
 lances, and missile hatchets. Their government was monarchical. 
 
 After the Goths, upon their conquest of the Roman empire, be- 
 came divided into Ostrogoths and Visogoths, their policy somewhat- 
 varied. The former enforced, in their new dominions, the obser- 
 vance of the Roman laws. The latter adhered to a code compiled 
 by their own sovereigns, and founded on their ancient manners and 
 usages. From this code may be gathered much information respect- 
 ing their national character and genius. 
 
 The following are a few particulars, imparting this information. 
 "It is enacted by laws of the Visogoths, that no judge shall decide 
 in any law suit, unless he finds in that book, a law applicable to the 
 case. All causes that fall not under this description, are reserved 
 for the decision of the sovereign. The penal laws are severe, but 
 tempered with equity. No punishment can affect the heirs of the 
 criminal. Death was the punishment of the murder of a freeman, 
 and perpetual infamy of the murder of a slave. Pecuniary fines 
 were enacted for various subordinate offences, according to their 
 measures of criminality. An adulterer was delivered in bondage to 
 the injured husband ; and the free woman who had committed adul- 
 tery with a married man, became the slave of his wife. No physi 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS, 381 
 
 cian was allowed to visit a female patient, but in the presence of her 
 nearest kindred. The lex taliationis was in great observance for 
 such injuries as admitted of it." 
 
 The Heruli appear to have had some laws peculiar to themselves ; 
 for among them, when persons had attained to a certain age, they 
 were placed on a pile of wood, put to death, and their bodies re- 
 duced to ashes. When a man died, his wife was obliged either to 
 strangle herself on his tomb, or become an object of universal con- 
 tempt j and human sacrifices were frequently offered to appease the 
 gods of the country. The generality of the people were distin- 
 guished for courage, swiftness, and activity ; but their manners were 
 greatly corrupt, and every kind of impurity was practised without 
 shame or control. Their government is said to have been monar- 
 chical ; but it appears that their kings possessed a very small share 
 of authority, and differed but little, in any respect, from their 
 subjects. 
 
 The Huns, though not of Scandinavian origin, but from the 
 vast deserts bordering on the north of China, were a hardy, warlike, 
 and ferocious people, who at first subsisted entirely on roots or raw 
 meat ; lived constantly exposed to the air in the woods, or among 
 the excavations of the mountains ; were accustomed even to eat 
 and sleep on horseback; and professed the utmost contempt for 
 raiment, houses, and other conveniences of life. They were desti- 
 tute equally of religious and civil institutions, and abandoned them- 
 selves without restraint to the gratification of their unruly passions. 
 Hence we find them making frequent incursions into the Roman 
 empire, in defiance of the most solemn oaths, and even occasionally 
 turning their arms against their own countrymen for a pecuniary 
 reward. Their distinctive character and institutions were lost, aftei 
 they were subdued by Charlemagne, and dispersed among othes 
 nations. 
 
 Learning and the Arts. 
 
 SECT. 1. The interesting topics embraced in this article 
 may be treated synch ronically, dr according to certain eras. 
 Including literature, science, philosophy, and the fine arts, 
 such as painting, sculpture, and architecture, they are too 
 numerous and extensive to be treated particularly according 
 to the different states or nations, in so compendious a work as 
 the present. The mere sketch here to be presented, will in- 
 clude three eras. 1. From the close of the Augustan age 
 to the destruction of the Western Roman empire, or the com- 
 mencement of the dark ages. 2. Prom the commencement 
 of the dark ages to the revival of learning in the 15th cen- 
 tury. 3. From the revival of learning to the present time. 
 
382 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 The Augustan age of literature may be considered as extending 
 a few years into the period assigned as the commencement of mo- 
 dern history ; for Livy, Ovid, and Phaedrus lived and wrote till after 
 the Christian era. 
 
 2. In the FIRST ERA, we have to notice the gradual and 
 very perceptible decay of literature, and polite learning. Im- 
 mediately succeeding the Augustan age, there were many 
 persons of superior erudition and intellectual powers, but 
 whatever pertains to taste and elegant literature, began 
 visibly to .decline. A pompous, affected, and false style 
 of writing, soon prevailed in the room of the classic beau- 
 ties of the age of Cicero, Virgil, Horace, and Tibullus. 
 No works so finished as those of these masters, were pro- 
 duced after the Augustan age ; and though there were 
 writers whose endowments and genius were quite equal 
 to those of the above named, yet their deficiency in taste, is 
 too certainly indicated by luxuriance of ornament, and by 
 continual efforts after brilliancy of thought and expression. 
 In science and philosophy, the decline is not so perceptible 
 at first, as it was towards the middle or conclusion of the 
 era. Perhaps at first, if there was any difference, science 
 and philosophy were more indebted to some of the writers 
 succeeding the Augustan age, than to any who flourished 
 during that age. 
 
 In poetry, Lucan, Juvenal, and even Martial, have a native power, 
 but little, if at all inferior to that of Virgil, Horace, or Ovid, how- 
 ever they may fail as to purity of style compared with the latter. 
 Yet in general, it must be allowed that the writers who figured 
 in polite literature, during this era, were deficient both in art and 
 genius, as is evident from the works of Statius, Siiius Italicus, and 
 Valerius Flaccus. Affected obscurity, bombast, and new-coined 
 words, are too heavy a tax for the few occasional felicities of repre- 
 sentation found in these authors. 
 
 In physical science, Pliny the Elder, was a great name ; in moral 
 philosophy, Seneca and Marcus Antoninus, shine with a supcrioi 
 lustre. These writers, with Plutarch the biographer, and Tacitus 
 the historian, and a few others, were men of great power, though 
 the faults of their style are to be regretted. The Natural History 
 of Pliny, is a most valuable repository of the knowledge at that time 
 possessed, in physics, (Economics, and the arts and sciences. 
 
 3. The princes who succeeded Augustus, were no enemies 
 to literature, and some of them were not only patrons of 
 learning, but were learned themselves. They were, however, 
 despots, and despots of a different stamp from Augustus. 
 
 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS. 383 
 
 Generally, they favored a literature which harmonized with 
 despotism ; and genius being indulged at the risk of life, was 
 cramped within narrow bounds. Eloquence was abandoned 
 to pedants. Sophists at length occupied the chair of phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 Towards the conclusion of this era, learning, taste, and genius, 
 greatly declined. Very few of the later writers observed, or seemed 
 to comprehend, the perfect models of the Augustan age. A small 
 number of poets, as Ausonius, Prudentius, and Claudian, wrote 
 elegant and harmonious verses, but they exhibited no commanding 
 genius, and depicted no powerful passions. We look in vain in 
 them for the happy invention and artificial conduct of an interest- 
 ing fable, or a just and lively representation of the characters and 
 situations of real life. Seldom do they contain any tiling sublime 
 or pathetic. A few philosophers, philologists, and historians, ap- 
 peared between the age of Constantine and the destruction of the 
 empire, but no names are peculiarly distinguished. We read of 
 some great names as connected with the defence of Christianity, 
 though the style of writing prevalent at that time, and especially 
 among that class of authors, was very faulty. There were hardly 
 any vestiges of the ancient classic taste, towards the close of the 
 empire. 
 
 4. Seminaries of learning, at Rome and in Italy, were first 
 endowed from the public treasury by Vespasian. The prin- 
 cipal school next to that of Rome, was at Milan. In Greece, 
 the schools of Athens continued to flourish for a considerable 
 time, and when the seat of the Roman empire was transfer- 
 red to Constantinople, that city included, for more than a 
 thousand years, most of the literature and books that existed. 
 Previously to that time, and during the decline of the empire, 
 the destruction of books was extended and increased, in the 
 midst of the turbulence and rapine of the civil contests for 
 the imperial throne. 
 
 Until the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews had 
 schools in Judea, particularly at Bethhoron Jerunia, and Ti- 
 berias. In the schools of Egypt, the chief of which was 
 Alexandria, were taught the Greek philosophy, mathematics, 
 Jurisprudence, medicine, magic, and astrology. 
 
 The despotism, disorders, civil commotions, and unparalleled suf- 
 ferings of the Roman people in the latter stages of their political ex- 
 istence, together with the destruction of libraries and books, could 
 not but prepare the way for the melancholy era which followed in 
 regard to the debasement of the human intellect. 
 
 It may be remarked, that the arts declined with literature and 
 science the cultivation of them being neglected amidst the troubles 
 
384 GENERAL VIEWS, 
 
 of the times. The Romans, as they were never eminent in any of 
 the arts dependant on design, employed Greek artists, for the most 
 part. But little encouragement was given to architecture, or to the 
 labours of the chisel and pencil, in the latter periods of the empire. 
 All things were tending towards a state of ignorance and barbarism 
 among the nations, 
 
 5. In the SECOND ERA, which begins and ends with the 
 dark ages, as they have been commonly called, we have to 
 remark an extraordinary depression of the human mind 
 during a long period. The time that intervened between the 
 fall of the Western empire of Rome, and the era of the re- 
 vival of learning, was 'nearly one thousand years, during 
 which, the world presented a sad scene of ignorance, barbn 
 rism, and misrule. There were, however, some intervals of 
 light, as in the times of ,A1 Raschid, when Arabian literature 
 flourished, and of Henry II., when in England. Henry of 
 Huntingdon, and some others, studied and wrote. At Con- 
 stantinople, there was throughout the whole period, a degree 
 of refinement and knowledge. The central portion of the 
 era was the darkest, including the ninth, tenth and eleventh 
 centuries. The classic authors ended with the former part 
 of the era, as also the spoken Latin tongue. 
 
 The civilized nations bound up together in one mighty 
 and unwieldy community, had been prepared by a variety o 
 causes, for the catastrophe which awaited them. The nor- 
 thern invaders did not originate ; at most, they only hastened 
 this catastrophe. As much of ignorance and ferocity as they 
 brought with them, they became, upon their settlement in the 
 south of Europe, as reputable, at least, as the native citizen 
 themselves. Considering their previous habits and temper, 
 they did more than could have been expected, to preserv 
 learning and the arts for a time, in the dominions which the 
 conquered. Without the agency of the northern invaders 
 darkness and barbarism would have covered the world, s 
 long as such abuses of human rights, and especially of th 
 divine system of the Gospel, were suffered to exist. Still 
 the conflict of arms, and the overturning of the empire, could 
 not but have given a shock to learning and the arts. 
 
 " In the revolution of ten centuries," says Gibbon, " not a sing! 
 discovery was made to exalt the dignity, or promote the happines 
 of mankind. Not a single idea has been added to the speculativ 
 systems of antiquity. Not a single composition of history, philos 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS. 385 
 
 phy or literature, has been saved from oblivion by the intrinsic 
 beauties of style or sentiment, of original fancy, or even of suc- 
 cessful imitation." " Of the writings of antiquity," says the same 
 author, " many that existed in the twelfth century are now lost : the 
 literature of the* Greeks had almost centered in the metropolis ; and 
 without computing the extent of our loss, we may drop a tear over 
 the libraries that have perished in the triple fires of Constantinople." 
 The ignorance and infelicities of the dark ages, cannot perhaps be 
 easily overrated. Those times, compared with our own, enjoying as 
 we do the meridian light of knowledge and religion, must have been 
 indeed undesirable. But there is a side to the picture, which is not 
 altogether cheerless. There were some bright and joyous scenes ; 
 and the relish of life in certain portions of the community, must have 
 been strong, if we may judge from the noble works of gothic archi- 
 tecture which were then erected from the convivialities of baronial 
 halls from the gayeties of chivalry and from the inspiring strains 
 of the troubadours. The love of a sort of intellectual display, was 
 indeed mingled with grosser propensities. But this is the most 
 favourable aspect of the dark ages. 
 
 Christianity, properly understood, and exercising its due influence 
 on the understanding arid character, must be a warm friend of know- 
 ledge and literature ; but the spurious Christianity believed and acted 
 upon in the dark ages, was hostile to some of the noblest produc- 
 tions of the human mind. ThQ temples of the heathens, with the 
 public libraries they contained, were the objects of vengeance and 
 destruction. The classics were regarded as sinful books. In addition 
 to these causes, the devastations of the northern conquerors, notwith- 
 standing the commendable moderation which characterized them 
 generally and the plunder of Milan, which, next to Rome, was the 
 chief repository for books in Italy necessarily reduced the number 
 of manuscripts, and so far injured the interests of learning. 
 
 After the commencement of the sixth century, scarcely any 
 writers or men of genius worthy of notice appeared. The scien- 
 ces suffered great decay. Taste was fast extinguishing. A sort of 
 attention was paid to learning during these times, but with little or 
 no effect. The common course of studies in all the schools was 
 grammar, logic, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astrono- 
 my. The first three were called Trivium, or trifling studies : the 
 last four Quadrivium or high studies. A vain and ideal philosophy 
 had begun universally to infect the minds of men. 
 
 When we come to the more palpable darkness of the present era, 
 we find that literature, science, and taste, were words but little known 
 and used. Many of the clergy, whose profession should have se 
 cured to them a competent degree of knowledge, did not under- 
 stand the breviary, which they were obliged daily to recite ; some 
 of them could scarcely read it. The human mind, in general, 
 neglected, uncultivated, and depressed, sank in the most profound 
 ignorance. Charlemagne, and after him Alfred the Great, by their 
 superior genius, endeavoured to dispel this darkness, and to give 
 33 
 
386 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 their subjects a short glimpse of light. But the ignorance of their 
 respective times was too powerful for their efforts and institutions. 
 The darkness returned and prevailed throughout Europe more or 
 less, till about the middle of the fifteenth century. 
 
 The scarcity of books in those times, and the nature of theii 
 subjects, as legends, lives of the saints, &c. evince the singular 
 dearth of learning. What of learning was cultivated, was confined 
 to a few ecclesiastics. The monks of those religious houses whose 
 rules did not prohibit the reading of the classics, turned their atten- 
 tion to procuring and copying manuscripts. Most of these indeed 
 were worthless ; but truth obliges the historian to add, that some of 
 the abbots, and even the monks, employed themselves in procuring 
 or copying the choicest works of Greece and Rome. Cassiodorus, 
 to use the words of Gibbon, " after passing thirty years in the 
 honours of the world, was blessed with an equal term of repose in 
 the devout and studious solitude of Squillace." To this place, the 
 monastery of Monte Cassio, in Calabria, he carried his own extensive 
 library, which he greatly enlarged by manuscripts bought in various 
 parts of Italy. His fondness for literature spread among the monks ; 
 and he encouraged them to copy manuscripts. What he did there 
 seems to have been imitated in the other monasteries of that part of 
 Italy ; for fifty religious houses there are mentioned, which after- 
 wards principally supplied the libraries of Rome, Venice, Florence, 
 and Milan, with books. 
 
 The only national exception to the profound ignorance of the 
 middle portion of the dark ages, were the Arabians. That part of 
 Europe which they held, viz. Spain, was much more enlightened 
 than any of the other states. The caliph Al Raschid rendered 
 Bagdad illustrious, by the successful cultivation of the arts and 
 sciences. At the same time the Moors of Cordova emulated their 
 brethren of the East in pursuing a similar course. The sciences to 
 which the Arabians w r ere devoted, were principally medicine, geo- 
 metry, and astronomy. In the end of the 10th century, they intro- 
 duced into Europe the use of figures instead of letters. 
 
 The arts, like literature and science, were low in this era of igno- 
 rance. This was the case even with the mechanic arts during 
 much of the time- The fine arts, particularly sculpture and paint- 
 ing, were preserved from absolute extinction, only by the existing 
 remains of ancient art. Charlemagne, in his time, seems to have 
 been solicitous for the improvement of music, and the Italians are 
 said to have instructed his French performers in the art of playing 
 on the organ. The musical gamut was invented in the llth centu- 
 ry. Architecture was cultivated in a style termed the Gothic, which, 
 notwithstanding its barbarous proportions, possesses a beauty pecu- 
 liar to itself. 
 
 In the 12th century there was the dawn of literature in England 
 under William of Malmsbury, Geoffrey of Mon mouth, Henry of 
 Huntingdon, Giraldus Cambrensis and others. It was, however, a 
 transient dawn, and darkness again succeeded. The barbarism and 
 subtleties of the schools triumphed over the better principles and 
 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS. 387 
 
 the more correct taste which had begun to prevail. The great 
 teachers and patterns of logic and scholastic divinity, were charac- 
 terized by the high-sounding epithets of divine, angelical, irrefraga- 
 ble, &c. The most eminent among these teachers, otherwise called 
 schoolmen, were Lanfranc, Abelard, Petrus Lombardus, Thomas 
 Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. Their great business seems to have 
 been to make innumerable nice and metaphysical distinctions, 
 founded neither in nature nor good sense, and to draw conclusions 
 which had no moral end whatever. Their speculations were found- 
 ed on the philosophy of Aristotle, and the folly lasted long after 
 the light had shone on other departments of human investigation. 
 
 6. In passing to the THIRD ERA, which commences 
 with the revival of learning during the 15th century, we 
 notice a favourable change, though not at first strongly 
 marked. It is difficult to fix upon the exact point where the 
 darkness ended, and the light began. The transition was 
 too gradual to admit of nice discrimination. Occasionally, 
 a distinguished individual appeared towards the conclusion 
 of the era of darkness, and some nations were in advance of 
 others as to the cultivation of learning. In the middle of the 
 13th century, Roger Bacon arose ; and as Wickliffe at the 
 distance of a century and a half from the Reformation has 
 been called its "morning star," so may Bacon, preceding the 
 revival of learning by nearly the same distance, he entitled 
 to a similar distinction. He was the morning star of the 
 restoration of letters in Europe. To his original genius and 
 vast scholarship, the advancement of science in subsequent 
 times is singularly indebted. His own age was too unen- 
 lightened to appreciate his merits or to profit by his discove- 
 ries. In the 14th century also, men of genius arose in Italy, 
 who were devoted to classical learning and the cultivation of 
 their native tongue. The works of Dante, Petrarch, and 
 Boccacio have fixed the standard of the Italian language. 
 In the same age also, flourished the English Chaucer and 
 Gower, and the accomplished James I. of Scotland, all of whom, 
 by their learning, genius, and taste, were fitted to give a cha- 
 racter to the time in which they lived. Spain also at this 
 period began to emerge from ignorance and barbarism. 
 Although on some accounts we might be tempted to fix on 
 the 14th century as the era of the revival of learning, we 
 are on other accounts led rather to fix on the period com- 
 monly assigned, viz. the 15th century. 
 
