THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 909 w 65e 1844 / The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN L161 —0-1096 THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 909 w ? \ ot if jvtpr* ns vtv. n Y*rMV>*. ric • . ^'VBUrJi 4-01-J •> . «|V r, • u ;• " JO* \ - U r^c5t4 a^K • .;.o -v. iu i.i. ■ ELEMENTS OF GENERAL HISTORY, ANCIENT AND MODERN. TRf LIBRARY OF BY SY, FEB 23 193 PROFESSOR TYTLER, university of ill LORD WOODHOUSELEE. A NEW EDITION, REVISED, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS, COPIOUS NOTES, AND A CONTINUATION TO THE PRESENT TIME, BY THOMAS EDLYNE TOMLINS. LONDON: WHITTAKER AND CO., AYE MARIA LANE. MDCCCXLIV. qo<\ W ? e_ I ? 4-1- PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. The following work contains the outlines of a course of lectures on General History, delivered for many years in the University of Edinburgh, and received with a portion of the public approbation amply sufficient to compensate the labour of the author. He began to compose these elements principally with the view of furnishing an aid to the students attending those lectures; but he soon conceived, that by giving a little more amplitude to their composition, he might render the work of more general utility. As now given to the public, he would willingly flatter himself it may be not only serviceable to youth, in furnishing a regular plan for the prosecution of this most important study, hut useful even to those who have acquired a competent knowledge of general history from the perusal of the works of detached historians, and who wish to methodise that knowledge, or even to refresh their memory on material facts and the order of events. In the composition of these elements the author has endeavoured to unite with the detail of facts so much of reflection, as to aid the mind in the formation of rational views of the causes and conse¬ quences of events, as well as of the policy of the actors ; but he has anxiously guarded against that speculative refinement which has sometimes entered into works of this nature, which, professing to exhibit the philosophy or the spirit of history, are more fitted to display the writer’s ingenuity as a theorist, or his talents as a rhetorician, than to instruct the reader in the more useful knowledge of historical facts. As the progress of the human mind forms a capital object in the study of history, the state of the arts and sciences, the religion, laws, government, and manners of nations, are material parts, even in an elementary work of this nature. The history of literature is a most important article in this study. The author has therefore endeavoured to give to each of these topics its due share of attention ; and in that view, they are separately treated, in distinct sections, at particular periods. Of the defects of this work the author is more sensible than perhaps any other person can be. Of any merits it may possess beyond those of simplicity and perspicuity, those are the best judges who have an extensive knowledge of the subject, and who know the difficulty of giving general views, and of analysing a science so comprehensive and complicated as Universal History . ALEX. FRASER TYTLER. Edinburgh. <9 812055 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE PRESENT EDITION. The work now presented to the public has long been in repute as a standard treatise of Universal History, the occupation and pursuits of the learned author having rendered him peculiarly fitted for the performance. It was first published in 1801, and from that period to 1813 (the year of the author’s decease), it passed through no less than six editions, all of them enriched by his personal revisal and correction. Since his decease the work has deservedly increased in public estimation, and has been frequently re-published. To the present edition some necessary additions to the original text have been made, and some remarkable typographical errors corrected. A series of illustrative notes and a continua¬ tion of the modern history has also been appended. The additions to the original text made by the present editor are distinguished by being inserted between brackets, so that the original plan and design of the author is not varied. The notes have been also prepared with the same attention to the consistency of the author’s design, so as to render the original work entitled to a continuance of the high character it has so long borne. The Continuation carries down the history of Great Britain and Ireland from the death of Queen Anne : that of France and Southern Europe from the end of the reign of Louis XIV; and that of Germany and Northern Europe from the death of Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia, to the present period: it also includes a concise notice of British- India and China, and above all, the changes effected by the French and modern revolutions have been carefully particularized. It is not necessary to refer specifically to the modern authorities referred to in so brief a treatise as the present, but it will be seen by the references in the notes to the present edition, that the original has been carefully compared with, and where necessary corrected by, the later eminent historians, both English and Continental, and that the works of Niebuhr, Hallam, Mackintosh, Alison, and other equally celebrated historians, and also the remarks of modern travellers, have been carefully consulted. Islington , June 1 , 1844. THOMAS EDLYNE TOMLINS. MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR Alexander Tytler * was born at Edinburgh, 15th of October, 1747, being the eldest son of William Tytler, Esq., of Woodhouselee, in the county of Mid-Lothian, and of Anne Craig, daughter of James Craig, Esq., of Costerton, in the same county. Our author had the felicity of being brought up under the care of parents both remarkable for their virtue and accom¬ plishments, and of being introduced at an early age to the best society the city of Edinburgh afforded. He received the rudiments of a classical education at the High School, Edinburgh ; but in the year 1763 was sent to Kensington, near London, to finish his education under the care of a Mr. Elphinston, who kept an academy at that place. On his return to Edinburgh in 1765, Mr. Tytler entered the University of that city, where he studied civil law with a view to engaging himself in that profession, which of all others connected with literature is most attractive to the ambition of a young man, both by the variety of powers it demands, and the distinction to which it leads. His season of academical study passed without any record being left of the progress of his studies, and in 1770 he was called to the bar. As the circumstances of Mr. Tytler did not demand of him a wearisome attention to his profession, he made a continental tour through France and the Low Countries very shortly after his call; and from all accounts, his time had been so much devoted to the belles-lettres, music, drawing, and other graceful accomplishments, that the share of business he acquired at the bar was not sufficient to induce him to pursue the law either as a source of emolument or distinction. However, his known learning and habits of study, in all probability joined with the influence of his family connections, procured for him in 1780 the joint professorship of universal history and Roman antiquities in the University of Edinburgh ; and in 1786 the sole professorship of universal history, an office which had a degree of relation to Mr. Tytler’s own profession, inasmuch as the study of Roman antiquities had been intended as subsidiary to the study of the civil law, which was taught by the college of advocates; indeed the lectures had always been attended by students of that description. From 1786 to 1800 Mr. Tytler devoted himself to the duties of his professorship, and the composition and arrangement of the course of lectures he annually read in the University +. * On his marriage with Anne Fraser, in 1776, he adopted the surname of his wife, as was then usual, which accounts for his being thereafter described as Alexander Fraser Tytler. t See Preface to the first edition. 1 vi MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. Mr. Tytler did not confine himself entirely to his prelections on history, for he com¬ municated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh several papers, the most known of which is “An Essay on the Principles of Translation,” a standard work on English criticism, and in 1807 published “ Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Lord Karnes, containing Sketches of the Progress of Literature and General Improvement in Scotland during the greater part of the Eighteenth Century,” in two volumes, quarto. This work is exceedingly discursive, being, as its title expresses, rather an assemblage of dissertations on philosophy and literary subjects than a biography. In 1790 Mr. Tytler was appointed judge-advocate of Scotland ; in 1801 he was elevated to the bench of the Court of Session, when he assumed the title of Lord Woodhouselee; and in 1811 was appointed to the justiciary bench. In the autumn of 1795 he suffered from a violent fever; in all other respects his life had been rendered happy by health, peace of mind, affluence, and domestic happiness, until June, 1812, when his constitution gave way to a disorder originating in his former illness. He lingered for a few months, and died at Woodhouselee, 4th of January, 1813 *. * This slight notice is taken chiefly from a “ Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Honourable Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee. By the Rev. Archibald Alison, LL.B., F.R.S. Lond. and Edin.” published in the Trans. Royal Society Edinburgh, 1818, vol. viii. art. xxiii. pp. 507—563. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. PAGE Advantages arising from the Study of History, and more particularly from prosecuting it according to a regular plan. 1 Plan of the Course. 2 PART FIRST. ANCIENT HISTORY. Sect. 1. —Earliest authentic accounts of the History of the World. 4 2. —Considerations on the nature of the first Govern¬ ments, and on the Laws, Customs, Arts, and Sciences of the early Ages . ib. 3. —Of the Egyptians.. 6 4. —Of the Phoenicians . 7 5. —The History of Greece . 8 6 . —Reflections on the first and rudest periods of the Grecian History. ib. 7. —Early period of the Grecian History.—The Argo- nautic Expedition.—Wars of Thebes and of Troy. 9 8 . —Establishment of the Greek Colonies. ib. 9. —The Republic of Sparta . 10 10. —The Republic of Athens. 11 11. —Of the State of the Persian Empire, and its His¬ tory down to the War with Greece. 12 12. —The War between Greece and Persia. 13 13. —Age of Pericles. 14 14. —The Republic of Thebes. 15 15. —Philip of Macedon . ib. 16. —Alexander the Great . ib. 17. —Successors of Alexander. 16 18. —Fall and conquest of Greece. 17 19. —Political Reflections arising from the History of the States of Greece. ib. 20. —State of the Arts in Greece . 18 21. —Of the Greek Poets. 19 22. —Of the Greek Historians . 20 23. —Of the Greek Philosophers . 21 24. —The History of Rome. 22 Reflections on the Government and State of Rome during the Period of the Kings . 24 25. —Rome under the Consuls. 25 26. —The Law of Volero . 26 27. —The Decemvirate. 27 28. —Increase of the Popular Power. 28 29. —Conquest of Italy by the Romans. 29 30. —History of Carthage. ib. 31. —History of Sicily. 30 32. —The Punic Wars . ib. 33. —The Gracchi, and the Corruption of the Common¬ wealth . 32 34. —Progress of the Civil Wars.—Second Triumvirate, —and fall of the Republic. 33 35. —Considerations on such Particulars as mark the Genius and National Character of the Romans 35 36. —Of the progress of Literature among the Romans ib. 37. —State of Philosophy among the Romans. 37 38. —Of the public and private Manners of the Romans 38 39. —Of the Art of War among the Romans. 39 SECT. PAGE 40. —Reflections arising from a view of the Roman History during the Commonwealth . 39 41. —Rome under the Emperors . 41 42. —The same subject continued. 42 43. —Age of the Antonines, &c. 44 44. —State of the Roman Empire at the time of Con¬ stantine.—His Successors. 4 t» 45. —Progress of the Christian Religion from its Insti¬ tution to the Extinction of Paganism in the reign of Theodosius . 47 46. —Extinction of the Roman Empire in the West. 49 47. —Of the Origin, Manners, and Character of the Gothic Nations before their Establishment in the Roman Empire. 50 48. —Of the Manners, Laws, and Government of the Gothic Nations, after their Establishment in the Roman Empire. 51 49. —Method of studying Ancient History. 52 Comparative View of Ancient and Modern Geo¬ graphy . 55 PART SECOND. MODERN HISTORY. 1. —Of Arabia and the Empire of the Saracens . 66 2. —Monarchy of the Franks . 67 3. —Reflections on the state of France during the Me¬ rovingian Race of its Kings. 68 4. —Charlemagne.—The new Empire of the West. 69 5. —Manners, Government, and Customs of the Age of Charlemagne . 70 6 . —Retrospective View of the Affairs of the Church preceding the Age of Charlemagne... 71 7. —Empire of the West under the Successors of Charlemagne . 72 8 . —Empire of the East during the Eighth and Ninth Centuries . 73 9. —State of the Church in the Eighth and Ninth Cen¬ turies . ib. 10. —Of the Saracens in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries 74 11. —Empire of the West and Italy in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. ib. 12. —History of Britain from its earliest period down to the Norman Conquest . 75 13. —Of the Government, Laws, and Manners of the Anglo-Saxons . 77 14. —State of Europe during the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Centuries . 78 15. —History of England in the Eleventh, Twelfth, and part of the Thirteenth Centuries. 79 16. —State of Germany and Italy in the Thirteenth Century. 82 17. —The Crusades or Holy Wars. ib. 18. —Of Chivalry and Romance. 84 19. —State of Europe in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries . 85 20. —Revolution of Switzerland. 86 21. —State of Europe (continued) in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Part of the Fifteenth Centuries ib. 22. —History of England in the Thirteenth Century ... 87 23. —History of Scotland from the Eleventh to the Four¬ teenth Century. ib. 24. —History of England in the Fourteenth Century ... 88 Vlll CONTENTS, SECT. PAGE 25. —England and France in the Fifteenth Century.— State of Manners. 89 26. —Decline and Fall of the Greek Empire . 90 27. —Government and Policy of the Turkish Empire ... 91 28. —France and Italy in the End of the Fifteenth Cen¬ tury. ib. 29. —History of Spain in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries . 92 30. —France, Spain, and Italy, in the end of the Fif¬ teenth and beginning of the Sixteenth Century ib. 31. —History of England, from the middle of the Fif¬ teenth to the beginning of the Sixteenth Cen¬ tury.—Civil Wars of York and Lancaster. 93 32. —History of Scotland, from the middle of the Four¬ teenth Century to the end of the reign of James V... 94 33. —On the ancient Constitution of the Scottish Go¬ vernment . 95 34. —A View of the Progress of Literature and Science in Europe :—From the revival of Letters down to the end of the Fifteenth Century . 96 35. —View of the Progress of Commerce in Europe be¬ fore the Portuguese Discoveries. 97 36. —Discoveries of the Portuguese in the Fifteenth Century, and their Effects on the Commerce of Europe . 99 37. —Germany and France in the Reigns of Charles V. and Francis I. ... 100 38. —Observations on the Constitution of the German Empire . 101 39. —Of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, and the Revolution in Denmark and Sweden ... 102 40. —Of the Reformation in England, under Henry VIII. and his Successors. 103 41. —Of the Discovery and Conquest of America. 104 42. —Possessions of the other European Nations in America...... 105 43. —Of the State of the Fine Arts in Europe, in the Age of Leo X. 106 44. —Of the Ottoman Power in the Sixteenth Century... 107 45. —State of Persia, and other Asiatic Kingdoms, in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. 108 46. —History of India . ib. 47. —Ancient State of India; Manners, Laws, Arts, and Sciences, and Religion of the Hindoos. 109 48. —Of China and Japan . 110 49. —Of the Antiquity of the Empire of China.—State of Arts and Sciences, Manners, Government, Laws . Ill SECT. PAGE 50. —M. Bailly’s Theory of the Origin of the Sciences among the Nations of Asia . 112 51. —Reign of Philip II. of Spain.—Revolution of the Netherlands, and Establishment of the Republic of Holland. 114 52. —Of the Constitution and Government of the United Provinces. ib. 53. —Reign of Philip II. continued. 115 54. —State of France in the end of the Sixteenth Cen¬ tury,—Under Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV. ib. 55. —History of England and of Scotland in the Reigns of Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots. 116 56. —History of Great Britain in the Reigns of James I. and Charles 1. 118 57. —The Commonwealth of England . 120 58. —The Reigns of Charles II. and James II. 121 59. —On the British Constitution . 122 60. —Of the Public Revenue of Great Britain . 125 61. —History of France under Louis XIII. ib. 62. —Spain under Philip III. and Philip IV.—Constitu¬ tion of Portugal and of Spain .. 126 63. —Affairs of Germany from the Abdication of Charles V. to the peace of Westphalia . ib. 64. —France under Louis XIV. 127 65. —On the Constitution of France under the Monarchy 129 66 . —Of Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, and Charles XII., King of Sweden . 130 67. —A View of the Progress of Science and Literature in Europe :—From the end of the Fifteenth to the end of the Seventeenth Century . 131 CONTINUATION. 68 .—France from the death of Louis XIV. to the Acces¬ sion of Louis Philippe . 133 69. —England from the Accession of George I. to the Accession of Victoria. 140 70. —British India. 145 71. —China. 147 72. —Germany (Austria). ib. 73. —Spain and Portugal. 148 74. —Northern Europe. 149 75. —Southern Europe .. 153 76. —A View of the Progress of Science and Literature in Europe, from the commencement of the Eighteenth Century to the Present Time. 155 Chronological Table . 157 CORRIGENDA. Page 4, col. 1, 25 lines from the bottom, for “ 2137,” read 2237. — 89, col. 2, 15 lines from the bottom, for “ the greatest part,” read and the greatest part. — 128, col. 2, 31 lines from the bottom, for “ 1740,” read 1704, INTRODUCTION. 1. The value of any science is to be estimated according to its tendency to promote improvement, either in private virtue or in those qualities which render man extensively useful in society. Some objects of pursuit have a secondary utility; in furnishing rational amusement, which, relieving the mind at inter¬ vals from the fatigue of serious occupation, invigorates and prepares it for fresh exertion. It is the per¬ fection of any science to unite these advantages, to promote the advancement of public and private virtue, and to supply such a degree of amusement as to supersede the necessity of recurring to frivolous pursuits for the sake of relaxation. Under this description falls the science of history. 2. “ History,” says Dionysius of Halicarnassus, is “philosophy teaching by examples.” The superior efficacy of example to precept is universally acknowledged. All the laws of morality and rules of con¬ duct are verified by experience, and are constantly submitted to its test and examination. History, which adds to our own experience an immense treasure of the experience of others, furnishes innumer¬ able proofs by which we may verify all the precepts of morality and of prudence. 3. History, besides its general advantages, has a distinct species of utility to different men, according to their several ranks in society and occupations in life. 4. In this country it is an indispensable duty of every man of liberal birth to be acquainted, in a certain degree, with the science of politics ; and history is the school of politics. It opens to us the springs of human affairs, the causes of the rise, grandeur, revolutions, and fall of empires ; it points out the reciprocal influence of government and of national manners ; it dissipates prejudices, nourishes the love of our country, and directs to the best means of its improvement; it illustrates equally the blessings of political union, and the miseries of faction ; the danger, on the one hand, of uncontrolled liberty, and on the other, the debasing influence of despotic power. 5. It is necessary that the study of history should be prosecuted according to a regular plan, for this science, more perhaps than any other, is liable to perversion from its proper use. With some it is no better than an idle amusement; with others it is the food of vanity; with a third class it fosters the preju¬ dices of party, and leads to political bigotry. It is dangerous for those who, even with the best intentions, seek for historical knowledge, to pursue the study without a guide, for no science has been so little methodized. The sources of prejudice are infinite ; and the mind of youth should not be left undirected amidst the erring, the partial, and contradictory representations of historians. Besides the importance of being able to discriminate truth from falsehood, the attention ought to be directed only to useful truths. Much danger arises from the perusal of memoirs, collections of anecdotes, &c.; for many of those works exhibit the most depraved pictures, weaken our confidence in virtue, and present the most unfavourable views of human nature *. 6. There are many difficulties which attend the attempt of forming a proper plan of study, and giving an instructive view of general history. Utility is to be reconciled with amusement, prejudices are to be encountered, variety of taste to be consulted, political opinions balanced, judgment and decision exercised on topics keenly controverted. The proposer of such a plan ought, therefore, to be possessed equally of firmness of mind and moderation of sentiment. In many cases he must abandon popularity, for the calm approbation of his own conscience. Disregarding every partial and inferior consideration, he must direct his view solely to the proper end of all education,— the forming of good men and good citizens. 7* The object and general purpose of the following Course is to exhibit a progressive view of the state of mankind from the earliest stages of which we have any authentic accounts, down to the close of the seventeenth century ; to delineate the origin of states and of empires, the great outlines of their history, the revolutions which they have undergone, the causes which have contributed to their rise and grandeur, and operated to their decline and extinction. For these purposes it is necessary to bestow particular attention on the manners of nations, their laws, the nature of their governments, their religion, their intellectual improvements, and their progress in the arts and sciences. * Epistolary correspondence may be excepted from this caution, for the letters of illustrious persons impart much of real history that otherwise would have been unknown. Autobiographies, also, are well calculated to preserve the remembrance of matters resting in the sole knowledge of individuals, and, at the same time, to place the actors in the events described fully before the eye, as in the case of epistolary correspondence. But in these and works of a similar nature, every thing depends upon the character and station of the writer.—E d. B PLAN OF THE COURSE. Two opposite methods have been followed in giving academical lectures on the study of history; the one exhibiting a strict chronological arrangement of events, upon the plan of Turselline’s Epitome, the other, a series of disquisitions on the various heads or titles of public law, and the doctrines of politics, illustrated by examples drawn from an¬ cient and modern history. Both these methods are liable to objection : the former furnishes only a dry chronicle of events, which nothing connects together but the order of time; the latter is insuf¬ ficient for the most important purposes of history, the tracing of events to their causes, the detection of the springs of human actions, the display of the progress of society, and of the rise and fall of states and empires : finally, by confining history to the exemplification of the doctrine of politics, we lose its effect as a school of morals. In the following lectures we hold a middle course between these extremes, and endeavour, by reme¬ dying the imperfection of each, to unite if possible the advantages of both. While so much regard is had to chronology as is necessary for showing the progress of mankind in society, and communicating just ideas of the state of the world in all the different ages to which authentic history extends, we shall, in the delinea¬ tion of the rise and fall of empires and their revo¬ lutions, pay more attention to the connection of subject than that of time. In this view, we must reject the common method of arranging general history according to epochs or eras. When the world is viewed at any period either of ancient or of modern history, we generally ob¬ serve one nation or empire predominant, to which all the rest bear, as it were, an under part, and to whose history we find that the principal events in the annals of other nations may be referred from some natural connection. This predominant empire or state it is proposed to exhibit to view as the principal object, whose history therefore is to be more fully delineated, while the rest are only inci¬ dentally touched when they come to have a natural connection with the principal. The Jewish history, belonging to a different department of academical education, enters not into the plan of these lectures, though we often resort to the sacred writings for detached facts illustrative of the manners of ancient nations. In the ancient world, among the profane nations, the Greeks are the earliest people who make a dis¬ tinguished figure, and whose history is at the same time authentic. The Greeks owed their civilization to the Egyp¬ tians and Phoenicians. The Grecian history is therefore properly introduced by a short account of these nations, and of the Assyrians, their rivals, conquered at one time by the Egyptians, and con¬ querors afterwards of them in their turn. Rise of the independent states of Greece, and singular constitution of the two great republics of Sparta and Athens. The war of Greece with Persia induces a short account of the preceding periods of the history of that nation, the rise of the Persian monarchy, the nature of its government, manners, and religion. The Grecian history is pursued through all the revolutions of the nation, till Greece becomes a province of the Roman empire. Political reflections applicable to the history of the states of Greece.—Progress of the Greeks in the arts.—Of the Greek poets, historians, philo¬ sophers. Rome, after the conquest of Greece, becomes the leading object of attention. Origin of the Romans.—Nature of their govern¬ ment under the kings.—Easy substitution of the consular for the regal dignity.—Subsequent changes in the constitution.—Progress to a democracy.— Extension of the Roman arms.—Conquest of Italy. —Wars with foreign nations. The Punic wars open a collateral view to the history of Carthage and of Sicily. Success of the Roman arms in Asia, Macedonia, and Greece.—Opulence of the republic from her conquests, and corruption of her manners.—The civil wars, and ruin of the commonwealth. Particulars which mark the genius and national spirit of the Romans :—Education,—Laws,—Lite¬ rary character,—Art of Avar,—Public and private manners. Rome under the emperors:—Artful policy by which the first emperors disguised their absolute authority.—Decline of the ambitious character of the Romans.—Easy submission to the loss of civil liberty.—The military spirit purposely abased by the emperors.—The empire divided becomes a languid body, without internal vigour.—The Gothic nations pour down from the North.—Italy conquered suc¬ cessively by the Heruli, Ostrogoths, and Lombards; —extinction of the western empire. The manners, genius, laws, and government of the Gothic nations form an important object of inquiry, from their influence on the manners and policy of the modern European kingdoms. In the delineation of Modern History, the leading objects of attention are more various; the scene is oftener changed ; nations, too, which for a while occupy the chief attention, become for a time subordinate, and afterwards re-assume their rank as principal: yet the same plan is pursued as in the department of ancient history; the picture is occupied only by one great object at a time, to which all the rest hold an inferior rank, and are PLAN OF THE COURSE. 3 taken notice of only when connected with the principal. Upon the fall of the Western Empire, the Saracens are the first who distinguish themselves by the extension of their conquests, and the splendour of their dominion. While the Saracens extend their arms in the East, and in Africa, a new empire of the West is founded by Charlemagne.—The rise and progress of the monarchy of the Franks.—The origin of the Feudal System.—State of the European man¬ ners in the age of Charlemagne.—Government, Arts and Sciences, Literature. As collateral objects of attention, we survey the remains of the Roman empire in the East; the conquests and settlements of the Normans; the foundation and progress of the temporal dominion of the church of Rome; the conquest of Spain by the Saracens. The conquest of England by the Normans solicits our attention to the history of Britain. Retrospective view of the British history, from its earliest period to the end of the Anglo-Saxon government in England.