 A few nations only felt at this time the spirit which has 
 
388 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 been described, and that to a very small extent. It was, 
 moreover, poetry only that then attained a degree of splen- 
 dour. There was but little advancement in general literature 
 and science. Miracles and fables were woven too much into 
 the texture of history, though we find much curious informa- 
 tion in the writings of Walsin^ham, Everard, Duysburg, 
 and particularly Froissart. France and England, though 
 they contained a few learned men, were in general extremely 
 barbarous. Few books, and scarcely any classics, were found 
 in either of these countries. During nearly a hundred years 
 from the time of Petrarch, little advance was made ; but a 
 concurrence of circumstances, favourable to the development 
 of the human intellect, took place, which eventually altered 
 the whole aspect of affairs. Every subsequent age has felt 
 the effects which in the middle of the 15th century proceeded 
 from a taste for classical learning, from the dispersion of the 
 Greeks on the fall of Constantinople, and especially from the 
 noble invention of the art of printing. These were the 
 principal causes which renovated the intellect of Europe. 
 General literature and the fine arts first felt their influence ; 
 and after the dominion of Aristotle was broken by the great 
 Sir Francis Bacon, in the beginning of the 17th century, 
 discovery succeeded discovery, and the most astonishing 
 efforts of genius were put forth in science and philosophy. 
 Improvements in knowledge have been making ever since, 
 till, at the present time, both Europe and America enjoy the 
 clear and full light of an intellectual sun. 
 
 A volume would scarcely suffice for a satisfactory account of the 
 particulars, by which the above might be profitably illustrated and 
 expanded. The few notices that follow are all that the design of 
 this work can admit, and can furnish only a very slight sketch of the 
 revival of learning, of the intellectual advancement since made, and 
 of the present state of literature, science, philosophy, and the fine arts. 
 
 Long before the fall of Constantinople, the love of classical litera- 
 ture had been gradually reviving ; that event increased it by com- 
 pelling a great number of learned Greeks to seek a shelter in Italy. 
 But it could not be gratified, till the manuscripts, which lay buried 
 and neglected, were brought to light. The discovery of manuscripts, 
 therefore, was a most important step in the restoration of learning. 
 In some former centuries classical manuscripts had been looked up, 
 and particularly by Pope Silvester II., in the tenth century. Petrarch 
 and Boccacio, in the fourteenth century, were zealous and successful 
 labourers in this field. But no man, during the first half of the 
 fifteenth century, devoted himself with so much industry to the 
 search of manuscripts, or made so good a use of them, as Poggio 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS. 389 
 
 His youth was spent in travelling, to attain what seemed to be the 
 sole "object of his life. To these names may be added those of the 
 Medici family ; also Ernanuel Chry soleras, who was one of the first 
 that introduced a knowledge of the Greek language into Italy ; and 
 Theodore Gaza. At this important era there arose also a succession 
 of enlightened and munificent popes, who gave every encouragement 
 to learning and the sciences. Among these Leo X., soon after the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century , was the most conspicuous. It 
 was during his pontificate, that a perpetual indulgence was granted 
 for rebuilding the church of a monastery, because it possessed a 
 manuscript of Tacitus. 
 
 As a neglect of the standard works of. Greece and R,ome was one 
 great cause of the decline of learning, and of the bad taste and bar- 
 barism of the middle ages ; so a renewed attention to those works 
 was one great cause of the restoration of learning, taste, and refine- 
 ment. From an accurate knowledge of the masterpieces of antiqui- 
 ty, two great advantages resulted, viz. the scholar acquired the rich 
 stores of ancient thought and eloquence, and he learned the art, by 
 imitating such perfect models, of expressing his own ideas with per- 
 spicuity and elegance. In the exercise of the new studies, the Italians 
 were the first, and the most numerous; and there soon shone among 
 them an illustrious constellation, having Ariosto and Tasso foremost 
 in the train. It was not long before these improvements were re- 
 ceived in other countries, and spread their influence over France, 
 England, Spain, and Hungary. In France, Amyot and Marot, the 
 one in prose, the other in verse, wrote with a sweetness and simpli- 
 city unknown before ; and the poetry of Malherbe glowed with all 
 the fire of genius. The last writer is more commonly considered as 
 the father of French poetry. In England, Henry VIII., and his 
 minister, Wolsey, gave considerable countenance to letters, and the 
 English writers and scholars who had the greatest influence in re- 
 storing elegant learning, were, Sir Thomas More, Linacre, Lily, 
 and Hector Boece. 
 
 In the former part of the present era, criticism, poetry, and history, 
 as well as classical studies, made a rapid progress in most of the 
 kingdoms of Europe. Criticism and general learning were advanced 
 by the researches of Scaliger, Erasmus, and others on the continent. 
 Poetry attained to considerable distinction. Dramatic composition 
 began to be regular towards the conclusion of the 16th century. 
 Some finished epics were produced in Italy, particularly the Orlando 
 Furioso oi Ariosto, and the Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso. Lyric 
 poetry was cultivated in Italy, France, and England, but not with so 
 much success. In history, Machiavel particularly excelled, though, 
 like Tacitus, he was fond of those ambiguous expressions, dry phrases, 
 and abrupt turns, which, under the appearance of brevity, border on 
 obscurity and bad taste. The French De Thou wrote accurate his- 
 tory in the purest latinity Science and philosophy, however, did not 
 keep pace with literature. Aristotle, whose works were the great 
 text-book of knowledge, and whose logic was the only weapon oi 
 truth in the middle ages, reigned over the schools till the I7*h. cen.- 
 33* 
 
390 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 tury. A few, nevertheless, arose in the 15th and 16th centuries to 
 dispute his authority, among whom were Copernicus, Luther, Ramus, 
 Bruno, Campanella, and others. But legislatures and inquisitions 
 were against them. In regard to Ramus, it may be remarked that in 
 an edict of the French parliament, he was gravely pronounced to be 
 "insolent, impudent, and a liar, and he was solemnly prohibited from 
 copying, or even reading his own works !" 
 
 Soon after the commencement of the present era, the fine arts passed 
 suddenly from obscurity to splendour. Statuary and painting were 
 at their lowest ebb in the middle ages. They had revived a little in 
 the 13th and 14th centuries. A few painters in those ages imitated 
 nature with some fidelity, but they were altogether destitute of grace 
 or elegance. Bouchet, a Greek by birth, was the first architect, 
 Nicolas the first sculptor, and Cimabue the first painter, that re- 
 covered the antique style from the ruins of Rome and Greece. But 
 these attained only to mediocrity. Towards the end of the 15th 
 century, however, in the great age of Leo. X., Raphael and M. An- 
 gelo carried the art of painting to perfection. The masterpieces oi 
 antiquity were their models. And Angelo and others at the same 
 time carried also statuary and architecture to perfection. In painting, 
 these artists were followed by names of great distinction, as those 
 of Titian, Giorgione, Corregio, and others. Italy most excelled in 
 the production of painters, but Germany, Flanders, and Switzerland, 
 were not undistinguished. The most eminent of the schools w r ere 
 those of Rome, Florence, Lombardy, and Flanders. These several 
 schools were characterized by peculiar attributes, which it is here un- 
 necessary to describe. 
 
 In that which maybe considered the middle portion of the present 
 era, viz. the 17th century, the human mind put forth its mightiest ef- 
 forts, and the most profound researches were made in science, phi- 
 losophy, and literature. The foundation was then laid for the im- 
 provements that have since been realized, in every department of 
 study and intellectual effort. That period was distinguished through- 
 out for inventive genius, originality of thought, depth of investiga- 
 tion, and solid acquisitions. Philosophy had been trammelled by the 
 schools till the beginning of the 17th century, when Bacon. Lord 
 Verulam, disenthralled the human mind, and taught the sure method 
 of advancing knowledge, by experiment and the observation of na- 
 ture. He sketched the outline of one grand and comprehensive plan, 
 that should include in it the endless varieties of our knowledge, and 
 guide our inquiries in every branch. The progress of philosophy was 
 not, however, rapid at first. Much of theorizing remained even in 
 Gassendi and Des Cartes, the latter of whom, according to Le Grand, 
 found out more truths than all the philosophers who went before him. 
 But Newton at length arose, who, imbibing most deeply the spirit of 
 the Baconian philosophy, completely dispelled the illusions which 
 Bacon before him had detected and exposed. Before the light of his 
 investigating intellect the dreams of more than 2000 years utterly 
 vanished. Locke, the contemporary of Newton, applied the same 
 mode of inquiry ',o the study of the mind, and overthrowing the sys 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS. 391 
 
 terns of the old philosophers, met with nearly the same success as 
 his compeer in physics. 
 
 On the continenl, a century anterior to the time of Bacon, Coper- 
 nicus published his system of the planets, (the true system,) which the 
 Kornish church, in the plenitude of its wisdom, condemned. Galileo, 
 nearly a century before the time of Newton, constructed telescopes, 
 and discovered the satellites of the larger planets. But the same 
 church saw fit to imprison the illustrious astronomer. Kepler, about 
 the same time, and contemporaneous with Bacon, discovered the 
 Jaws ol the planetary motions. But Kepler, as well as Tycho Brahe 
 before, and Huygens after him, by not observing the method of science 
 fell into error. Instead of following, Tycho Brahe anticipated na- 
 ture, in taking it as a certain fact that the earth must be at rest. 
 Kepler imagined that the planets must besi.r in number, because of 
 certain properties of numbers. Huygens suffered himself to be im- 
 posed on in a similar way. The discoveries in astronomy in that 
 age led to improvements in navigation, and a great advancement in 
 geometry in all its branches. In Scotland, logarithms were invented 
 by Napier, in 1614, by which calculation was abridged and the ac- 
 quisition of science facilitated. Many instruments, besides the tele- 
 scope already mentioned, connected with the advancement of know- 
 ledge, were invented in the middle portion of the present era. In 
 Italy, Torricelli invented the barometer, by which the weight of the 
 atmosphere is determined. The same instrument was invented also 
 in France, by Pascal. Before this time (1610,) the thermometer 
 was invented in Holland, as also the miscroscope in 1619. England 
 claims the invention of the micrometer in 1640, and the air-pump 
 was invented by Guericke, at Magdeburg, in 1654. In the 17th cen- 
 tury also, several learned societies were instituted, as the Royal So- 
 ciety in England, and the Royal Academy of Sciences in France, 
 which have greatly contributed to the advancement of learning and 
 the useful arts. Indeed, the useful and mechanic arts were very 
 much multiplied during the century spoken of. Hundreds of con- 
 veniences and luxuries, which were unknown to antiquity, sprung 
 into use ; though many others which distinguish modern times, owe 
 their origin to an earlier period. A spirit of adventure and settle- 
 ment in distant regions eminently prevailed, and the globe was cir- 
 cumnavigated by English, Dutch, and Spanish sailors. The sphere 
 of knowledge by these means was immensely enlarged. 
 
 The progress of literature, in the middle portion of the present era, 
 was no less remarkable than that of science and philosophy. Nu- 
 merous were the productions of taste and genius, and many of them 
 sustained the highest reputation. Minuteness of detail is precluded 
 here ; it can only be remarked in general, that Shakspeare, Milton, 
 Dryden, and Addison, in England, and Corneille, Pascal, Moliere, 
 Racine, and La Fontaine, during the Augustan age, in France, pro- 
 duced works which will be as lasting as the languages in which they 
 are written. 
 
 In this part of the present era the fine arts continued to be cultiva- 
 ed with success. It cannot be expected that the old school of paint- 
 
392 GiLJNtlvAL Vii!/\VS. 
 
 ing, with Raphael and Angelo at its head, will ever be surpassed ID 
 the essential perfections of the art. The second Roman school 
 flourished at this time, which included the Caraccis three brothers 
 Guercino, Albano, Lanfranc, Domenichino, and Guido. 
 
 The last portion of the present era. comprising the eighteenth cen 
 tury, and the nineteenth thus far, is perhaps less distinguished than the 
 portion of it just reviewed, for profound attainments and original 
 works in science and literature. This seems to arise rather from the 
 force of circumstances, than from any other cause. Many subjects ot 
 investigation had been forestalled, yet great improvements have been 
 made in every department of knowledge, nor have discoveries been 
 wanting ; and where the genius of former ages has not exhausted re 
 search, research has been made. Within this period some sciences have 
 been created, and others have been greatly advanced. By a course 
 of observation agreeably to the Baconian philosophy, the great prin- 
 ciples of chemistry, botany, electricity, galvanism, mineralogy, geol- 
 ogy, statistics, in many respects geography, and perhaps one or two 
 other sciences, have been fixed on a new and firm basis. Both the 
 science and the practice of astronomy have been carried to a very 
 high pitch, by the talents and ingenuity of many eminent persons in 
 France, Britain, Germany, Italy, &c. Five planets have been added 
 to those formerly known as belonging to our solar system. But it 
 would be endless to specify particulars in respect to the advancement 
 of knowledge. 
 
 In polite learning, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have 
 been greatly distinguished. The Augustan age of English literature 
 is said by some to have begun with the eighteenth century under 
 Q,ueen Anne, and to have continued, without any visible decline, till 
 the accession of George III., a period rendered glorious by the names 
 of Addison, Swift, Congreve, Rowe, Steele, Prior, Pope, Young, 
 Watts, Thomson, and many others. But ever since the accession 
 of Georg-e III., though the period has been more particularly fruitful 
 in scientific and philosophic research, there has been an illustrious 
 train of fine writers, with Johnson and Burke at their head ; and 
 though poetry declined in the latter part of the eighteenth century, a 
 new school has arisen since the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, including several names, both in Great Britain and in the United 
 States, destined to immortality. In our own country literature has 
 made a rapid progress during the last twenty or thirty years, as is 
 also the case with every branch of learning. In lexicography we can 
 boast a standard work, (Webster's Dictionary,) which, it is believed, 
 for extent of learning, and accuracy of thought, is superior to any 
 other publication of the kind in the English language. In periodical 
 literature, both countries, Great Britain for a long time, America more 
 recently, have made the most laudable efforts ; and indeed this is a 
 form in which the mind of all intellectual nations now chooses to ex- 
 hibit much of its wealth. It is needless to speak of continental 
 Europe in respect to polite learning, since it is impossible to particu- 
 larize. France and Germany have more especially excelled in works 
 of laste and imagination, as well as in the departments of 'science and 
 
LEARNING AND THE ARTS 393 
 
 pmlosophy. Other nations on the continent, however, have a share 
 in the glory of these noble pursuits. 
 
 During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the fine arts have 
 been cultivated with much success. Architects, painters, and sculp- 
 tors, have generally received a patronage worthy of their merits. 
 Hogarth, Reynolds, Mengs, Cipriani, West, and David, in painting, 
 and Canova, Flaxman, and Chan trey, in sculpture, are great names. 
 American talent has been conspicuous in the former art. Within the 
 period here spoken of, there have been numerous inventions and dis- 
 coveries, many of which are exceedingly important. By means of 
 them, the conveniences and comforts of life have been almost indefi- 
 nitely extended and multiplied. On these objects the human intellect 
 has been most vigorously and happily employed. The numerous in- 
 ventions which are designed to aid the various branches of manu- 
 factures, and the application of steam to the same and to many other 
 purposes, are the glory of the age. A very few of the more important 
 discoveries and inventions are the following, viz. : inoculation, and 
 much more recently vaccination, spinning machines, stereotype print- 
 ing, lightning rods, life-boats, and life-preservers, the cotton-gin, en- 
 graving on steel plates, steam engines, steam-boats, and locomotive 
 engines. 
 
 To concentrate and give effect to individual labors, societies, in 
 more modern times, have been formed in all parts of the world ; and 
 on these now depends, in a great degree, the further improvement of 
 mankind in knowledge. Thus in England there is the Royal Society 
 which has been already mentioned, the Antiquarian Society, the 
 Royal Academy, the Society of Arts, and the Board of Agriculture. 
 In France there is what is now called the Imperial or Royal Institute ; 
 an-d at Berlin, Madrid, Vienna, and Petersburg, there exist royal so- 
 cieties like those of London. America also has its literary associa- 
 tions, and there are others m India, and even Turkey all laboring 
 for the promotion and propagation of knowledge. 
 
 The power of association for such a purpose, as well as for its great 
 collateral object, viz. religion, was scarcely realized until compara- 
 tively of late years. It is a distinguishing feature of the age, and will 
 doubtless be increasingly relied upon in future time. Multitudes of 
 students and readers have been brought into being by these means, 
 especially in connection with the periodical press. The extent to 
 which newspapers have been published in the United States, and 
 Great Britain, particularly the former, show how much may be calcu- 
 lated upon for the diffusion of knowledge, on that means alone. More 
 probably than two millions of prints of that kind are put into circula- 
 tion every week in these two countries. With every deduction on 
 account of the light character of many of these vehicles of intelligence 
 the amount of information which they diffuse cannot but be consider- 
 able. That information, it is to be noted, operates, particularly in 
 the United States, on the great mass of the people. It cannot be de- 
 nied, however, that these papers, in many instances, have produced 
 a degree of political animosity, that endangers the stability of free 
 institutions. It becomes important, therefore, that they should be 
 
394 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 controlled in their character, by the good senr .cy, as 
 
 enlightened by early moral and religious inst aodical 
 
 press, as it might and ought to be conducted, wou* Jculable 
 
 advantage, in respect both to the intelligence and mo. i the com- 
 muni.y. 
 
 On the whole, as we have now the advantage of looking over the 
 entire history of human genius, we arrive at the following result. " In 
 several of the fine arts, in which chiefly the taste and imagination are 
 concerned, such as poetry, rhetoric, statuary, and architecture, the 
 ancients, according to the general opinion, have equalled, if not sur- 
 passed, any of the moderns. The ancients nobly distinguished them- 
 selves also in those more vigorous exercises of the understanding 
 which are demanded by pure mathematics ; in proof of which it is 
 sufficient to quote the name of Euclid and of Archimedes. But it 
 was reserved for the moderns to invent a calculus a new and more 
 profound arithmetic, which was called for by a more exact acquaint- 
 ance with nature herself, and was to be applied to that more improved 
 state of natural science which is peculiar to later times ; we allude 
 to the doctrine of fluxions^ or to the differential method of Newton 
 and Leibnitz, since cultivated and applied to physical astronomy with 
 great success by the French, and especially by La Place. In most of 
 those branches of knowledge, however, which rest on the basis of ex- 
 periment and observation, the ancients almost entirely failed. The 
 case is, that to form theories, or systems of science and philosophy, 
 from a hasty view of facts and appearances, is an easy task, since 
 this can be done without the labour of close and patient thinking : and 
 if antiquity be in truth, as Bacon represents it, but the childhood and 
 youth of the world, it is nothing more than we might expect, that, at 
 that period of its existence, imagination should prevail over reason ; 
 and that the calmer and more successful exercises of the latter should 
 not unfold themselves till a maturer age." 
 