—Observations on the government, laws, and manners of the Anglo- Saxons. Collateral view of the state of the continental kingdoms of Europe during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries.—France under the Capetian race of monarchs.—Conquests of the Normans in Italy and Sicily.—State of the Northern kingdoms of Europe.—The Eastern Empire.—Empire of Germany.—Disputes of supremacy between the Popes and the Emperors. The history of Britain still the principal object of attention.—England under the kings of the Norman line, and the first princes of the Plan- tagenet branch.—The conquest of Ireland under Henry II. introduces an anticipated progressive view of the political connection between England and Ireland down to the present time.—As we proceed in the delineation of the British history, we note particularly those circumstances which mark the growth of the English constitution. At this period all the kingdoms of Europe join in the Crusades.—A brief account is given of those enterprises.—Moral and political effects of the Crusades on the nations of Europe.—Origin of Chivalry, and rise of Romantic Fiction. Short connected sketch of the state of the European nations after the Crusades.—Rise of the house of Austria.—Decline of the Feudal govern¬ ment in France.—Establishment of the Swiss republics.—Disorders in the Popedom.—Council of Constance. The history of Britain resumed.—England under Henry III. and Edward I.—The conquest of Wales.—The history of Scotland at this period intimately connected with that of England.—View of the Scottish history from Malcolm Canmore to Robert Bruce.—State of both kingdoms during the reigns of Edward II. and III.—The history of France connected with that of Britain.— France itself won by Henry V. The state of the East at this period affords the most interesting object of attention.—The pro¬ gress of the Ottoman arms retarded for a while by the conquests of Tamerlane and of Scanderbeg.— The Turks prosecute their victories under Mahomet the Great, to the total extinction of the Con- stantinopolitan empire.—The constitution and policy of the Turkish empire. France, in this age, emancipates herself from the Feudal servitude ; and Spain, by the union of Arragon and Castile, and the fall of the king¬ dom of the Moors, becomes one monarchy under Ferdinand and Isabella. The history of Britain is resumed.—Sketch of the history of England down to the reign of Henry VIII.;—of Scotland, during the reigns of the five Jameses.—Delineation of the ancient constitution of the Scottish government. The end of the fifteenth century is a re¬ markable sera in the history of Europe. Learning and the sciences underwent at that time a very rapid impi’ovement, and after ages of darkness, shone out at once with surprising lustre.—A con¬ nected view is presented of the progress of Literature in Europe, from its revival down to this period.—In the same age, the advancement of Navigation, and the course to India by the Cape of Good Hope, explored by the Portuguese, affect the commerce of all the European kingdoms. The age of Charles Y. unites in one connected view the affairs of Germany, of the Netherlands, of Spain, of France, of England, and of Italy. The discovery of the New World, the Reformation in Germany and in England, and the splendor of the Fine Arts under the pontificate of Leo X. render this period one of the most interesting in the annals of mankind. The pacification of Europe by the treaty of Chateau Cambresis allows us for a while to turn our attention to the state of Asia. A short sketch is given of the modern history of Persia, and the state of the other kingdoms of Asia, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; the history of India ; the manners, laws, arts and sciences, and religion of the Hindoos ; the history of China and Japan ; the antiquity of the Chinese empire, its manners, laws, government, and attainments in the arts and sciences. Returning to Europe, the attention is directed to the state of the continental kingdoms in the age of Philip II.—Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England, present a various and animated picture. England, under Elizabeth.—The progress of the Reformation in Scotland.—The distracted reign of Mary Queen of Scots.—The history of Britain pursued without interruption down to the Re¬ volution, and here closed by a sketch of the progress of the English Constitution, and an ex¬ amination of its nature at this period, when it became fixed and determined. The history of the Southern continental king¬ doms is brought down to the end of the reign of Louis XIV. ; of the Northern, to the conclusion of the reigns of Charles XII. of Sweden, and of Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy. We finish this view of Universal History, by a survey of the state of the Arts and Sciences, and of the progress of Literature in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Chronology observed in this View of Uni¬ versal History , is that of Archbishop Usher, which is founded, on the Hebrew text of the Sacred Writings. A. short Table of Chronology for immediate reference is subjoined to these Heads. B 2 ANCIENT HISTORY. PART FIRST. I. It is a difficult task to delineate the state of mankind in the earliest ages of the world. We want information sufficient to give us positive ideas on the subject; but as man advances in civiliza¬ tion, and in proportion as history becomes useful and important, its certainty increases, and its ma¬ terials are more abundant. Various notions have been formed with respect to the population of the antediluvian world and its physical appearance; but as these are rather mat¬ ters of theory than of fact, they scarcely fall within the province of history ; and they are of the less consequence, since we are certain the state of those antediluvian ages could have had no material influ¬ ence on the times which succeeded them. The books of Moses afford the earliest authen¬ tic history of the ages immediately following the deluge. About one hundred and fifty years after that event, Nimrod (the [Ninus or] Belus of profane historians) built Babylon, on the eastern side of the river Euphrates, and Nineveh, which became the capital of the Assyrian empire, [b.c. 2237-] Ninus and his queen Semiramis, are said to have raised the empire of Assyria to so high a degree of splendour, as to be reputed the founders of it. From the death of Ninyas the son of Ninus and Semiramis, down to the revolt of the Medes under Sardanapalus, a period of eight hundred years, there is a chasm in the history of Assyria and Babylon. This is to be supplied only from conjecture. The earliest periods of the Egyptian history are equally uncertain with those of the Assyrian.— Menes is accounted the first sovereign under the regal government, after the patriarchal regimen of the family of Misor, or Misraim of the Holy Scrip¬ tures, grandson of Noah. Some make him the Osiris of Egypt, the inventor of arts, and the civilizer of a great part of the Eastern world. After Menes or Osiris, Egypt appears to have been [divided into various states, the four principal dynasties being Tanis, Memphis, Thebes, and This], and the people to have attained a considerable degree of civilization. But a period of barbarism succeeded [after the invasion of the Hyksos, or wandering tribes *, who established the dynasty * This event has been referred by some to the interval known as] the Shepherd-kings, subsisting for the space of some centuries, down to the age of Sesostris, [or Rhamses the Great, who expelled the Hyksos, and] united the separate principalities into one king¬ dom, regulated its policy with admirable skill, and distinguished himself equally by his foreign con¬ quests, and by his domestic administration. [It is difficult to ascertain the exact time when he flou¬ rished, although the period of his conquests have been referred to the wandering of the Israelites in the desert.] • 2. —CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE OF THE FIRST GOVERNMENTS, AND ON THE LAWS, CUSTOMS, ARTS, AND SCIENCES OF THE EARLY AGES. Sect. 1 . —The earliest government is the patri¬ archal, which subsists in the rudest periods of so¬ ciety. The patriarchal government leads by an easy progress to the monarchical. The first monarchies must have been very weak, and their territory extremely limited. The idea of security precedes that of conquest. In forming our notions of the extent of the first monarchies, we are deceived by the word king, which, accord¬ ing to modern ideas, is connected with an extent of territory and a proportional power. The kings in Scripture are no more than the chiefs of tribes. There were five kings in the vale of Sodom. Joshua defeated in liis. wars thirty-one kings, and Adoni- bezek threescore and ten. The regal office was in all probability at first elective. The transmission of the sceptre to the heir of the last monarch arises in time from the experience of the mischiefs attending frequent elec¬ tions, and the disorders occasioned by ambitious men aspiring to that dignity. The first ideas of conquest must have proceeded from a people in the state of shepherds, who neces¬ sarily changing their pastures, would probably make incursions on the appropriated territory of their neighbours. Such were the Arabian or Phoenician invaders, who under the name of Shepherd-kings conquered Egypt. But kingdoms so founded could have little duration. Laws and good policy, essen- between the departure of Abraham from Egypt and the sale of Joseph to Potiphar.— Ed. I ' Origin of laws.—Authentication of pipcm rnVFRNMFNTQ Religious institutions. _ contracts and historical facts. rllvol uU v rjxvrN to. Arts and sciences. " tial to the stability of kingdoms, are the fruit of intellectual refinement, and arise only in a state of society considerably advanced in civilization. The progress from barbarism to civilization is slow; because every step in the progress is the result of necessity, after the experience of an error, 9 r the strong feeling of a want. Sect. 2. Origin of Laws. —Certain political writers have supposed, that in the infancy of society penal laws must have been extremely mild. We pre¬ sume the contrary to have been rather the case; as the more barbarous the people, the stronger must be the bonds to restrain them: and history confirms the supposition, in the ancient laws of the Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. Among the earliest laws of all states are those regarding marriage; for the institution of marriage is coeval with the formation of society. The first sovereigns of all states are said to have instituted marriage; and the earliest laws provided encou¬ ragements to matrimony. Among the ancient nations the husband pur¬ chased his wife by money or personal services. Among the Assyrians the marriageable women were put up to auction; and the price obtained for the more beautiful was assigned as a dowry to the more homely. The laws of succession are next in order to those of marriage. The father had the absolute power in the division of his estate. But primoge¬ niture was understood to confer certain rights. Laws arise necessarily and imperceptibly from the condition of society; and each particular law may be traced from the state of manners or the political emergency which gave it birth. Hence we perceive the intimate connexion between his¬ tory and jurisprudence, and the light which they must necessarily throw upon each other. The laws of a country are best interpreted from its history ; and its uncertain history is best elucidated by its ancient laws. Sect. 3. Earliest methods of authenticating con¬ tracts. —Before the invention of writing, contracts, testaments, sales, marriages, and the like, were transacted in public. The Jewish and the Grecian histories furnish many examples. Some barbarous nations authenticate their bargains by exchanging symbols or tallies. The Peruvians accomplished most of the purposes of writing by knotted cords of various colours, termed Quipos. —The Mexi¬ cans communicated intelligence to a distance by painting. Other nations used an abridged mode of painting, or hieroglyphics.—Before the use of writing, the Egyptians used hieroglyphics for transmitting and recording knowledge : after writ¬ ing, they employed it for veiling or concealing it from the vulgar. Sect. 4. Methods for recording Historical Facts , and publishing Laws. —Poetry and song were the first vehicles of history, and the earliest mode of promulgating laws. The songs of the bards record a great deal of ancient history: the laws of many of the ancient nations were composed in verse. Stones, rude and sculptured, tumuli and mounds of earth, are the monuments of history among a barbarous people ; and columns, triumphal arches, coins, and medals among a more refined.—These likewise illustrate the progress of manners and of the arts. Sect. 5. Religious Institutions. —Among the ear¬ liest institutions of all nations, are those which regard religious worship. The sentiment of reli¬ gion is deeply rooted in the human mind. An un¬ instructed savage will infer the existence of a God and his attributes, from the genei’al order and me¬ chanism of nature ; and even its temporary irregu¬ larities lead to religious veneration or dread of the unknown Power which conducts it. Before conceiving the idea of a Being utterly imperceptible to his senses, a savage would natu¬ rally seek that Being in the most striking objects of sense to which he owed his most apparent bene¬ fits. The sun, extending his beneficial influence over all nature, was among the earliest objects of worship. The fire presented a symbol of the sun. The other celestial bodies naturally attracted their share of veneration *. The symbolical mode of writing led to many pe¬ culiarities of the idolatrous worship of the ancient nations. Animals, symbolical of the attributes of Deity, became gods themselves. The same god represented by different animals, was supposed to have changed himself into different forms. The gratitude and veneration for men whose lives had been eminently useful, joined to the belief of the soul’s immortality, led to the apotheosis of heroes. Many excellent reflections on idolatry and poly¬ theism are found in the apocryphal book called The Wisdom of Solomon. The priesthood was anciently exercised by the chief or monarch; but as an empire became ex¬ tensive, the monarch exercised this office by his delegates ; and hence an additional source of vene¬ ration for the priesthood. The priests were the framers and the administrators of the laws. . Sect. 6 . —Arts and Sciences of the Ancient Nations. —The useful arts are the offspring of necessity; the sciences are the fruit of ease and leisure. The construction of huts, of weapons of war, and of hunting, are the earliest arts. Agriculture is not practised till the tribe becomes stationary, and pro¬ perty is defined and secured. The sciences arise in a cultivated society, where individuals enjoy that leisure which invites to study and speculation. The priests, maintained in that condition by the monarch, were the earliest culti¬ vators of science. The Egyptian science was con¬ fined to the priests. Astronomy, which is among the earliest of the sciences, owed its origin pro¬ bably to superstition. Medicine was among the early sciences. All rude nations have a pharmacy of their own, equal in general to their wants. Luxury, creating new and more complex diseases, requires a profounder knowledge of medicine and of the animal economy. * Superstition, also, suggested the idea of appeasing those deities to whose malevolent agency the effects of storm and lightning were attributed. These deities were supposed to be propitiated by those sanguinary rites and human sacri¬ fices which have existed in almost every nation destitute of the knowledge of the true God from the earliest times. Philo also assigns the human sacrifices of the Phoenicians, as re¬ lated by Sanchoniathon, to this cause.—E d. c Ancient history of the Egyptians. THE EGYPTIANS. 3.— OF THE EGYPTIANS *. 1. A great portion of the knowledge and attain¬ ments of the ancient nations, and by consequence of those of the moderns, is to be traced to Egypt. The Egyptians instructed the Greeks; the Greeks performed the same office to the Romans; and the two latter have transmitted much of that know¬ ledge to the world of which we are in possession at this day +. 2. The antiquity of this empire, though we give no credit to the chronicles of Manetho :£, which, like those of the Chaldeans, Chinese, and Indians, appear clearly to have been more astronomical than historical, must be allowed to be very great. The Mosaic writings represent Egypt, about four hundred and thirty years after the flood, as a flou¬ rishing and well-regulated kingdom. The nature of the country itself affords a presumption of the great antiquity of the empire, and its early civilization. From the fertilizing effects of the waters of the Nile, it is probable that agriculture would be more early practised there than in regions less favoured by nature. The periodical inundations of the Nile are owing to the vapours of the Mediterranean con¬ densed on the mountains of Ethiopia. 3. The government of Egypt was an hereditary monarchy.—The powers of the monarch were limited by constitutional laws ; yet in many re¬ spects his authority was extremely despotical.—The functions of the sovereign were partly civil and ' partly religious.—The king had the chief regulation of all that regarded the worship of the gods, and the priests, considered as his deputies, and having more skill and learning than the other orders, filled all the offices of state. They were both the legislators and the civil judges ; they imposed and levied the taxes, and regulated weights and measures.—The great national tribunal was composed of thirty judges, chosen from the three principal depart¬ ments or cities of the empire, Heliop'olis, The'bes, and Memphis.—The administration of justice was defrayed by the sovereign, who exacted an oath from his judges not to yield obedience even to him¬ self, if he passed any unjust sentence, and as par¬ ties were their own advocates, the expense was no burthen upon the people. So tender were they in regard to the purity and impartiality of their deci- * Egypt was originally composed of several small states first founded in Upper Egypt, and these petty states became con¬ solidated into the kingdoms of which Thebes and Memphis were the capitals; consequently the early history of this ancient nation is confused. The critical reader is referred to Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson’s Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 1st series, Lond. 8vo, 1837, 3 vols; 2nd series, Lond. 8vo, 1841, 3 vols.— Ed. f For the supposed origin of Egyptian science, see Part II. sect. 50. I Manetho, an Egyptian priest, lived under Ptolemy Phil- adelphus, b.c. 246. He wrote the history of his country, of which fragments have been preserved, containing little else than lists of kings of different races or dynasties, and the order of their succession is not given. The dynasties of the Egyptian monarchs, according to Manetho, on the authority of Africanus and Eusebius, are given by Wilkinson (Series 1837, i. 24-35), with Observations, and also the list of Egyp¬ tian kings, according to Herod'otus and Diodorus Sic'ulus. Wilkinson observes, that many of the thirty-one dynasties of Manetho are questionable; but he is far from rejecting him; insomuch as he is verified in many instances by late discoveries.— Ed. Their government, manners, architecture, pyramids. sions, that, besides excluding professed advocates and public pleaders, that no extraordinary gifts of oratory might mislead them, every case was laid before them in writing, that the parties might stand on an equal footing, and on the exact merits of the question.—The penal laws of Egypt were uncommonly severe. — Female chastity was most rigidly protected, and personal security so guarded by the laws, that whoever saw another attacked, and neglected to render him assistance, was liable to be punished as an assassin.—Funeral rites were not conferred but after a scrutiny into the life of the deceased, and by a judicial decree approving of his character. The characters even of the sove¬ reigns were subjected to this inquiry. Daily, in¬ deed, during their lives, in the morning service of the temple, and in the presence of the whole court, were their kings, in a remarkable manner, and with singular delicacy, so reminded of every regal virtue, and of the baseness of every opposite qua¬ lity, as pretty generally to ensure their conformity to the laws ; as a proof of which, most of them are reported to have passed the last ordeal of the posthumous judgment before-mentioned with credit and respect, and to have been, on their deaths, very sincerely lamented by their subjects. There was an extraordinary regulation in Egypt regarding the borrowing of money. As it was usual to preserve, in a remarkable manner, the dead bodies of their ancestors, the borrower gave in pledge the body of his father, and was deprived of funeral rites if he failed to redeem it *. Population was encouraged by law, and every man was bound to maintain and educate the chil¬ dren born to him of his slaves. The manners of the Egyptians were very early formed. They had a singular attachment to an¬ cient usages; a dislike to innovation; a jealousy and abhorrence of strangers. 4. They preceded most of the ancient nations in the knowledge of the useful arts, and in the culti¬ vation of the sciences. — Architecture was early brought to great perfection.—Their buildings, the pyramids, obelisks, &c., have, through the mildness of the climate, suffered little injury from time. Pliny describes the contrivance for transporting the obe¬ lisks. The whole country abounds with the re¬ mains of ancient magnificence. Thebes in Upper Egypt was one of the most splendid cities in the universe. The pyramids are supposed to have been erected about nine hundred years B. c. They were proba¬ bly the sepulchral monuments of the sovereigns. The Egyptians believed that death did not separate the soul from the body +, and hence their extreme * Herodotus speaks of king Asychis thus: “ Finding that commercial interests suffered from an extreme want of money, he passed an ordinance that any one might borrow money, giving the body of his deceased father as a pledge, by which law the sepulchre of the debtor fell into the power of the debtor; for if the debt was not discharged, he could neither be buried with his family in that or any other tomb, nor was he suffered to inter any of his children.” The debtor who did not redeem his pledge was deemed infamous.— Ed. t Or more precisely speaking, that the soul would endure so long as the body was actually in existence. This opinion, which was the popular notion, made the loss or denial of sepulture a thing most of all to be dreaded; and the trial after death, which gave the priests the power of refusing the Ancient knowledge of the Egyptians. Theology. care to preserve the body entire, by embalming, concealing it in caves and catacombs, and guarding it by such stupendous structures *. [These surprising relics of ancient times have been very diligently examined by modern travellers ; among whom the names of our countrymen, Mr. Davison, Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Salt, the promoter of the very curious dis¬ coveries of Belzoni, and Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, deserve to be distinguished.] The remains of art in Egypt, though venerable for their great antiquity, are extremely deficient in beauty and elegance. The Egyptians were igno¬ rant of the construction of an arch +. The remains of painting and sculpture evince but a slender pro¬ ficiency in those arts. Their use of symbols and hieroglyphics is too well known to be insisted upon. They appear not only to have taken the lead in such kinds of allegorical painting, but to have sur¬ passed most other nations in the obscurity and mysticism of their fictions. 5. The Egyptians possessed considerable know¬ ledge of geometry, mechanics, and astronomy. They had divided the zodiac into twelve signs; they calculated eclipses, and seem to have had an idea of the motion of the earth. 6. The morality taught by the priests was pure and refined, but it had little influence on the man¬ ners of the people. 7. So likewise the theology and secret doctrines of the priest were rational and sublime; but the worship of the people was debased by the most ab¬ surd and contemptible superstition. We know, upon the authority of the sacred writings, how addicted they were to magic and enchantments, though the grounds and extent of their operations have constantly eluded the inquiries and researches of the learned. They appear to have been a com¬ bination of the mysteries and delusions of astrology and demonology; but by what arts or influence they managed to impose on the senses of mankind must for ever remain in obscurity. 8. Notwithstanding the early civilization and deposit of a corpse in a tomb, conferred the highest influence on the priests. To this may be attributed the custom al¬ luded to in the previous page, of a borrower’s pledging his father’s mummy. The priesthood themselves are said to have amongst themselves entertained the doctrine of trans¬ migration of souls, a notion probably derived at a very early period from India. The religious extravagances of the Egyptians accorded divine honours to animals, and even to some vegetables.— Ed. * Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in his Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, Series 1837, i. 19, says that the oldest monuments of Egypt, and probably of the whole world, are the pyramids to the north of Memphis ; but the absence of hieroglyphics, and of every trace of sculpture, precludes the possibility of ascertaining the exact period of their erection, or the names of their founders. From all that can be col¬ lected on this head, it appears that Suphis and his brother Sensuphis erected them about the year 2120 b.c. ; and that the tombs in their vicinity may have been built or cut in the rock shortly after their completion.— Ed. t Subsequent discoveries qualify these assertions. Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson satisfactorily shows that the Egyptians were not ignorant of the construction of an arch; indeed he fixes the existence of this architectural knowledge so far back as 1540 B.c. The discoveries of modern travellers also tend to show that the Egyptians excelled in mechanical contrivances, and that their workmanship in metal and wood was superior to other ancient nations.— Ed. Their national character. Phoenicians and Ethiopians. 7 the great attainments of this people, their national character was extremely low and despicable among the contemporary nations of antiquity. The reason of this is, they were a people who chose to seques¬ trate themselves from the rest of mankind; they were not known to other nations by their conquests; they had little connexion with them by commerce ; and they had an antipathy to the persons and man¬ ners of strangers. 9. There were likewise many circumstances of their own manners which tended to degrade them in the opinion of other nations. All professions were hereditary in Egypt, and the rank of each was scrupulously settled. The objects of religious worship were different in different parts of the kingdom ; a fertile source of division and contro¬ versy. Their particular superstitions were of the most absurd and debasing nature, and the manners of the people were extremely loose and profligate. 4. —OF THE PHOENICIANS. 1. The Phoenicians were among the most early civilized nations of the East *. The fragments of Sanchoniathon are the most ancient monuments of writing after the books of Moses. Sanchoniathon was contemporary with Joshua, about 1440 b.c. and 500 before the cities of Attica were united by Theseus. 2. The Phoenicians (the Canaanites of Scrip¬ ture), were a commercial people in the days of Abraham.—In the time of the Hebrew judges, they had begun to colonise.—Their first settlements were Cyprus and Rhodes ; thence they passed into Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, and formed establishments likewise, not only on the northern, but even on the western coast of Africa.—The Sido- nians carried on an extensive commerce at the time of the Trojan warf. * The cities of the Phoenicians seem to have been inde¬ pendent states, of which Sidon and Tyre were the chief. Sidon was the older city, as being built by the eldest son of Canaan. Tyre, which became the most powerful, is said to have been founded by Agenor, an African chief, about 1225 b.c., and the first of its line of kings was contemporary with David. Their manufactures were chiefly textile. The Tyrian dye, obtained from the murex, a shell fish, and the vegetable dyes they used in dying wool, have been celebrated from the earliest antiquity. Homer has celebrated the Sidonians as a people skilled in various arts (iro\vdcuda\oi), especially as embroiderers and silversmiths. (Iliad, vi. xxiii.; Odys. xv.) Their religious ceremonies were of a ferocious and san¬ guinary description, for they sacrificed to Moloch and to Baal.— Ed. f Connected with the ancient history of Egypt is that of the kingdom of Ethiopia. The Ethiopians are supposed to have originally resided many ages in Chusistan, i. e. the Land of Cush, a province in the south-east of Babylon, and west of Persia. They next settled about the eastern branch of the Red Sea, whence they finally occupied a district in Central Africa. They appear to have seized on the kingdom of Egypt (2 Chron. xiv. 9-13); and sixteen years afterwards, Tirha'kah, a king of Ethiopia, reigned in Egypt, b.c. 703. (2 Kings xvii. 4.) Their capital was Meroe, whose origin is lost in antiquity. The remains of Meroe, consisting of pyra¬ mids and sepulchres, demonstrate a greater advancement in architectural beauty and taste, than those in Middle Egypt. The pyramids, also, are smaller, and of superior antiquity to those of Egypt. The arch, circular as well as pointed, is to be found in the pyramids of Meroe. See Hoskins’ Ethiopia, p. 156 .—Ed. THE PHOENICIANS. Early history of Greece. Arumlelian or Parian marbles. HISTORY OF GREECE. 5. —THE HISTORY OF GREECE. 1. Greece being indebted for the first rudiments of civilization to the Egyptians and Phoenicians, its history is properly introduced by an account of those more ancient nations. 2. The early antiquities of this country are dis¬ guised by fable [the Grecian traditions ascending about four centuries above the Trojan war] ; but from the time when it becomes important it has been treated of by eminent writers. 3. The ancient inhabitants of Greece, the Pelasgi, Hiantes, Lel'eges, were extremely barbarous ; but a dawning of civilization arose under the Titans, a Phoenician or Egyptian colony.—The Titans gave the Greeks the first ideas of religion, and intro¬ duced the worship of their own gods, Saturn, Jupiter, Ceres, &c. Succeeding ages confounded those Titans themselves with the gods, and hence sprung numberless fables. 4. In'achus, the last of the Titans, founded the kingdom of Argos, 1856 b.c. ; and Egialeus, one of his sons, the kingdom of Sicyon ; though, if we might trust to some of the earlier records of Sicyon, it would appear to have been founded more than two centuries before Argos. Its modern name of Basilico has, indeed, been considered by some grave writers, as a standing proof and memorial of its being the most ancient kingdom of Greece ; but we think without sufficient foundation. 5. In the following century happened the deluge of Ogyges, b.c. 1796.—Then followed a period of barbarism for above two hundred years. 6. Cecrops, the leader of another colony from Egypt, landed in Attica b.c. 1582, and connecting himself with the last king, succeeded on his death to the sovereignty. He built twelve cities, Athens amongst others, and was eminent both as a law¬ giver and politician. 7. The Grecian history derives some authenti¬ city at this period from the chronicle of Paros, preserved among the Arundelian marbles at Ox¬ ford. The authority of this chronicle has been questioned of late, and many arguments adduced presumptive of its being a forgery; but on a review of the whole controversy, we judge the arguments for its authenticity greatly to preponderate *. 8. Cranaus succeeded Cecrops, in whose time happened two remarkable events, recorded in the chronicle of Paros;—the judgment of the Areopagus between Mars and Neptune, two princes of Thes¬ saly; and the deluge of Deucalion, [b.c. 1529.] The court of Areop'agus, at Athens, was instituted by Cecrops. The number of its judges varied at dif¬ ferent periods from nine to fifty-one. The deluge of Deucalion, magnified and disguised by the poets, was only a partial inundation confined to Thessaly , as described by Herodotus, book vii. [It seems to have been caused by a convulsion of the earth, which stopped up the course of the Peneus between Olympus and Ossa.] * The Parian marbles, in their perfect state, contained a chronology of the principal events in Greece, from the time of Cecrops, b.c. 1582, to b.c. 354. Mr. Fynes Clinton, in his Fasti Hellenici, cautions the student from relying upon the lists of archons given by chronologers from these marbles, before the time of Corsini; and also adverts to the origin of various inaccuracies occasioned by a careless reference to these marbles. (Introd. p. x.)—E d. Alphabet of Cadmus Reflections. 9. Amphictyon, the contemporary of Cranaus, if the founder of the Amphictyonic council [b.c. 1521], must have possessed extensive views of policy. This council, from a league of twelve cities, became a representative assembly of the states of Greece, and had the most admirable political effects in uniting the nation, and giving it a common inte¬ rest. 10. Cadmus, about b.c. 1519, introduced alpha¬ betic writing into Greece from Phoenicia. The alphabet then had only sixteen letters; and the mode of writing (termed Boustrophedon ) was alter¬ nately from left to right, and right to left.—From this period, supposed to be coincident with the set¬ tlement of the Israelites under Joshua, in the land of Canaan, whereby many of the Phoenicians were probably driven to seek refuge in other countries, the Greeks made rapid advances in civilization. Cadmus is reported to have taught them the use of the vine, and all the processes of metallurgy. 6.—REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST AND RUDEST PERIODS OF THE GRECIAN HISTORY. 1. The country of Greece presents a large irregu¬ lar peninsula, intersected by many chains of moun¬ tains, separating its different districts, and oppos¬ ing natural impediments to general intercourse, and therefore to rapid civilization.—The extreme barbarism of the Pelasgi, who are said to have been cannibals, and ignorant of the use of fire, has its parallel in modern barbarous nations.—There were many circumstances that retarded the pro¬ gress of the Greeks to refinement. The introduc¬ tion of a national religion was best fitted to remove these obstacles. Receiving this new system of theology from strangers, and entertaining at first very confused ideas of it, they would naturally blend its doctrines and worship with the notions of religion which they formerly possessed; and hence we observe only partial coincidences of the Grecian with the Egyptian and Phoenician mythologies.—It has been a vain and preposterous labour of modern mythological writers, to attempt to trace all the fables of antiquity, and the various systems of pa¬ gan theology, up to one common source *.—The absurdity of this is best shown, by comparing the different and most contradictory solutions of the same fable given by different mythologists; as, for example, by Lord Bacon and other eminent men. Some authors, with much indiscretion, have at¬ tempted to deduce all the Pagan mythologies from the Holy Scriptures. Such researches are not only unprofitable, but positively mischievous. 2. Superstition, in the early periods, was a pre¬ dominant characteristic of the Greeks.—To this age, and to this character of the people, we refer the origin of the Grecian oracles, and the insti¬ tution of the public games in honour of the gods. * This observation must be received as subject to many exceptions. In many of the classical stories we discover evident traditions of facts related in the Old Testament; indeed, the fables of antiquity are but primitive traditions, corrupted, it is true, by lapse of time and rude ignorance, yet pointing to circumstances whereof the origin is to be found in Scripture. The student desirous of investigating the relation between mythological fable and the scriptural dis¬ pensation, is referred to Faber’s Horae Mosaicae, vol. i. pp. 41-71 ; Edwards on Scripture ; Gray’s Connexion, &c. — Ed. HISTORY OF GREECE. Establishment of the Greek colonies. 9 Argonautic expedition. Wars of Thebes and of Troy. The desire of penetrating into futurity, and the superstition common to rude nations, gave rise to the oracles of Delphi, Dodona, &c. The resort of strangers to these oracles on par¬ ticular occasions, led to the celebration of a festi¬ val, and to public games. The four solemn games of the Greeks, particu¬ larly termed Upoi, were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemsean, and the Isthmian. They consisted principally in contests of skill in all the athletic exercises, and the prizes were chiefly honorary marks of distinction.—Archbishop Potter, in his Archceologia Grceca , fully details their particular nature.—These games had excellent political effects, in promoting national union, in diffusing the love of glory, and training the youth to martial exer¬ cises. They cherished at once a heroical and a superstitious spirit, which led to the formation of extraordinary and hazardous enterprises. 7 .—EARLY PERIOD OF THE GRECIAN HISTORY.— THE ARGONAUTIC EXPEDITION.-WARS OF THEBES AND OF TROY. 1. The history of Greece, for a period of three hun¬ dred years preceding the Trojan war, is intermixed with fables; but contains, at the same time, many facts entitled to credit as authentic. Erectheus, or Ericthonius, either a Greek who had visited Egypt, or the leader of a new Egyptian colony, cultivated the plains of Eleusis, and instituted the Eleusinian mysteries, in imitation of the Egyptian games of Isis. These mysteries were of a religious and moral nature, conveying the doctrines of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, and a future stale of reward and punishment. Cicero speaks of them with high encomium. But the ceremonies con¬ nected with them were childish and ridiculous. 2. Theseus laid the foundation of the grandeur of Attica, by uniting its twelve cities, and giving them a common constitution, 1257 b.c. 3. The first great enterprise of the Greeks was the argonautic expedition to Colchis, 1263 B c. (Usher), and 937 b.c. (Sir I. Newton). This is supposed to have been both a military and a mer¬ cantile adventure, and was singularly bold for the times in which it was undertaken. The object was to open the commerce of the Euxine sea, and to secure some establishments on its coasts*. The astronomer Chiron directed the plan of the voyage, and formed, for the use of the mariners, a scheme of the constellations, fixing with accuracy the sol¬ stitial and equinoctial points. Sir Isaac Newton has founded his emendation of the ancient chrono- logy on a calculation of the regular precession of the equinoxes from this period to the present, as well as on an estimate of the medium length of human generations. * Stevenson, in his Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, &c., (vol. xviii. of Kerr’s Collection of Voyages and Travels, 8vo. Edinb. 1824,) objects to the suppositions in the text. He combats Sir Isaac Newton’s hypothesis on astronomical grounds, and seems rather to agree with the chronology of Archbishop Usher. The object of the voyage, which is stated in the text (upon the authority of Eusta¬ thius) to have been a commercial and maritime expedition, is stated by Stevenson to have been the obtaining the pre¬ cious metals from the gold mines to the south of Trebizond, a country near the Euxine or Black Sea (pp. 25-27). 4. The state of the military art at this time in Greece may be estimated from an account of the sieges of Thebes and of Troy. In these enterprises the arts of attack and de¬ fence were very rude and imperfect. The siege was entirely of the nature of blockade, and there¬ fore necessarily of long duration. A dispute for the divided sovereignty of Thebes between the bro¬ thers Eteocles and Polynices, gave rise to the war, which was terminated by single combat, in which both were killed. 5. The sons of the commanders slain in this war renewed the quarrel of their fathers, and occa¬ sioned the war of the Epigonoi [or descendants], a subject on which Homer is said to have writ¬ ten a poem, now lost, equal to the Iliad and Odys¬ sey. 6. The detail of the war of Troy l’ests chiefly on the authority of Homer, and ought not, in spite of modern, scepticism, to be refused in its principal facts the credit of a true history. After a blockade of ten years Troy was taken, either by storm or surprise, 1184 b. c., and, being set on fire in the night, was burnt to the ground: not a vestige of its ruins existing at the present day. The empire fell from that moment. The Greeks settled a colony near the spot; and the rest of the kingdom was occupied by the Lydians. 7. Military expeditions at this time were carried on only in the spring and summer. In a tedious siege, the winter was a season of armistice. The science of military tactics was then utterly un¬ known, every battle being a multitude of single combats. The soldier had no pay but his share of the booty, divided by the chiefs. The weapons of war were the sword, the bow, the javelin, the club, the hatchet, and the sling. A helmet of brass, an enormous shield, a cuirass, and buskins, were the weapons of defence. 8.—ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GREEK COLONIES. 1. About eighty years after the taking of Troy began the war of the Heraclidse. Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, sovereign of Mycenae, was banished from his country with all his family, while the crown was possessed by an usurper. His descendants, after the period of a century, returned to Peloponnesus, and subduing all their enemies, took possession of the states of Mycenae, Argos, and Lacedaemon. 2. A long period of civil war and bloodshed suc¬ ceeded, and Greece, divided among a number of petty tyrants, suffered equally the miseries of op¬ pression and anarchy. Codrus, king of Athens, showed a singular exam¬ ple of patriotism, in devoting himself to death for his country; yet the Athenians, weary of monarchy, determined to make the experiment of a popular constitution. Medon, the son of Codrus, was elected chief magistrate, with the title of Archon. This is the commencement of the Athenian republic, about 1068 b.c. 3. It was at this time that the Greeks began to colonize. The oppression which they suffered at home forced many of them to abandon their coun¬ try, and seek refuge in other lands. A large body of^Edlians from Peloponnesus founded twelve cities in the Lesser Asia, of which Smyrna was the most considerable. A troop of Ionian exiles built 10 "XSS-SSS!" 4 "* HISTORY OF GREECE. Eph'esus, Col'ophon, Clazom'ene, and other towns ; giving to their new settlements the name of their native country Ionia. The Dorians sent off colo¬ nies to Italy and Sicily, founding in the former Taren'turn and Locri, and in the latter Syracuse and Agrigentum. The mother country considered its colonies as emancipated children. These speed¬ ily attained to eminence and splendour, rivalling and surpassing their parent states: and the exam¬ ple of their prosperity, which was attributed to the freedom of their governments, incited the states of Greece, oppressed by a number of petty despots, to put an end to the regal government, and try the experiment of a popular constitution. Athens and Thebes gave the first examples, which were soon followed by all the rest. 4. These infant republics demanded new laws: and it was necessary that some enlightened citizens should arise, who had discernment to perceive what system of legislation was most adapted to the cha¬ racter of his native state; who had abilities to com¬ pile such a system, and sufficient authority with his countrymen to recommend and enforce it. Such men were the Spartan Lycurgus and the Athenian Solon. 9.— THE REPUBLIC OF SPARTA. 1. The origin of this political system has given rise to much ingenious disquisition among the mo¬ derns, and affords a remarkable instance of the passion for systematizing. It is a prevailing pro¬ pensity with modern philosophers, to reduce every thing to general principles. Man, say they, is always the same animal, and, when placed in simi¬ lar situations, will always exhibit a similar appear¬ ance. His manners, his improvements, the govern¬ ment and laws under which he lives, arise necessa¬ rily from the situation in which we find him ; and all is the result of a few general laws of nature which operate universally on the human species. But in the ardour of this passion for generalizing, these philosophers often forget, that it is the know¬ ledge of facts which can alone lead to the discovery of general laws: a knowledge not limited to the history of a single age or nation, but extended to that of the whole species in every age and cli¬ mate. Antecedently to such knowledge, all histo¬ rical system is mere romance. 2. Of this nature is a late theory of the constitu¬ tion of Sparta, first started by Mr. Brown in his Essay on Civil Liberty ; and from him adopted by later writers. It thus accounts for the origin of the Spartan constitution *. “ The army of the He- raclidse, when they came to recover the dominion of their ancestors, was composed of Dorians from Thessaly, the most barbarous of all the Greek tribes. The Achseans, the ancient inhabitants of Laconia, were compelled to seek new habitations, while the barbarians of Thessaly took possession of their country. Of all the nations which are the subject of historical record, this people bore the nearest resemblance to the rude Americans. An American tribe where a chief presides, where the council of the aged deliberate, and the assem¬ bly of the people gives their voice, is on the eve of such a political establishment as the Spartan constitution.” The Dorians or Thessalians settled in Lacedaemon manifested, it is said, the same * Logan’s Philosophy of History, &c. The return of the Heraclidae. Lycurgus and his constitutions. manners with all other nations in a barbarous state. Lycurgus did no more than arrest them in that state, by forming their usages into laws. He checked them at once in the first stage of their improvement. “ He put forth a bold hand to that spring which is in society, and stopt its motion.” 3. This theory, however ingenious, is confuted by facts. All ancient authors agree, that Lycurgus operated a total change on the Spartan manners, and on the constitution of his country; while the moderns have discovered that he made no change on either. The most striking features of the man¬ ners and constitution of Sparta have not the small¬ est resemblance to those of any rude nations with which we are acquainted. The communion of slaves and of many other species of property, the right of the state in the children of all the citizens, their common education, the public tables, the equal division of lands, the oath of government be¬ tween the kings and people, have no parallel in the history of any barbarous nations. 4. The real history of Sparta and its constitution is therefore not to be found in modern theory, but in the writings of the Greek historians ; and these are our sole authorities worthy of credit. After the return of the Heraclidae, Sparta was divided between the two sons of Aristodemus, Eu- ry'sthenes, and Procles, who jointly reigned; and this double monarchy, transmitted to the descend¬ ants of each, continued in the separate branches for nearly nine hundred years. A radical principle of disunion and consequent anarchy, made the want of constitutional laws be severely felt. Lycurgus, brother of Polydectes, one of the kings of Sparta, a man distinguished alike by his abilities and vir¬ tues, was invested, by the concurring voice of the sovereigns and people, with the important duty of reforming and new-modelling the constitution of his country, 884 b.c. 5. Lycurgus instituted a senate, elective, of twen¬ ty-eight members, whose office was to preserve a just balance between the power of the kings and that of the people. Nothing could come before the assembly of the people which had not received the previous consent of the senate; and, on the other hand, no judgment of the senate was effectual with¬ out the sanction of the people. The kings presided in the senate: they were the generals of the repub¬ lic ; but they could plan no enterprise without the consent of a council of the citizens. 6. Lycurgus bent his attention most particularly to the regulation of manners ; and one great prin¬ ciple pervaded his whole system ;—Luxury is the bane of society. He divided the territory of the republic into thirty-nine thousand equal portions, among the whole of its free citizens. He substituted iron money for gold and silver, prohibited the practice of commerce, abolished all useless arts, and allowed even those necessary to life to be practised only by the slaves. The whole of the citizens made their principal repast at the public tables. The meals were coarse and parsimonious ; the conversation was fitted to improve the youth in virtue, and cultivate the patriotic spirit. The Spartan education rejected all embellish¬ ments of the understanding. It nourished only the severer virtues. It taught the duties of re¬ ligion, obedience to the laws, respect for parents, I Republic of Athens. The court of Areopagus. HISTORY OF GREECE. Laws of Athens. Public manners. 11 reverence for old age, indexible honour, undaunted courage, contempt of danger and of death :— above all, the love of glory and of their country. 7. But the general excellence of the institutions of Lycurgus was impaired by many blemishes. The manners of the Lacedannonian women were shamefully loose. They frequented the baths, and fought naked in the Palsestra promiscuously with the men. Theft was a part of Spartan education. The youth were taught to subdue the feelings of humanity; the slaves were treated with the most barbarous rigour, and often massacred for sport. The institutions of Lycurgus had no other end than to form a nation of soldiers. 8. A faulty part of the constitution of Sparta was the office of the Eph'ori ; magistrates elected by the people, whose power, though in some re¬ spects subordinate, was in others paramount to that of the kings and senate. 10. —THE REPUBLIC OF ATHENS. 1. On the abolition of the regal office at Athens, the change of the constitution was more nominal than real. The archonship was, during three cen¬ turies, a perpetual and hereditary magistracy. In 754 b.c. this office became decennial. In 048 b.c. the archons were annually elected, and wei-e nine in number, with equal authority. Under all these changes the state was convulsed, and the condition of the people miserable. 2. Draco, elevated to the archonship 624 B.C., projected a reform in the constitution of his coun¬ try, and thought to repress disorders by the ex¬ treme severity of penal laws. But his talents were unequal to the task he had undertaken. 3. Solon, an illustrious Athenian, of the race of Codrus, attained the dignity of archon 594 b.c., and was entrusted with the care of framing for his country a new form of government, and a new system of laws. He possessed extensive know¬ ledge, but wanted that intrepidity of mind which is necessary to the character of a great statesman. His disposition was mild and temporising ; and, without attempting to reform the manners of his countrymen, he accommodated his system to their prevailing habits and passions. 4. The people claimed the sovereign power, and they received it: the rich demanded offices and dignities : the system of Solon accommodated them to the utmost of their wishes. He divided the citizens into four classes, according to the measure of their wealth. To the three first, the richer citizens, belonged all the offices of the common¬ wealth. The fourth, the poorer class, more nu- mei’ous than all the other three, had an equal right of suffrage with them iix the public assembly, where all laws were framed, and measures of state decreed. Consequently the weight of the latter decided every question. 5. To regulate in some degree the proceedings of those assemblies, and balance the weight of the popular interest, Solon instituted a senate of four hundred members (afterwards enlai’ged to five hundred and six hundred), with whom it was ne¬ cessary that every measure should originate before it became the subject of discussion in the assembly of the people. 6. To the court of Areop'agus he committed the guardianship of the laws, and the power of en¬ forcing them, with the supreme administi’ation of justice. To this tribunal belonged likewise the custody of the treasures of the state, the care of religion, and a tutorial power over all the youth of the republic. The number of its judges was various at different periods, and the most im¬ maculate purity of character was essential to that high office. 7. The authority of the senate and Areop'agus imposed some check on the popular assemblies ; but as these possessed the ultimate right of de¬ cision, it was always in the power of ambitious demagogues to sway them to the worst of purposes. Continual factions divided the people, and cor- ruption pervaded every department of the state. The public measures, the l-esult of the intei-ested schemes of individuals, were often equally absurd as they were profligate. Athens often saw her best patriots, the wisest and most virtuous of her citizens, shamefully saci-ificed to the most de- praved and most abandoned. 8. The particular laws of the Athenian state are more deserving of encomium than its form of go¬ vernment. The laws relating to debtors were mild and equitable, as were those which l-egulated the treatment of slaves. But the vassalage of women, or their absolute subjection to the control of their nearest relations, approached too near to a state of servitude. The proposer of a law, found on experience impolitic, was liable to punishment; an enactment apparently rigorous, but probably necessary in a popular government. 9. One most iniquitous and absurd peculiarity of the Athenian, and some other governments of Greece, was tlie practice of the Ostracism , a ballot of all the citiaens, in which each wrote down the name of the person in his opinion most obnoxious to censure ; and he who was thus marked out by the greatest number of voices, though unimpeached of any ci’ime, was baixished for ten years from his country. This barbarous and disgraceful institu¬ tion, ever capable of the gi-ossest abuse, and ge¬ nerally subservient to the worst of pur-poses, lias stained the character of Athens with many flagrant instances of public ingratitude*. 10. The manners of the Athenians foi-med the most striking contrast to those of the Lacedaemo¬ nians. The arts were, at Athens, in the highest esteem ; the Lacedaemonians despised the arts, and all who cultivated them. At Athens, peace was the natural state of the republic, and the re¬ fined enjoyment of life the aim of all its subjects ; Sparta was entirely a military establishment : her subjects, when unengaged in war, wei-e totally un¬ occupied. Luxury was the character of the Athe¬ nian, as fr-ugality of the Spartan. They were equally jealous of their liberty, and equally brave in war. The courage of the Spartan sprung from constitutional ferocity, that of the Athenian fi-om the principle of honour. 11. The Spartan government had acquired so- * This mode of banishment seems to have involved nomore than the exile of the party; his repute was considered unsul¬ lied, and his property was not confiscated. The exile or dis¬ missal of ministers and parliaments, which was frequently practised in France, is somewhat parallel, with the distinction, that banishment by Ostracism was an act of popular clamour exercised by a democracy; the exile of a minister proceeded from individual despotism.—E d. 12 Assyrian empire.—Median empire transferred to the Persians. HISTORY OF PERSIA. Government, laws, manners, and religion of the ancient Persians. lidity, while all the rest of Greece was torn by domestic dissensions. Athens, a prey to faction and civil disorder, surrendered her liberties to Pisistratus, 550 B.c. ; who, after various turns of fortune, established himself firmly in the sove¬ reignty, exercised a splendid and munificent do¬ minion, completely gained the affections of the people, and transmitted a peaceable crown to his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. 12. Hermddias and Aristogfton undertook to restore the democracy ; and succeeded in the at¬ tempt. Hipparchus was put to death; and Hippias, dethroned, solicited a foreign aid to replace him in the sovereignty. Darius, the son of Hystaspes, meditated at this time the conquest of Greece. Hippias took advantage of the views of an enemy against his native country, and Greece w r as now involved in a war with Persia. 11.-OF THE STATE OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, AND ITS HISTORY DOWN TO THE WAR WITH GREECE. 1. The first empire of the Assyrians ended under Sardanapalus*, and three monarchies arose from its ruins, Nin'eveli, Bab'ylon, and the king¬ dom of the Medes. 2. The history of Bab'ylon and of Nin'eveli is very imperfectly known. The Medes, hitherto independent tribes, were united under a monarchy by Deidces, [the Kai-Kobad of Oriental writers, who made Ecbat'ana his capital, 700 b.c.] His son Phraortes conquered Persia, but was himself van¬ quished by Nabuchod'onosor I., king of Assyria, and put to death. Nabuchod'onosor II. led the Jews into captivity, took Jerusalem and Tyre, and subdued Egypt. [Phraortes was succeeded by Cyaxares 625 b.c., and by Astyages, 585 b.c. ; in whose time, Cyrus became master of Media, and the empire was transferred to the Persians.] 3. The history of Cyrus is involved in great un¬ certainty ; nor is it possible to reconcile or apply to one man the different accounts given of him by Herod'otus, Ctesias, and Xen'ophon. Succeeding his father Camby'ses in the throne of Persia, and his uncle Cyaxares in the sovereignty of the Medes, he united these empires, vanquished the Babyloni¬ ans and Lydians, subjected the greatest part of the lesser Asia, and made himself master of Syria and Arabia. 4. He was succeeded by his son Camby'ses, dis¬ tinguished only as a tyrant and a madman. 