 Discoveries and Inventions. 
 
 1. A passing notice only can be taken of the discoveries and inven 
 tions which have characterized modern ages, as a full and adequafr 
 account of them would require volumes. Many of them are alto 
 gether new and original ; others are essential improvements of th 
 works of antiquity. Those of a mechanical character, will clair*. 
 principal attention in this place, since some that pertain to science 
 and philosophy, are naturally included in the consideration of those 
 subjects. Somewhat of a chronological order will be observed. The 
 following are a few of the many inventions and discoveries that ara 
 presented in modern history. 
 
 2. Corn Mills. In remote antiquity, corn was rather pounded 
 than ground ; and the hand-mills of which we read in scripturf , 
 were probably not unlike the pestle and mortar still in use. Im 
 
. 
 
 DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 395 
 
 provements were made in these machines, till, in process of time, 
 shafts were added to them, and they were driven by cattle. The first 
 mention of public water-mills which occurs in the Roman laws, dates 
 in the year 398, A. C., when some enactments were made, which 
 shew they were then considered as a new establishment. These 
 mills were situated on the aqueducts which supplied Rome with water 
 and as these were cut off when the city was besieged by the Goths, 
 536, Belisarius, who commanded the garrison, caused boats to be 
 moored in the Tyber, on which he erected mills, which were driven 
 by the current. Hence the origin of tide mills. Wind-mills, which 
 for a long time were so constructed, that they could work only when 
 the wind was in one quarter, are not spoken of till the time of the 
 first crusade. 
 
 3. Clocks and Watches. The art of constructing mechanical 
 docks was unknown to the ancients. It was not until late in the 
 fifth century of the Roman era (293 B. C.) that the first sun-dial was 
 introduced into Rome. At a later period, a machine was invented 
 at Alexandria, termed a water-clock, which was simply a conical 
 glass, with the scale marked on the sides ; and which, being per- 
 forated at the base, denoted the hour, as the liquid, with which it 
 was filled, subsided. To this may be traced the origin of the hour 
 glass, still in use. 
 
 The inventor of clocks moved by machinery, is not certainly known. 
 Several names of the ninth century have been mentioned, but there 
 /s reason to believe that the origin of the present invention is not 
 older than the eleventh century. About that time, clocks moved by 
 weights and wheels, certainly began to be used in the monasteries 
 of Europe. The writers of the thirteenth century, speak of them 
 as being well known ; still they were for a long time confined to mo- 
 nasteries. It was not till towards the close of the fifteenth century, 
 that they began to be used in private houses ; and about the same 
 time, mention is first made of watches. These were originally 
 formed in the shape of an egg, or at least of an oval, and catgut 
 supplied the place of a metal chain. The first watch is said to have 
 been made in Germany. In England, watches appear not to have 
 been in general use, until about the time of Queen Elizabeth. 
 
 The invention of pendulum clocks, is due to the ingenuity of 
 the seventeenth century, and the honour 01 the discovery is disputed 
 between Galileo and Huygens. The most ancient, now existing in 
 England, is that of Hampton Court palace, the date of which is 1540. 
 
 4. Linen used as clothing". Although linen was known in an- 
 cient times in the East, and was introduced into Rome in the second 
 century, it was not used in Europe, in the form of a garment, till 
 sometime in the third century. It was earlier adopted for the table 
 than for the person. The emperor Alexander Severus, is said to have 
 been the first European, who wore a linen shirt. But inasmuch as 
 the web was usually interwoven with threads of gold, it was too 
 rough to be much of a luxury. The manufacture of this article 
 made but little progress in Europe, during the middle ages. It was 
 confined both then, and for a long period afterwards, to private families. 
 
396 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 among whom it was made for domestic use ; and its scarcity as an 
 article of apparel, has been considered as one chief cause of that 
 cutaneous disorder, formerly called leprosy. About the middle of 
 the twelfth century, linen was so little known, that woollen shirts 
 were generally worn in Milan ; and flannel, or rather linseywolsey, 
 formed the usual underclothing of ladies. Linen was first imported 
 into England from Flanders. 
 
 5. Glass Windows. The venerable Bede tells us, that artificers, 
 skilled in making glass for windows, were first brought into England 
 from the continent, in 674, and were employed in glazing the church 
 of the monastery at Wearmouth. But the art was not generally 
 practiced, and the luxury of such windows was slowly adopted, for 
 it was not until a century after the Norman conquest (1160, or 1170) 
 that they began to be used in private houses, and even then, few 
 could support such a style of magnificence. The manufacture oi 
 glass was not commenced in England, until the middle of the six- 
 teenth century. 
 
 6. Glass Mirrors. There is no positive evidence that glass mir- 
 rors were known before the year 1279. At that time, an English 
 Franciscan monk speaks of them, in a work on optics, but also men- 
 tions that they were covered on the back with lead. It may be in- 
 ferred that this invention cannot be much older, from the circum- 
 stance that glass mirrors were scarce in France, even in the four- 
 teenth century. Various methods were adopted to perfect the art, 
 before that which is now in use. 
 
 7. Mariners Compass. The date of the invention of the mari- 
 ner's compass, is near the commencement of the fourteenth century. 
 Gioia, of Amalfi, in Naples, a celebrated mathematician, from his 
 knowledge of the magnetic powers, was the author or improver ol 
 this important contrivance. The polarity of the magnet had been 
 known in Europe, as early as the thirteenth century, but the com- 
 pass was not used in sailing, till the time of Gioia. It is said that 
 the Chinese, as in several other inventions or discoveries, lay claim 
 to a knowledge of the compass long before; but we may well be'in- 
 credulous in regard to most of their pretensions of this sort, since 
 they are so much in accordance with that vanity, which derives 
 their national existence from ages long preceding the scriptural ac- 
 count of the creation. By this discovery, the dominion of the sea 
 has been opened to man, and he is also put in full possession of the 
 terrestrial giobe, by being enabled to visit every part of it. The art 
 of steering by this instrument, was gradually acquired. Sailors un- 
 accustomed to quit sight of land, durst not launch out and commit 
 themselves to unknown seas. The first appearance of a bolder spi 
 rt may be dated from the voyages of the Spaniards to the Canary 
 Islands. 
 
 8. Gunpowder.- -It is said that the Chinese claim acquaintance witli 
 gunpowder from the remotest era of their history; but however 
 that may be, it is certain, that several centuries of the Christian era 
 had passed away before it was known in Europe. Some have 
 thought that the knowledge of it was obtained in Europe through 
 
DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 397 
 
 the Saracens, as early as the latter part of the seventh century ; but 
 it has mare generally been supposed, that Friar Bacon was the first 
 European who possessed the secret of the composition of gunpow- 
 der, and that he was the inventor. He certainly so far alludes to it 
 as to say, that from saltpetre and other ingredients, a fire may be 
 made that shall burn at any distance. Bacon died in 1294. 
 
 9. Fire-arms. It is generally admitted that artillery was used by 
 Edward III., at the battle of Crecy, 1346 ; and though Frpissart 
 does not mention the circumstance, we have the decisive testimony 
 of Petrarch, that these guns were common before the year 1344. 
 The invention of portable fire-arms would appear to have originated 
 in Germany, from the old names by which the different kinds were 
 distinguished. These names were either German, or immediately 
 derived irom that language. They were, however, too long and 
 heavy at first to be conveniently fired from the hand alone. When 
 used, they were placed on a prop, with a fork at the upper part, be 
 tween which the piece was fixed, by means of a hoop projecting 
 from the stock. They were first used at the siege of Parma, in 1521. 
 
 The first muskets were discharged by means of a match applied 
 with the hand ; but this was after wards adjusted to a cock for greater 
 security and precision in shooting. There were other improve- 
 ments, but flint-locks do not seem to have entirely superseded the 
 match-lock in the continental armies, until towards the close of the 
 seventeenth century. The first gun-lock was invented in 1517. The 
 term fire-lock, was given to the invention, which is still in use, and it 
 was applied to the gun itself, in order to distinguish it from that 
 which was fired by a match-lock. 
 
 10. Paper made of cotton or linen rags. Letters were written, 
 or ideas transmitted, on a variety of substances, previously to the 
 time when the art of making paper from cotton or linen rags was 
 discovered. Sometimes a hard and solid substance was used, as 
 stone, metal, or wood. Of these, wood was the most generally used, 
 in various forms and modes, which cannot be here described. The 
 leaves of trees also were employed ; hence the meaning of leaf, as 
 applied to a book. This mode of writing was superseded by the 
 use of the bark of trees, liber, hence the Latin name for a book. 
 Linen cloth also was employed by the Egyptians and Romans. 
 Leather, or skins prepared in the present manner, seems to have been 
 often used by the Jews, on which to write portions of the Bible. 
 Skins of animals rudely prepared, was another material, which 
 originated with the lonians. A more common material was parch 
 ment, which was a certain preparation of the skins of animals. 
 Most of the ancient manuscripts now extant, are written on parch 
 ment. Papyrus was also celebrated as a substance for writing up- 
 on ; hence the word paper is derived. This was a species of rush 
 which the ancients procured exclusively on the banks of the Nile. The 
 paper manufactured from the papyrus, was of an inferior quality, 
 until the time of the conquest of Egypt by the Romans. 
 
 The time when the manufacture of this paper was lost or super- 
 seded, is not known. It is generally supposed that few, if any, 
 34 
 
398 GENERAL VIEWS 
 
 manuscripts on papyrus are of a later date than the 8th or 9th cen- 
 tury. About this period cotton paper was first made : according to 
 some in Bucharia, according to others it had been known long before 
 in China and Persia. There is no doubt, however, that the Arabs, 
 having gained a knowledge of the process, established a manufactory 
 in Ceuta, and afterwards in Spain, and thus introduced it into 
 Europe about the 12th century. At first it was made of raw cotton ; 
 then of old worn out cotton cloth. The use of cotton paper be- 
 came general only in the 13th century; and about the middle of the 
 14th it was almost entirely superseded by paper from linen, such 
 as is at present made. 
 
 11. The Art of Printing'. No evidence exists that moveable 
 wooden types were ever used, except in the capital letters of some 
 early printed books. It has indeed been contended that Lewis Cos- 
 ter of Haarlem, invented and used them ; that he therefore was the 
 original inventor of the art of printing. But it is now proved that 
 this opinion is without foundation ; that wooden types were never 
 used ; and that the art of printing as at present practised, with 
 moveable metal types, was discovered by John Guthenberg of 
 Mayence, about the year 1438. 
 
 Three years before this, Guthenberg entered into a partnership 
 with three citizens of Strasburg, binding himself to disclose a secret 
 which would enrich them all. One of the partners dying, and 
 some of the most important implements having been stolen from 
 the work-shop, a lawsuit took place. In the course of this lawsuit, 
 five witnesses, among whom was Guthenberg's confidential servant, 
 proved that Guthenberg was the first who practised the art of print- 
 ing with moveable types. The result was a dissolution of partner- 
 ship. The whole proceedings on this trial are in existence, and 
 have been published in the original German. 
 
 Misfortune and pecuniary loss attended his efforts for a time. In 
 1450 he entered into partnership at Mayence, with John Fust: 
 this also was a failure. The art was so little perfected that in their 
 early efforts, neither the printing was fair, nor the expense suj 
 portable. It is not certain whether during their partnership, the] 
 found out the art of casting characters in metal, which they had 
 previously been obliged to cut with a knife ; or whether this great 
 improvement was made by Schoeffer, who assisted them at this time. 
 The general opinion is, that Schosffer is entitled to this honour. 
 Guthenberg and Fust at length separated : and in consequence of a 
 lawsuit, the former was obliged to give up his apparatus to Fust. 
 
 Guthenburg, however, was not discouraged, but established a new 
 printing office, until 1465, when he obtained a situation, with a good 
 salary, under the Elector Adolphus. In the mean time Fust, in 
 conjunction with Schoeffer, continued printing. Upon the taking 
 of Mayence in 1457, the partners suffered much , and their work- 
 men dispersing themselves, this most wonderful art was thus spread 
 over Europe. 
 
 In regard to stereotype printing, Holland has a far more substan 
 tial claim to the merit of inventing that, than to the glory, through 
 
DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 399 
 
 Coster, of originating the art of typography. Besides a quarto Bible, 
 published in 1711, there exists a Dutch Bible stereotpyed in folio at 
 the commencement of the 18th century. These are satisfactory 
 proofs that stereotype printing was employed in Holland long before 
 it was even known in France. In a note to No. 1316 of Barbier's 
 catalogue, it is also recorded, that Johann Mueller, pastor of the 
 German church at Leyden, had devised in 1701, a novel method 
 of printing, which much resembles the process of stereotyping as 
 now practised. This method consisted in composing the page in 
 the usual manner, correcting it accurately, securing the type with 
 iron ties, turning it over on its face, and then cementing it into a solid 
 mass by means of a metallic composition, o-r preferably, of mastic. 
 
 12. Steam Engine. This grand machine, which has done so 
 much for the human race, and is destined to do much more, was 
 unknown to the ancients. Its powerful effects are the result of the 
 scientific combinations by which the immense expansive force 
 exerted by water, when converted into steam, is rendered available 
 to the most important purposes. 
 
 The original projector of the Steam Engine is generally believed 
 to have been the marquis of Worcester in 1655 ; but his apparatus 
 was intended to raise water by the expansive force of steam only. 
 His project was neglected in his own age, nor does the subject ap- 
 pear to have excited the attention of scientific persons, till the year 
 1698, when Captain Savary obtained a patent for a new invention 
 for raising water, and occasioning motion to all sorts of mill-work, 
 by the impellent force of fire. Other improvements were attempted 
 on the steam engine by Amonton, Papin, Blakey, Newcomen, and 
 others ; but nothing essential was achieved except by the philoso- 
 phical genius of Mr. Watt. Being accidentally employed to repair 
 a model of the then imperfect steam engine, Mr. Watt observed that 
 a great quantity of heat was lost by the unnecessary and improper 
 mode of condensing the steam : he completely obviated the defect, 
 and by the introduction of a condenser apart from the cylinder, and 
 an alternate action of the steam against each side of the piston, he 
 effected the most essential improvement in the above particular. 
 Under his hands, however, the machine received other improve- 
 ments, particularly in the mechanical arrangement throughout. 
 Since the expiration of Watt's patent, a variety of other improve- 
 ments have been made by several mechanical gentlemen, but details 
 must be omitted. 
 
 Steam engines are now common all over the world. Their ap- 
 plication to the purposes of navigation forms an era in their history. 
 The Americans first made this application, as the genius of Fulton, 
 a native of Pennsylvania, was successfully employed on this subject, 
 as early as the commencement of the present century. He first 
 made the experiment of propelling boats by steam at Paris in 1803 ; 
 after which he returned to America, and exhibited a boat in successful 
 operation, on the waters of New- York. Vessels propelled by his 
 machinery are now in common use, throughout the United States 
 and in Europe. They are known also in India, and their num- 
 
400 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 her is continually on the increase. In 1827, American steamboat 
 tonnage alone amounted to 40,197 tons. It is now much greater. 
 
 Incidents and Curious Particulars. 
 
 m 
 
 1. Miscellaneous matter which cannot be conveniently arranged 
 under any other head, is here designed to be presented. A few 
 only of the vast mass of facts appropriate to this article, will be 
 selected from the annals of different nations. From the present 
 sample may be learned, among other things, the state of the useful 
 arts, the modes of living, and the progress of society and improve- 
 ment, at different periods. 
 
 2. The most extensive and splendid of the libraries at Rome was 
 the Ulpian, founded by Trajan. It is believed that at the suggestion 
 of Pliny the younger, this emperor commanded all the books that 
 were found in the conquered cities to be placed in this library. 
 Most of the principal cities throughout the empire, at this time, had 
 public libraries. The desolation of the western empire destroyed or 
 dispersed most of the books in them, so that in this part of the 
 world, after this period, and during the dark ages, monasteries 
 almost exclusively possessed libraries. In the eastern empire it was 
 different : both Constantinople and Alexandria preserved theirs, till 
 the Turks obtained possession of these cities. 
 
 3. From the origin of monasteries till the close of the 10th cen- 
 tury, it is said there were no schools in Europe, except those belong- 
 ing to monasteries, or episcopal churches. At the beginning of the 
 llth century, they were opened in most of the cities of Italy and 
 France, by qualified persons among both the laity and clergy. 
 But though their general introduction and establishment, must be 
 assigned to this period, yet it is certain that Charlemagne founded 
 several in his dominion. " Afterwards, or in the middle ages, there 
 were distinct schools for clerks, for laymen, and for girls. But the 
 education of the highest ranks seldom went beyond reading, wri- 
 ting, and a little arithmetic. 
 
 4. We learn from Seneca three curious circumstances relating to 
 the journeys of the Romans. 1. They were preceded by a troop 
 of Numidian light horse, who announced by a cloud of dust, the 
 approach of a great man. 2. Their baggage-mules transported not 
 only their precious vases, but even the fragile vessels of crystal and 
 murra, which last has been almost proved by the learned, to mean 
 the porcelain of China and Japan. 3. The beautiful faces of the 
 young slaves were covered by a medicate crust or ointment, which 
 secured them against the effect of the sun and frost. 
 
 5. The use of braces, breeches or trowsers, was considered in 
 Italy in the 3d century as a Gallic and barbarian fashion. The 
 Romans, however, had made great advances towards it. To encir- 
 cle the legs and thighs with fascia or bands, was understood in the 
 time of Pompey and Horace to be a proof of ill health and effemi- 
 nacy. In the time of Trajan the custom was confined to the rich 
 
INCIDENTS AND CURIOUS PARTICULARS. 40 J 
 
 and luxurious. It was gradually adopted by the meanest of the 
 people. 
 
 6. After the age of Tiberius, the decay of agriculture was felt in 
 Italy, and it was a just subject of complaint that the life of the 
 Roman people depended on the accidents of the winds and waves. 
 
 7. In regard to habitations, our English ancestors in early times 
 had few luxuries or even conveniences. Down to the reign of 
 Elizabeth, the greater part of the houses in considerable towns had 
 no chimneys : the fire was kindled against the wall, and the smoke 
 found its way out as well as it could, by the roof, the door, or the 
 windows. The houses were mostly built of watling, plastered over 
 with clay ; the floors were of earth, strewed, in families of distinc- 
 tion, with rushes; and the beds were only straw pallets, with a log 
 of wood for a pillow. In this respect, even the king fared no better 
 than his subjects, for in Henry the Eighth's time, we find directions, 
 " to examine every night the straw of the king's bed, that no dag- 
 gers might be concealed therein." A writer in 1577, speaking of 
 the progress of luxury, mentions three things especially, that were 
 " marvellously altered for the worse in England ;" the multitude of 
 chimneys lately erected, the increase of lodgings, and the exchange 
 of treene platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver and 
 tin, and he complains bitterly that oak instead of willow was em- 
 ployed for the building of houses. 
 
 In the middle ages the fires in the houses were made in a cavity 
 in the centre of the floor, over which there generally was an open- 
 ing in the roof for the escape of the smoke ; and when the fire was 
 out, or the family retired to rest, the place in which it was made 
 was closed by a cover. In those days a law was almost universally 
 established on the continent, that fires should be extinguished, and 
 the family be all at home, at a certain hour in the evening, which 
 was notified by the ringing of a bell ; that, in England, was called 
 the corfeu, curfew. 
 
 8. In 1 100, an inundation of the sea happened which overflowed 
 the- lands of Godwin, earl of Kent, called Godwin's Sands, to this 
 day. Of these shoals the following account was given not many 
 years since. " Upon our journey to Ramsgate," says Mr. Smeaton, 
 civil engineer, " having visited the Godwin Sands, in order to ex- 
 amine their nature, we found that though, like quicksand, they were 
 clean and unconnected, yet they lay so close that it was difficult to 
 work a pointed iron bar into them more than to the depth of six or 
 seven feet. 
 
 9. The spirit of the middle ages is shown in the following instan- 
 ces of wild magnificence or barbarity. On a certain occasion, 
 when the nobility of Languedoc met in 1174, the countess of Urgel 
 sent to the meeting a diadem, worth 2000Z., to be placed on the head 
 of a wretched buffoon. The count of Thoulouse sent a diadem 
 also of twice that value, to a favourite knight, who distributed the 
 same amount in money among the poorer knights. Other acts of 
 mad prodigality were performed, particularly the sowing of a piece 
 of plowed ground with small coin to the amount of 1500 English 
 
 34* 
 
402 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 guineas, by count Bertrand Rimbault. But the barbarous wasteful 
 ness of lord Raymond was the most remarkable feat on the occasion. 
 Having ordered thirty of his most beautiful and valuable horses to 
 be tied to stakes, and surrounded with dry wood, he wantonly set 
 it on fire, and suffered his favourites to perish in the flames. 
 
 10. Among the Romans the interest of money was not fixed by 
 law. It is on this account that we find in the Roman satirists so 
 many loud complaints of extortion, and of the severity with 
 which pecuniary claims were enforced. Horace describes a rich 
 old miser, who 
 
 " Dooms the wretches, on the appointed day, 
 His interest or principal to pay." 
 
 Many of the bankers acquired large fortunes, and arrived at the 
 highest dignities of the state. Their establishments were of a pri- 
 vate nature, and such banking houses are known to have existed in 
 the chief cities of Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries ; and about 
 the some period the first public banks appear to have been establish- 
 ed by some of the Italian states, for the purposes of contracting 
 loans and managing the collection of the revenue. The most an- 
 cient general bank for the deposit of cash and the issue of its own 
 paper in return, appears to have been formed in the city of Barce- 
 lona, in 1401. 
 
 11. The specious miracles of Arabian magic were introduced into 
 Europe, by means of pilgrimages and the holy wars. Fairies and 
 giants, flying dragons and enchanted palaces, were blended with the 
 more simple fictions of the West ; and the fate of Britain depended 
 on the art or predictions of Merlin. 
 
 12. The magnificent castle of Windsor, was built by Edward III., 
 in the fourteenth century, and his method of conducting the work, 
 may serve as a specimen of the condition of the people in that age. 
 No contracts were made with workmen as in the present times, but 
 every county in England was assessed to send the king a certain 
 number of masons, tilers, and carpenters, who were to perform their 
 quota of labour. 
 
 13. In the year 1414, the citizens of London were ordered to hang 
 out lanterns to light the streets, and one of its mayors, in 1417, re- 
 newing the order, " ordained lanthornes with lights to be hanged 
 out on the winter evenings between hallontide and candlemasse." 
 In this particular, London must have set the example to the other 
 cities of Europe. During three centuries afterwards, the citizens 
 were occasionally reminded of this regulation, under pains and 
 penalties for its non-observance ; but the frequency ef the repetition 
 only proves, how ill it was obeyed. In 1716, it was directed that 
 each house should have a lamp hung out on every night between 
 the 2d after full-moon until the 7th after new moon, from the hour 
 of six in the evening until eleven. In 1736 and 1739, the present 
 mode of lighting was partially adopted, but it was not till 1744, that 
 an act of parliament was passed for completely lighting the cities of 
 London and Westminster. 
 
 
INCIDENTS AND CUJUOUS PARTICULARS. 403 
 
 14. During the periods of feudal strife, when neighbouring chief- 
 tains often made sudden inroads on each other, every baronial castle 
 was provided with its warders, i. e. men that were posted on the 
 tops of towers to watch the approach of an enemy. In Wales, these 
 persons were furnished with horns to sound an alarm ; and those 
 in the castles of the German princes, in the sixteenth century, blew 
 a horn every morning and evening, on the relieving and setting of 
 the sruard. 
 
 15 Between the years, 1312 and 1315, Germany groaned under 
 all the miseries of plague and famine, by which whole towns were 
 depopulated, and provinces brought to desolation. The rich sought 
 -an asylum in other countries, while the poor, impitied and unassist- 
 ed, miserably perished. Hunger so preyed upon wolves and other 
 ravenous beasts, that overcoming their fear of man, they rushed into 
 the villages, and gorged themselves with human blood. Trees and 
 houses were swept away by cataracts bursting from the mountains; 
 and the earth was dreadfully convulsed by earthquakes. 
 
 16. It was not until towards the close of the sixteenth century, 
 that potatoes made their appearance in Europe. They were first 
 brought by Sir Walter Raleigh, from America to Ireland. From 
 thence they passed by slow degrees over to Scotland, and the nor- 
 thern counties of England, and have since become general through- 
 out Great Britain. The lapse, however, of two centuries has not 
 sufficed to introduce so important a vegetable into common con- 
 sumption, in the south of Europe. 
 
 17. In the year 1500, there happened so great a plague in Eng- 
 land, that it obliged the king and court to remove to Calais, and 
 carried off upwards of 30,000 people in London. 
 
 18. The progress of improvement has been slow in many res- 
 pects. Many centuries of the Christian era had passed away, before 
 any thing better than splinters of wood, was used by our English 
 ancestors for lighting their houses by night. It was not until 
 towards the close of the thirteenth century, that tallow candles were 
 employed for this purpose. It was not until this period that cups 
 and saucers were used, and then they were considered as luxuries. 
 A few centuries only have gone by since knives and forks were used 
 in eating ; since hats were worn in lieu of cloth hoods and knit 
 caps; since the ladies were accommodated with pins instead 01 
 skewers ; and since knit stockings were introduced in the room of 
 cloth hose. 
 
 19. In 1546, a law was made in England for fixing the interest ol 
 money at 10 per cenjt. This was the first legal interest known in 
 that country. Strange as it may seem to us, all acts of that nature 
 were formerly considered as usurious. 
 
 20. Between the years 1660 and 1670, two awful calamities befel 
 London a plague which carried off 68,000 persons and a fire, 
 which, breaking out near London bridge, and continuing several 
 days, destroyed eighty-nine churches and thirteen thousand two 
 hundred dwelling houses 
 
404 
 
 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 21. A few years before the landing of the puritans at Plymouth, 
 a remarkable pestilence destroyed most of the Indians from Nara- 
 ganset to Penobscot, which seems to have been a providential oc- 
 currence to facilitate the settlement of New-England. 
 
 22. The waste lands in the united kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland, amount even at this time to 15,301,994 acres. 
 
 23. In the year 1828, American shipping in foreign trade amount- 
 ed to 824,781 tons, and foreign shipping employed in American 
 trade was 149,435 tons the whole being 974,216 tons. The en- 
 rolled coasting tonnage of the country is nearly or quite equal to 
 that in foreign trade. 
 
 24. In the year 1829, the public libraries in Europe were com- 
 puted to contain 19,847,100 volumes. 
 
 25. The expenses of Great Britain in war, since 1688 amount, as 
 appears from a statement lately made, to 2,023,500,000, viz. 
 
 Years. Expense. 
 
 The war of the Revolution, 9 36,000,000 
 
 Spanish Succession, 11 .62,500,000 
 
 Spanish war, 1739, and > 1 > -, f^. mn 
 
 Austrian Succession, $ 9$ >4,uou,u< 
 The "Seven years war" with ) 
 
 the French, Spanish, Anstri- S 7 112,000,000 
 
 ans and Russians, of 1756, } 
 
 The American war, of 1775, 8 136,000,000 
 
 French Revolution war, 9 464,000,000 
 The war against Bonaparte, ) 
 
 the three last years of which S 12 1159,000,000 
 
 with the United States, S 
 
 There were about sixty-five years of war, and seventy-five o1 
 peace, in a period of one hundred and forty years. 
 
 Present state of several Nations in respect to Agriculture, 
 Roads, Conveyances, Intercourse, Education, Trade. 
 Manufactures, 
 
 1. The history of culture, in respect to many characteristics, were 
 they to be traced from their origin, and described as they have ex- 
 isted in past ages, would be interesting and instructive. Some sub- 
 iects of this kind have been thus traced and described. It may an- 
 swer the purpose of so succinct an outline, to present others to the 
 reader, as we now find them, with little reference to the past. The 
 articles above enumerated, may therefore come under review, in res- 
 pect chiefly to the present times. They are properly characteris- 
 tics ol the age, or the history of it, so far as such particulars are 
 concerned. 
 
PRESENT STATE OF SEVERAL NATIONS. 405 
 
 2. Agriculture. Agriculture, as the foundation of the means of 
 living, and as connected with the state of society, and with the civil 
 and intellectual character of a people, deserves a high degree of at- 
 tention. Accordingly, it has been a commanding object of pursuit, 
 with all civilized communities, from the beginning;. But it is only to 
 be remarked here, that in modern times it has received more conside- 
 ration than formerly. The ancient Romans, perhaps, were as much 
 devoted to it as any modem nation ; and their agricultural wealth, 
 as individuals, when, in some instances, several thousand yokes of 
 oxen were the property of a single farmer, exceeds probably any 
 thing known at present. But with the exception of the Romans, if 
 they were on the whole an exception, modern nations manifestly ex- 
 cel antiquity. Especially do they excel the middle ages, for then 
 this great interest suffered, with every thing else, a lamentable decay. 
 In very recent times, peculiar attention has been bestowed on the 
 subject, both in Europe and America, by means of numerous agri- 
 cultural societies. Indeed, science has been of late most successfully 
 applied to the purposes of advancing the agricultural art. The bu- 
 siness in the hands of scientific practical farmers, has assumed a sys- 
 tematic arrangement, unknown in former days. 
 
 3. Roads, In Europe, as the Roman empire declined, the roads 
 gradually fell into neglect ; and during the dark ages, their ruinous 
 condition, rendered communication difficult, beyond what we can 
 now find it easy to conceive. It is not readily ascertained what the 
 state of the roads was, but they must have improved as trade in- 
 creased. We know that the amelioration of them was slow ; that 
 the arts of constructing and directing them, were for a long time un- 
 derstood very imperfectly ; and that the first kingdom in which the 
 condition of the great roads, at all approached the present standard 
 of excellence, was Sweden, where from its want of wealth, and its 
 remote situation, no such occurrence could reasonably have been 
 looked for. 
 
 In England, the change in regard to the arrival and departure of 
 the mails, which took place in 1793, greatly forwarded that improve- 
 ment of the principal roads, which had been going on through the 
 eighteenth century ; and from 1793 to the present moment, the high- 
 ways, cross-roads, bridges, and ferries, throughout the whole extent 
 of that country, are decidedly superior to those which are to be seen 
 any where else. 
 
 A remarkable improvement, however, has recently taken place in 
 roads and bridges, all over Europe. Materials for road making have 
 been found where formerly they were not believed to exist, and the 
 skill with which they are employed is surprising. Neither clay, 
 sand, morasses, torrents, precipices, nor any other obstacles, are deem- 
 ed insurmountable. A terrace has been conducted along the whole 
 face of the Appennines, from Nice, to the gulf of Spezzia. The finest 
 carriage roads cross the Alps, over mount Cenis, St. Bernard, the 
 Simplon, St. Gothard, the Splugen, from the lake of Como to the 
 source of the Inn from Trent to Brixen, and where the road from 
 Vienna to Venice crosses them at Ponteba. An entirely new road 
 
406 GENERAL VIEWS 
 
 has been formed in the kingdom of Netherlands, from Namur to Lux 
 embourg ; another runs along the banks of the Rhine from Mentz to 
 Nimeguen ; another from Hamburg to Hanover, and from Hanover 
 to Deventer. Others have been formed, and particularly the whole 
 way between Berlin and Petersburgh, probably presents by this time 
 an admirable line of communication between these two capitals. 
 Other roads are said to be under consideration, and particularly one 
 from Berlin to Hamburg, through sands which appear almost impas- 
 sable. Indeed, the traveller in Europe, since the cessation of wars, 
 every where witnesses the utmost zeal in building bridges, in open- 
 ing, widening, levelling, and repairing roads. 
 
 Nor has less been done, or is less doing in the United States. Pro- 
 bably no people in the same time, ever made so many improvements 
 in roads and bridges. Where two hundred years ago, all was a wide 
 wilderness, traversed only by the foot-paths of the Indians, there are 
 now thousands of good roads. The extent only of post-roads in this 
 country, now considerably exceeds 100,000 miles. In some parts of 
 Europe and of the United States, rail-roads have been made, or are 
 in progress, which promise the greatest advantages to commerce 
 and inland transportation. The recent construction of carriages 
 moved by steam, which are designed to pass over roads of this des- 
 cription, will form an era in the history of travelling. Moving with 
 the velocity of thirty miles or more by the hour, these vehicles will 
 seem to annihilate space. 
 
 4. Water Conveyance. The progress lately made in water con- 
 veyance, is also very remarkable. The first canals known in Europe, 
 were those which were formed in Italy and the Low Countries, and 
 served in several cases both to drain the ground, and for the convey- 
 ance of merchandize. France followed their example, and by means 
 of the canal of Languedoc, joined the channel and the Mediterra- 
 nean. Several others have since been completed, and others are begun; 
 but that country is never likely to place much dependence on its ca- 
 nal communications. About the middle of the last century, the 
 commercial prosperity of Great Britain, induced it to turn its atten- 
 tion to canals, and from its abundance of water, and the moderate 
 elevation of its surface, it has now pushed canal navigation, beyond 
 every other country. The total length of canals in Great Britain at 
 the present time, is 2,600 miles. Austria, Prussia, and Sweden, now 
 possess canals ; and Russia, both within her old limits and in Po- 
 land, is zealously encouraging canals, to connect her rivers, and trans- 
 port the produce of her soil. Next to Great Britain, the United 
 States have displayed the most enterprise in the business of canals. 
 In the several states, twenty-two canals are finished, in progress, or 
 in immediate contemplation, whose aggregate length is about 2,500 
 miles. The greater part of them are either finished or in progress. 
 Two of them, viz. the Hudson and Erie, and the Chesapeake and 
 Ohio canals, are each 360 miles, the Ohio state canal is 306, and the 
 Pennsylvania canal is 296 miles. The Hudson and Erie canal, which 
 is in operation, is the boast of the new world. 
 
 The application of steam to shipping, which deserves to be ranked 
 
PRESENT STATE OF SEVERAL NATIONS. 407 
 
 among the greatest discoveries, theoretical or practical, that were 
 ever made, has done more within the last twenty years, to facilitate 
 the communication between different places, by water, than all the 
 contrivances that went before it. Steam vessels are now found per- 
 manently or occasionally plying from the bottom of the Mediterra- 
 nean, all round to the top of the Baltic. No place in the eastern part 
 of the world has derived so great advantage from the discovery of 
 steam vessels, as England. Its situation, coal, and commerce, en- 
 ables it to shoot forth these vessels in every direction, and by means 
 of the certainty and celerity of their passage, they have diminished 
 its distance, and multiplied its means of access to every part of the 
 European continent. In the United States, where the application of 
 steam to the purposes of navigation was first made, these vessels are 
 most extensively employed. They abound, with all their facility of 
 conveyance, on our coasts, and in our rivers ; hundreds of them are 
 owned on the Mississippi alone. The combination of the above dis- 
 coveries and improved arrangements, has produced an ease, certain- 
 ty, and rapidity of intercourse, exceeding all past experience or ima- 
 gination. 
 
 5. Travelling. The increase of the number of travellers which 
 these facilities have caused, is a characteristic of the times worth no- 
 ticing. Travelling for improvement or gratification, has increased 
 fifty or an hundred fold, and it is continually augmenting. In peace, 
 Europe is now one great family, and certainly many advantages at- 
 tend this state of things. Such a degree of travelling and inter- 
 course tends very much to bind nations together, and to promote 
 liberal views, and a charitable feeling, one towards another. Some 
 good things, however, are sacrificed to it. Simplicity of heart, and 
 the earnestness of kindness in domestic life, are diminishing. The 
 love of home, the warm gush of affection, is checked. The bonds of 
 society now set loosely on a man. Attachment to country ceases to 
 operate as it once did. 
 
 6. Increase of Education. Another characteristic of the present 
 times, is the extraordinary increase of education. A much larger 
 portion of the people of civilized countries read than formerly. Pro- 
 testants have always been more devoted to reading than the Catho- 
 lics. Except in Spain and Portugal, reading has increased every 
 where. Both the means and the habits of reading are increased. 
 The multiplication of newspapers and periodical publications the 
 number of booksellers 7 shops the profusion of literary institutions 
 and circulating libraries, are infallible indications of the extraordi- 
 nary spread of education and reading. There is evidently, there 
 fore, the more need of moral discipline. The Bible should by all 
 means be made a study, and its heavenly truths should be more than 
 ever enforced upon the heart. The cheapness of books, the number 
 of teachers, the spare time created by the extension of machinery, 
 and the fashion for reading, have operated very considerably on the 
 common people in Europe. In the United States, the same causes 
 have operated on the same portion of the community, though here 
 
408 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 the common people have always been distinguished, above those of 
 other nations, for a love of reading and a competent education. 
 