5. After the death of Camby'ses, Darius, the son of Hystas'pes, was elected sovereign of Persia, a prince of great enterprise and ambition. Unfor- * The Assyrians were the descendants of Ashur, the second son of Shem, who formed one of the most ancient kingdoms in the world; they inhabited the banks of the Tigris, and acquired all the territory which lies between Media, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Babylon. According to some authorities, the ancient Assyrian empire was founded by Ninus or Belus, 2059 b.c., and lasted till the reign of Sardanapalus, the thirty-first sovereign from Ninus, 820 b.c., or as some say, 747 b.c. The first king of Assyria men¬ tioned in Scripture is Pul, supposed to have been the father of Sardanapalus, who invaded Judea (2 Kings xv. 19). Pul is said by others to have been the first king of the new em¬ pire of Assyria, and to have been the son of Sardanapalus ; but the accounts of Sardanapalus and his empire are con¬ tradictory and irreconcileable: there were in all probability two persons of that name.—E d. tuuate in a rash expedition against the Scythians, he projected and achieved the conquest of India. Inflated with success, he now meditated an invasion of Greece, and cordially entered into the views of Hippias, who sought, by his means, to regain the sovereignty of Athens. 6. Government, Manners, Laws, fyc. of the Ancient Persians *. The government of Persia was an ab¬ solute monarchy ; the will of the sovereign being subject to no control, and his person revered as sacred ; yet the education bestowed by those mo- narchs on their children was calculated to inspire every valuable quality of a sovereign. The ancient Persians in general bestowed the utmost attention on the education of youth. Chil¬ dren at the age of five were committed to the care of the Magi, for the improvement of their mind and morals. They were trained at the same time to every manly exercise. The sacred books of the Zend'aves'ta promised to every worthy parent the imputed merit and reward of all the good actions of his children. 7. Luxurious as they were in after times, the early Persians were distinguished for their tem¬ perance, bravery, and virtuous simplicity of man¬ ners. They were all trained to the use of arms, and displayed great intrepidity in war. The custom of the women following their armies to the field, erroneously attributed to effeminacy, was a remnant of barbarous manners. 8. The kingdom of Persia was divided into several provinces, each under a governor or satrap, who was accountable to the sovereign for the whole of his conduct. The prince, at stated times, visited his provinces in person, correcting all abuses, easing the burdens of the oppressed, and encouraging agriculture and the practice of the useful arts. The laws of Persia were mild and equitable ; and the utmost purity was observed in the adminis¬ tration of justice. 9. The religion of the ancient Persians is of great antiquity. It is conjectured that there were two Zoroasters ; the first, the founder of this an¬ cient religion, and of whom are recorded miracles and prophecies ; the second, a reformer of that religion, contemporary with Darius the son of Hystaspes. The Zend'aves'ta, or sacred book, compiled by the former, was improved and purified by the latter. It has been lately translated into French by M. Anquetil, and appears to contain, amidst a mass of absurdity, some sublime truths, and excellent precepts of morality. The theology of the Zend'aves'ta is founded on the doctrine of two opposite principles, a good and an evil, Ormusd and Ah'riman, eternal beings, who divide between them the government of the universe, and whose warfare must endure till the end of twelve thousand * The Persians are the Elamites of Scripture; they origin¬ ally inhabited a small province north of the Persian Gulf. Previous to the time of Cyrus, Persia was subject to the Assyrian monarchs. Cyrus was heir to the Persian king¬ dom, by his father Cambyses, and to the Median, as some say, by his mother Manddne; and having with his Medo- Persian troops conquered the three powerful kingdoms of Lydia, Egypt, and Babylon, with immense spoil, he founded the Persian empire, 536 b.c. The accounts concerning Cyrus are irreconcileable. The history of the Persian empire, which, while it lasted, was one of the most powerful and extensive, becomes blended with that of the Greeks, as forming a conquest of Alexander the Great, 331 b.c. — Ed. GREECE AND PERSIA. Battle of Marathon. Death of Darius. years, when the good will finally prevail over the evil. A separation will ensue of the votaries of each *. the just shall he admitted to the immediate enjoyment of paradise ; the wicked, after a limited purification by fire, shall ultimately be allowed to partake in the blessings of eternity. Ormusd is to be adored through the medium of his greatest works, the sun, moon, and stars. The fire, the symbol of the sun, the air, the earth, the water, have their subordinate worship. The morality of the Zendavesta is best known from its abridgment the Sadder, compiled about three centuries ago by the modern Guebres. It inculcates a chastened species of Epicurism ; al¬ lowing a free indulgence of the passions, while con¬ sistent with the welfare of society. It prohibits equally intemperance and ascetic mortification. It recommends, as precepts of religion, the cultivation of the earth, the planting of fruit-trees, the de¬ struction of noxious animals, the bringing water to a barren land. 10. Such were the ancient Persians. But their character had.undergone a great change before the period of the war with Greece. At this time they were a degenerate and corrupted people. Athens had recently thrown off the yoke of the Pisistra- tidse, and highly valued her new liberty. Sparta, in the ardour of patriotism, forgot all jealousy of her rival state, and cordially united in the defence of their common country. The Persians, in this contest, had no other advantage than that of num¬ bers, an unequal match for superior heroism and military skill. 12.— THE WAR BETWEEN GREECE AND PERSIA. 1. The ambition of Darius the son of Hystaspes, heightened by the passion of revenge, gave rise to the project of that monarch for the invasion of Greece. The Athenians had aided the people of Ionia in an attempt to throw off the yoke of Persia, and burnt and ravaged Sardis, the capital of Lydia. Darius speedily reduced the Ionians to submission, and then turned his arms against the Greeks, their allies; the [Athenian] exile Hippias eagerly prompt¬ ing the expedition. 2. After an insolent demand of submission, which the Greeks scornfully refused, Darius began a hos¬ tile attack both by sea and land. The first Persian fleet was wrecked in doubling the promontory of Athos ; a second, of six hundred sail, ravaged the Grecian islands ; while an immense army, landing in Euboea, poured down with impetuosity on Attica. The Athenians met them on the plain of Marathon, and, headed by Miltiades, defeated them with pro¬ digious slaughter, 490 b.c. The loss of the Per¬ sians in this battle was six thousand three hundred, that of the Athenians one hundred and ninety. 3. The merit of Miltiades, signally displayed in this great battle, was repaid by his country with the most shocking ingratitude. Accused of treason for an unsuccessful attack on the isle of Paros, his sentence of death was commuted into a fine of fifty talents ; which being unable to pay, he was thrown into prison, and there died of his wounds. 4. The glory of ungrateful Athens was yet nobly sustained in the Persian war by Themistocles and Aristides. Darius dying, was succeeded by his son Xerxes, the heir of his father’s ambition, but not of his abilities. He armed, as is said, five millions L Thermopylae.—Battle of Salamis. Death of Xerxes. of men for the conquest of Greece ; twelve hun¬ dred ships of war, and three thousand ships of burden. Landing in Thessaly, he proceeded, by rapid marches, to Thermopylae, a narrow defile on the Sinus Maliacus *. The Athenians and Spar¬ tans, aided only by the Thespians, Plateeans, and iEginetes, determined to withstand the invader. Leonidas, king of Sparta, was chosen to defend this important pass with six thousand men. Xerxes, after a weak attempt to corrupt him, imperiously summoned him to lay down his arms. Let him come , said Leon'idas, and take them. For two days the Persians in vain strove to force their way, and were repeatedly repulsed with great slaughter. An un¬ guarded track being at length discovered, [by the treachery of Ephialtes, a Trachinian deserter,] the defence of the pass became a fruitless attempt on the part of the Greeks. Leonidas, foreseeing certain destruction, commanded all to retire but three hun¬ dred of his countrymen. His motive was to give the Persians a just idea of the spirit of that foe whom they had to encounter. He, with his brave Spartans, were all cut off to a man, 480 b.c. A monument, erected on the spot, bore this noble in¬ scription, written by Simonides : 0 stranger! tell it at Lacedaemon , that we died here in obedience to her laws. 5. The Persians poured down upon Attica. The inhabitants of Athens, after conveying their women and children to the islands for security, betook themselves to their fleet, abandoning the city, which the Persians pillaged and burnt. The fleet of the Greeks, consisting of three hundred and eighty sail, was attacked in the straits of Sal'amis, by that of the Persians, amounting to twelve hundred ships. Xerxes himself beheld from an eminence on the coast the total discomfiture of his squadron. He then fled with precipitation across the Helles¬ pont. A second overthrow awaited his army by land: for Mardonius, at the head of three hundred thou¬ sand Persians, was totally defeated at Plateea by the combined army of the Athenians and Lacedae¬ monians, 479 b.c. On the same day the Greeks engaged and destroyed the remains of the Persian fleet at Mycale. From that day the ambitious schemes of Xerxes were at an end : and his inglo¬ rious life was soon after terminated by assassination. He was succeeded in the throne of Persia by his son Artaxerxes Longim'anus, 464 b.c. 6. At this time the national character of the Greeks was at its highest elevation. The common danger had annihilated all partial jealousies between the states, and given them union as a nation. But with the cessation of danger those jealousies re¬ commenced. Sparta meanly opposed the rebuilding of deserted Athens. Athens, rising again into splendour, saw with pleasure the depopulation of Sparta by an earthquake, and hesitated to give her aid in that juncture of calamity against a rebellion of her slaves. 7. Cfmon, the son of Miltiades, after expelling the Persians from Thrace, attacked and destroyed their fleet on the coast of Pamphylia, and, landing his troops, gained a signal victory over their army the same day. Supplanted in the public favour by the arts of his rival Pericles, he suffered a tempo- * This gulf or bay of Malia, a city near Mount (Eta, is by some called the gulf of Lamia, from its vicinity to Lamia, a river of Greece opposite Mount CEta.—E d. GRECIAN STATES. Age of Pericles.—War between Athens and Lacedaemon. rary exile, to return only with higher popularity, and to signalize himself still more in the service of his ungrateful country. He attacked and totally destroyed the Persian fleet of three hundred sail; and, landing in Cilicia, completed his triumph, by defeating three hundred thousand Persians under Megabyzes, 400 b.c. Artaxerxes now had the pru¬ dence to sue for peace, which was granted by the Greeks on terms most honourable to the nation. They stipulated for the freedom of all the Grecian cities of Asia, and that the fleets of Persia should not approach their coasts from the Euxine to the extreme boundary of Pamphylia. The last fifty years were the period of the highest glory of the Greeks ; and they owed their prosperity entirely to their union. The peace with Persia dissolving that connexion, brought back the jealousies between the predominant states, the intestine disorders of each, and the national weakness. 8. The martial and the patriotic spirit began visibly to decline in Athens. An acquaintance with Asia, and an importation of her wealth, intro¬ duced a relish for Asiatic manners and luxuries. With the Athenians, however, this luxurious spirit was under the guidance of taste and genius. It led to the cultivation of the finer arts; and the age of Pericles, though the national glory was in its wane, is the era of the highest internal splendour and magnificence of Greece. 13.— AGE OF PERICLES. 1. Republics, equally with monarchies, are gene¬ rally regulated by a single will; only in the former there is a more frequent change of masters. Per'i- cles ruled Athens with little less than arbitrary sway; and Athens pretended at this time to the command of Greece. She held the allied states in the most absolute subjection, and lavished their subsidies, bestowed for the national defence, in magnificent buildings, games, and festivals, for her own citizens. The tributary states loudly com¬ plained, but durst not call this domineering repub¬ lic to account; and the war of Peloponnesus, di- I viding the nation into two great parties, bound the i lesser cities to the strictest subordination on the predominant powers. 2. The state of Corinth had been included in the last treaty between Athens and Sparta. The Co¬ rinthians waging war with the people of Corcyra, an ancient colony of their own, both parties soli¬ cited the aid of Athens, who took part with the lat¬ ter ; a measure which the Corinthians complained of, not only as an infraction of the treaty with Sparta, but as a breach of a general rule of the na¬ tional policy, that no foreign power should interfere in the disputes between a colony and its parent state. War was proclaimed on this ground be¬ tween Athens and Lacedaemon, each supported by its respective allies. The detail of the war, which continued for twenty-eight years, with various and alternate success, is to be found in Thucydides. Pericles died before its termination; a splendid ornament of his country, but reproached as a cor¬ rupter of her manners, by fostering the spirit of luxury. Alcibiades ran a similar career, with equal talents, equal ambition, and still less purity of moral principle. In the interval of a truce with Sparta, he inconsiderately projected the conquest of Sicily; and failing in the attempt, was, on his Athenians subdued by the Lacedaemonians. Retreat of the ten thousand. return to Athens, condemned to death for treason. He hesitated not to wreak his vengeance against his country, by selling his services, first to Sparta, and afterwards to Persia. Finally, he purchased his peace with his country, by betraying the power which protected him, and returned to Athens the idol of a populace as versatile as worthless. 3. A fatal defeat of the Athenian fleet at iEgos Potamos, by Lysander, reduced Athens to the last extremity ; and the Lacedaemonians blockaded the city by land and sea. The war was ended by the absolute submission of the Athenians, who agreed to demolish their port, to limit their fleet to twelve ships, and undertake for the future no military en¬ terprise, but under command of the Lacedaemo¬ nians, 405 b.c. 4. It is to the same Lysander, who terminated the Peloponnesian war so gloriously for Lacedae¬ mon, that history ascribes the first great breach of the constitution of his country, by the introduction of gold into that republic. Lysander, after the re¬ duction of Athens, abolished the popular govern¬ ment in that state, and substituted in its place thirty tyrants, whose power was absolute. The most eminent of the citizens fled from their coun¬ try ; but a band of patriots, headed by Thrasy- bulus, attacked, vanquished, and expelled the usurpers, and once more re-established the demo¬ cracy. 5. One event which happened at this time re¬ flected more disgrace on the Athenian name than their national humiliation: this was the persecution and death of Socrates, a philosopher who was him¬ self the patron of every virtue which he taught. The sophists, whose futile logic he derided and ex¬ posed, represented him as an enemy to the religion of his country, because, without regard to the po¬ pular superstitions, he led the mind to the know¬ ledge of a Supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of the Univei'se ; and the belief of a future state of retribution. His defence he made himself with the manly fortitude of conscious innocence ; but in vain : his judges were his personal enemies; and he was condemned to die by poison, 397 b.c. (See sect. 23, § 5.) 6. On the death of Darius Nothus, his eldest son, Artaxerxes Mnemon, succeeded to the empire of Persia. His younger brother Cyrus formed the project of dethroning him ; and, with the aid of thirteen thousand Greeks, engaged him near Ba¬ bylon, but was defeated and slain; a just reward of his most culpable enterprise. The remainder of the Grecian army, to the amount of ten thousand, under the command of Xenophon, made a most amazing retreat, traversing a hostile country of sixteen hundred miles in extent, from Babylon to the banks of the Euxine. Xenophon has beautifully written the history of this expedition; but has painted the character of Cyrus in too flattering colours, and without the smallest censure of his criminal ambition. 7. The Greek cities of Asia had taken part with Cyrus. Sparta was engaged to defend her coun¬ trymen, and consequently was involved in a war with Persia. Had Athens added her strength, the Greeks might have once more defied the power of Asia ; but jealousy kept the states divided, and even hostile to each other, and the gold of Arta¬ xerxes excited a general league in Greece against Lacedaemon. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, sustained GRECIAN STATES. Philip of Macedon.—Battle of Che- . - ronaea.—Alexander the Great. * ® The republic of Thebes. Epaminondas.—Battle of Mantin6a. for a considerable time the honour of his country, and won some important battles in Asia ; but others were lost in Greece; and a naval defeat near Cnidos utterly destroyed the Lacedaemonian fleet: finally, to escape total destruction, the Spartans sued for peace, and obtained it, by the sacrifice to Persia of all the Asiatic colonies, 387 b.c. Artaxerxes further demanded, and obtained for his allies the Athe¬ nians, the islands of Scyros, Lemnos, and Imbros : a disgraceful treaty, a mortifying picture of the humiliation of the Greeks. 14. —THE REPUBLIC OF THEBES. 1. While Athens and Sparta were thus visibly tending to decline, the Theban republic emerged from obscurity, and rose for a time to a degree of splendour eclipsing all its cotemporary states. The republic was divided by faction, one party support¬ ing its ancient democracy, and the other aiming at the establishment of an oligarchy. The latter courted the aid of the Spartans, who embraced that occasion to take possession of the citadel. Four hundred of the exiled Thebans fled for protection to Athens; among these was Pelop'idas, who planned and accomplished the deliverance of his country. Disguising himself and twelve of his friends as peasants, he entered Thebes in the evening, and joining a patriotic party of the citizens, they sur¬ prised the heads of the usurpation amid the tumult of a feast, and put them all to death. Epaminon'das, the friend of Pelop'idas, shared with him in the glory of this enterprise, and attacking, with the aid of five thousand Athenians, the Lacedaemonian garrison, drove them entirely out of the Theban territory. 2. A war necessarily ensued between Thebes and Sparta, in which the former had the aid of Athens. This, however, was but for a season. Thebes singly opposed the power of Sparta and the league of Greece; but Epaminon'das and Pelop'idas were her generals. The latter, amidst a career of glory, perished in an expedition against the tyrant of Phersea. Epaminon'das, triumphant at Leuctra and Mantinea, fell in that last engagement, and with him expired the glory of his country, 363 b.c. Athens and Sparta were humbled at the battle of Mantinea; Thebes was victorious, but she was un¬ done by the death of Epaminon'das. All parties were tired of the war; and Artaxerxes,more power¬ ful among those infatuated states than in his own dominions, dictated the terms of the treaty. It was stipulated that each power should retain what it possessed, and that the lesser states, now free from the yoke of the greater, should remain so. 15.— PHILIP OF MACEDON. 1. Greece was now in the most abject situation; the spirit of patriotism appeared utterly extinct, and military glory at an end. Athens seemed to have lost all ambition; the pleasures of luxury had entirely supplanted heroic virtue; poets, musicians, sculptors, and comedians, were now the only great men of Attica. Sparta, no less changed from the simplicity of her ancient manners, and her power abridged by the new independency of the states of Peloponnesus, was in no capacity to attempt a re¬ covery of her former greatness. In this situation Philip of Macedon formed the ambitious project of bringing under his dominion the whole of Greece. 2. He had mounted the throne of Macedon by popular choice, in violation of the natural right of the nearer heirs to the crown ; and he secured his power by the success of his arms against the Illy¬ rians, Pseonians, and Athenians, who espoused the interest of his competitors. Uniting to great mili¬ tary talents the most consummate artifice and ad¬ dress, he had his pensionaries in all the states of Greece, who directed to his advantage every public measure. The miserable policy of these states, embroiled in perpetual quarrels, co-operated with his designs. A sacrilegious attempt of the Phocians to plunder the temple of Delphos, excited the Sa¬ cred War , in which almost all the republics took a part; and Philip’s aid being courted by the The¬ bans and Thessalians, he began hostilities by in¬ vading Phdcis, the key to the territory of Attica. iEs'chines the orator, bribed to his interest, at¬ tempted to quiet the alarms of the Athenians, by ascribing to Philip a design only of punishing sa¬ crilege, and vindicating the cause of Apollo. De¬ mosthenes, with true patriotism, exposed the artful designs of the invader, and with the most animated eloquence roused his countrymen to a vigorous effort for the preservation of the national liberties. But the event was unsuccessful. The battle of Cheronsea, fought 337 b.c., decided the fate of Greece, and subjected all her states to the domi¬ nion of the king of Macedon. But it was not his policy to treat them as a conquered people. They retained their separate and independent govern¬ ments, while he controlled and directed all the national measures. Convoking a general council of the states, Philip was appointed commander-in¬ chief of the forces of Greece; and he laid before them his project for the conquest of Persia, ap¬ pointing each republic to furnish its proportional subsidies. On the eve of this great enterprise, Philip was assassinated by Pausanias, a captain of his guards, in revenge of a private injury, 336 b.c. The Athenians, on the death of Philip, meanly expressed the most tumultuous joy, in the hope of a recovery of their liberty; but this visionary pros¬ pect was never realized. The spirit of the nation was gone; and in their subsequent revolutions they only changed their masters. 16.— ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 1. Alexander, the son of Philip, succeeded at the age of twenty to the throne of Macedon, and, after a few successful battles against the revolted states, to the command of Greece. Assembling the deputies of the nation at Corinth, he communicated to them his resolution of prosecuting the designs of his father for the conquest of Persia. 2. With an army of thirty thousand foot and five thousand horse, the sum of seventy talents, and provisions only for a single month, he crossed the Hellespont, and, in traversing Phrygia, visited the tomb of Achilles. Darius Cod'omannus, re¬ solved to crush at once this inconsiderate youth, met him on the banks of the Gran'icus with a hun¬ dred thousand foot and ten thousand horse. The Greeks swam the river, their king leading the van, and attacking the astonished Persians, left twenty thousand dead upon the field, and put to flight their whole army. Drawing from his first success a presage of continued victory, Alexander now sent home his fleet, leaving to his army the sole ir , Defeat of the Persians by Alexander, utcthuv nt? r'TJU'U'r’U' Murder of Darius. ^ Battles of Issus and Arbela. liloIOrvi Ur Death of Alexander.—His successors. alternative, that they must subdue Asia or perish. Prosecuting their course for some time without resistance, the Greeks were attacked by the Per¬ sians in a narrow valley of Cilicia, near the town of Issus. The Persian host amounted to four hun¬ dred thousand, but their situation was such that only a small part could come into action, and they were defeated with prodigious slaughter. The loss of the Persians in this battle was one hundred and ten thousand; that of the Greeks (according to Q,. Curtius) only four hundred and fifty. 3. The history of Alexander by Quintus Curtius, though a most elegant composition, is extremely suspicious on the score of authentic information. Arrian is the best authority. 4. The generosity of Alexander was displayed after the battle of Issus, in his attention to his noble prisoners, the mother, the wife, and family of Darius. To the credit of Alexander it must be owned, that humanity, however overpowered and at times extinguished by his passions, certainly pont, to give Alexander his daughter in marriage, and the immense sum of ten thousand talents; but these terms were haughtily rejected, and peace re¬ fused but upon the unqualified submission of his enemy. The Persians were defeated at Arbela, with the loss of three hundred thousand men. [331 b.c.] Darius fled from province to province ; at length, betrayed by Bessus, one of his own satraps, he was cruelly murdered ; and the Persian empire, wljicli had subsisted for two hundred and six years from the time of Cyrus the Great, submitted to the conqueror, 330 b.c. 9. Alexander now projected the conquest of India [327 b.c.], firmly persuaded that the gods had decreed him the sovereignty of the whole ha¬ bitable globe. He penetrated to the Ganges, and would have advanced to the Eastern Ocean, had the spirit of his army kept pace with his ambition ; but his troops, seeing no end to their toils, refused to proceed. He returned to the Indus, from whence, sending round his fleet to the Persian Gulf under Nearchus, he marched his army across the desert to Persepolis. 10. Indignant that he had found a limit to his conquests, he abandoned himself to every excess of luxury and debauchery. The arrogance of his na¬ ture and the ardour of his passions, heightened by continual intemperance, broke out into the most outrageous excesses of cruelty, for which, in the few intervals of sober reflection, his ingenuous mind suffered the keenest remorse. From Perse¬ polis he returned to Babylon, and there died in a fit of debauch, in the thirty-third year of his age, and thirteenth of his reign, 324 b.c. 11. Of the character of Alexander the most opposite and contradictory estimates have been formed. While by some he is esteemed nothing better than a fortunate madman, he is by others celebrated for the grandeur, wisdom, and solidity of his political views. Truth is rarely to be found in extreme censure or applause. We may allow to Alexander the spirit and the talents of a great military genius, without combining with these the sober plans of a profound politician. In a moral view of his character, we see an excellent and in¬ genuous nature corrupted at length by an unvary¬ ing current of success, and a striking example of the fatal violence of the passions, when eminence of fortune removes all restraint, and flattery stimu¬ lates to their uncontrolled indulgence. 17-—SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER. 1. Alexander, on his death-bed, named no suc¬ cessor, but gave his ring to Perdiccas, one of his officers. When his courtiers asked him to whom he wished the empire to devolve upon his death, he replied, “ To the most worthyand he is said to have added, that he foresaw this legacy would prepare for him very extraordinary funeral rites ; a prediction which was fully verified. 2. Perdiccas, sensible that his pretensions would not justify a direct assumption of the government of this vast empire, brought about a division of the whole among thirty-three of the principal officers : and trusting to their inevitable dissensions, he pro¬ posed by that means to reduce all of them under his own authority. Hence arose a series of wars and intrigues, of which the detail is barren both of amusement and useful information. It is sufficient formed a part of his natural character. 5. The consequence of the battle of Issus was the submission of all Syria. Damascus, where Darius had deposited his chief treasures, was be¬ trayed and given up by its governor. The Phoeni¬ cians were pleased to see themselves thus avenged for the oppression they had suffered under the yoke of Persia. 