 Among the higher orders of European society, there are so many 
 books, and so much to learn, that few are profound. The stream of 
 knowledge flows wider, but has not become deeper. To master all 
 the branches of science and knowledge, is impossible. Daily and 
 periodical publications abound, but perhaps too much so for a sound 
 and permanent literature. They include the principal stock of read- 
 ing, except novels, books of travels, and memoirs. The mind of the 
 public cannot be more effectually abused and unsettled, than by the 
 systematic conversion of history, private life, religion and morality, 
 into themes for works of fiction ; and the full extent of the mischief 
 will be seen only when it is too late. A similar change to that which 
 has taken place among readers, has affected authors. Most of this 
 class are so impatient to reap the rewards of their labours, or so ap- 
 prehensive of being supplanted by competitors for the public favour, 
 that few are willing to bestow the time and trouble which are ne- 
 cessary for the composition of a standard work. 
 
 7. Improvement in external condition. In the present state ol 
 "most civilized notions, a 'surprising improvement has taken place 
 in the outward condition of all ranks of society. Many shocking 
 and painful disorders have almost wholly disappeared, and others, 
 which flesh must still be heir to, have by superior treatment, been 
 rendered less violent and dangerous. The small pox, the ravages of 
 which were once so terrible, has now ceased to alarm the communi- 
 ty. The discovery of vaccination, in 1798, by Dr. Jenner, was the 
 instrumental cause of so propitious a change. This is one of the 
 diseases referred to ; others might be named. The plague, except 
 in Turkey, and some other countries bordering on the Mediterra- 
 nean, is almost unknown. Famines, arising either from cold or heat, 
 are now of much less frequent occurrence than they formerly wore, 
 and the cruelties and calamities of war, have been mitigated. While 
 these scourges of mankind have been removed or diminished, the 
 length of human life has been extended, as a consequence. A greater 
 proportion live to old age than was the fact a century ago. Other 
 causes, however, may have operated here, as greater temperance, 
 better food and clothing, less exposure, &c. Connected with the 
 above, inventions of every sort, conducing to personal enjoyment, 
 have been multiplied or brought to perfection. In houses, furniture, 
 horses, conveyances, and every thing which can minister to the ease 
 and gratification of mind or body ; in the number and refinement of 
 the sources of amusement, and in all articles of domestic luxury and 
 convenience, the progress that has lately been made, is unprecedent- 
 ed either for extent or rapidity. There is not, a district to be found 
 in any European state, in which the traveller is not struck with the 
 taste and magnificence displayed in the architecture of public and 
 private buildings, the multiplication and commodiousness of bathing 
 and watering places, hotels, coffee houses, and reading rooms, the ex- 
 quisite arrangement of gardens, grounds and villas, and the neatness 
 of cottages, shops and manufactories. 
 
PRESENT STATE OP SEVERAL NATIONS, 409 
 
 This alteration is very conspicuous in England. The comforts of 
 lile appear in great profusion ; no native or foreigner can travel fifty 
 or sixty miles, along a public road, without being lost in wonder and 
 astonishment. Towns, villages, hamlets, mansions, farm houses, and 
 cottages, are every where scattered about in the most pleasing and 
 romantic situations. It were to be desired that the reality in every 
 respect, corresponded with the appearances, but it is not to be con- 
 cealed that the present stagnation in business, has thrown many o 
 the English operatives into distress. In the United States, however 
 these improvements not only abound, but the favourable appearan- 
 ces are generally connected with a more delightful reality. 
 
 8. Increase of population. In consequence of the improvement 
 in the physical circumstances of the people in Christian countries, 
 the population has increased in an unexampled manner. Some pla- 
 ces, owing to political revolutions, or change of trade, may have de- 
 creased in population, as Rome, Venice, Bologna, Genoa, Verona, 
 Seville, Barcelona, Cadiz, Lubec, Bremen, Ghent, Bruges, Cologne, 
 Strasburg, Nuremburg, and Augsburg. These, however, are excep- 
 tions to the general rule. Petersburg, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels, 
 Paris, Hamburgh, Frankfort, Milan, Munich, Stuttgard, Stockholm, 
 and the territories to which they belong, are swelling in extent and 
 population. England has outstripped the continent'within these last 
 thirty or forty years. London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, 
 Birmingham, and many other cities and towns in Great Britain, have 
 experienced a great increase. According to statistics, which have 
 lately appeared,* it is found that the inhabitants of Europe have, 
 within the period that has elapsed since the general peace, in 1815, 
 been augmented by the number of 28 or 29,000,000. Every coun- 
 try has had a share in this increase. Europe, however, can hardly 
 be compared with the United States, in this particular. Within the 
 time above mentioned, the population of this country has increased 
 to the amount of at least one third of the whole number. History 
 probably does not furnisji another instance of the rapid rise of cities, 
 equal to that of New- York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New-Orleans, 
 and several others. 
 
 9. The approximation of the lower classes to the higher. This 
 is a characteristic of the age more particularly observable in the old 
 world. In America, owing to its institutions, and the abundance 
 of the means of living, the difference in the classes of the people has 
 never been so wide as it is in Europe. The approximation spoken 
 of is very perceptible in European society. It is obvious in dress, 
 manners, and acquirements. It is encouraged by the improvement 
 which has taken place in manufactures, and by the substitution of 
 machinery for manual labour. Dress is scarcely a test of rank. In 
 language and address, the middling classes have advanced. There 
 are few above the lowest rank, if possessed of good sense, who do 
 not speak and act, in these days, with ease and propriety. Much 
 taste and elegance, are in many instances displayed. In mental ac- 
 
 * The American Almanac for 1830, a most valuable production. 
 
 35 
 
410 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 quirements, particularly, the assimilation is visible. Children of the 
 nobility, from the greater pains taken with them, excel at first, but 
 are outstripped afterwards, by those who feel the necessity of excel- 
 ling. The procession in society, has extended to attainments of every 
 kind, especially in matters of legislation. The numerous papers 
 and documents which are published, and which are accessible to 
 most readers, have contributed to this result. In regard to Great 
 Britain, an American gentleman long resident in that country, at 
 this moment writes, " A spirit is silently at work, which is gradu- 
 ally undermining the power of the Aristocracy, and will one day 
 (and that not far distant) show itself in a form too powerful to be 
 resisted." 
 
 10. Trades and Manufactures. The spring of late years given 
 to trade and manufactures, is quite characteristic of the times. Our 
 remarks have reference more especially to the continental portion oi 
 Europe, where, since the general peace, the products of manufactu- 
 ring industry have been wonderfully multiplied. 
 
 Sugar refineries have within a recent period been established to a 
 great extent, at Trieste, Petersburg, Hamburg, and Gothenburg. At 
 Motala, near Orebro, in Sweden, there is perhaps the largest 'esta- 
 blishment in existence for all sorts of implements in steel and iron. 
 The manufacture of muskets and fowling-pieces has lately been 
 greatly improved in Germany, and particularly at Herschfeld, in 
 Hanover. Admirable travelling carriages of all sorts, both in point 
 of elegance and durability, are built at Brussels, Berlin, and Vien- 
 na. The glass manufactories in France, at St. Quentin, St. Gabin, 
 Comenty, and Premontre, in the department of Aisne, are all in the 
 most flourishing condition, and glass is made at Munich, of a most 
 superior quality, so that the Bavarians have deprived even the Bri- 
 tish of the manufacture of telescopes. The elegant iron and steel 
 ornaments, made at Berlin, have now become a valuable and extend- 
 ing branch of commerce. The utmost attention is paid to the im- 
 provement of wool throughout France, Austria, Saxony, Holstein, 
 and some other parts of Denmark. The woollen manufactures es- 
 tablished in Moravia, Saxony, and Silesia, and in the Low Coun- 
 tries, are increasing, and in addition to those which have been long 
 seated at Sedan, Elboeuf, and Louviers, in France, they have now 
 been introduced at Carcassone, Castres, and Lodeve, in the south, 
 and at Bourges, and Chatevuroux, in the centre. A determined and 
 successful degree of anxiety to improve the breed of horses, has 
 manifested itself in Prussia, Russia, and France. England no long- 
 er supplies nearly the whole of Europe with lead ; a great quantity 
 is now raised near Almeria, in Spain. The manufactories of iron, 
 and steel, which are flourishing in France, are prospering still more 
 at Liege, which has become the Birmingham of the Low Countries, 
 as Ghent is their Manchester and Glasgow. The cotton manufac 
 tures of France and Belgium, have increased tenfold in ten years. 
 They are now firmly fixed at Elberfeld, near Dusseldorf, and rapid- 
 ly extending themselves in the Prussian Rhenish provinces. The 
 silk trade of France, which used to be confined to Lyons, has now 
 
PRESENT STATE OF SEVERAL NATIONS. 411 
 
 spread its ramifications to Avignon, Nismes, and Tours, and its an- 
 nual value amounts to 6,000,000. The silk trade is carried on in. 
 Switzerland, a fact which is little known abroad. There is in Zu- 
 rich and its neighbourhood alone between 12 and 13,000 looms. It 
 is also established at Arau, Basle, and several other places. In the 
 Prussian Rhenish provinces, it is spreading from Mentz through all 
 the towns and villages along the Rhine, and is carried on to a great 
 extent at Dusseldorf and Elberfelt, but particularly at Creveld, where 
 it is conducted with great capital and great spirit. All sorts of house- 
 hold furniture are now made extremely beautiful in most large towns 
 throughout the continent. Exhibitions of works of genius and in-, 
 dustry are every where encouraged, especially at Petersburg, Berlin, 
 Brussels, Paris, Munich, Stuttgard, and Vienna. 
 
 The manufacturing industry and talent of Great Britain, and the 
 trade therewith connected, have been long celebrated, and have 
 grown with her growth, till she has filled the world with the choicest 
 works of mechanic art. But particulars will not be needed in re- 
 gard to a country so well known. In the United States, also, trade 
 and manufactures have of late risen in a remarkable degree, consi- 
 dering the comparative newness of the country. Many new branches 
 have been established, and many old ones enlarged, so that although 
 we are essentially an agricultural people, and must remain so for a 
 long time to come, we already produce a great variety of important 
 articles of mechanical skill. The ingenuity and enterprise of our 
 citizens are here, as in every other department of human effort, alike 
 conspicuous and successful. 
 
 11. Reform in Government. A desire among many nations 
 to free themselves from their oppressions, or to new model their go- 
 vernments, is a prominent characteristic of the age. It has been ob- 
 served in the course of this work, that the present period, though 
 by the contemporary world which lived in it called the revolutionary, 
 will probably be denominated the constitutional period by posterity. 
 The nations for some time have been struggling to obtain free and 
 regular constitutions. The spirit began with the United States, more 
 than fifty years ago. France afterwards made a misguided, abortive 
 attempt, and some other despotisms have been considerably agita- 
 ted. The strict despotic principles have hitherto prevailed, except in 
 the colonial establishments ; yet even in countries governed on those 
 principles, such has been the influence of popular feeling, there has 
 been a degree of amelioration. The attempts of the Spaniards, Por- 
 tuguese, and Neapolitans, to change their forms of government, have 
 been frustrated chiefly by the despotic sword from abroad ; but it is 
 evident, that knowledge is increasing, and that the minds of men are 
 turning with fond desire towards their long lost rights and liberties, 
 and that a spirit is at work, which promises eventually the destruc- 
 tion of all despotic thrones. The colonial struggles, however, have 
 been successful, and the various republics of South America, and 
 that of Mexico, in North America, attest the energy of that feeling 
 which resolves on independence. Greece, too, favoured by circum- 
 stances, and by the sympathies of nations, but more by her own he- 
 
412 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 roism and self-denial, is an arm broken off from the Turkish power, 
 .and with the lingering remains of genius found in her, and quicken- 
 ed into life by the principles and systems of American education, is 
 destined, we may hope, to be twice immortal. 
 
 12. Religious Enterprises. The present era is greatly distin- 
 guished by a spirit of enterprise in religion. Many, in protestant 
 countries, are especially waked up in regard to the precious interests 
 of the Christian church its prosperity at home, and its extension 
 abroad. Great reformations have taken place, and signal revivals of 
 piety have abounded, especially in the United States ; and both here, 
 and in Great Britain, the work of Christian missions has been vigo- 
 rously prosecuted. Vast numbers of associations are formed in va- 
 rious parts of Protestant Christendom, to give the Bible to the des- 
 titute to educate pious, indigent youth for the ministry to imbue 
 the minds of children with scriptural knowledge by means of sab- 
 bath school instruction to promote religion and morality among 
 sailors to enlighten the inmates of dungeons and in this country, 
 especially, to secure the observation of the sabbath to do away the 
 abominations of intemperance; and to benefit the descendants of 
 Africa, by colonizing them in the land of their fathers. The esta- 
 blishment and support of missionary seminaries, and theological se- 
 minaries, are also among the important religious enterprises of the 
 day. Indeed, there is scarcely a conceivable form of benevolent and 
 pious movement which does not receive a portion of regard from 
 the Christian public. 
 
 The Christian Church. 
 
 We shall attempt a very brief history of the Church of Jesus 
 Christ, or of Christianity as a divine establishment common to most 
 of the nations, whose aifairs have been narrated in a different portion 
 of this work. This is the only religious system that claims much of 
 our attention, in modern annals. A sufficient notice has been taken 
 of the religion promulgated by Mahomet, in the history of the Sara- 
 cens. As to the religion of paganism, we have had so little occasion 
 to bring into view the nations, who, in modern times, possess the 
 pagan creed, that we need not trace its distinctive features. A few, 
 however, of the religious notions of the barbarous heathen tribes, 
 whence sprang the modern European states, have appeared in a des- 
 cription of the manners, institutions, &c. of those tribes. The reli- 
 gion of the Greeks, Romans, and other early nations, all of whom, 
 except the Jews, were pagans, is a topic of Ancient History. 
 
 1. It will suffice for the object here contemplated, to sketch 
 the affairs of the Christian Church under three distinct heads. 
 1. In its primitive and pure state, extending from the birth 
 of Jesus Christ, to the year 325 A. G., when Christianity 
 became the religion of the Roman empire. 2, In its co* 
 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 413 
 
 rupied state, extending from 325 A. C. to the commencement 
 of the Reformation, 1517 A. 0. 3. Tn its reformed state, 
 extending from 1517 A. C. to the present time. 
 
 2. In the first era, as it might be expected, we behold the 
 Christian church in its best condition. Compared with ttie 
 subsequent era, it was distinguished for the simplicity of its 
 order, purity of practice, and attachment to the doctrines tf 
 the Gospel. Among the many events of the present period, 
 we can notice only the following leading ones, viz., the ap- 
 pearance of Jesus Christ on earth ; the general success of the 
 Gospel under the preaching of the apostles and others ; and 
 the ten great persecutions of the Church, so enumerated and 
 called, beginning with Nero, and ending with Diocletian. 
 
 The appearance of Jesus Christ on earth was the most re- 
 markable event that ever occurred. Its date, as commonly given, is 
 four years later than the real time. The prophets had pointed out 
 the period, and the world was in an unusual degree prepared for the 
 coming of the Son of God. But though the nations were expecting 
 the appearance of some extraordinary personage, and the Jews par- 
 ticularly were waiting for their Messiah ; yet Jesus was almost uni- 
 versally rejected, both by the Jew and Gentile. In the circumstan- 
 ces of his birth and life, and in the doctrines which he taught, the 
 expectations of his countrymen were disappointed, and upon a fri- 
 volous pretence, they put him to the cruel death of the cross. By 
 this procedure, so unjust on the part of the Jew r s, the divine plan, 
 which sought the redemption of the nations, was accomplished, for 
 on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, and forty days after, 
 having given his disciples suitable instructions respecting their duty 
 as preachers of his religion, he ascended to heaven, a cloud receiving 
 him out of their sight. 
 
 The general success of the Gospel under the preaching of the 
 apostles and others, was also a remarkable circumstance, and strong- 
 ly confirmed the truth of Christianity. Many reasons might be 
 given for this opinion, but our limits forbid. In regard to the fact oi 
 the early and general extension of the Gospel, we are left to no 
 doubt, from the nature of the case, and from historic records. The 
 apostles and evangelists were early spread abroad among the na- 
 tions ; and even before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Gospel had 
 been preached to multitudes in several parts of the known world. 
 Within thirty years of the death of Christ, says Paley, the institution 
 had spread itself through Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, almost all 
 the numerous districts of Lesser Asia, through Greece and the islands 
 of the JKgeau Sea, the sea coast of Africa, and had extended itself 
 to Rome, and into Italy. At Antioch in Syria, at Joppa, Ephesus, 
 Corinth, and many other places, the converts were spoken of as nu- 
 merous. The first epistle of Peter, accosts the Christians dispersed 
 throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bythinia. In a 
 35* 
 
414 -GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 short time, nations and cities more remote, heard of the Gospel. 
 The Gauls received the knowledge of Christianity from the imme- 
 diate successors of the apostles ; and during the second century, the 
 Germans, the Spaniards, and probably the Britons, were converted 
 to the true religion. 
 
 The ten great persecutions of the Church have given a charac- 
 ter to the whole era. They were not, however, in every instance, 
 general through the Roman empire. Persecutions indeed existed 
 from the beginning, and there were not many periods of entire tran- 
 quillity to the Church, during three hundred years. But -those of a 
 more marked character, are included within the above expressed 
 number. Their order is as follows : 
 
 1. The persecution under Nero occurred thirty-one years' after 
 our Lord's ascension. When the emperor set fire to the city of 
 Rome, he threw the odium of that execrable action on the Christians, 
 and made it the pretext of persecuting them. Accordingly, they 
 were hunted like wild beasts, and torn to pieces by devouring dogs, 
 and in innumerable other ways, were vexed, tortured, and put to 
 death. 
 
 2. The persecution which Domitian instigated, took place in the 
 year 95. It is computed that 40,000 persons suffered martyrdom at 
 that time. 
 
 3. The persecution which existed in the reign of Trajan, began 
 in the year 100, and was carried on with great violence for several 
 years. 
 
 4. The persecution which was permitted by Antoninus, commen- 
 ced in the year 177. Many indignities, deprivations and sufferings 
 were inflicted on the Christians in this persecution. 
 
 5. The persecution under Severus, began in the year 197. Great 
 cruelties were committed at this time against the patient followers 
 of Christ. 
 
 6. The persecution which Maximinus ordered, began in 235. It 
 was the more severe to the sufferers from the indulgence they had 
 enjoyed under the reign of his predecessor, Alexander Severus. 
 
 7. The persecution under Decius, began in 250. It was the most 
 dreadful hitherto known. The Christians were in all places driven 
 from their habitations, stripped of their estates, tormented with 
 racks, &c. 
 
 8. The date of the persecution under Valerian, is 257. Both men 
 and women suffered death, some by scourging, some by the sword, 
 and some by fire. 
 
 9. The persecution by Aurelian, was in 274. But this was incon- 
 siderable -compared with the others before mentioned. , 
 
 10. The persecution in which Diocletian was concerned, com- 
 menced in 295. This was a terrible persecution. It is related that 
 17,000 were slain in one month's time. The enemies of Christianity 
 had the presumption to think " that the name and superstition of the 
 Christians" had been effaced from the empire. The period, however, 
 was just at hand, (a s'alutary lesson to persecutors,) when this holy 
 
 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 415 
 
 faith was to rise on the ruins of all the former religions of the Ro- 
 man people. 
 
 During these persecutions, Christians multiplied, and Christianity 
 became a principle of life and power to the hearts of its votaries. 
 So long as their profession of religion was attended with danger so 
 long as they had the prospect of the dungeon, the rack, or the fag- 
 got r their lives were pure and heavenly. The gospel was their only 
 source of consolation, and they found it in every respect sufficient 
 for all their wants. Affected with mutual sufferings, they sympa- 
 thised most tenderly with each other, and their Lord's new command 
 of brotherly love, was never fulfilled in a more exemplary manner. 
 
 3, The Church, at the commencement of the second era, 
 \\ r as externally prosperous and flourishing. The storm of 
 pagan persecution had ceased, and Christianity was support- 
 ed by the Roman government. Under Constantine the Great, 
 that government (which had long included the limits of the 1 
 civilized world) changed from a persecuting to a protecting 
 power. But its love was more fatal to the real interests of 
 the Church than its hate. Evils soon began to arise within, 
 produced or aided by the aggrandizement it received without, 
 which eventually reduced the Church to the lowest state of 
 spiritual weakness and degradation. Worldly prosperity pro- 
 duced pride, ambition, emulation, luxury, and many other 
 vices equally opposed to the spirit of the gospel The mix- 
 ture yf pagan philosophy and superstition exceedingly de- 
 based the purity of religion, and the general ignorance which 
 prevailed during the dark ages, rendered ineffectual its hea- 
 venly truths. 
 
 Among the more important particulars constituting this 
 state of things, or affording proof of the disorders of the 
 church and the consequent degeneracy of the people through 
 this long period, may be named the Arian and Pelagian 
 heresies, the institution of monkery, image worship, the 
 establishment of the papal supremacy, the passion for relics 
 and pilgrimages, the separation between the eastern and 
 western churches, the crusades, sale of absolution and indul- 
 gences, the persecution of the Albigenses and Waldenses, the 
 inquisition, the great western schism, the bulls and interdicts 
 of the popes, and the contention of scholastic divines. 
 
 These and several otners are interesting objects of attention in 
 this portion of the church's history ; but except so far as a few of 
 them have been already treated of separately, recourse for informa- 
 tion must be had to more extended accounts 
 
416 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 4. Towards the commencement of the third era, the re 
 ligious state of the world was deplorable. All Christendom 
 was held in bondage to the papal power. Corruption, both 
 in doctrine and practice, prevailed to an extent before un- 
 known. The Reformation of religion, which is the distinc- 
 tion of the present era, was therefore greatly needed ; and we 
 have the satisfaction of exhibiting the Christian church under 
 
 o 
 
 the influence of so propitious a change. The greater part oi 
 this body adhered to the papacy, and perhaps still adheres to 
 it ; but though the whole of Christendom did not participate 
 in the reformation, the whole may have derived benefit from 
 it indirectly. The reformed, which is also called the protes- 
 tant* faith, spread rapidly at the beginning, and even now, 
 from the increase of tbe population in nations embracing this 
 faith, as well as from efforts made to diffuse it abroad, it is 
 favourably extending its influence. 
 
 The date of the great event of which we speak, is 1517, 
 and the instrumental agent whom Providence employed in 
 bringing it to pass, was Martin Luther. The immediate oc- 
 casion of the reformation was the sale of indulgences, which 
 had been authorized bv Leo X., in order to furnish the means 
 
 m/ / 
 
 of gratifying his taste or extravagances. This traffic having 
 been intrusted to the 'care of one John Tetzel, an insolent 
 and dishonest wretch, attracted the notice of Martin Luther. 
 His indignation was first excited by the base manner in 
 which it was carried on ; but from noticing the mode, be was 
 led to inquire into the thing itself, and his eyes were soon 
 opened to the enormity of the principle which it involved, 
 and the nefarious character of the whole system. From this 
 period his opinions were openly and boldly expressed, on tbe 
 various errors which he found prevailing in the Church, and 
 many were convinced on the subject by his preaching and 
 writings. Hence the memorable rupture and revolution which 
 took place the blessed effects of which have been more and 
 more felt from that age to the present. 
 
 During his life time the benevolent labours of Luther were bless- 
 ed in no small degree, and around him gathered a host of able and 
 
 *So called from the protesf which the elector of Saxony and other prince?, 
 entered against a decree of the diet at Spires, in 1529, by which every depar- 
 ture from the Catholic faith and discipline was forbidden, till a general council 
 should be assembled. 
 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 417 
 
 godly men, who proved to be, in many instances, the. most efficient 
 coadjutors. Among these were Carolstadt, Melancthon, Zuinglius, 
 Bucer, Oecolampadius, Martyr, Calvin, and Beza. Several of the 
 princes of Germany were his patrons, and afforded him the most 
 essential aid. among whom especially were Frederick the Wise, and 
 John his brother, electors of Saxony. 
 
 The new opinions were not long confined to Germany. Through 
 the oppressive measures of the papacy, as much as by any other 
 cause, they were diffused abroad among the neighbouring nations 
 Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland, participated in the reforma- 
 tion, and it found many friends in France, the Netherlands, Spain, 
 Hungary, and Bohemia. In England, also, it was firmly establish- 
 ed, though by an instrumentality at first very different from friend- 
 ship to the 'cause. The passions and obstinacy of Henry VIII., as 
 has elsewhere appeared, were, by the providence of God, concerned 
 in effecting the religious revolution in that country. In Scotland 
 the denunciations of Knox demolished the papal hierarchy. 
 
 The opposition of the Catholic power to the reformation, pro- 
 duced in Germ-any much bloodshed, desolation, and discord. These 
 scenes continued till the year 1555, when a treaty was formed at 
 Augsburg, called the Peace of Religion, which established the Re- 
 formation, inasmuch as it secured to all the inhabitants of Germany 
 the free exercise of their religion. The protestant princes of that 
 country never at any time ceased their exertions, till this desirable 
 result was brought to pass. 
 
 5. A few years after the establishment of the reformation, 
 the countries of Europe which favoured it and became pro- 
 testant, were Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Prussia, England, 
 Scotland, Ireland, and Holland. One half of Germany, and 
 a small majority in Switzerland, embraced the reformation. 
 The countries which adhered to Rome were Italy, Spain, 
 Portugal, the Belgic Provinces under the Spanish yoke. 
 France became decidedly papal, though at first the hope was 
 entertained that she would favour the protestant cause. A 
 goodly number, however, of the French population were 
 protestants. 
 
 That portion of the professed Christian body which con- 
 stituted the Eastern or Greek church, was not affected by 
 the revolution in the West. Though religion in this church 
 was then at a very low ebb, and the church had experienced 
 many external calamities, corruption and error had not made 
 so fatal a progress in the East, as among the Latins. Rus- 
 sia and a part of European Turkey were the seat of the 
 Greek religion. Many of its professors, however, were found 
 in various countries of Asia and Africa. In 1589, the Rus- 
 
418 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 sian chufch separated from the government, though not from 
 the communion, of the Greek church a circumstance which 
 has reduced the latter to an inconsiderable body. 
 
 As the Russian and Greek branches of the Christian church need 
 not be referred to again, it may be added, that they have undergone 
 but few changes in more modern times perhaps some improvement 
 is visible. Still they seem to be little acquainted with evangelical 
 piety, are in general destitute of the Bible, and consequently involv- 
 ed in ignorance. Their numbers are variously estimated. Hassel 
 makes them seventy-four millions, which is the highest calculation. 
 Members of the Greek church are at present found scattered over a 
 considerable part of Greece, the Ionian isles, "Wallachia, Moldavia, 
 Egypt, Abyssinia, Nubia, Lybia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Cilicia, 
 and Palestine. 
 
 It must suffice for a rapid survey of the Roman and Protestant 
 churches, from the time that their separation was consummated to 
 the present era, to notice the following particulars. 
 
 First, the Roman church. Desperate efforts were made by the 
 popes to regain their lost power, but on the whole with little effect. 
 The means which they used, as enumerated in a recent interesting 
 publication,* were principally these four. 1. The employment of 
 the order of Jesuits, formed in the year 1540, by Ignatius Loyola, 
 whose object was to go forth, as advocates of the papal power. 
 2. An attempt to christianize the heathen, in several parts of Asia 
 and South America. 3. The better regulation of the internal con- 
 cerns of their church. 4. The persecution of the protestants. In 
 regard to the last, it may be observed, that scarcely a country, in 
 which protestants were to be found, but was the scene of awful suf- 
 ferings. Our blood boils with indignation at the thought, that cru- 
 elties which would have disgraced Domitian, were inflicted by the 
 minions of the papacy, under the sanction of the mild religion o 
 the Saviour, upon his own followers. In these persecutions, fi r ty 
 millions of protestants are computed to have perished, principally 
 in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, France, parts of Germany, and 
 England. 
 
 But all the efforts of the Roman church were in vain, except as by 
 propagating her religion in heathen countries, she was for a time 
 nominally mistress of greater numbers of mankind than before. 
 Several causes have contributed to weaken, essentially, her 
 power, wealth and splendour. These, as enumerated in the work 
 above referred to, are, 1. The loss of foreign conquests. 2. Un- 
 successful contests with several European governments. 3. The 
 suppression of the order of the Jesuits. 4. The revolution in 
 France. 5. The abolition of the inquisition. 
 
 The statistics of the Roman church, as it exists at the present 
 day, are as follows : 
 
 The temporal dominions of the pope, are a small territory in 
 
 
 * Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. 
 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 419 
 
 Italy, south of the Po, containing 15,000 square miles, and 2,500,000 
 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Its ecclesiastical subjects are supposed to amount to 80 or 
 100,000,000, in all parts of the world. Malte Brun put them down 
 at 116,000,000. 
 
 The countries where they most abound, are the pope's dominions 
 in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and South America. These are considered 
 entirely papal. France, Austria, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, and Ca- 
 nada, are chiefly papal. Switzerland has 700,000 ; England half a 
 million, and the United States about that number. Others are found 
 in Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and the West Indies. The pope is at 
 present making great efforts to extend his influence in the United 
 States ; but it is believed either that the system cannot widely pre- 
 vail here, or if from any temporary causes, it is destined to meet 
 with some successes, that it will be in a degree modified by the ge- 
 nius of our institutions, and not be the dark, intolerant, cruel, and 
 licentious system that it has been in other countries. 
 
 Second, the Protestants. A diversity soon took place among those who se- 
 parated from the fellowship of Rome. A general division of the protestants is 
 into the Lutheran church, and the Reformed churches. 
 
 1. Lutheran Church. The Lutherans, as the name imports, were the im- 
 mediate followers of Luther, who consider their church as having been es- 
 tablished at the time of the pacification at Passau, 1552. Their standard of 
 faith is the Augsburg confession. They suffered far less from the persecu- 
 tions of the times than the other portions of the reformed church, though they 
 were unhappily engaged in a controversy among themselves, relating to various 
 points of faith and practice. 
 
 These controversies were followed by a low state of religion ; and this by ef- 
 forts which many of the better sort made to bring about a happier state of 
 things. Some good was done by the Pietists, (so this class of people were 
 called,) but far less than might have been, had not their views and principles 
 been misconceived or opposed. The Pietists flourished about the middle of 
 the seventeenth century, but they degenerated after a time, and were suc- 
 ceeded by a set of wild religionists, who did much mischief to the cause of god- 
 liness. To counteract this evil, the system of the Neologists was introduced, 
 which consisted in the application of human philosophy to the interpretation 
 of the Bible. The remedy was as bad as the disease, and the Gospel, stripped 
 of its peculiarities, has become a dead letter very extensively in Germany. It 
 is believed, however, that a better spirit is now commencing in some parts of 
 the Lutheran church, while it is a happiness to know that, in other parts of it, 
 both in Germany and the neighbouring churches, there are those who have all 
 along maintained their integrity. 
 
 In regard to the statistics of the Lutheran church, it may be observed, that 
 portions of it are found chiefly in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, in a great 
 part of Germany, particularly in the north, and in Saxony and Prussia, where 
 Liitberariisin is the established religion. Churches of this denomination also ex- 
 ist in Holland, Prance, Russia, North America, and in the Danish West"In- 
 dies. The number of Lutherans is probably between fifteen and twenty millions. 
 
 2. Reformed Churches. These are numerous, and little more than their 
 names can be here mentioned. The term " Reformed" was a title originally 
 assumed by those Helvetic or Swiss churches, which adhered to certain tenets 
 of Zuinrrlius, in relation to the Sacrament. But in latter times it has a wider 
 signification, and under it may be included all those sects in Protestant Chris- 
 tendom, that dissent from the tenets of the Lutheran church. These are 
 
420 GENERAL VIEWS. 
 
 principally the Calvinists, the Church of England, the Presbyterian Church of 
 Scotland, the Moravians, the Congregationalists of New-England, the Pres- 
 byterian Church in the United States, the Episcopal Church in the United 
 States, the Baptists, Methodists, and Quakers. 
 
 1. Calvinists. The Christians so called, taken loosely for those who ex- 
 plain the Bible as Calvin explained it, constituted at first the whole body of the 
 Protestants as distinguished from the Lutherans. Protestant Christendom 
 even now owns this distinction on the continent of Europe. They were called 
 Huguenots in France, and suffered terrible persecutions. They are not known 
 as one particular denomination, but constitute a portion of several bodies of 
 Christians. They exist in France, Holland, Prussia, Great Britain, and 
 other countries in Europe, and extensively in the United States. The sect of 
 Arminians is, as to sentiment, directly opposed to the Calvinists, though per- 
 sons of both persuasions are often found together in the same churches. The 
 Arminian doctrines began to be propagated at the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 2. Church of England. By this name is known the reformed church as 
 established in England and Ireland. Its history is deeply interesting, as it 
 passed a bloody ordeal, but there is no space for particulars. The rise of pu- 
 ritanism is connected with the history of the chui-ch of England, than which 
 few events in the records of religion are more important ; but this also must be 
 passed over. Dissenters from the church of England are tolerated in the 
 United Kingdom. The establishment embraces 5,000,000 of the inhabitants : 
 its livings are 10,500. The dissenters, or independents, in England and 
 "Wales, have more than 1000 congregations, 
 
 3. Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The date of the establishment of the 
 Reformation in Scotland, is about the year 1560. At this time the Presby- 
 terian church in that country began to assume a regular form. This church 
 passed through various vicissitudes, and has in general been distinguished foi 
 the piety of its members. It includes nearly the whole population of Scotland. 
 
 4. Moravians. The Moravians, or United Brethren, date their modern 
 history in 1722. They are an exemplary people, and devoted to missionary 
 enterprises. They have settlements in Germany, Denmark, Holland, Eng- 
 land, Scotland, Ireland, Russia, and the United States. Their converts among 
 the heathen, amount to 30,000. 
 
 5. Congregationalists of New-England. Under this name are known the 
 descendants of a class of the English puritans, who fled* from persecution to 
 the wilds of America. They began the settlement of New-England, on the 
 22d December, 1620. The sufferings, piety, and success of the fathers of New- 
 England Congregationalism, are rich topics in religious history. The Con- 
 gregationalists have about 1000 churches in New-England, and about 200 i~ 
 other parts of the United States. 
 
 6. Presbyterian Church in the United States. This body of Christians 
 was originally composed of a few Presbyterians from Scotland and Ireland, 
 united to a like number of Congregationalists, chiefly from New-England. 
 They have greatly prospered and increased, and are found throughout the 
 middle, southern and western, states. The number of their churches is nearly 
 1900. 
 
 Our limits preclude an account of other reformed churches, several cf which 
 ore respectable for their character and numbers. 
 
A 
 
 SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 MODERN GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 EXHIBITING THE PRESENT STATE OF THE VARIOUS NATIONS 
 
 ON THE GLOBE. 
 
 THE EARTH IN GENERAL. The earth is a large globe, the diameter of 
 which is nearly eight thousand miles, its equatorial circumference is about 
 21,970 miles, and its surface contains nearly two hundred millions of square 
 miles. 
 
 More than two thirds of the globe are covered vith water. 
 
 The land is occupied by at least a thousand millions of human beings, and 
 is divided into four great nominal parts, sometimes called quarters : Europe, 
 Asia, Africa, and America. 
 
 There are only two Continents ; one contains Europe, Asia, and Africa ; 
 the other consists of North and South America. 
 
 There are five oceans: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the In- 
 dian Ocean, the Northern Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. 
 
 The earth is ninety-six millions of miles from the Sun. It moves round 
 the Sun in a year, which causes the changes of the seasons ; and turns on 
 its own axis every twenty-four hours, which occasions night and day. 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 EUROPE is the smallest of the grand divisions or quarters of the world, but 
 Is inhabited by an active and intelligent race of people. 
 
 Europe is bounded north by the Frozen Ocean, east by Asia, south by the 
 Mediterranean Sea, and west by the Atlantic ocean. 
 
 Europe comprehends Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Denmark, Prus- 
 sia, Batavia, the German States, Austria, Turkey, France, Switzerland, Italy, 
 Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 Its three grand inland seas are the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and the 
 White Sea. 
 
 Its principal rivers are the Wolga, the Danube, the Nieper, the Rhine, and 
 the Elbe. 
 
 Its most elevated mountains are, the Alps, which separate Italy from Ger- 
 many, Switzerland, and France. 
 
 The Pyrenees, between France and Spain : 
 
 The Dofrafield mountains, between Norway and Sweden : 
 
 The Carpathian mountains, which bound Hungary to the north and east. 
 
 LAPLAND is divided into Danish or North Lapland; Swedish or South 
 Lapland ; and Russian or East Lapland. 
 
 It is covered with immense forests, chiefly of fir, and with pastures full of 
 rain-deer. 
 
 The Laplanders are hospitable, generous, and courageous. 
 