0. Alexander had hitherto borne his good fortune with moderation : Felix , says Curtius, si hac con- tinentia ad ultimum ritce perseverare potuisset; sed nondum Fortuna se animo ejus infuderat. He di¬ rected his course towards Tyre, and desired admit¬ tance to perform a sacrifice to Hercules. The Tyrians shut their gates, and maintained for seven months a noble defence. The city was at length taken by storm ; and the victor glutted his revenge by the inhuman massacre of eight thousand of the inhabitants. [332 b.c.] The fate of Gaza, gloriously defended by Bsetis, was equally deplorable to its citizens, and more disgraceful to the conqueror. Ten thousand of the former were sold into slavery, and its brave defender dragged at the wheels of the victor’s chariot : Gloriante rege , Achillem, a quo genus ipse deduceret , imitatum se esse , poena in hostem capienda. Curt. 7. The taking of Gaza opened Egypt to Alex¬ ander, and the whole country submitted without opposition. Amidst the most incredible fatigues, he now led his army through the deserts of Lybia, to visit the temple of his father Jupiter Ammon. On his return he built Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile, afterwards the capital of the Lower Egypt, and one of the most flourishing cities in the world. Twenty other cities of the same name were reared by him in the course of his conquests. It is such works as these that justly entitle the Macedonian to the epithet of Great. By rearing in the midst of deserts those nurseries of population and of industry, he repaired the waste and havoc of his conquests. But for those monuments of his glory he would have merited no other epithet than that assigned him by the Brahmins of India, The Mighty Murderer. 8. Returning from Egypt, Alexander traversed Assyria, and was met at Arbela by Darius, at the head of seven hundred thousand men. The Per¬ sian had proffered peace, consenting to yield the whole country from the Euphrates to the Helles¬ Demosthenes.—Achaean league. Conquest of Macedon by the HISTORY OF GREECE. to say, that their consequence was a total extirpa¬ tion of the family of Alexander, and a new parti¬ tion of the empire into four great monarchies, the shares of Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander, and Seleucus. Of these the most powerful was that of Syria, under Seleucus and his descendants ; and that of Egypt, under the Ptolemies. “ We cannot,” says Condillac, “fix our attention on the history of the successors of Alexander, though a great theatre is open to our view, a variety of scenes, and multiplied catastrophes. A picture is often displeasing from the very circumstance of its greatness ; we lose the connexion of its parts, be¬ cause the eye cannot take them in at once. Still less will a large picture give us pleasure, if every part of it presents a different scene, each uncon¬ nected with the other.” Such is the history of the successors of Alexander. 18.— FALL AND CONQUEST OF GREECE. 1. Nor is the history of Greece from the period of the death of Alexander, any longer an interesting or pleasing object of contemplation. Demosthenes once more made a noble attempt to vindicate the national freedom, and to rouse his countrymen, the Athenians, to shake off the yoke of Macedon. But it was too late ; the pacific counsels of Phocion suited better the languid spirit of this once illus¬ trious people. 2. The history of the different republics presents, from this time, nothing but a disgusting series of uninteresting revolutions; with the exception, only, of that last effort made by the Achaean states, to revive the expiring liberty of their country. The republic of Achaia was a league of a few of the smaller states, to vindicate their freedom against the domineering spirit of the greater. They com¬ mitted the government of the league to Aratus of Sicyon, with the title of pi-actor, a young man of high ambition, who immediately conceived the more extensive project of rescuing the whole of Greece from the dominion of Macedon; but the jealousy of the greater states rendered this scheme abortive. Sparta refused to range herself under the guidance of the prsetor of Achaia; and Aratus, forgetting his patriotic designs, sought only now to wreak his vengeance against the Lacedaemonians. For this purpose, with the most inconsistent policy, he courted the aid even of the Macedonians, the very tyrants who had enslaved his country. 3. The period was now come for the intervention of a foreign power, which was to reduce all under its wide-spreading dominion. The Romans were at this time the most powerful of all the contempo¬ rary nations. The people of ^Etolia, attacked by the Macedonians, with a rash policy, besought the aid of the Romans, who, eager to add to their do¬ minion this devoted country, cheerfully obeyed the summons, and speedily accomplished the reduction of Macedonia. Perseus, its last sovereign, was led captive to Rome, and graced the triumph of Paulus ^Emilius, 187 b.c. From that period the Romans were hastily advancing to the dominion of all Greece ; a progress in which their art was more conspicuous than their virtue. They gained their end by fostering dissensions between the states, which they directed to their own advantage; cor¬ rupting their principal citizens, and using, in fine, every art of the most insidious policy. A pretext Romans.—Greece becomes a Ro¬ man province.—Reflections. was only wanting to unsheath the sword ; and this was furnished by the Acluean states, who insulted the deputies of imperial Rome. This drew on them at once the thunder of the Roman arms ; Metelkus marched his legions into Greece, gave them battle, and entirely defeated them. Mummius the consul terminated the work, and made an easy conquest of the whole of Greece, which from that period be¬ came a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, 146 b.c. 4. Rome had acquired from her conquests a flood of wealth, and began now to manifest a taste for luxury and a spirit of refinement. In these points Greece was to her conquerors an instructor and a model :— “Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes Intulit agresti Latio. Hence, even though vanquished, she was regarded with a species of respect by her ruder masters. 19.— POLITICAL REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM THE HISTORY OF THE STATES OF GREECE. 1. The revolutions which the states of Greece underwent, and the situations into which they were thrown by their connexion and differences with each other, and their wars with foreign nations, were so various, that their history is a school of instruction in political science. The surest test of the truth or falsehood of abstract principles of po¬ litics, is their application to actual experience and to the history of nations. 2. The oppression which the states of Greece suffered under their ancient despots, who were subject to no constitutional control, was a most justifiable motive for their establishing a new form of government, which promised them the enjoy¬ ment of greater political freedom. We believe, too, that those new forms of government were framed by their virtuous legislators in the true spirit of patriotism ; but as to the real merits of those political fabrics, it is certain that they were very far from corresponding in practice with what was expected from them in theory. We seek in vain, either in the history of Athens or Lacedae¬ mon, for the beautiful idea of a well-ordered com¬ monwealth. The revolutions of government which they were ever experiencing, the eternal factions with which they were embroiled, plainly demon¬ strate that there was a radical defect in the struc¬ ture of the machine, which precluded the possibi¬ lity of regular motion. The condition of the peo¬ ple under those governments was such as partook more of servitude and oppression than that of the subjects of the most despotic monarchies. The slaves formed the actual majority of the inhabitants in all the states of Greece. To these the free citi¬ zens were rigorous bond-masters; and bondage being a consequence of the contraction of debts even by a free man, a great proportion even of these were subject to the tyrannical control of their fellow-citizens. Nor were their richer classes in the actual enjoyment of independence. They were perpetually divided into factions, which servilely ranked themselves under the banners of the con¬ tending chiefs of the republic. Those parties were kept together solely by corruption. The whole was therefore a system of servility and debasement of spirit, which left nothing of a free or ingenuous c 18 Montesquieu’s theory of government refuted.-—Fine arts in Greece. HISTORY OF GREECE. nature in the condition of individuals, nor any thing that could furnish encomium to a real advocate for the dignity of human nature. Such was the condition of the chief republics of antiquity. Their governments promised in theory what they never conferred in practice,—the poli¬ tical happiness of the citizens. 3. “ In democracy, (says Dr. Fergusson,) men must love equality ; they must respect the rights of their fellow citizens : they must be satisfied with that degree of consideration they can procure by their abilities fairly measured against those of an opponent: they must labour for the public with¬ out hope of profit; they must reject every attempt to create a personal dependence.” This is the pic¬ ture of a republic in theory. If we reverse this picture in every single particular, and take its di¬ rect opposite, we shall have the true portrait of a republican government in practice. 4. It is the fundamental theory of Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws, that the three distinct forms of government, the monarchical, despotical, and re¬ publican, are influenced by the three separate principles of honour, fear, and virtue ; and this theory is the foundation on which the author builds a great part of his political doctrines. That each of these principles is exclusively essential to its respective form of government, but unnecessary and even prejudicial in the others, is a position contrary both to reason and to truth. No form of government can subsist where every one of those principles has not its operation. The admission of such a theory leads to the most mischievous con¬ clusions ; as for example, that in monarchies the state dispenses with virtue in its officers and ma¬ gistrates ; that public employments ought to be venal; and that crimes, if kept secret, are of no consequence. 5. It is only in the infant periods of the Grecian history, that we are to look for those splendid ex¬ amples of patriotism and heroic virtue, which the ardent mind of uncorrupted youth will ever delight to contemplate. The most remarkable circum¬ stance which strikes us on comparing the latter with the more early periods of the history of the Greeks, is the total change in the genius and spirit of the people. The ardour of patriotism, the thirst of military glory, the enthusiasm of liberty, decline with the rising grandeur and opulence of the nation; and an enthusiasm succeeds of another species, and far less worthy in its aim; an admira¬ tion of the fine arts, a violent passion for the ob¬ jects of taste, and for the refinements of luxury. This leads us to consider Greece in the light in which, after the loss of her liberty, she still con¬ tinued to attract the admiration of other nations. 20.— STATE OF THE ARTS IN GREECE. 1. It is not among the Greeks that we are to look for the greatest improvements in the useful and necessary arts of life. In agriculture, manu¬ factures, commerce, they never were greatly dis¬ tinguished [in fact, they were dependent on foreign countries, or on neighbouring states, for most of the necessaries and conveniences of life]. But in those which are termed the Fine Arts, Greece sur¬ passed all the contemporary nations: and the monuments of these which yet remain, are the models of imitation, and the confessed standard of Age of Pericles. Greek architecture and sculpture. excellence, in the judgment of the most polished nations of modern times. 2. After the defeat of Xerxes, the active spirit of the Athenians, which would have otherwise languished for want of an object, taking a new direction from luxury, displayed itself signally in all the works of taste in the fine arts. The ad¬ ministration of Per'icles was the era of luxury and splendour. The arts broke out at once with surprising lustre, and architecture, sculpture, and painting, were carried to the summit of perfection. This golden age of the arts in Greece endured for about a century, till after the death of Alexander the Great. 3. The Greeks were the parents of that system of architecture which is universally allowed to be the most perfect. The Greek architecture consisted of three dis¬ tinct orders ; the Doric, the Ionic, and Corinthian. The Doric has a masculine grandeur, and a su¬ perior air of strength to both the others. It is therefore best adapted to works of great magnitude and of a sublime character. The character of sublimity is essentially connected with chasteness and simplicity. Of this order is the temple of Theseus at Athens, built ten years after the battle of Marathon, and at this day almost entire. The Ionic order is light and elegant. The for¬ mer has a masculine grandeur ; the latter a femi¬ nine elegance. The Ionic is likewise simple ; for simplicity is an essential requisite in true beauty. Of this order were the temple of Apollo at Miletus, that of the Delphic Oracle, and the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The Corinthian marks an age of luxury and magnificence, when pomp and splendour had be¬ come the predominant passion, but had not yet extinguished the taste for the sublime and beau¬ tiful. It attempts therefore an union of all these characters, but satisfies not the chastened judgment, and pleases only a corrupted taste . -“ First unadorned, And nobly plain the manly Doric rose; The Ionic, then, with decent matron grace, Her airy pillar heaved; luxuriant last The rich Corinthian spread her wanton wreath.” (Thomson’s Liberty, part ii.) 4. The Tuscan and the Composite orders are of Italian origin. The Etruscan architecture appears to be nearly allied to the Grecian, but to possess an inferior degree of elegance. The Trajan co¬ lumn at Rome is of this order ; less remarkable for the beauty of its proportions, than for the ad¬ mirable sculpture which decorates it. The Com¬ posite Order is what its name implies ; it shows that the Greeks had in the three original orders exhausted all the principles of grandeur and beau¬ ty ; and that it was not possible to frame a fourth, but by combining the former. 5. The Gothic architecture offers no contradic¬ tion to these observations. The effect which it produces cannot be altogether accounted for from the rules of symmetry or harmony in the pro¬ portions between the several parts ; but depends on a certain idea of vastness, gloominess, and so¬ lemnity, which are powerful ingredients in the sublime. 6. Sculpture was brought by the Greeks to as high perfection as architecture. The remains of Why the Greeks excelled in sculpture. Greek paintings. Grecian sculpture are to this day the most perfect models of the art; and the modern artists have no means of attaining to excellence so certain as the study of those great masterpieces. 7- The excellence of the Greeks in sculpture may perhaps be accounted for chiefly from their having the human figure often before their eyes quite naked, and in all its various attitudes, both in the Palcestra, and in their public games. • The antique statues have therefore a grandeur united with perfect simplicity, because the attitude is not the result of an artificial disposition of the figure, as in the modern academies, but is nature un¬ constrained. Thus, in the Dying Gladiator, when we observe the relaxation of the muscles, and the visible failure of strength and life, we cannot doubt that nature was the sculptor’s immediate model of imitation*. 8. And this nature was in reality superior to what we now see in the ordinary race of men. The constant practice of gymnastic exercises gave a finer conformation of body than what is now to be found in the vitiated pupils of modern effeminacy, the artificial children of modern fashion. 9. A secondary cause of the eminence of the Greeks in the arts of design, was their theology, which furnished an ample exercise for the genius of the sculptor and painter. 10. We must speak with more diffidence of the ability of the Greeks in painting, than we do of their superiority in sculpture; because the existing specimens of the former are very few, and the pieces which are preserved are probably not the most excellent. But in the want of actual evidence, we have every presumption that the Greeks had attained to equal perfection in the art of painting and in sculpture; for if we find the judgment given by ancient writei’s of their excellence in sculpture confirmed by the universal assent of the best critics among the moderns, we have just reason to pre¬ sume an equal rectitude in the judgment which the same ancient writers have pronounced upon their paintings. If Pliny is right in his opinion of the merits of those statues which yet remain, the Venus of Praxiteles, and the Laocoon of Agesander, Poly- dorus, and Athenoddrus p, we have no reason to sup¬ pose his taste to be less just, when he celebrates the merits,and critically characterises the different man¬ ners of Zeuxis, Appelles, Parrh'asius, Protogenes, and Timanhhes, whose works have perished. 11. The paintings found in Herculaneum, Pom¬ peii, the Sepulchrum Nasonianum at Rome, were probably the work of Greek artists; for the Romans were never eminent in any of the arts dependant on design. These paintings exhibit great knowledge of proportions, and of the chiaro- oscuro, but betray an ignorance of the rules of perspective J. 12. The music of the ancients appears to have been very greatly inferior to that of the moderns. * “ Ctesilas vulneratum deficientem fecit, ex quo possit in- telligi quantum restet animi." (Plin. lib. 36.) t The most celebrated statuaries besides those named in the text, were Phid'ias, Polycletus, Myro, and Lysippus. The Elgin marbles in the British Museum-, it is believed, were carved under the direction of Phidias, part being the work of his own hand. The horses of Venice are said to be the pro¬ duction of Lysippus. t It seems the ancients were not acquainted with the art of painting in oil. The games and athletic exercises of the Greeks.—Their poets. 13. The peculiar genius of the Greeks in the fine arts, extended its effects to the revolutions of their states, and influenced their fate as a nation. 21. —OF THE GREEK POETS. 1. The Greeks were the first who reduced the athletic exercises to a system, and considered them as an object of general attention and importance. The Panathenean, and afterwards the Olympic, the Pythian, Nemean, and Isth'mian games, were under the regulation of the laws. They contributed essen¬ tially to the improvement of the nation; and while they cherished martial ardour, and promoted har¬ diness and agility of body, cultivated likewise urbanity and politeness. 2. The games of Greece were not confined to gymnastic or athletic exercises. They encouraged competitions in genius and learning. They were the resort of the poets, the historians, and the phi¬ losophers. 3. In all nations poetry is of greater antiquity than prose composition. The earliest prose writers in Greece, Pherecydes of Scyros, and Cadmus of Miletus, were three hundred and fifty years pos¬ terior to Homer. Any remains of the more ancient poets, as Linus, Or'pheus, &c., are extremely sus¬ picious. Homer is generally supposed to have flourished about 907 b.c.; to have followed the occupation of a wandering minstrel, and to have composed his poems in detached fragments, and separate ballads, and episodes. Pisis'tratus, about 540 b.c. employed some learned men to collect and methodise these fragments [and a more perfect copy was prepared by Aristotle for his royal pupil]; and to this we owe the complete poems of the Iliad and Odyssey. The distinguishing merits of Homer are, his profound knowledge of human nature, his faithful and minute description of ancient manners, his genius for the sublime and beautiful, and the harmony of his poetical numbers. His fidelity as an historian has been questioned; but the great outlines of his narrative are probably authentic. 4. Hesiod was nearly contemporary with Homer; a poet of whose merits we should be little sensible were they not seen through the medium of an im¬ mense antiquity. The poem of the Works and Days contains some judicious precepts of agriculture. The Theogony is an obscure history of the origin of the gods apd the formation of the universe. 5. About two centuries after Homer and Hesiod, flourished Archil'ochus, the inventor of Iambic verse ; Terpander, equally eminent as a poet and a musician ; Sappho, of whose composition we have two exquisite odes ; Alcaeus and Siinonid'es, of whom there are some fine fragments ; and Pindar and Auac'reon, who have left enough to allow an accurate estimate of their merits. 6. Pindar was esteemed by the ancients the chief of the lyric poets. He possesses unbounded fancy and great sublimity of imagery; but his digressions are so rapid and so frequent, that we cannot discover the chain of thought; and his ex¬ pression is allowed, even by Longinus, to be often obscure and unintelligible. 7. Anac'reon is a great contrast to Pindar. His fancy suggests only familiar and luxurious pictures. He has no comprehension of the sublime, but con¬ tents himself with the easy, the graceful, and the c 2 HISTORY OF GREECE. 20 Dramatic composition of the Greeks. Tragedy and comedy.—Actors and HISTORY OF GREECE. performance.- historians. Pantomimes.—Greek wanton. His morality is loose, and his sentiments little else than the effusions of a voluptuary. 8. The collection termed Anthologia, which con¬ sists chiefly of ancient epigrams, contains many valuable specimens of the taste and poetical fancy of the Greeks, and contributes materially to the illustration of their manners. The best of the modern epigrams may be traced to this source. 9. The era of the origin of dramatic composition among the Greeks is about 590 b.c. Thespis was contemporary with Solon. Within little more than a century the Greek drama was carried to its high¬ est perfection; for ^Eschylus died 456 b.c. ^Eschylus wrote sixty-six * tragedies ; for thirteen of which he gained the first prize of dramatic poetry at the Olympic games. Only seven are now extant. Like Shakespeare, his genius is sublime, and his imagi¬ nation unbounded. He disdained regularity of plan, and all artificial restriction ; but unfortu¬ nately he disdained likewise the restraints of de¬ cency and of good morals. 10. Euripides and Sophocles flourished about fifty years after iEschylus. Euripides is most mas¬ terly in painting the passion of love, both in its tenderest emotions and in its most violent parox¬ ysms : yet the characters of his women demonstrate that he had no great opinion of the virtues of the sex. Longinus does not rate high his talent for the sublime ; but he possessed a much superior excel¬ lence : his verses, with great eloquence and har¬ mony, breathe the most admirable morality. There remain twenty tragedies of Euripides ; and of these the Medea is deemed the most excellent. 11. Sophocles shared with Euripides the palm of dramatic poetry ; and is judged to have surpassed him in the grand and sublime. Of one hundred and twenty tragedies which he composed, only seven remain. They display great knowledge of the hu¬ man heart, and a general chastity and simplicity of expression, which give the greater force to the occasional strokes of the sublime. The CEdipus of Sophocles is esteemed the most perfect production of the Greek stage. 12. The Greek comedy is divided into the ancient, the middle, and the new. The first was a licentious satire and mimicry of real personages exhibited by name upon the stage. The laws repressed this extreme licence, and gave birth to the middle comedy, which continued the satirical delineation of real persons, but under fictitious names. The last improvement consisted in banishing all personal satire, and confining comedy to a delineation of manners. This was the new comedy. Of the first species, the ancient, we have no remains. The dramas of Aristophanes are an example of the second or middle comedy. The grossness of his raillery, and the malevolence which frequently in¬ spired it, are a reproach to the morals of that people which could tolerate it. Yet his works have their value, as throwing light upon ancient manners. 13. Of the new comedy Menander was the bright example ; possessing a vein of the most de¬ licate wit, with the utmost purity of moral senti¬ ment. Unfortunately we have nothing of him remaining but a few fragments preserved by * Fabricius collects the titles of ninety tragedies which are attributed to ASschylus. Bibliotheca Graeca, vol ii. pp. 239-256, ed. Hatnb. 1791; of these only seven are now extant. Athenseus. We see a great deal of his merits, however, in his copyist and translator Terence. 14. The actors both in the Greek and Roman theatres wore masks, of which the features were strongly painted, and the mouth so constructed as to increase the power of the voice. It is probable the tragedy and comedy of the Greeks and Romans were set to music, and sung like the recitative in the Italian opera ; and sometimes one person was employed to recite or sing the part, and another to perform the corresponding action or gesticulation. 15. The Mimes were burlesque parodies on the serious tragedy and comedy. The Pantomimes consisted solely of gesticulation, and were carried to great perfection. 22.— OF THE GREEK HISTORIANS. 1. The most eminent of the Greek historians were contemporaries. Herod'otus died 413 b. c.; Thucyd'ides, 391 b. c.; and Xenophon was about twenty years younger than Thucyd'ides. Herod'¬ otus writes the joint history of the Greeks and Persians, from the time of Cyrus to the battles of Platea and Mycale. He treats incidentally like¬ wise of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Medes, and Ly¬ dians. His veracity is to be depended on in all matters that fell under his own observation ; but he admits too easily the reports of others, and is in general fond of the marvellous. His style is pure, and he has a copious elocution. 2. Thucyd'ides, himself an able general, has written with great ability the history of the first twenty-one years of the Peloponnesian war ; in¬ troducing it with a short narrative of the preceding periods of the history of Greece. He is justly esteemed for his fidelity and candour. His style is a contrast to the full and flowing period of He¬ rod'otus, possessing a sententious brevity, which is at once lively and energetic. The history of the remaining six years of the war of Peloponnesus was written by Theopompus and Xen'ophon. 3. Xen'ophon commanded the Greek army in the service of Cyrus the younger, in his culpable enter¬ prise against his brother Artaxerxes. (See Sect. 23, § 6.) After the failure of this enterprise, Xeno¬ phon directed that astonishing retreat from Babylon to the Euxine, of which he has given an interesting and faithful narrative. He wrote likewise the Cy- ropedia, or the history of the elder Cyrus, w'hich is believed to be rather an imaginary delineation of an accomplished prince than a real narration. He continued the history of Thucyd'ides, and has left two excellent political tracts on the constitu¬ tions of Lacedemon and Athens. His style is simple and energetic, familiar, unadorned, and free from all affectation. 4. Greece, in her decline, produced some histo¬ rians of great eminence. Polybius, a native of Megalopolis, wrote forty books of the Roman and Greek history during his own age ; that is, from the beginning of the second punic war to the re¬ duction of Macedonia into a Roman province ; but of this great work only the first five books are entire, with an epitome of the following twelve. He merits less the praise of eloquence and purity, than of authentic information, and most judicious reflection. 5. Diodorus Sic'ulus flourished in the time of Augustus, and composed, in forty books, a general HISTORY OF GREECE. Analysis of the doctrines inculcated by the philosophy of the Greeks. 21 Greek biographers and geographers. Philosophy of the Greeks. history of the world, under the title of Bibliotheca Historica. No more remain than fifteen books, of which the first five treat of the fabulous periods, and the history of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Per¬ sians, Greeks, &c., prior to the Trojan war. The next five are wanting. The remainder brings down the history from the expedition of Xerxes into Greece till after the death of Alexander the Great. He is taxed with chronological inaccuracy in the earlier parts of his work; but the authenticity and correctness of the latter periods are unim¬ peached. 6. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, eminent both as a historian and rhetorician, flourished in the age of Augustus. His Roman Antiquities contain much valuable information, though his work is too much tinctured with the spirit of systematizing. 7- [Strabo, a native of Amasia, on the borders of Cappadocia, flourished in the age of Augustus and Tiberius. We derive from his Geography, divided into seventeen books, an account in the Greek lan¬ guage of the most celebrated places in the world, the origin, manners, religion, and government of nations, the foundation of cities, and minute history of each province. He visited in the course of his travels Asia Minor, Syria, Phemcia, Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, and all Italy except Cisalpine Gaul and Liguria.] 8. Plutarch, a native of Chseronea, in Boedtia, flourished in the reign of Nero. His Lives of Illus¬ trious Men is one of the most valuable of the lite¬ rary works of the ancients; introducing us to an acquaintance with the private character and man¬ ners of those eminent persons whose public achieve¬ ments are recorded by professed historians. His morality is excellent * ; his style, though not elo¬ quent, clear and energetic. 