 Ot 
 
 ou 
 
422 A SYSTEM OF 
 
 They make long excursions upon the snow, and will, without much fatigue- 
 travel fitty miles a day ; and in their sledges, drawn by rein-deer, they pass 
 over hill and dale, with far greater speed. 
 
 In some parts of Lapland, the sun is absent for about seven weeks ; but 
 from ten in the forenoon tiJl between one and two in the afternoon, the 
 twilight is sufficient for persons to read without a candle. The stars are 
 visible at noon, and the moon shines without intermission. In the summer, 
 on the contrary, the sun never sets for seven weeks together. 
 
 NORWAY is bounded north and jvest by the Northern Ocean, east by 
 Swedish Lapland and Sweden, and south by the Categat. 
 
 Norway formerly belonged to Denmark, but has recently become a de- 
 pendency of Sweden. 
 
 The chief town of Norway is Bergen. 
 
 Norway is the most mountainous country in the world, and the rivers and 
 cataracts which intersect the mountains, render travelling exceedingly dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 On the coast of Norway is the famous vortex of the sea called the 
 Maelstroom ; it is heard at a great distance, and forms a whirlpool of vast 
 depth and extent, arid so violent, that if a ship come near it, it is drawn in 
 and shattered to pieces.. 
 
 The chief wealth of Norway lies in its fir timber, with which foreign 
 nations are supplied. 
 
 DENMARK Proper is an exceedingly small kingdom, containing only the 
 peninsula of Jutland, and the islands of Zealand, Funen, &c. at the en 
 trance of the Baltic. 
 
 Its chief town is Copenhagen. 
 
 Iceland, which, is subject to Denmark, abounds in sulphur, subterraneous 
 fires, and volcanoes. Mount Hecla is a volcano one mile high, and is always 
 covered with snow ; while the boiling springs and craters on the summit con- 
 tinually propel fire and smoke. 
 
 SWEDEN is divided into Sweden Proper, Gothland, Finland, Swedish Lap- 
 land, and the Swedish islands. 
 
 The chief towns are Stockholm, the capital, which stands on seven rocky 
 islands ; Upsal, famous for its University ; Gottcnberg, in Gothland ; and 
 Torneo, in Lapland. 
 
 The chief wealth of Sweden arises from its mines of silver, copper, lead, 
 and iron. 
 
 The mines are very spacious, afford commodious habitations for numerous 
 families, and seem to form a subterraneous world. 
 
 Sweden is a mountainous country, and is celebrated for the number and 
 extent of its lakes. 
 
 In the Baltic Sea there arc no tides, and a current is always running into 
 the German Ocean. 
 
 Rrssu is bounded north by the Frozen Ocean, east by Asia, south by- 
 Turkey and the Black Sea, west by Sweden, the Baltic, Prussia anc" 
 Austria. 
 
 The Russian Empire, the largest in extent in the world, comprehend 
 most of the northern parts of Europe and Asia, but only a small part of it 
 inhabitants are in a state of civilization. 
 
 in some parts of this country the climate is so severe, that icicles ar 
 frequently seen hanging to the eye-lashes, and the drivers of carriages are 
 often found frozen to death on their seats. 
 
MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 423 
 
 The principal towns are Petersburg!!, the capital ; Moscow ; Archangel, 
 on the borders of the White Sea ; Cherson, on the Black Sea ; Astracan, 
 near the Caspian ; and Tobolsk, the capital of Siberia. 
 
 Russia is mostly a level country : from Petersburg!! to Pekin in China 
 there is scarcely a hill : the same may be said of the road from Petersburgh 
 to the north of France. 
 
 The inland navigation of Russia is very extensive ; goods may be con- 
 veyed by water from Petersburgh to China, with an interruption of only 
 60 miles. 
 
 Russia is celebrated for its timber and flax trade, its iron and copper mines 
 in the Uralian mountains, arid its fisheries. 
 
 PRUSSIA is bounded north by the Baltic, east by Russia, south by Austria, 
 and west by Germany. 
 
 The Prussian dominions were formerly very small, but the acquisition 
 of Silesia, and a third part of Poland, has rendered it a considerable empire. 
 
 Before the partition of Poland, the Prussian subjects amounted to about 
 five millions and a half; with that addition they count. nearly eight millions. 
 
 HOLLAND OR BATAVIA, now Kingdom of the Netherlands, is bounded 
 north and west by the North Sea, east by Germany, south by France. 
 
 The kingdom of Holland consists of seven provinces, viz. Groningen, 
 Griesland, Over-yssel, Holland, Utrecht, Guelderland, and Zealand. 
 
 The chief towns are Amsterdam, Leydcn, Rotterdam, Haarlem. 
 
 Amsterdam, the capital, is curiously built upon wooden piles. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Rhine, the Maese and the Scheldt. 
 
 The canals are very numerous, and serve for the same purposes as roads 
 in other countries. 
 
 GERMANY is bounded north by the German Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic, 
 east by Prussia and Austria, south by Switzerland, and west by France and 
 the Netherlands. 
 
 Germany was formerly divided into nine great divisions, called circles ; 
 latterly a new political association has been formed of many considerable 
 states, under the title of the Germanic confederation ; the principal of these 
 states are the kingdoms of Saxony, Bavaria, Wertemberg, Baden, and 
 Hanover. The principal rivers are the Danube, Rhine, x Elbe, and Maine. 
 The chief town is Vienna, the residence of the Emperor. 
 
 THE AUSTRIAN DOMINIONS are bounded north by Prussia, south by 
 Turkey and the gulf of -Venice, west by Switzerland and Germany. 
 
 The Austrian dominions comprehend Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, part 
 of Poland, and the Venetian states. 
 
 The chief towns are, Venice, Prague, Presburg, Buda, Cracow, and 
 Trieste. 
 
 The principal mountains are the Tyrolese, the Alps, and the Carpathian 
 mountains. 
 
 TURKEY IN EUROPE includes ancient Greece and other countries, formerly 
 the finest in the world, but owing to the despotism and wretched policy of the 
 Turks, is now the most desolate and miserable. 
 
 It is bounded north by the Austrian dominions and Russia, east by the 
 Black Sea, the Sea of Marmora, and the Archipelago, south and west by 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 The metropolis of Turkey is Constantinople, finely situated between the 
 Sea of Marmora and the Black Sea, and one of the most considerable cities 
 in Europe. 
 
424 A SYSTEM OF 
 
 The principal rivers are the Danube, the Saave, and the Neister. 
 
 The chief mountains are Pindus and Olympus, which separate Thessalv 
 from Epirus ; Parnassus in Livadio ; Athos, and Haemus. Athos is 
 celebrated for its loftiness, and is inhabited by thousands of monks and 
 hermits. 
 
 FRANCE is bounded north by the British Channel, and, the German Ocean, 
 east by Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, south by the Mediterranean and 
 Spain, and west by the Bay of Biscay. 
 
 Paris, the capital of France, is, next to London, the largest and most con- 
 siderable city in Europe. It contains at this time immense collections of 
 works of art, ancient and modern. The other principal towns of France 
 are Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, and Lisle. 
 
 The principal mountains in France are, the Alps, which divide it from 
 Italy ; and the Pyrennees, which divide it from Spain. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Rhone, the Garonne, the Loire, the Seine, 
 and the Somrue. The Rhine forms the boundary between France and 
 Germany. 
 
 The canals in France are numerous ; the chief work of this kind is the 
 canal of Languedoc, about 180 miles in length, connecting the Atlantic with 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 SWITZERLAND is bounded north by Germany and France, east by Austria, 
 south by Italy, and west by France. 
 
 Switzerland, remarkable for its mountains, is divided into thirteen cantons 
 Zurich, Berne, Underwalden, Zug, Schweitz, Basil, Glasis, Soleure, Url 
 Appenzel, Lucerne, Friburg, and SchafFhausen. 
 
 The principal towns are Basil, Berne, Zurich, and Geneva. 
 
 The sources of the Rhine and the Rhone, two of the grandest rivers in 
 Europe, are to be found in the mountains of Switzerland. 
 
 The lakes of Constance and Geneva have been long celebrated for their 
 Beauty. 
 
 The Alps, which divide Switzerland from Italy ; the mountain of St. 
 Gothard, in the canton of Uri ; and Mount Blanc, on the borders of Savoy, 
 are the highest in Europe. 
 
 ITALY is bounded north by the Alps, east by the Gulf of Venice, and 
 south and west by the Mediterranean. 
 
 Italy, the garden of Europe, the parent of the arts, and of civilization, and 
 once the mistress of the world, is still a fine, populous, and interesting coun- 
 try, but inhabited by a race of people, who have become degenerated by 
 superstition and political slavery. 
 
 The Appenines form a grand chain of mountains, which runs through 
 almost the whole extent of Italy. 
 
 Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, is a celebrated volcanic mountain. But 
 Vesuvius, compared with Mount Etna in Sicily, is but a small hill ; the 
 circuit of Vesuvius is only thirty miles, that of Etna is one hundred and 
 eighty. The lava of Vesuvius is sometimes thrown seven miles, that of 
 Etna is frequently thrown thirty miles. 
 
 Rome is the principal seat of the Pope's dominion. 
 
 SPAIN is bounded north by the Pyrennees and the Bay of Biscay, east by 
 the Mediterranean, south by the Atlantic, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the 
 Mediterranean, and west by Portugal and the Atlantic. 
 
 Its chief towns are Madrid, the capital ; Barcelona, Seville, Corunna, and 
 Cadiz. 
 
 The principal rivers aie, the Ebro, the Tagus, and the Douro. 
 
MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 425 
 
 On a promontory in the south of Spain stands Gibraltar, which has been 
 in possession of the English for a century, and is so defended by nature and 
 art as to be considered impregnable. 
 
 PORTUGAL, like Spain, has been enervated by its foreign possessions, and is 
 now one of the most abject powers in Europe. The people are debased by 
 indolence and superstition. 
 
 It lies between Spain and the Atlantic, and is the most westerly kingdom 
 in Europe. 
 
 The chief towns are Lisbon, the capital ; and Oporto, famous for its exports 
 of wine. 
 
 THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. ENGLAND is 
 bounded north by Scotland, east by the German Sea, south by the British 
 Channel, and west by St. George's Channel. 
 
 The Island of Great Britain is divided into England, Wales, and Scotland. 
 It is six hundred miles long and three hundred broad ; and contains about 
 twelve millions of inhabitants. 
 
 Her wealth, the value of her manufactures, and the extent of her commerce, 
 are unequalled. The intelligence and industry of her inhabitants, the excel- 
 lent form of her political constitution, the just administration of her laws, and 
 the independence arising from her insular situation combine to render her an 
 object of admiration to all other nations. 
 
 London contains upwards of a million of inhabitants, is thirty miles in dr 
 cumfcrence, and is the largest and most opulent city in Europe. 
 
 The principal towns, famous for their respective manufactures, are Bir- 
 mingham and Sheffield, for cutlery and hardware ; Manchester for cotton 
 goods ; and Leeds and Wakefield for woollen cloth. The great commercial 
 sea-ports, besides London, are Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Newcastle, White- 
 haven, Yarmouth, and Poole. The dock-yards for the marine are Ports- 
 mouth, Plymouth, and Chatham. The universities are those of Oxford and 
 Cambridge. 
 
 The principal rivers in England are, the Severn, the Thames, the H umber, 
 the Mersey, the Trent, and the Medway. 
 
 The principal lakes are these in Cumberland, and Winander Herein West- 
 moreland. 
 
 The Isle of Wight, on the south, is famous for its cultivation ; Jersey and 
 Guernsey are near the coast of France. The Isle of Man is in the Irish 
 Sea. 
 
 SCOTLAND, the northern division of Great Britain, is inhabited by a valiant, 
 hardy, industrious, well informed, and temperate race of people. 
 
 The most considerable towns in Scotland, are Edinburgh, Glasgow, and 
 Aberdeen, famous for their universities ; and Glasgow no less for its extensive 
 commerce. 
 
 IRELAND, lies west of England ; the chief towns are Dublin, the capital , 
 Cork, Londonderry, and Belfast. 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 ASIA is bounded north by the Frozen Ocean, east by the Pacific Ocean and 
 Bhering's Straits, softth by the Indian Ocean, and west by Europe and the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 The southern Asiatics are in general effeminate, luxurious, indolent, 
 and servile ; but they evince considerable genius in various arts anj sci- 
 ences. 
 
 36* 
 
4ZU A SYSTEM OP 
 
 The great inland seas, peculiar to Asia, are, the Red Sea or Arabian Gulf, 
 the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea. 
 
 The chief rivers of Asia are, the Kian Ku, the Koan Ho, the Lena, Ye- 
 nisei, and the Ob, the Amur, the Burrampooter, the Ganges, the Euphrates, 
 and the Indus. 
 
 The Himmaleh mountains, said to be the highest on the globe, form the 
 boundary between Hindoostan and Thibet ; the height of one of their peaks 
 has been estimated at 27,550 feet above the level of the ocean. 
 
 ASIATIC TURKEY. Turkey in Asia is bounded north by the Black Sea, 
 east by Persia, south by Arabia and the Mediterranean, and west by the 
 Archipelago and the Sea of Marmora. 
 
 The climate of Turkey in Asia is delightful and salubrious; but that dread- 
 ful scourge to mankind, the plague, is rendered doubly destructive from the 
 native indolence of the Turks, and from their superstitious belief in predesti- 
 nation. 
 
 It is divided into several provinces, as Natolia, Kaarman, Armenia, Min- 
 grelia, &c. 
 
 Armenia is also styled Turkomama, to the south of which are Kurdistan 
 and Irak Arabi, in which is the celebrated Bagdad. 
 
 The ancient Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates, corresponds 
 with Diarbeck or Algezira. Syria, or the ancient Canaan, is situated on the 
 eastern extremities of the Mediterranean. 
 
 These provinces are subdivided into different governments under Pa- 
 chas. 
 
 The prevailing language is the Turkish, next to which is the Greek , 
 but the Arabic, Syrian, Persian, and Armenian, are used in different 
 parts. 
 
 The principal cities are Smyrna, Aleppo, and Bagdad 
 
 Balbec and Palmyra are famous for their extensive ruins. 
 
 The principal river in Asiatic Turkey is the Euphrates. Next to this is 
 the Tigris. 
 
 The mountains in Asiatic Turkey have long been celebrated ; these are 
 Taurus, Ararat, and Libanus. 
 
 The chief islands are, Mytelene, Scio, Samos, Cos, Rhodes, and Cy 
 prus. 
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA is bounded north by the Northern Ocean, east by the Pa- 
 cific, south by Tartary, the Caspian Sea, and Persia, and west by Russia in 
 Europe. 
 
 This vast extent of northern Asia was first known by the name of Si- 
 beria. 
 
 It is divided into two great governments, that of Tobolsk in the west, and 
 Ikurtsk in the east. 
 
 The principal city in Asiatic Russia is Astracan. 
 
 The Kurilian islands belong to Asiatic Russia ; they extend from Kam- 
 Bchatka to the land of Jesso. 
 
 THE CHINESE EMPIRE. CHINA is celebrated for its immense and industri- 
 ous population, for the variety of its manufactures and peculiar productions, 
 for the excellence of its inland navigation, and for the jealous policy of its go- 
 vernment towards other nations. 
 
 This empire, the most ancient and populous in the world, consists of three 
 principal divisions, viz. China Proper; the territory of the Manshurs and Mo- 
 guls, on the north and west and the region of Thibet. 
 
 
 
MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 427 
 
 CHINA PROPER extends from the great wall in the north to the China Sea 
 in the south ; and from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to Thibet. 
 
 The chief cities are Pekin, Nankin, and Canton. 
 
 The imperial canal intersects China from north to south, and employed 
 30,000 men forty-three years for its construction. 
 
 The largest of the Chinese islands, which are very numerous, and scattered 
 along the southern and eastern coast, are, Formosa and Hainan. 
 
 The isles of Leoo-Keoo, between Formosa and Japan, constitute a small 
 civilized kingdom subject to China. 
 
 CHINESE TARTARY is included between the great wall of China and Sibe- 
 ria, and between the cloudy mountains and the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Chinese Tartary is inhabited chiefly by the Eastern and Western Moguls; 
 the former conquered China in 1644, under whose government the empire 
 still continues. 
 
 The Island of Segalien, on Tchoka, belongs to Chinese Tartary. 
 
 THIBET is included between China and Hindoostan. The chief town is 
 Lasca. 
 
 The islands contiguous to the Chinese Empire, besides those already no- 
 ticed, are, 
 
 1. Those of Japan, forming an extensive, rich, populous, and remarkable 
 empire. The largest island is Niphon, and the chief town Jeddo ; Miaco, the 
 spiritual capital, and Nagaski. These islands trade only with the Dutch and 
 Chinese. 
 
 2. The Jesso Islands, to which the Danes trade for furs. 
 
 3. Macao lies in the Bay of Canton, and belongs to the Portuguese. 
 There are many small isles dependent upon Japan, among which is Fatfi- 
 
 sio, the place of exile for the disgraced grandees. 
 
 THE BIRMAN EMPIRE. (Ma/arca, Siam, Laos, Cambodia, Siampa, and 
 Cochin- China.') The Birmans are separated from the Hindoos by a very 
 narrow range of mountains, but the dispositions of the two people are extreme- 
 ly different. The Birmans are a lively inquisitive race, irascible and impa- 
 tient. 
 
 The Birman empire is divided from Asam on the north; on the west a 
 range of mountains separate it from the British dominions in Bengal. 
 
 The capital city is Ava. Pegu, south of Ava, is supposed to be the Golden 
 Chersonese of the ancients. 
 
 This empire extends its dominions over Laos and Cambodia, and is divided 
 by deserts and mountains from Cochin-China and Tonquin. 
 
 Ava, the present capital, and Pegu, the former, are both going to decay. 
 
 The Birmans, like the Chinese, have no coin ; but silver in bullion, and 
 lead, are current. 
 
 The forests in this empire are large and numerous ; the teak-tree is lord of 
 them, and superior to the European oak. 
 
 Malaya, or Malacca, is a large peninsula, containing several kingdoms and 
 provinces. 
 
 The inhabitants are called Malays or Malayans. 
 
 This country is celebrated for its numerous wild elephants. 
 
 Opposite to the coast of Malacca are the islands of Andaman and Ni- 
 bar. 
 
 On the barren isle to the east of the Amandans is a volcano which emits 
 showers of red hot stones. 
 
 The kingdom of Siam is situated in a large vale between two ridges of 
 mountains. 
 
428 A SYSTEM OP 
 
 The River Meinam, which signifies the mother of 'waters , is celebrated among 
 oriental rivers. 
 