9. Arrian [a philosopher of Nicomedia, and a disciple of Epictetus], wrote in the reign of Adrian, seven books of the wars of Alexander, with great judgment and fidelity (his narrative being com¬ posed on the authority of Aristobulus and Ptolemy, two of Alexander’s principal officers) ; [an account of the affairs of India, the Periplus of the Euxine and Red Sea; four books on the dissertations of Epictetus, a Treatise on Hunting, and a work on Tactics]. His style is unadorned, but chaste, per¬ spicuous, and manly. 23.— OF THE GREEK PHILOSOPHERS. 1. After the time of Homer and Hesiod, the in¬ creasing relish for poetical composition gave rise to a set of men termed rhapsodists, whose employ¬ ment was to recite at the games and festivals the compositions of the older poets, and to comment on their merits and explain their doctrines. Some of these founding schools of instruction were dignified by their pupils with the epithet of sophists, or teachers of wisdom. 2. The most ancient school of philosophy was that founded by Thdles [of Miletus], 640 b.c., and termed the Ionic. Thales is celebrated for his knowledge both in geometry and astronomy. His metaphysical doctrines are but imperfectly known. He taught the belief of a First Cause, and an over- * That is, his writings display less impurity than those of other profane authors.— Ed. ruling Providence; but supposed the Divinity to animate the universe, as the soul does the body. The moral doctrines of the Ionic school were pure and rational. The most eminent of the disciples of Thales were Anaximan'der and Anaxag'oras [the tutor of Per'icles]. 3. Soon after the Ionic arose the Italian sect, founded by Pythagoras, who was born about 586 b.c. He is supposed to have derived much of his know¬ ledge from Egypt; and he had, like the Egyptian priests, a public doctrine for the people, and a pri¬ vate for his disciples: the former a good system of morals, the latter probably unintelligible mystery. His notions of Divinity were akin to those of Thales; but he believed in the eternity of the universe, and its co-existence with the Deity. He taught the transmigration of the soul through different bodies. His disciples lived in common; they abstained rigo¬ rously from the flesh of animals; they held music in high estimation, as a corrective of the passions. Pythag'oras believed the earth to be a sphere, the planets to be inhabited, and the fixed stars to be the suns and centres of other systems. His most eminent followers were Emped'ocles, Epichar'mus, Ocellus Lucanus, Timeus, Archyt'as. 4. The Eleatic sect was founded by Xenoph'anes, about 500 b.c. [538.] Its chief supporters were Parmen'ides, Zeno,and Leucippus, citizens of El'ea * [called also Velia, in Western Italy]. The meta¬ physical notions of this sect were utterly unintelli¬ gible. They maintained, that things had neither beginning, end, nor any change ; and that all the changes we perceive are in our own senses. Yet Leucippus taught the doctrine of atoms, from whence he supposed all material substances to be formed. Of this sect were Democ'ritus and He- rac'litusf. 5. The Socratic school arose from the Ionic. Socrates died 401 b.c., the wisest, the most virtuous of the Greeks. He exploded the futile logic of the sophists, which consisted of a set of general argu¬ ments applicable to all manner of questions, and by which they could, with an appearance of plausi¬ bility, maintain either side of any proposition. So¬ crates always brought his antagonist to particulars; beginning with a simple and undeniable position X, which being granted, another followed equally un¬ deniable, till the disputant was conducted step by step, by his own concessions, to that side of the question on which lay the truth. His rivals lost all credit as philosophers, but had influence to pro¬ cure the destruction of the man who had exposed them. The doctrines of Socrates are to be learned from Plato and Xen'ophon. He taught the belief of a First Cause, whose beneficence is equal to his power, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He inculcated the moral agency of man, the immortal¬ ity of the soul, and a future state of reward and punishment. He exploded the polytheistic super- * A city, Niebuhr remarks, not famous from its wars, but from its profound thinkers. t This school of philosophy has been more distinctly de¬ scribed as being divided into two classes, one of which treated concerning the nature and origin of things upon me¬ taphysical, the other upon physical , principles. To the former class belong Xenophanes, Parmenides, Melissus, and Zeno of El'ea; to the latter, Leucippus, Democritus, Pro¬ tagoras, Diag'oras, and Anaxarchus. t Professor Tvtler himself does not intend to assume that the petitio principii is an argument.— Ed. Platonic, Aristotelian, and scep¬ tical philosophy. stitions of his country, and thence became the vic¬ tim of an accusation of impiety. (See Sect. 13, § 5.) 6. The morality of Socrates was successfully cul¬ tivated by the Cyrenaic sect, but was pushed the length of extravagance by the Cynics. Virtue, in their opinion, consisted in renouncing all tbe con- veniencies of life. They clothed themselves in rags, slept and ate in the streets, or wandered about tbe country with a stick and a knapsack. They con¬ demned all knowdedge as useless. They associated impudence with ignorance, and indulged themselves in scurrility and invective without restraint*. 7- The Megar'ean sect was the happy inventor of logical syllogism, or the art of quibbling. 8. The Academic sect bad Plato for its founder; a philosopher whose doctrines have had a more extensive empire over the minds of mankind than those of any other among the ancients. This is in part owing to their intrinsic merit, and in part to the eloquence with which they have been pro¬ pounded. Plato had the most sublime ideas of the Divinity and his attributes. He taught that the human soul was a portion of the Divinity, and that this alliance with the eternal mind might be im¬ proved into actual intercourse with tbe Supreme Being, by abstracting the soul from all the cor¬ ruptions it derives from the body; a doctrine highly flattering to the pride of man, and generat¬ ing that mystical enthusiasm which has the most powerful empire over a warm imagination. 9. The Platonic philosophy found its chief oppo¬ nents in four remarkable sects, the Peripatetic, the Sceptic, the Stoic, and the Epicurean. 19. Aristotle, the founder of the Peripatetic sect, was the tutor of Alexander the Great, and established his school in the Lyceum at Athens; a philosopher whose tenets have fouud more zea¬ lous partizans, and more rancorous opponents, than those of any other. His Metaphysics, from the sententious brevity of his expression, are extremely obscure, and have given rise to numberless com¬ mentaries. The best analysis of his logic is given by Dr. Reid in Lord Karnes’s Sketches of the His¬ tory of Man. His physical works are the result of great observation and acquaintance with nature; and his critical writings, as his Poetics and Art of Rhetoric, display both taste and judgment. It is the latter works that will ever continue to be most valued. The peculiar passion of Aristotle was that of classifying, arranging, and combining the objects of his knowledge, so as to reduce all to a few prin¬ ciples ; a dangerous propensity in philosophy, and repressive of improvement in science. 11. The Sceptical sect was founded by Pyrrho. [336 b.c.] They formed no systems of their own, but endeavoured to weaken the foundations of those of all others. They inculcated universal doubt as the only true wisdom. There was, in their opinion, no essential difference between vice and virtue, farther than as human compact had discriminated them. Tranquillity of mind they supposed to be the state of the greatest happiness, and this was to be at¬ tained by absolute indifference to all dogmas or opinions. * This school or sect was founded by Antis'thenes, who placed happiness in the practice of virtue, which he taught consisted in the contempt of wealth and worldly enjoyments. The remarks in the text rather apply to Diog'enes, who brought this school into disrepute by carrying its doctrines to excess.—E d. I Stoic and Epicurean philosophy. Greek philosophy theoretical. 12. The Stoics, proposing to themselves the same end, tranquillity of mind, took a nobler path to ar¬ rive at it. They endeavoured to raise themselves above all the passions and feelings of humanity. They believed all nature, and God himself, the soul of the universe, to be regulated by fixed and immu¬ table laws. The human soul, being a portion of the Divinity, man cannot complain of being ac¬ tuated by that necessity which actuates the Divin¬ ity himself. His pains and his pleasures are de¬ termined by the same laws which determine his existence. Virtue consists in accommodating the disposition of the mind to the immutable laws of nature; vice in opposing those laws: vice therefore is folly, and virtue the only true wisdom. A beau¬ tiful picture of the Stoical philosophy is found in the Enchiridion of Epictetus, and in the Meditations of M. Aurelius Antoninus. 13. Epicurus taught that man’s supreme happi¬ ness consisted in pleasure. He himself limited the term so as to make it mean only the practice of virtue. But if pleasure is allowed to be the object, every man will draw it from those sources which lie finds can best supply it. It might have been the pleasure of Epicurus to be chaste and tempe¬ rate ; we are told it was so. But others find their pleasure in intemperance and luxury; and such was the taste of his principal followers. Epicurus held that the Deity was indifferent to all the actions of man; they therefore had no other counsellor than their own conscience, and no - other guide than the instinctive desire of their own happiness. 14. The Greek philosophy, on the whole, affords little else than a picture of the imbecility and ca¬ price of the human mind. Its teachers, instead of experiment and observation, satisfied themselves with constructing theories; and these, wanting fact for their basis, have only served to perplex the understanding, and retard equally the advancement of sound morality and the progress of useful know¬ ledge. 24. — THE HISTORY OF ROME. 1. In the delineation of ancient history, Rome, after the conquest of Greece, becomes the leading object of attention ; and the history of this empire, in its progress to universal dominion, and after¬ wards in its decline and fall, involves a collateral account of all the other nations of antiquity which, in those periods, are deserving of our consideration. 2. Although we cannot conjecture with certainty as to the era when Italy was first peopled, we have every reason to believe that it was inhabited by a refined and cultivated nation many ages before the Roman name was known. These were the Etrus¬ cans, of whom there exist at tin's day monuments in the fine arts which prove them to have been a splendid, luxurious, and highly polished people. Their alphabet, resembling the Phenfcian, disposes us to believe them of eastern origin *. The Roman historians mention them as a powerful and opulent nation long before the origin of Rome, “ Tuscorum ante Romanum imperium late terra marique opes pa- tuere” (lib. v. 33); and Dionysius of Halicarnassus * The Etruscan characters were formed like the Greek, from that one among the various Asiatic alphabets of dif¬ ferent origin, whence all the modes of writing in use through¬ out Europe are derived.—Niebuhr’s Hist. Rome, vol. i., where the history of the Etruscans, and a disquisition upon their origin, is given.—E d. HISTORY OF GREECE. Ancient Home.—Romulus.—Division of the people into tribes. HISTORY OF ROME. Sabines united with the Romans. Numa and other monarchs. 23 deduces most of the religious rites of the Romans from Etruria. 3. The rest of Italy was divided among a number of independent tribes or nations, comparatively in a rude and uncultivated state; Umbrians, [Iapy- gians,] Ligurians, [Venetians,] Sabines, Veientes, Latins, HSqui, Volsci, &c. Latium, a territory of fifty miles in length and sixteen in breadth, con¬ tained forty-seven independent cities or states. 4. The origin of the city and state of Rome is involved in great uncertainty. Dionysius supposes two cities of that name to have existed, and to have perished before the foundation of the city built by Rom'ulus. The vulgar account of the latter is, that it was founded 752 b.c., by a troop of shepherds or banditti, who peopled their new city by carrying off the wives and daughters of their neighbours the Sabines *. 5. The great outlines of the first constitution of the Roman government,though generally attributed to the political abilities of Romulus, seem to have a natural foundation in the usages of barbarous na¬ tions. Other institutions bear the traces of political skill and positive enactment. 6. Rom'ulus is said to have divided his people into three tribes, and each tribe into ten curiae [or rather, as Dr. Arnold observes, ten curiae formed one tribe]. The lands he distributed into three portions, one for the support of the government, another for the maintenance of religion, and the third he divided into equal portions of two acres to each Roman citizen. He instituted a senate of one hundred members (afterwards increased to two hundred), who deliberated on and prepared all public measures for the assembly of the people, in whom was vested the right of determination. The patrician families were the descendants of those centum patres. 7. The king had the nomination of the senators, the privilege of assembling the people, and a right of appeal in all questions of importance. He had the command of the army, and the office of Pon- tifex Maximus. He had as a guard twelve lictors, and a troop of horsemen named Celeres or Equites, afterwards the distinct order of Roman knights. These regulations are of positive institution : others arose naturally from the state of society. 8. The patria potestas is of the latter nature, being common to all barbarous tribes. The limit- ation of all arts to the slaves arose from the constant employment of the citizens in warfare or in agri¬ culture. 9. The connexion of patron and client was an * Niebuhr, in his elaborate and remarkable History of Rome, has closely investigated the origin of the fictions, miscalled traditions, which till recently have been substituted for the history of that city. From him we may confidently assume, that Romulus and Remus are but different forms of one and the same name; that Rome originally belonged to the number of the free Latin towns or petty states acknow¬ ledging supremacy to Alba; that the Palatine hill was the original site of the city, and was the point of union to some scattered villages; that the Rape of the Sabines was a poeti¬ cal story, founded on the intermarriage of the Sabines with the Romans; that the story of the Twins also indicated that the Romans, although united to the Sabines, were at first a double people (vestiges of which are clearly traceable), each being ruled under its own king, as Romans and Quirites ; and that Rome, about the time of its foundation, in conjunc¬ tion with the Latin towns, captured Alba.—E d. admirable institution, which at once united the citizens, and maintained an useful subordination. 10. The Sabines were the most formidable enemy of the early Romans; and a wise policy united for a while the two nations into one state. After the death of Rom'ulus, who reigned thirty-seven years, Numa, a Sabine, was elected king. His disposition was pious and pacific, and he endeavoured to give his people the same character. He pretended to divine inspiration, in order to give the greater authority to his laws, which in themselves were excellent. He multiplied the national gods, built temples, and instituted different classes of priests, Flamines, Salii, &c., and a variety of religious ceremonies. The Flamines officiated each in the service of a particular 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. The temple of Janus was open in war and shut during peace. Numa reformed the kalen- dar, regulating the year at twelve lunar months, and distinguished the days for civil occupation (j Fasti) from those dedicated to religious rest (Nefasti). Agriculture was lawful on the latter, as a duty of religion. Numa reigned forty-three years. 11. Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome, of warlike disposition, subdued the Albans, Fidenates, and other neighbouring states. The Sabines, [the most powerful people in Italy next to the Etruscans,] now disunited from the Romans, were among the most powerful of their enemies. Tullus [carried on a successful war against them, and] reigned thirty- three years*. 12. Ancus Martius, the grandson of Numa, was elected king on the death of Tullus. He inherited the piety and virtues of his grandfather, and joined to these the talents of a warrior. He increased the population of Rome by naturalizing some of the conquered states ; enlarged and fortified the city, and built the port of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber. He reigned gloriously twenty-four years. 13. Tarquinius Priscus [said to be the son of Damaratus], a citizen of Corinth [who settled at Tarquinii, a city of Etruria], popular from his wealth and liberality, was elected to the vacant throne. He enlarged the senate by one hundred new members from the Plebeian families, Patres minorum gentium. This body consisted now of three hundred, at which number it remained for some centuries. Tarquin was victorious in his wars, and he adorned and improved the city with works of utility and magnificence. Such were the Circus or Hippodrome; the walls of hewn stone ; the Ca¬ pitol ; the Cloacae, those immense common sewers, which lead to the belief that the new Rome had been built on the ruins of an ancient city of greater magnitude+. [He surrounded the city with a wall of hewn stone after the Etruscan manner, or at * With Tullus Hostilius a narrative commences appa¬ rently based upon facts, for the circumstances related are of a kind totally different from that of the preceding period. f It is not decided whether these great works were con¬ structed by Tarquinius Priscus or by Tarquinius Superbus. The cloacae were wrought by taskwork, like the great works of Egypt, and show, consequently, a strong and despotic go¬ vernment to have long existed, a state of things inconsistent with the alleged recent origin of the city.— Ed. . Conclusion of the Roman government mcTAnv ni? T?mv/n? the people.—Abolition of monarchy.— under the kings.— Classification of niolUKi Ur KUiVlJli. Reflections. least made preparations for it]. Tarquinius was assassinated in the thirty-eighth year of his reign. 14. Servius Tullius, who had married the daugh¬ ter of Tarquinius, secured by his own address, and the intrigues of his mother-in-law, his election to the vacant throne. He courted popularity by acts of munificence ; discharging the debts of the poor, dividing among the citizens his patrimonial lands, improving the city with useful edifices, and ex¬ tending its boundaries. The new arrangement which he introduced in the division of the Roman citizens, is a proof of much political ability, and merits attention, as on it depended many of the revolutions of the republic. 15. From the time that the Romans had ad¬ mitted the Albans and Sabines to the rights of citizens, the Urban and Rustic tribes were com¬ posed of those three nations. Each tribe being divided into [or consisting of ] ten curiae, and every curia having an equal vote in the Comitla , as each individual had in his tribe, all questions were de¬ cided by the majority of suffrages. There was no pre-eminence between the curice , and the order in which they gave their votes was determined by lot. This was a reasonable constitution, so long as the fortunes of the citizens were nearly on a par ; but when riches came to be unequally divided, it was obvious that much inconvenience must have arisen from this equal partition of power, as the rich could easily, by bribery, command the suffrages of the poor. Besides, all the taxes had hitherto been levied by the head, without any regard to the in¬ equality of fortunes. These obvious defects fur¬ nished to Servius a just pretext for an entire change of system. His plan was to remove the poorer citizens from all share of the government; while the burdens attending its support should fall solely on the rich. 16. All the citizens were required, under a heavy penalty, to declare upon oath their names, dwell¬ ings, number of their children, and amount of their fortune. After this numeration or census , Servius divided the whole citizens, without dis¬ tinction, into four tribes, named from the quarters where they dwelt, the Palatine , Suburran , Colla- tine, and Esquiline. Besides this local division, Ser¬ vius distributed the whole people into six classes, and each class into several centuries or portions of citizens, so called, not as actually consisting of an hundred, but as being obliged to furnish and maintain one hundred men in time of war. In the first class, which consisted of the richest citi¬ zens, or those who were worth at least one hundred mince *, there were no less than ninety-eight cen¬ turies. In the second class (those worth seventy- five mince) there wei'e twenty-two centuries. In the third (those worth fifty mince) were twenty centuries. In the fourth (those worth twenty-five mince) twenty-two centuries. In the fifth (those worth twelve mince) thirty centuries. The sixth, the most numerous of the whole, comprehending all the poorer citizens, furnished only one century. Thus the whole Roman people were divided into one hundred and ninety-three centuries, or por¬ tions of citizens, so called, as furnishing each an hundred soldiers. The sixth class was declared exempt from all taxes. The other classes, accord¬ ing to the number of centuries of which they con- * About £300 sterling. sisted, were rated for the public burdens at so much for each centui’y *. 17- The poor had no reason to complain of this arrangement; but something was wanting to com¬ pensate the rich for the burdens to which they were subjected. For this purpose Servius enacted, that henceforth the Comitia should give their votes by centuries +; the first class, consisting of ninety- eight centuries, always voting first. Thus, although the whole people were called to the Comitia, and all seemed to have an equal suffrage, yet, in reality, the richer classes determined every question, the suffrage of the poor being merely nominal: for as the whole people formed one hundred and ninety- three centuries, and the first and second classes con¬ tained one hundred and twenty of these, if they were unanimous, which generally happened in questions of importance, a majority was secured. Thus, in the Comitia Centuriata, in which the chief magistrates were elected, peace and war decreed, and all other important business discussed, the richer classes of the citizens had the sole authority, the votes of the poor being of no avail. And such was the ingenuity of this policy, that all were pleased with it: the rich paid their taxes with cheerful¬ ness, as the price of their power ; and the poor gladly exchanged authority for immunities. The census, performed every five years, was closed by a lustrum , or expiatory sacrifice ; and hence that period of time was called a lustrum. 18. Servius was assassinated after a reign of forty-four years, by his infamous daughter Tullia, married to Tarquinius, the grandson of Priscus, who thus paved the way for liis own elevation to the throne. The government of Tarquin, surnamed the Proud, was systematically tyrannical. He in¬ gratiated himself with the lower orders, to abase by their means the power of the higher ; but inso¬ lent, rapacious, and cruel, he finally disgusted all ranks of his subjects. A rape committed by his son Sextus on Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, who, unable to survive her dishonour, stabbed herself in presence of her husband and kindred, roused their vengeance, and procured, by their influence with their countrymen, the expulsion of the tyrant, and the utter abolition of the regal dignity at Rome, 509 tb.c. X 19. Reflections on the Government and State of Rome during the period of the Kings. The whole structure of the constitution of the Romans under the monarchy has been by most authors erroneously attributed exclusively to the abilities of Romulus, a youth of eighteen, the leader of a troop of shep- * The history of the changes in the constitution intro¬ duced by the later kings is fully detailed in Dr. Arnold’s History of Rome. The difficulties which present themselves to the student, respecting the original number of the tribes will be cleared up, so far as the subject will admit of it, by a reference to Niebuhr’s History of Rome, and Dr. Arnold’s Summary of the Authorities cited by Niebuhr, in whose conclusions Dr. Arnold almost uniformly concurs. (Arnold’s Rome, i. chap. v. pp. 60—77 .)—Ed. t Not dissimilar in principle or effect from the ancient division of England by hundreds.— Ed. I The chronology of the three last reigns, which according to Livy occupied a space of one hundred and seven years, is challenged by Dr. Arnold in his History of Rome, chap. v. The main facts are, perhaps, true, but distorted by fiction. The accounts of the kings after Tullus Hostilius, although resting upon some certainties, can hardly be said to be his¬ torical.—E d. . Early constitution of the Roman republic or commonwealth. HISTORY OF ROME. Institution of consuls.—Valerian law „ r of appeal.—War with the Etrurians. herds or banditti. This chimerical idea we owe to Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The truth is, the Roman government, like almost every other, was the gradual result of circumstances ; the fruit of time, and of political emergency *. 20. The constitution of the Roman senate has occasioned considerable research, and is not free from obscurity. It is probable that the kings had the sole right of naming the senators, that the con¬ suls succeeded them in this right, and afterwards, when these magistrates found too much occupation from the frequent wars in which the state was en¬ gaged, that privilege devolved on the censors. The senators were at first always chosen from the body of the patricians, but afterwards the plebeians acquired an equal title to that dignity. In the early periods of the republic, the people could not be assembled but by the senate’s authority; nor were the plebiscita of any weight till confirmed by their decree. Hence the early constitution of the republic was rather aristocratical than democrat- ical. From this extensive power of the senate, the first diminution was made by the creation of the tribunes of the people; and other retrenchments successively took place, till the people acquired at length the predominant power in the state. Yet the senate, even after every usurpation on their authority, continued to have, in many points, a su¬ premacy. They regulated all matters regarding religion; they had the custody of the public trea¬ sure ; they superintended the conduct of all magis¬ trates; they gave audience to ambassadors, decided on the fate of vanquished nations, disposed of the governments of the provinces, and took cognizance, by appeal, in all crimes against the state. In great emergencies they appointed a dictator, with abso¬ lute authority. 21. At the period of the abolition of the regal government, the territory of the Romans was ex¬ tremely limited. The only use they made of their victories was to naturalize the inhabitants of some of the conquered states, and so increase their po¬ pulation. Thus their strength being always supe¬ rior to their enterprises, they laid a solid foundation for the future extension of their empire. 22. In the accounts given by historians of the strength of the armies, both of the Romans in those early times, and of the neighbouring states their enemies, we have every reason to believe there is much exaggeration. The territories from which those armies were furnished were incapable of supplying them. 23. In the continual wars in which the republic was engaged, the Romans were most commonly the aggressors. The causes of this seem to have been the ambition of the consuls to distinguish their short administration by some splendid enterprise, and the wish of the senate to give the people occu¬ pation, to prevent intestine disquiets. 24. The regal government subsisted two hundred and forty-four years, and in that time only seven kings reigned, several of whom died a violent death. These circumstances throw doubt on the authenticity of this period of the Roman history. * It has already been remarked, that the public works ascribed to the Tarquinii demonstrate a more advanced state of society than is consistent with the alleged time of the foundation of Rome. The chronology, also, of the later kings is palpably erroneous.— Ed. It is allowed that, for the five first centuries after the building of Rome, there were no historians. The first is Fabius Pictor, who lived during the second Punic war. Livy says that almost all the ancient records were destroyed when Rome was taken by the Gauls. 25.— ROME UNDER THE CONSULS. 