 The elephants of Siam are distinguished for sagacity and beauty. 
 
 Cambodia is celebrated for the camboge-gum. 
 
 The chief river in Tonquin-China is Hole-Kian, which % passes by Kesho. 
 the capital. 
 
 HINDOOSTAN. The population of Hindoostan, subject to Great Britain, 
 amounts to fourteen millions ; and the revenue derived from them is 
 computed at four millions sterling. So great a power and revenue, main 
 tained iri so distant a country, is unexampled in ancient or modern times. 
 
 BRITISH INDIA consists of certain immense territories on the banks of the 
 Ganges, of which Calcutta is the capital ; of other territories on the coast of 
 Coromandel, of which Madras is the capital ; of the newly acquired island 
 of Ceylon ; and of the island of Bombay. 
 
 PERSIA is bounded north by the Caspian Sea and Tartary, east by Hin- 
 doostan, south by the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf, and west by Arabia 
 and Turkey. 
 
 Persia is divided into the eastern and western ; and the provinces near the 
 Caspian Sea, which have asserted a sort of independence. 
 
 The principal towns and cities are Ispahan the capital, Teffiiz, and 
 Gomron. 
 
 In Persia rivers and trees are very uncommon : hence the respect paid by 
 the Persian monarchs to planes and other trees that diffuse their shade. 
 
 The singular features of Persia are mountains and deserts. On the 
 western coast of the Caspian Sea, near Baku, are foundations of naptha, or 
 pure rock oil. The earth when dug two or three inches deep will easily 
 take fire. 
 
 INDEPENDENT TARTARY is bounded north by Asiatic Russia, east by 
 eastern Tartary, south by Persia and Hindoostan, west by the Caspian 
 Sea. 
 
 This extensive region is celebrated as the seat of the most ancient Persian 
 kingdom. It was afterwards distinguished by the wide empire of Jenghiz 
 and Timur. It gave birth to many ancient men of letters, among whom 
 were Zoroaster and Abulguazi. Such is the hospitality of the Tartars, that 
 all the families in the country seem to belong as but to one house. 
 
 1. The chief divisions of Independent Tartary are the barren plains in the 
 north. 
 
 2. To the south of the Argun mountains is Great Bulcharia. 
 
 3. On the south of the Ak-Tau mountains are the provinces of Sogd, 
 (the capital of which is Samarcand,) Balk, and Gaur. 
 
 The chief rivers are the Jihon and the Sirr or Sihon, and the most con- 
 siderable lake, or inland sea, is that of Aral. 
 
 ARABIA is bounded on the north by Turkey, east by the Gulf of Persia 
 and Ormus, south by the Indian Ocean, and west by the Red Sea. 
 
 The Arabians in general are such robbers, that travellers and pilgrims 
 are struck with terror on their approaches towards this country. The 
 climate is very various : in some parts it is excessively hot and dry, and 
 subject to poisonous winds. In other parts the soil is fertile, and the air is 
 highly salubrious. In the desert, travellers are guided by the stars and com- 
 pass, as mariners are at sea. 
 
 Arabia is divided into three parts ; Arabia Stony, Arabia the Desert, and 
 Arabia Happy. 
 
MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 429 
 
 Stony Arabia is a small province north of the Red Sea, between Egypt 
 and Palestine. The chief town is Suez. 
 
 Between the narrow branches of the northern extremity of the Red Sea, 
 are, Mount Sinai, and Mount Horeb : on which are several cells or chapela 
 possessed by monks. 
 
 Arabia the Desert is the middle part of the country, the inhabited parts of 
 which lie on the borders of the Red Sea. 
 
 The chief towns are Mecca and Medina: the former the birth place of 
 Mahomet, and the latter that at which he was buried. The famous temple 
 at Mecca is called the Kaba or Caaba. 
 
 Arabia Happy comprises the south-west part of the country. 
 
 THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO is divided into : 
 
 1. The islands of Sunda, or the Sumatran chain, which comprise Suma- 
 tra, Java, Balli, Lomboek, Florez, and Timor, with several other of less im- 
 portance. 
 
 2. Borneo, and some smaller islands surrounding Borneo, is, excepting New- 
 Holland, the largest island in the world. 
 
 3. The Minihas or Phillipine islands, including Luzon, Mindonao, Palawa, 
 Mindora, Pany, Negros, Zebu, Leyta and Samar, and several hundred 
 smaller islands. 
 
 4. The Celebezian isles, viz. Celebes, Boutan, and the surrounding small 
 islands. Boutan is governed by a Mahometan Sultan. 
 
 5. The spice islands, including the Moluccas : these are Gilola, Ceram, 
 Bouro, Oby, Amboyna, Banda, Tidore, Ternate, &c. These famous islands 
 produce nutmegs, cloves, and other valuable spices. 
 
 AUSTRALASIA contains the following islands : 
 
 1. New-Holland or Notasia, and all the islands between twenty degrees 
 west, and between twenty or thirty degrees east of it. New-Holland is 
 about three fourths as large as Europe. 
 
 2. Papua or New-Guinea, and the Papuan isles. 
 
 3. New Britain, New-Ireland, and the Solomon isles. 
 
 4. New-Caledonia and the New-Hebrides. 
 
 5. New-Zealand. 
 
 6. Van Dieman's Land, which is separated from New-Holland by Basse's 
 strait or channel, which is about thirty leagues wide. 
 
 POLYNESIA consists, 
 
 1. Of the Pelew Islands. 
 
 2. Of the Ladrone or Marian Islands, the principal of which are Guan 
 and Tinian. 
 
 3. The Carolines, the largest of which are Hogolen and Yap. 
 
 4. The Sandwich Islands, discovered by Captain Cook, at one of which he 
 lost his life. 
 
 5. The Marquesas, which are very numerous, but the largest island in 
 Polynesia is Owyhee, about 100 hundred miles in length. 
 
 6. The Society Islands are about sixty or seventy in number ; the Ota- 
 heite is the largest. 
 
 7. The Friendly Islands, and the Feejee Islands. 
 
 8. The Navigator's Islands, the principal of which is Maouna. 
 
430 
 
 A SYSTEM OF 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 AMERICA was unknown to the inhabitants of the other continent, t 
 a little more than three hundred years ago, when it was discovered 
 Christopher Columbus; and hence it is called the New World, in con 
 tradistinction to the eastern continent, first known, and hence called the 
 Old World. 
 
 It extends from Cape Horn, lat. 56 south, to the Frozen Ocean north, 
 being upwards of 7,000 miles in length. Its breadth varies from 37 to 5,000 
 miles. It lies between the Atlantic on the east, and the Pacific on the west ; 
 and is supposed to contain about 35 millions of inhabitants. 
 
 It is divided into North and South America, which are connected by th< 
 Isthmus of Darien. 
 
 
 
 NORTH AMERICA includes the United States, Spanish America, British 
 America, and the independent Indian nations. 
 
 The inland seas of North America are the Gulfs of Mexico, California, 
 and St. Lawrence, with Hudson's Bay, and Davis's Straits. 
 
 The Gulf of St. Lawrence is closed by the island of Newfoundland, and 
 the great sand bank, about four hundred miles in length, celebrated for the 
 cod -fishery. 
 
 The Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario, Winnipeg, and 
 Slave Lake, are the grandest in the world, and might with propriety be de- 
 nominated seas^ 
 
 The rivers are also grand features of North America. Of these the prin- 
 cipal are the Missouri and Mississippi, the Ohio and St. Lawrence. 
 
 The most celebrated mountains are the Apalachian, passing through the 
 territory of the United States. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES are bounded north by the River St. Lawrence and 
 the Lakes, from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains its northern 
 boundary is in lat. 49 from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, its 
 northern boundary is in lat. 50 ; On the east they are bounded by the 
 Atlantic on the south by the Gulf of Mexico on the southwest by the 
 River Sabine and Mexico on the west by the Pacific ; extending from east 
 to west, nearly 60 of longitude, about 2,700 miles. 
 
 The United States are celebrated for the excellence of their constitution, 
 which secures political liberty, and individual security. 
 
 There are %A independent States, which are divided into the New-England 
 or Eastern, the Middle, Southern and Western States : the inhabitants at 
 this day (1830) amount to about 12,000,000. 
 
 New-England comprises Main^. Vermont, New-Hampshire, Massachu- 
 setts, Rhode Island, and Connectrat. 
 
 The Middle Division comprises New- York, New,- Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 and Delaware. 
 
 The Southern Division comprises Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. In this division is also included the 
 Territory of Florida. 
 
 The Western Division comprises Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Ten- 
 nessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri. In this division are included 
 the Territories of Michigan, Arkansaw, and Missouri ; and also the North 
 West Territory. 
 
 
MODERN GEOGRAPHY 431 
 
 MEXICO, AND GUATAMALA IN NORTH AMERICA. The most unfertile oi 
 tnese dominions is said to produce two crops of corn in a year ; the valleys are 
 extremely rich, and produce spontaneously the fruits and vegetables common 
 to the most fruitful parts of the United States. 
 
 The largest city in this country is Mexico, and the principal river and lake 
 in these regions is the Rio Bravo del Norte, in Mexico ; and the lake known 
 as the Nicaragua, in Guatamala. 
 
 BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN NORTH AMERICA. This part of North America 
 is mountainous and barren, abounding, however, with lakes, rivers, and bays, 
 that aiFord plenty of fish. The fur trade and fisheries render this colony ex- 
 ceedingly valuable. 
 
 The British dominions are extensive, and include Upper and Lower Ca- 
 nada, Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick, the island of Cape Breton, Newfound- 
 land, the Bermudas, or Summer Islands. 
 
 NATIVE TRIBES AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES. These are, Greenland, 
 Labrador, the regions around Hudson's Bay, those nations lately discovered 
 by Sir A. Mackenzie, and those on the western coast. 
 
 THE WEST INDIES. The most important of these islands are Cuba, 
 and Porto-Rico, Spanish ; St. Domingo, Free Blacks ; and Jamaica, Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 North of St. Domingo and Cuba, are the Bahamas, the principal of which 
 Is Providence island. 
 
 The Caribbee islands extend from Tobago, in the south, to the Virgin 
 islands in the north. 
 
 Those belonging to Britain are, Barbadoes, Antigua, St. Christopher's, St. 
 Vincent, Dominica, Granada, Trinidad, Montserrat, Nevis, and the Virgin 
 isles. 
 
 The French Carribbee islands are, Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Lucie, and 
 Tobago. 
 
 The Danes possess St. Croix and St. Thomas. 
 
 St. Bartholomew belongs to the Swedes, and Eustatia to the Dutch. 
 
 SCHTTH AMERICA comprehends, New Granada and Venezuela, now known 
 us Colombia ; Guiana ; Peru ; Bolivia, or Upper Peru ; Amazonia ; Brazil ; 
 La Plata, or Buenos Ay res ; Chili, and Patagonia. 
 
 South America has no inland sea ; but the River Amazon, and that of La 
 Plata, are celebrated as the largest in the world. 
 
 The mountains of South America ("excepting Himmaleh, in Asia,) are 
 the loftiest on the whole face of the globe, and are intermixed with volca 
 noes of the most sublime and terrific description. The Andes follow the 
 windings of the coast, and extend 4,600 miles. The highest are near the 
 equator. 
 
 In Chili it never rains, the sky is seldom cloudy, but the dews of the night 
 supply the want of rain. 
 
 The Portuguese territory of Brazil is, perhaps, equal in extent to what 
 formerly was the Spanish, compensating by its breadth for its deficiency in 
 length. 
 
 The southern extremity of South America is Patagonia, a desolate country, 
 inhabited by savage Indians, some of whom are of colossal stature. 
 
 The islands contiguous to South America are, Trinidad, the Falkland 
 Islands, and Terra del Fuego. 
 
 The Galliapago Islands are near the equator, and the Pearl Islands lie in 
 the bay of Panama. 
 
 
A SYSTEM, 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 In Africa there are no inland seas, and but one lake of any great extent, 
 viz. that of Maravi. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Nile, the Niger, and the Senegal. 
 
 The Atlas mountains have long been celebrated, and the mountains of the 
 Moon are a lofty range. 
 
 The most striking feature of Africa consists in its immense deserts, which, 
 perhaps, comprise one half of the continent ; of these, Zaara is the chief. 
 
 Africa may be considered in the following order : first, Abyssinia, then Egypt, 
 the Mahometan States in the north, the western coast, and the Cape of Good 
 Hope : from thence proceeding along the eastern shores. 
 
 The chief cities are, Grand Cairo, the capital, Alexandria, Rosetta, and Da- 
 mietta. Rain is a very uncommon phenomenon in Egypt. 
 
 The northern Mahometan states are, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco 
 They are chiefly remarkable for their piracies. 
 
 Benin, Loango, and Congo, present the most interesting objects in this wide 
 extent of country. 
 
 Zaara, or the Great Desert, extends from the Atlantic to the Nile. 
 
 Caffraria, or the land of Hottentots, extends to the Cape of Good Hope, the 
 most southerly part of Africa. The Cape of Good Hope is a free port for all 
 nations. 
 
 The coasts of Mozambico and Zanguebar are succeeded by the desert re- 
 gions of Ajan and Adel, which complete the circuit of Africa. 
 
 The island of Madagascar is one of the largest in the world. 
 
 On the west of Africa is St. Helena, an English colony, and a desirable 
 port. 
 
 The Cape de Verd Islands are ten in number, the two largest are St. Jago 
 and St. Anthony. 
 
 More northerly are the Canary or Fortunate Islands. Among these is the 
 famous peak of Tenerifle. 
 
 The island of Madeira, the last that is reckoned contiguous to Africa, is fa- 
 mous for its wine. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. Founding of Ancient Rome. p. 57. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Cineinnatus at his Plough. p. 85 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 ^as^*^ 
 
 Roman Agriculture. p. 234. 
 
 

 
ISTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. Olympic Games Boxing. p. 51. 
 
 vol. i. Regulus Defeats the Carthagenians. p. 104. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Olympic Games Bjxing. p. 51. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. I Olympic Games Discus. p. 51. 
 
 voL i. Pompilius Crowned King of Rome, p- 59' 
 
 
 Leading to Sacrifice. 
 
 p. 187- 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Roman War Galley. 
 
 p. 205. 
 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Roman Aqueduct. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Roman Coasting Vessel. p. 215, 
 
 
SLLITSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. L 
 
 Chariot Race. 
 
 p. 207. 
 
 vol. i. Sabine women carried away by the Romans, p. 58. 
 
 vol i. 
 
 Battering 1 Ram. 
 
 p. 204. 
 

 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Roman Emperor. 
 
 Roman Senator. 
 
 Roman General. 
 
 Roman Soldier. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Death of Alexander. 
 
 p. 96. 
 
 vol. i. Spartans returning from the Messenian War. 66. 
 
 vol. i. Royalty Abolished at Rome. p. 62. 
 


 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i Defeat of the Persians by Alexander, p. 96. 
 
 vol. i. Grecian Temple and Ruins. p. 191. 
 
 vol. i. Front of a Grecian Temple. p. 191 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Grecian War Galley. 
 
 p. 181. 
 
 vol. i. Trojans Deceived by the Greeks. p. 42. 
 
 vol.! Ancient Grecian Building 
 
 p. 191 
 

 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Cecrops colonizing- Greece. p. 31. 
 
 vol. i. Grecian Court Areopagus. p. 179 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Grecian Sacrifices. 
 
 p. 181. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Ancient Athens. 
 
 p. 174. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Grecian Gymnasium. 
 
 p. 175 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Achcean League. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 ' "** 
 
 vol. ii. Conversion of Constantine. 
 
 
 p.52. 
 
 vol. ii. Peter Preaching to the Crusaders, p. 127. 
 
 
 vol. ii. Taking of Constantinople by Mahomet, p. 185. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Tower of London. 
 
 vol. ii. Edward IV. and Queen Margaret, p. 190. ' 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 
 vol. ii. King- Alfred in Disguise. p. 113. 
 
 
 ;,l. ii, Qit'ccn Elizajc-ih and her Army. p. 203. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Pcnn's Treaty. 
 
 p. 255 
 
 voi ii. Convention at Philadelphia, 1787. Fer. X. 
 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLATEP. 
 
 'vol. IT. Massacre at Fort Griswold, Per. X. 
 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Death of Montgomery. 
 
 Per.X. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OP THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Cape Town Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Siberian mode of Travelling. 
 
 Lapland Traveller. 
 2* 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED, 
 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen of South America. 
 
 South American Indians 
 
 Hottentots. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 North American Indians. 
 
 Scots. 
 
 Danes. 
 
 South American Gentleman. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 
 Cossacks. 
 
 Austrians. 
 
 Swedes. 
 
 Swiss. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Asiatics. 
 
 Italians. 
 
 Egyptian Peasants. 
 
 Circassians. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE \VORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Ancient 
 
 Dutch. 
 
 French. 
 
 Japanese. 
 
 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Greeks. 
 
 Turks. 
 
 Tartars. 
 
 Arabians. 
 

 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Gypsies. 
 
 Nootkaians. 
 
 Society Islanders. 
 
 Sandwich Islanders. 
 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. Jupiter, p. 182. 
 
 vol. i. Apollo, p. 182- 
 
 p. 182. 
 
 vol. i. Mercury, p. 182. 
 
 3 
 
 vol. i. Bacchus, p. 183. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. Vulcan, p. 183. vol. i. Minerva, p. 183. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Juno. 
 
 p. 183. 
 
 vol.i. Venus, p. 183. 
 
 vol. i. Diana, p. 1 84. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED 
 
 
 vol. i. Ceres, p. 184. 
 
 vol. i. Vesta, p. 184. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Neptune 
 
 p. 184. 
 
 vol. i. Oceanus. p. 184. vol. i. Triton, p. 184, 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i. Pluto, p. 185. 
 
 vol. i. Furies, p. 185. 
 
 vol. i. 
 
 Charon. 
 
 p. 185. 
 
 vol. i. Fates, p. 185. vol. i. Cupid, p. 185. v. i. Graces 186 
 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 Caliope.* 
 
 Euterpe.* 
 
 Clio. 
 
 * 
 
 Melpomene.* 
 
 Terpsichore.* Urania.* 
 
 * See Vol. i. p. 186. 
 
 Erato.* 
 
 Polyhymnia** 
 
 Th alia.* 
 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE WORLD DISPLAYED. 
 
 vol. i, C(Esar Passing the Rubicon. p. 135. 
 
 vol. ii. 
 
 Crowning of Charlemagne. 
 
 p. 99 
 
 vol. i. Combat between Horatii and Curiatii. p. 59. 
 



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