1. The regal government being abolished, it was agreed to commit the supreme authority to two magistrates, who should be annually elected by the people from the patrician order. To these they gave the name of consules; “ a modest title,” says Vertot, “ which gave to understand that they were rather the counsellors of the republic than its so¬ vereigns; and that the only point they ought to have in view was its preservation and glory.” But, in fact, their authority differed scarcely in any thing from that of the kings. They had the su¬ preme administration of justice, the disposal of the public money, the power of convoking the senate, and assembling the people, raising armies, naming all the officers, and the right of making peace and war. The only difference was, that their authority was limited to a year. 2. The first consuls were Brutus, and Collatinus the husband of Lucretia. Tarquin was at this time in Etruria, where he had got two of the most powerful cities, Veii and Tarquinii, to espouse his cause. He had likewise his partizans at Rome; and a plot was formed to open the gates to receive him. It was detected ; and Brutus had the morti¬ fication to find his two sons in the number of the conspirators. He condemned them to be beheaded in his presence; Exult patrem ut consulem ageret; orbusque rivere, quam publicce xindictce deesse inaluit. Yal. Max. 3. The consul Valerius, successful in an engage¬ ment with the exiled Tarquin, was the first Roman who enjoyed the splendid reward of a triumph. Arrogant from his recent honours, his popularity began to decline ; and in the view of recovering it, he proposed the law termed from him the Valerian, which “ permitted any citizen who had been con¬ demned to death by a magistrate, or even to ba¬ nishment or scourging, to appeal to the people, and required their consent previously to the execution of the sentence.” This law gave the first blow to the aristocracy in the constitution of the Roman republic. 4. For thirteen years after the expulsion of Tar¬ quin the Romans were involved in continual wars on his account. Of these the most remarkable was that with the Etrurians, under Porsenna; a war fertile in exploits of romantic heroism. 5. Soon after this period began those domestic disorders, which continued long to embroil the re¬ public. Great complaints had arisen among the poorer classes of the citizens, both on account of the inequality of property from the partial distri¬ bution of the conquered lands, which the higher ranks generally contrived to engross to themselves, and from the harsh policy by which it was in the power of creditors to reduce to a state of slavery their insolvent debtors. As there was no legal restraint on usury, the poor, when once reduced to the necessity of contracting debts, were left en¬ tirely at the mercy of their creditors. These grievances, felt in common by a large proportion Lartius appointed dictator.—Tribunes ittqT'OT? V rilf Etn\T17 The form of government,, aristocratical at “b of the people and aediles appointed. xilol Urt x Ur xtUivlxj. the commencement of consular govern- of the citizens, excited much discontent, which, from complaints long disregarded, grew at length into a spirit of determined resistance. The wars required new levies; and the plebeians positively refused to enrol their names, unless the senate should put an end to their oppression, by decreeing at once an abolition of all the debts due by the poor to the rich. The emergency was critical, as the enemy was at the gates of Rome. The consuls found their authority of no avail ; for the Valerian law had given any citizen condemned by them a right of appeal to the people. An extraordinary measure was necessary, and a dictator was created for the first time; a magistrate who, for the period of six months, was invested with absolute and un¬ limited authority. Lartius, nominated to this high office, armed the twenty-four lictors with axes, summoned the whole people to the comitia, and calling over the names, under the penalty of death to any citizen who should dare to murmur, enrolled all such as he judged most fit for the service of their country. This expedient became hencefor¬ ward a frequent and certain resource in all seasons of public danger. 6. The death of Tarquin removed one check against the tyranny of the higher over the lower orders ; for the latter had hitherto kept alive a salutary apprehension, that, in case of extreme oppression, they would be under the necessity of calling back their king. When this fear was at an end, the domineering spirit of the patricians, ex¬ ceeding every bound both of good policy and human¬ ity, drove the people at length to deeds of mutiny and rebellion. An alarm from the enemy gave full weight to their power, and made the chief magis¬ trates of the state solemnly engage their honour to pi’ocure a redress of their grievances, as soon as the public danger was at an end. The promise, either from a failure of will or of power, was not fulfilled, and this violation of faith drove the people at length to extremities. Bound by their military oath not to desert their standards, they carried them along with them ; and the whole army, in military array, withdrew from Rome, and delibe¬ rately encamped on the Mons Sacer, at three miles distance from the city ; and here they were soon joined by the greatest part of the people. This resolute procedure had its desired effect. The senate deputed ten persons, the most respectable of their order, with plenary powers ; and these, seeing no medium of compromise, granted to the people all their demands. The debts were solemnly abo¬ lished ; and for the security of their privileges in future, they were allowed the right of choosing magistrates of their own order, who should have the power of opposing with effect every measure which they should judge prejudicial to their inte¬ rests. These were the Tribunes of the people, chosen annually ; at first five in number, and after¬ wards increased to ten. Without guards or tribunal, and having no seat in the senate-house, they had yet the power by a single veto, to suspend or annul the decrees of the senate and the sentences of the consuls. Their persons were declared sacred, but | their authority was confined to the limits of a mile j from the city. The tribunes demanded and obtained two magistrates to assist them, who were termed yEdiles, from the charge committed to them of the buildings of the city. 7. From this era (two hundred and sixty years from the foundation of Rome) we date the com¬ mencement of the popular constitution of the Ro¬ man republic ; a change operated by the unwise policy of the patricians themselves, who, by yield¬ ing to just complaints, and humanely redressing flagrant abuses, might have easily anticipated every ground of dissatisfaction. The first wish of the people was not power, but relief from tyranny and oppression ; and had this been readily granted them, if not by abolishing the debts, at least by repressing enormous usury, and putting an end to the inhuman right of corporeal punishment and the bondage of debtors, the people would have cheerfully returned to order and submission, and the Roman constitution have long remained what we have seen it was at the commencement of the consular government, aristocratical. But the ple¬ beians now obtaining magistrates of their own order with those high powers, we shall see it become the object of the magistrates to increase their authority by continual demands and bold encroachments. The people, regarding them as the champions of their rights, are delighted to find themselves gradually approaching to a level with the higher order ; and no longer bounding their desires to ease and secur¬ ity, are soon equally influenced by ambition as their superiors. While this people, borne down by in¬ justice, seek no more than the redress of real griev¬ ances, we sympathize with their feelings, and ap¬ plaud their spirited exertions ; but compassing at length the end they wished, attaining ease and security, nay, powder which they had neither sought nor expected ; when we see them, after this, in¬ creasing in their demands, assuming that arrogance they justly blamed in their superiors, goaded on by the ambition of their leaders to tyrannize in their turn ; we view with proper discrimination the love of liberty and its extreme licentiousness ; and treat with just detestation the authors of those pernicious measures which embroiled the state in endless fac¬ tion, and paved the way for the total loss of that liberty of which this deluded people knew not the value when they actually possessed it. 26.— THE LAW OF VOLERO. 1. The disorders of the commonwealth, appeased by the creation of the tribunes, were but for a time suspended. It was necessary that the popular magistrates should make an experiment of their powers. In an assembly of the people, one of the consuls, interrupted by a tribune, rashly said, that had the tribunes called that assembly, he would not have interrupted them. This was a concession on the part of the consuls, that the tribunes had the power of assembling the Comitia, which from that moment they assumed as their acknowledged right. It was a consequence of this right, that the affairs of the commonwealth should be agitated in those meetings, equally as in the assemblies held in virtue of a consular summons or senatorial de¬ cree, and thus there were, in a manner, two distinct legislative powers established in the republic. 2. The trial of Coriolanus for inconsiderately proposing the abolition of the Tribunate, an offence interpreted to be treason against the state, threw an additional weight into the scale of the people. The proposal of an Agrarian law, for the division of the lands acquired by recent conquests, resumed ment, by the law of Volero becomes demo- cratical.—The laws of the twelve tables. HISTORY OF ROME. Judicial forms and the practice of the law deduced from the twelve tables. 27 at intervals, though never carried into execution, inflamed the passions of the rival orders. 3. Publius Yolero, formerly a centurion, and a man distinguished for his military services, had, in the new levies, been ranked as a common soldier. Complaining of this unmerited degradation, he re¬ fused his services in that capacity : and the consuls having condemned him to corporal punishment, he appealed from their sentence to the people. The contest lasted till the annual term of elections, when Volero himself was chosen a tribune of the people. He had an ample revenge by procuring the enact¬ ment of a most important law. The comitia, by centuries and by curiae, could not be called but in virtue of a decree of the senate, after consulting the aruspices ; and in those comitia the tribunes had hitherto been elected, and the most important public affairs discussed. It was decreed by the law of Volero, that the election of the tribunes should be made, and the chief public business henceforward discussed, in the comitia held by tribes, which were unfettered by any of those re¬ straints. From this period, the supreme authority in the Roman republic may be considered as having passed completely from the higher order into the hands of the people. The Roman constitution was now plainly a democracy, 471 b.c. 27.—THE DECEMVIRATE. 1. The Romans had till this period no body of civil laws. Under the regal government the kings alone administered justice ; the consuls succeeded them in this high prerogative ; and thus possessed without control the absolute command of the for¬ tunes and civil rights of all the citizens. To re¬ medy this great defect, Terentillus, a tribune, pro¬ posed the nomination of ten commissioners, to frame and digest a code of laws for the explanation and security of the rights of all orders of the state. A measure so equitable ought to have met with no opposition. It was, however, strenuously though ineffectually opposed by the patricians, who, by a fruitless contest, only exposed their own weakness. The decemviri were chosen ; but the election being made in the comitia by centuries, the consul Appius Claudius, with his colleague, were at the head of this important commission. The laws were framed, those celebrated statutes known by the name of the Twelve Tables, which are the basis of the great structure of the Roman jurisprudence, 451 B.c.* * The first written law of which mention is made by the Roman jurists, is the collection of C. Papirius, a pontiff, (pontifex maximus,)not longafter the abolition of monarchy. Dionysius Halicarnasseus informs us, that Papirius had also brought to light the laws of Numa, then obsolete. This collection is known to the civil jurists as Jus Civile Papiria- num , upon which Granius Flaccus, a jurisprudent in the time of Caesar, made a commentary. All that has reached us of this collection and Granius’s Commentary, is a fragment of the latter preserved in Macrobius, Saturn, iii. 2. The laws ascribed to Romulus are spurious. The Decemviral Laws, or Laws of the Twelve Tables, were next introduced. Three legati, or commissioners, were sent into Greece, who brought back a report upon the laws and jurisprudence of Attica. This report or information being laid before the decemviri, they, by the assistance of an Ionian sophist, Hermodorus, framed ten, to which were almost im¬ mediately afterwards added two other laws. And these twelve laws contained so much of the regal laws or edicts as had not become obsolete, or were in conformity with ancient 2. An acquaintance with these ancient laws is therefore of importance. Even in the most flourish¬ ing times of the republic, they continued to be of the highest authority. They have the encomium of Ci¬ cero himself; and we learn from him, that to commit these laws to memory was an essential part of a li¬ beral education. From the twelve tables the juris- consulti composed a system of judicial forms, for the regulation of the different tribunals. The number of the laws was likewise from time to time increased by the Senatusconsulta and Plebiscita [which with the Edicts of the Praetors and JEdiles, the Responsa prudentum, l'escripts and imperial edicts augmented Roman jurisprudence, until it became of a vast bulk, and occasioned its being digested, systema¬ tized, and abridged, in the form it has been handed down to us by the emperor Justinian]. 3. The decemviri were invested with all the powers of government, for the consulate had ceased on their creation. Each decemvir by turn presided for a day, and had the sovereign authority, with its insignia, the fasces. The nine others officiated solely as judges in the determination of law-suits, and the correction of abuses. An abuse, however, of the most flagrant nature, committed by the chief of their own number, was destined speedily to bring their office to its termination. 4. Appius Claudius, inflamed by lawless passion for the young Virginia, the betrothed spouse of Icilius, formerly a tribune of the people, employed a profligate dependant to claim the maiden as his ow n property, on the false pretence of her being the daughter of one of his female slaves. The claim was made to the decemvir himself in judg¬ ment, who pronounced an infamous decree, which tore from her family this helpless victim, and put her into the hands of his own minion. Her father, to save the honour of his child, plunged a dagger custom then in use; indeed, one of the laws of Romulus concerning the patria potestas, is said to have been incorpo¬ rated in the new law, which, from its promulgation, impliedly revoked all former laws. These twelve laws were approved of in a full assembly of both orders of the people (centuriis comitiatis). For their extraordinary simple and elegant bre¬ vity, they have been commended by Cicero; and Livy re¬ marks, in contrasting them with the bulky state of written jurisprudence, that, in his time, they constituted the well- spring of public and private rights. (Livy, iii. 34 ; Cicero de Oratore, i. 44.) The historical fact of the legation into Greece is questioned by Gibbon; but Butler (in his Horae Juridicae Subsecivm), Niebuhr, and Dr. Arnold, all concur in treating this portion of the history of the twelve tables as authentic. These laws, after approval, were inscribed or painted on whited oaken boards, or “ tables,” whence their name, as, indeed, Dionysius Halicarnasseus relates the laws of Ancus Martius to have been, and hung up in the Capitol; but these tables being destroyed when the city was burnt by the Gauls, they were replaced by others compiled from memory (Livy, vi. 1), and from copies, and ultimately, for the sake of pre¬ servation, they were engraven on brazen tablets, and hung before the rostra, in the Capitol; and in this state they existed till the sixth century of the Christian era The laws of the twelve tables were given entire in the text of the commentaries of Caius, extant in the reign of Justinian ; but this book having perished, nothing remains of the twelve tables save the fragments preserved in the digests and the works of those jurists referred to by Heineccius , in his Anti- quitatum Romatiarum jurisprudentium illuslrantium Syn¬ tagma, especially Gravina, wherein they may be traced in somewhat a distinct form.— Ed. 'Die decern viral magistracy abolished. Appius condemned for his injustice. HISTORY OF ROME. into her breast ; and the people, witnesses of this shocking scene, would have massacred Appius on the spot, had he not found means to escape amidst the tumult. Their vengeance, however, was sati¬ ated by the instant abolition of this hated magis¬ tracy, and by the death of Appius, who [according to Livy] chose by his own hand to prevent the stroke of the executioner*. The decemvirate had subsisted for three years. The consuls were now restored, together with the tribunes of the people, 449 b.c. 28. -INCREASE OF THE POPULAR POWER. 1. The scale of the people was daily acquiring weight, at the expense of that of the highest order. Two barriers, however, still separated the patri¬ cians and plebeians; the one, a law which pre¬ vented their intermarriage, and the other, the con¬ stitutional limitation of all the higher offices to the order of the patricians. It was now only necessary to remove these restraints, and the patricians and plebeians were on a footing of perfect equality. The first, after a long but fruitless contest, was at length agreed to by the senate ; and this concession had its usual effect of stimulating the people to inflexible perseverance in their struggle for the latter. On an emergence of war, the customary device was practised of refusing to enter the rolls, unless upon the immediate enactment of a law, which should admit their capacity of holding all the offices of the republic. The senate sought a palliative, by the creation of six military tribunes in lieu of the consuls, three of whom should be patricians, and three plebeians. This measure satisfied the people for a time: the consuls, how¬ ever, were soon restored. 2. The disorders of the republic, and frequent wars, had interrupted the regular survey of the citizens. This was remedied by the creation of a new magistracy. Two officers, under the title of censors were appointed (437 b. c.), whose duty was not only to make the census every five years, but to inspect the morals and regulate the duties of all the citizens; an office of dignity equal to its im¬ portance, exercised in the latter times of the re¬ public only by consular persons, and afterwards annexed to the supreme function of the emperor. 3. The dissensions between the orders continued with little variation either in their causes or effects. The people generally, as the last resource, refused to enrol themselves till overawed by the supreme authority of a dictator. To obviate the frequent necessity of this measure, which enforced at best an unwilling and compelled obedience, the senate had recourse to a wise expedient; this was to give a regular pay to the troops. To defray this ex¬ pense, a moderate tax was imposed in proportion to the fortunes of the citizens. From this period the Roman system of war assumed a new aspect. The senate always found soldiers at command ; the army was under its control; the enterprises of the republic were more extensive, and its successes more signal and important. Yeii, the proud rival of Rome, and its equal in extent and population, * The probability is, that he was put to death in prison, much in the same way that Cethegus and Lentulus (accom¬ plices of Catilina) were disposed of, to prevent the uproar arising from an appeal to the people.—E d. Censors appointed.—Wars with the Veien- tes.—Burning of Rome by the Gauls. was taken by Camillas, after a siege of ten years, a.u.c. 396. The art of war was improved, as it now became a profession, instead of an occasional occupation. The Romans were, from this circum¬ stance, an overmatch for all their neighbours. Their dominion, hitherto confined to the territory of a few miles, was now rapidly extended. It was impossible but the detached states of Italy must have given way before a people always in arms, and who, by a perseverance alike resolute and ju¬ dicious, were equal to every attempt in which they engaged. 4. The taking of Yeii was succeeded by a war with the Gauls. This people, a branch of the great nation of the Keltse [who now first appear in his¬ tory], had opened to themselves a passage through the Alps at four different periods, and were at this time established in the country between those mountains and the Apennines. Under the com¬ mand of Brennus, they laid siege to the Etruscan Clusium ; and this people, of no warlike turn them¬ selves, solicited the aid of the Romans. The cir¬ cumstances recorded of this war with the Gauls throw over it a cloud of fable and romance. The formidable power of Rome is said to have been in a single campaign so utterly exhausted, that the Gauls entered the city without resistance, and burnt it to the ground, 385 b.c. [The citizens fled to Veii, while the Capitol was held by a garrison, who held out till Brennus was induced to accept a thousand pounds’ weight of gold.] Though thus overpowered, the Romans, in a single engagement, retrieve all their losses, and in one day’s time there is not a Gaul left remaining within the Roman territory *. To the burning of the city by the Gauls the Roman writers attribute the loss of all the records and monuments of their early history. [These consisted chiefly of events inscribed on whitened boards or tables by the pontiff, and hung up in the Capitol +.] 5. It is singular, that most of the Roman revo¬ lutions should have owed their origin to women. From this cause we have seen spring the abolition of the regal office and the decemvirate. From this cause arose the change of the constitution, by which the plebeians became capable of holding the highest offices of the commonwealth. The younger daughter of Fabius Ambustus, married to a ple¬ beian, envious of the honours of her elder sister, the wife of a patrician, stimulated her father to rouse the lower order to a resolute purpose of asserting their equal right with the patricians to all the offices and dignities of the state. After much turbulence and contest, the final issue was the admission of the plebeians, first to the con¬ sulate, and afterwards to the censorship, the prse- torship, and priesthood, 454 a.u.c., and 300 b.c. ; * There is more than one corruption of the true story of the retreat of the Gauls. The story alluded to in the text is,* that Rome was not ransomed, for Camillus appeared while the gold was being weighed out, and put the Gauls to the rout, which is a fabrication. Another version of the affair is, that as the Gauls were on their march homewards, they were destroyed by an ambush, and the whole party cut off. There is also some improbability in the statement, that the desperate party who garrisoned the capitol held out so long as six months.—E d. f See note p. 27. Samnitewar.—Origin of wars with TiTCT'mjv m? txvaat? Constitution of Carthaginian republic. Carthage.—History of Carthage. nloiOrvx Ur ltUiVlLi. Early settlements of Carthaginians. ^9 a change beneficial in the main, as consolidating the strength of the republic, and cutting oft" the principal source of intestine disorder. The factions of the state had hitherto confined the growth of its power, its splendour, and prosperity; for no state can at once be prosperous and anarchical. We shall now mark the rapid elevation of the Roman name and empire. 29.— CONQUEST OF ITALY BY THE ROMANS. 1. The war with the Samnites now began [343 B.c.], and was of long continuance; but its success¬ ful termination [after a struggle of more than fifty years, 290 b.c.] was speedily followed by the reduc¬ tion of all the states of Italy. In the course of this important war the Tarentines, the allies of the Samnites, sought the aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epi¬ rus, one of the greatest generals of his age. Pyr¬ rhus landed in Italy with thirty thousand men, and a train of elephants, 280 b.c. He was at first successful, but no longer so than till a short experience reconciled the Romans to a new mode of war. Sensible at length of the difficulties of his enterprise, and dreading a fatal issue, he embraced an invitation from the Sicilians to aid them in a war with Carthage. On this pretext, which at least was not dishonourable, Pyrrhus withdrew his troops from Italy. In this interval the Romans reduced the Samnites, the Tarentines, and the other allied states to extremity. Pyrrhus returned, and made a last effort near Beneventum. He was totally defeated, lost twenty-six thousand men, and, aban¬ doning at once all further views to Italy, returned with precipitation to his own dominions, 274 b.c. The hostile states submitted to the victorious power; and Rome, four hundred and eighty years from the foundation of the city, was now mistress of all Italy. 2. The policy observed by the Romans, with respect to the conquered nations, was wise and judicious. They removed to Rome all the leading men of the principal conquered cities, admitting these into the ancient urban and rustic tribes, and thus soothing the pride of the vanquished, by giving them an apparent share in them own domestic go¬ vernment ; while, in arranging the constitution of the cities, they filled their magistracies with illus¬ trious Romans, whose abilities and influence were fitted to maintain these new provinces in allegiance to the Roman government. 3. Sicily had long been considered as the granary of Italy. The Carthaginians at this time possessed very considerable settlements in the island, and were ambitious of acquiring its entire dominion. An obvious policy led the Romans to dispute with them this important acquisition, and gave rise to the Punic wars. This leads, by a natural connex¬ ion, to a short view of the history of Carthage and of Sicily. 30.— HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 1. Carthage [a city or state on the coast of Afri¬ ca, near the modern city of Tunis], according to the most probable accounts, was founded by a colony of Tyrians, about seventy years before the building of Rome*. The colony had the same language, * To state the foundation of Carthage as being in the year of the world 3119, and one hundred and thirty before the the same or nearly similar laws and constitution, the same national character with the parent state. The city of Carthage was, at the period of the Punic* wars, one of the most splendid in the uni¬ verse, and had under its dominion three hundred of the smaller cities of Africa bordering on the Mediterranean sea. 2. The constitution of the republic is celebrated by Aristotle as one of the most perfect of the go¬ vernments of antiquity ; but we know little more than its general nature from ancient writers. Two magistrates, named suffetes [or judges], annually chosen, seem to have possessed powers akin to those of the Roman consuls; as did the Carthagi¬ nian senate to that of the senate of Rome; with this remarkable difference, that in the former, unanimity of opinion was requisite in all measures of importance. A divided senate [or council of one hundred] transmitted the business to the as¬ sembly of the people. A tribunal [or court] of one hundred and four judges [elected by the public at large], took cognizance of military operations and of the conduct of their generals. A superior coun¬ cil of five seems to have controlled the decisions of the larger tribunals f. Two peculiarities of the Carthaginian policy have been censured by Aristo¬ tle. One was, that the same person might hold several employments or offices in the state; the other, that the poor were debarred from all offices of trust or importance. But the former of these is frequently both expedient and necessary, and the latter seems agreeable to the soundest policy; for in offices of trust poverty offers too powerful an incitement to deviation from duty. 3. The first settlements made by the Carthagi¬ nians were entirely in the way of commerce. Trad¬ ing to the coast of Spain for gold, they built Car- thagena and Gad'es ; and coasting along the west¬ ern shore of Africa, they had establishments for the same purpose as far as the 25th degree of N. latitude. The Periplus of Hanno J affords a proof founding of Rome, is deemed the more correct chronology.— Ed. * So called from the Pceni, or Phenicians, from whom the Carthaginians were descended.—E d. t Dr. Arnold, in his History of Rome, chap, xxxix., has minutely described the constitution and mode of government of the Carthaginians, in which the people seemed to possess hut little power; the system was aristocratical, hut during the wars with the Romans it became more democratical.— Ed. f This nep£ 7 r\ow is the narrative of an expedition or voyage of discovery directed by the Carthaginians, and under¬ taken (as Pliny informs us) at a period when Carthage was in the most flourishing state. But Hanno’s narrative, al¬ though very short, has been interpolated; for both Pliny and Strabo notice that, in his account, he narrates the foundation of a colony at a place which never had existence. So that it -seems uncertain whether this Periplus was, in fact, written by Hanno, although there is no doubt that some voyage of discovery was undertaken by him. Peripli, or voyages of discovery, appear to have been favourite objects with the Carthaginians, for this Periplus , the description of which is attributed to Hanno, was undertaken, according to Pliny, at the same time that Himilcowas sent to explore the coasts of Europe. If Pliny is to be relied upon, the period of Hanno’s circumnavigation is ascertained with some degree of correct¬ ness; for in the war with Agathocles of Syracuse, there were two commanders or admirals, viz. Hanno and Himilco. How¬ ever, as several noble Carthaginians bore those names, the I age of Hanno’s Periplus has been as great a subject of dis- HISTORY OF ROME. First Funic or Carthaginian war. The first naval engagement.—Regulus. History of Sicily. Dionysius of Syracuse. of ardent enterprise and policy. Desirous of ex¬ tending a limited territory, they armed against the Mauritanians, Numidians, and all the neighbouring nations: employing mercenary troops, which they levied not ouly in Africa, but in Spain, the Gauls, and Greece. 4. The annals of the Carthaginian state are but little known till their wars with the Romans. The first of their wars mentioned in history is that with the Greek colonies of Sicily. Darius courted their alliance when he meditated the conquest of Greece, and Xerxes renewed that treaty when he followed out the designs of his father. 31.— HISTORY OF SICILY. 1. The early periods of the history of Sicily are no less unknown than those of Carthage. The Phoenicians had sent colonies thither before the Trojan war. The Greeks, in after times, made considerable settlements in the island. The Co¬ rinthians founded Syracuse, which became the most illustrious of the Greek cities of Sicily; and from Syracuse arose afterwards Agrigen'tum, Acra, Casmene *, Camarene, and several other Sicilian towns. 2. The government of Syracuse was monarchi¬ cal, and might long have remained so, had all its sovereigns inherited the abilities and the virtues of Gelon. But his successors, exercising the worst of tyranny, compelled their subjects at length to abo¬ lish the regal government; and their example was speedily followed by all the Grecian states of Sicily. 3. The monarchy of Syracuse, howevei’, was revived about sixty years after, in the person of Dionysius, a man of obscure origin, but of signal ability. Twice expelled for a tyrannical exercise of dominion, he as often found means to overpower his enemies, and re-establish himself in the throne. At his death, the crown passed without opposition to his son, Dionysius the Younger, a weak and capricious tyrant, whom his subjects, judging un¬ worthy to reign, dethroned and banished, 357 b.c. The crown was conferred on Dion, his brother-in- law : but this prince, whose amiable character rendered him the delight of his people, after a short reign, fell a victim to treason. Aided by the distractions of Syracuse consequent on this event, Dionysius remounted the throne ten years after his expulsion; but his tyrannical disposition, height¬ ened by his misfortunes, became at length so intole¬ rable, that he was expelled a second time, 343 b.c., and banished to Corinth, where he ended his days in poverty and obscurity. The author of this revo¬ lution was the illustrious Timoleon, to whose abili¬ ties and virtues his country owed equally its liberty and its subsequent happiness and prosperity. sertation as the age of Scylax of Caryanda, who seems to b? identified as the Scylax mentioned in Herodotus, iv. 42, notwithstanding Dodwell and Vossius assume the negative. Scylax is said to have deduced some of his intelligence from peripli more ancient than the one ascribed to Hanno. With respect to these questions, and the numerous disquisitions to which they have given rise, the studious reader is referred to Dodwell’s Dissertation, in the first volume of Hudson’s Geogr. veteris Script. Minores, 8vo. Oxon. 1698, Id. Paris, 1826 (ed. Gail); and Larcher’s Notes on Herodotus, (ed. Coo¬ ley,) iv. 82-88, bond. 1844 .—Ed. * Comiso. The signal opposition of national character be¬ tween the Romans and Carthaginians may be easily accounted for, when we attend to the effects of a commercial life on the genius and manners of a nation. The vices of a commercial people are sel¬ fishness, cunning, avarice, with an absence of every heroic and patriotic virtue. The favourable effects of commerce are industry, frugality, general cour¬ tesy of manners, improvement in the useful arts. Attending to these consequences of the prevalence of the commercial spirit, we shall see the principal features of the Carthaginian character opposed to the Roman. 32.— THE PUNIC WARS. 1. The triumph which the Romans had obtained over Pyrr'hus, seemed to give assurance of success in any enterprise in which they should engage. The Mamer'tines, a people of Campania [a merce¬ nary body of soldiers, employed in the wars of Agathocles], obtained aid from the Romans in an unjustifiable attempt which they made to seize Messena, a Sicilian town allied to Syracuse. The Syracusans, at first assisted by the Carthaginians, opposed this invasion; but the former, more alarmed by the ambitious encroachments of the Carthagi¬ nians on Sicily, soon repented of this rash alliance, and joined the Romans in the purpose of expelling the Carthaginians entirely from the island. In fact, the Sicilians seem to have had only the desperate choice of final submission either to Rome or Car¬ thage. They chose the former as the alternative least dishonourable. The Romans had ever been their friends [as well as purchasers of their corn], the Carthaginians their enemies. 2. Agrigentum, possessed by the Carthaginians, was taken, after a long siege, by the joint forces of Rome and Syracuse and a Roman fleet, the first they ever had, and equipped in a few weeks, gained a complete victory over that of Carthage, at this time the greatest maritime power in the world, 260 B.c. These successes w r ere followed by the reduction of Corsica and Sardinia. In a second naval engagement, the Romans took from the Car¬ thaginians sixty of their ships of war, and now resolutely prepared for the invasion of Africa. The consul Reg'ulus commanded the expedition. He advanced to the gates of Carthage : and such was the general consternation, that the enemy proposed a capitulation. Inspirited, however, by a timely aid of Greek troops under Xantip'pus, the Cartha¬ ginians made a desperate effort, and defeating the Roman army made Reg'ulus their prisoner. But repeatedly defeated in Sicily, they were at length seriously desirous of a peace ; and the Roman gene¬ ral was sent with their ambassadors to Rome to aid the negotiation, under a solemn oath to return to Carthage as a prisoner, should the treaty fail. It was rejected at the urgent desire of Reg'ulus him¬ self, w'ho thus sacrificed his life to what he judged the interest of his country *. 3. Lilybaeum, the strongest of the Sicilian towns belonging to Carthage, was taken after a siege of * It has been stated that the Carthaginians put him to death by torture; but the more probable cause of his death was the miseries of imprisonment. Regulus himself stated to the senate that he felt he could not live long.—En. Second Carthaginian war.—Defeat of the ttt Q'T’OT? V Romans at Canute.—Archimedes killed lilolUiv i nine years. After some alternate successes, two naval battles won by the Romans terminated the war ; and Carthage at last obtained a peace, on the humiliating terms of abandoning to the Romans all her possessions in Sicily, the payment of three thousand two hundred talents of silver, the resti¬ tution of all prisoners without ransom, and a solemn engagement never to make war against Syracuse or her allies. The island of Sicily was now declared a Roman province, though Syracuse maintained her independent government, a.u.c. 511, and 241 b.c. 4. The peace between Rome and Carthage was of twenty-three years duration. The latter power was recruiting her strength and meditating to re¬ venge her losses and disgrace. The second Punic war began on the part of the Carthaginians, who besieged Sagun'tum, a city of Spain in alliance with the Romans. The young Han'nibal took Saguntum, after a siege of seven months ; the desperate inha¬ bitants setting fire to the town, and perishing amidst the flames. Hannibal now formed the bold design of carrying the war into Italy. He provided against every difficulty, gained to his interest a part of the Gallic tribes, passed the Pyrenees, and finally the Alps *, in a toilsome march of five months and a half from his leaving Carthagena ; and arrived in Italy with twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse . 5. In the first engagement the Romans were defeated, and they lost two other important battles at Tre'bia and the lake Thrasyme'nus. In the lat¬ ter of these the consul Flaminius was killed, and his army cut to pieces. Hannibal advanced to Cannae, in Apudia ; and the Romans there opposing him with their whole force, a memorable defeat ensued, in which forty thousand were left dead upon the field, and amongst these the consul iEmilius, and almost the whole body of the Roman knights. Had Hannibal taken advantage of this gi'eat victory, by instantly attacking Rome, the fate of the republic was inevitable ; but he deliberated, [led his forces to Capua, where his soldiers became enervated and debauched,] and the occasion was lost. The Ro¬ mans concentrated all their strength; even the slaves armed in the common cause, and victory once more attended the standards of the republic. Philip, [the second] king of Macedon, joined his forces to the Carthaginians, but, defeated by Lsevi'nus, speed¬ ily withdrew his assistance. Hannibal retreated before the brave Marcellus. Syracuse had now taken part with Carthage, and thus paved the way for the loss of her own liberty. Marcellus besieged the city, which was long defended by the inventive genius of Archime'des, but taken in the third year by escalade in the night [and Archim'edes was * The passage of Hannibal over the Alps lias been lately il¬ lustrated, in a most learned and ingenious essay, by Mr. Whit¬ taker (the celebrated historian of Manchester, and vindicator of queen Mary), who has, with great acuteness, traced every step of the Carthaginian general, from his crossing the Rhone to his final arrival in Italy. [The most probable route is that of the little St. Bernard; and two subsequent dissertators, Cramer and Wickham, offer many reasons in support of that probability. However, Hannibal’s march across the Alps has been the subject of numerous dissertations. Mount Generve and Mount Cenis are the only two other probable routes, and Dr. Arnold’s opinion inclines to the latter.— Ed.] t The numerical force is stated differently by other autho¬ rities.—E d. OF POMF at Syracuse.—Third war with Carthage. Q1 ui xxuiviri. —Greece conquered by the Romans. slain by a common soldier on the storming of the city]. This event put an end to the kingdom of Syracuse, which now became a part of the Roman province of Sicily, a.u.c. 542 212 b.c. 6. While the war in Italy was prosperously con¬ ducted by the great Fabius, who, by constantly avoiding a general engagement, found the true me¬ thod of weakening his enemy, the younger Scipio accomplished the entire reduction of Spain. As- drubal was sent into Italy to the aid of his brother Hannibal, but was defeated by the consul Claudius, and slain in battle. Scipio, triumphant in Spain, passed over into Africa, and carried havoc and de- vestation to the gates of Carthage. Alarmed for the fate of their empire, the Carthaginians hastily recalled Hannibal from Italy. The battle of Zama decided the fate of the war, by the utter defeat of the Carthaginians. They entreated a peace, which the Romans gave on these conditions : That the Carthaginians should abandon Spain, Sicily, and all the islands ; surrender all their prisoners, give up the whole of their fleet except ten galleys, pay ten thousand talents, and, in future, undertake no war without the consent of the Romans, 552 a.u.c. 202. b.c. 7. Every thing now concurred to swell the pride of the conquerors, and to extend their dominion. A war with Philip of Macedon was terminated by his defeat; and his son Demetrius was sent to Rome as a hostage for the payment of a heavy tri¬ bute imposed on the vanquished. A war with An- tfochus, king of Syria, ended in his ceding to the Romans the whole of the Lesser Asia. But these splendid conquests, while they enlarged the empire, were fatal to its virtues, and subversive of the pure and venerable simplicity of ancient times. 8. The third Punic war began a.u.c. G05, b.c. 149, and ended in the ruin of Carthage. An un¬ successful war with the Numidians had reduced the Carthaginians to great weakness, and the Romans meanly laid hold of that opportunity to invade Africa. Conscious of their utter inability to resist this for¬ midable power, the Carthaginians offered every submission, and consented even to acknowledge themselves the subjects of Rome. The Romans demanded three hundred hostages, for the strict performance of every condition that should be enjoined by the senate. The hostages were given; and the condition required was, that Carthage itself should be rased to its foundation. Despair gave courage to this miserable people, and they deter¬ mined to die in defence of their native city, b.c. 1G8. But the noble effort was in vain [although the Romans were frequently repulsed during the first two years of the siege]. Carthage was taken by storm, its inhabitants massacred, and the city burnt to the ground [under Scip'io JEmilianus, the adopted son of Scipio Africanus, and the scholar of Polybius], a.u.c. 607, b.c. 146. 9. The same year was signalized by the entire reduction of Greece under the dominion of the Romans. This was the era of the dawn of luxury and taste at Rome, the natural fruit of foreign wealth, and an acquaintance with foreign manners. In the unequal distribution of this important wealth, the vices to which it gave rise, the corruption and venality of which it became the instrument, we see the remoter causes of those fatal disorders to which the republic owed its dissolution. 32 The sedition of the Gracchi.—The Jugurthine war. — The proscrip- HISTORY OF ROME. 33.— THE GRACCHI AND THE CORRUPTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH. 1. At this period arose Tiberius and Caius Grac'- clius, two noble youths, whose zeal to reform the growing corruptions of the state precipitated them at length into measures destructive of all govern¬ ment and social order. Tiberius, the elder of the brothers, urged the people to assert by force the revival of ail ancient law, for limiting property in land, and thus abridging the overgrown estates of the patricians., [During his tribuneship he procured the constitution of the Triumviri or public officers appointed to enquire into the state of the public lands applicable for Agrarian division, and to re¬ port upon the violations of the Licinian law, which prohibited the occupation by any one person of more than five hundred acres of public land, B.c. 132, and on the occasion of his seeking to be re-elected.] A tumult was the consequence, in which Tiberius, with three hundred of his friends, were killed in the forum. This fatal example did not deter his bro¬ ther Caius Gracchus from pursuing a similar career of zeal or of ambition. After some successful ex¬ periments of his power, while in the office of tri¬ bune, he directed his scrutiny into the corruptions of the senate, and prevailed in depriving that body of its constitutional control over all the inferior magistrates of the state. Employing, like his bro¬ ther, the dangerous engine of tumultuary force, he fell a victim to it himself, with three thousand of his partisans, who were slaughtered in the streets of Rome [b.c. 120.] The tumults attending the se¬ dition of the Gracchi were the prelude to those civil disorders which now followed in quick succes¬ sion to the end of the commonwealth. 2. The circumstances attending the war with Jugurtha gave decisive proof of the corruption of the Roman manners. Jugurtha, grandson of Ma- sinissa, sought to usurp the crown of Numidia by destroying his cousins, Hiemp'sal and Ad'herbal, the sons of the last king. He murdered the elder of the brothers; and the younger applying for aid to Rome, Jugurtha bribed the senate, who declared him innocent of all culpable act or design, and de¬ creed to him the sovereignty of half the kingdom. This operated only as an incentive to his criminal ambition. He declared open war against his cou¬ sin, besieged him in his capital of Cirta, and finally put him to death. To avert a threatened war, Ju¬ gurtha went in person to Rome, pleaded his own cause in the senate, and once more by bribery * se¬ cured his acquittal from all charge of criminality. Perseverance, however, in a similar train of con¬ duct [(the assassination of his cousin Massiva at Rome, whom he feared would, as a nephew of Ma- sinissa, be raised to the throne of Numidia, as the rightful heir)], finally drew on him the vengeance of the Romans; and being betrayed into their hands by his own father-in-law [Bocc'hus king of Mauri¬ tania], he was brought in chains to Rome, to grace the triumph of the consul Marius, confined in a dungeon, and starved to death, a.u.c. 651, B.c. 103. 3. The ambition of the allied states of Italy to attain the rights of citizenship produced the Social * On his leaving Rome, by command of the senate, who were indignant at his having caused Massiva to be assassi¬ nated, Sallust describes Jugurtha as remarking Rome to be “ Urbem venalcm et mature perituram si emtorem invenerit.” tions of Sylla and Marius.—Catiline’s conspiracy.—Lepidus, Pompey, Caesar. war, which ended in a concession of those rights to such of the confederates as should return peaceably to their allegiance, b.c. 87. This war with the al¬ lies was a prelude to that which followed between Rome and her own citizens. SylTa and Marius, rivals, and thence enemies, were at this time the leaders of the republic. Syl'la, commanding in a war against Mithridates was superseded, and re¬ called from Asia. He refused to obey the mandate; and found his army well disposed to support him. “ Let us march to Rome,” said they, with one voice; “ lead us on to avenge the cause of oppressed li¬ berty.” Sylla accordingly led them on, and they entered Rome sword in hand : Marius and his partisans fled with precipitation from the city, and Sylla ruled for a while triumphant. But the faction of his rival soon recovered strength. Marius re¬ turning to Italy, and joining his forces to those of Cinna, his zealous partisan, laid siege to Rome; and while Sylla was engaged in the Mithridatic war, compelled the city to absolute submission. After a horrible massacre of all whom they esteemed their enemies, Marius and Cinna proclaimed them¬ selves consuls, without the formality of an election; but Marius died a few days after in a fit of debauch [b.c. 86]. 4. After a victorious campaign in Asia, Sylla re¬ turned to Italy [b. c. 83], and joined by Cetlie'gus, Verres, and the young Pompey, gave battle to the party of his enemies, and entirely defeated them. His entry into Rome was signalised by a dreadful massacre, and a proscription which had for its ob¬ ject the extermination of every enemy whom he had in Italy. Elected dictator for an unlimited period [b.c. 81], he was now without a rival in authority, and absolute master of the government, which, of course, was substantially no longer a republic. In the exercise of his dominion he deserved more praise than in the means of ac¬ quiring it. He restored the senate to its judicial authority, regulated the election to all the import¬ ant offices of state, and enacted many excellent laws against oppression, and the abuse of power. Finally, he gave demonstration, if not of a pure conscience, at least of a magnanimous intrepidity of character, by voluntarily resigning all command [at the end of three years], retiring to the condi¬ tion of a private citizen, and offering publicly to give an account of his conduct. He died within a short time after his resignation [b. c. 77]:—a man certainly of great strength of mind, and who had some of the qualities of an heroic character ; but he lived in evil times, when it was impossible at once to be great and to be virtuous. 5. The death of Syl'la renewed the civil war. Lep'idus, a man of mean abilities, aspired to suc¬ ceed him in power ; and Pompey, with superior talents, cherished the same ambition. While the latter was employed in the reduction of the re¬ volted provinces of Asia, the conspiracy of Catiline threatened the entire destruction of Rome. It was extinguished by the provident zeal and active pa¬ triotism of the consul Cicero ; and Catiline himself, with his chief accomplices, were attacked in the field, and defeated by Antonius. The traitor made a desperate defence, and died a better death than his crimes had merited. 6. Julius Caesar now rose into public notice. Sylla dreaded his abilities and ambition, and had numbered him among the proscribed. “ There is Caesar in Gaul.—The first triumvirate. Crassus slain in the Parthian War. UTOfruT) v np t) i? Civil war. Caesar passes the Rubicon. ITlolUKx Ur JiUlvlL. Pompey defeated at Pharsalia. 33 many a Marius,” said he, “ in the person of that young man.” He had learned prudence from the danger of his situation, and tacitly courted popula¬ rity without that show of enterprise which gives alarm to a rival. While Pompey and Crassus con¬ tended for the command of the republic, Caesar, who knew that by attaching himself to either rival, he infallibly made the other his enemy, showed the reach of his talents by reconciling them, and thus acquiring the friendship of both. From favour to their mutual friend, they agreed to a partition of power, and thus was formed the first Triumvirate. Caesar was elected consul. He increased his popu¬ larity by a division of lands among the poorer citizens, and strengthened his interest with Pompey, by giving him his daughter in marriage. He had the command of four legions, and the government of Transalpine Gaul and Illyria. 7. The military glory of the republic, and the reputation of Caesar, were nobly sustained in Gaul. In the first year of his government he subdued the Helvetii, who, leaving their own country, had at¬ tempted to settle themselves in the better regions of the Roman provinces. He totally defeated the Germans under Ariovistus, who had attempted a similar invasion. The Belgae, the Nervii, the Keltic Gauls, the Suevi, Menapii, and other war¬ like nations, were all successively brought under subjection. In the fourth year of his government he transported his army into Britain. Landing at Deal, he was opposed by the natives with equal courage and military skill. He gained, however, several advantages, and binding the Britons to submission, withdrew on the approach of winter into Gaul. He returned in the following summer with a greater force, and prosecuting his victories, reduced a considerable portion of the island under the Roman dominion, b.c. 54. But the pressure of affairs in Italy suspended for a time the progress of the Roman arms in Britain. Caesar dreaded the abilities of Cicero, who had opposed him in his views of ambition. By the machinations of his partisans, while himself absent in Gaul, he procured the banishment of Cicero, and the confiscation of liis estates, on the pretence of illegal measures pursued in the suppression of the conspiracy of Catiline*. During an exile of six¬ teen months in Greece, Cicero gave way to a de¬ spondency of mind utterly unworthy of the philo¬ sopher. Pompey had abandoned him, and this ungrateful desertion bore most heavily upon his mind : but Pompey himself, in the wane of his reputation, soon became desirous to prop his own sinking fortunes by the abilities of Cicero, and eagerly promoted his recall from exile. The death of Crassus, in an expedition against the Parthians, (b.c. 54) now dissolved the Triumvirate; and Ciesar and Pompey, whose union had no other bond than interest, [(for Julia, Csesar’s daughter, married to Pompey, had died)] began each to con¬ ceive separately the view of undivided dominion. 34.— PROGRESS OF THE CIVIL WARS-SECOND TRIUM¬ VIRATE-AND FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. 1. The ambition of Ciesar and of Pompey had now evidently the same object ; and it seemed to * The putting Lentulus to death without trial, which, ac¬ cording to Plutarch, in his life of Cicero, was done by his express command.—E d. be the only question in those degenerate times to which of these aspiring leaders the republic should surrender its liberties. The term of Csesar’s go¬ vernment was near expiring ; but to secure himself against a deprivation of power, he procured a pro¬ posal to be made in the senate by one of his parti¬ sans, which wore the appearance of great modera¬ tion, namely, that Csesar and Pompey should either both continue in their governments, or both be de¬ prived of them, as they were equally capable of endangering the public liberty by an abuse of power. The motion passed ; and Ciesar immediately offered to resign, on condition that his rival should do so ; but Pompey rejected the accommodation ; the term of his government had yet several years’ duration, and he suspected the proposal to be a snare laid for him by Ciesar. He resolved to maintain his right by force of arms, and a civil war was the necessary consequence. The consuls and a great part of the senate were the friends of Pompey. Csesar had on his side a victorious army, consisting of ten legions, and the body of the Roman citizens, whom he had won by his liberality. Mark Antony and Cassius, at that time tribunes of the people, left Rome, and repaired to Csesar’s camp. 2. The senate, apprehensive of his designs, pro¬ nounced a decree, branding with the crime of par¬ ricide any commander who should dare to pass the Rubicon (the boundary between Italy and the Gauls) with a single cohort, without their permis¬ sion. Csesar infringed the prohibition, and marched straight to Rome. Pompey, to whom the senate committed the defence of the state, had no army. He quitted Rome, followed by the consuls and a part of the senate, and endeavoured hastily to levy troops over all Italy and Greece ; while Ciesar triumphantly entered the city amidst the acclama¬ tions of the people, seized the public treasury, and possessed himself of the supreme authority without opposition. Having secured the capital of the empire, he set out to take the field against his enemies ; [and Pompey sailed from Brundusium to Greece, thus abandoning Italy, but] the lieutenants of Pompey had possession of Spain. Ciesar marched thither, and subdued the whole country in the space of forty days. He returned victorious to Rome, where, in his absence, he had been nominated dictator. In the succeeding election of magistrates he was chosen consul, and thus invested, by a double title, with the right of acting in the name of the republic. Pompey had by this time raised a numerous army, and Ciesar was anxious to bring him to a decisive engagement. He joined him in Illyria, [after enduring great hardships in crossing the sea, and losing part of his fleet on its return to Italy,] and the first conflict was of doubtful issue ; but leading on his army to Macedonia, where they found a large reinforcement, he gave battle to Pompey in the field of Pharsalia, and entirely de¬ feated him. Fifteen thousand were slain, and twenty-four thousand surrendered themselves pri- ' soners to the victor, a. u. c. 705, b.c. 49. 3. The fate of Pompey was miserable in the ex¬ treme. With his wife Cornelia*, the companion of his misfortunes, he fled to Egypt in a single ship, trusting to the protection of Ptolemy, whose father had owed to him his settlement on the throne. * Pompey’s first wife was Julia, the daughter of Ciesar. Cornelia was the widow of Crassus.—E d. Pompey slain.—Egypt subjugated. uiGTinBV T?rVM"F Conspiracy against Caesar, who is killed. Caesar styled Imperator. UlolUlt i UI ltUiUrj. Second triumvirate. But the ministers of this young prince, dreading the power of Caesar, basely courted his favour by the murder of his rival. Brought ashore in a small boat by the guards of the king, a Roman centurion, who had fought under his own banners, stabbed him, even in the sight of Cornelia, and cutting off his head, threw the body naked on the sands. Caesar pursued Pompey to Alexandria, where the head of that unhappy man, presented as a grateful offering, gave him the first intelligence of his fate. He wept, and turned with horror from the sight. He caused every honour to be paid to his memory, and from that time showed the utmost beneficence to the partisans of his unfortunate rival. 4. The sovereignty of Egypt was in dispute be¬ tween Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra. The latter, though married to her brother, and joint-heir by their father’s will, was ambitious of undivided authority ; and Caesar, captivated by her charms, decided the contest in favour of the beauteous queen. A war ensued, in which Ptolemy was killed, and Egypt subdued by the Roman arms. In this war the famous library of Alexandria was burnt to ashes, b.c. 48. A revolt of the Asiatic provinces, under Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, was signally chastised, and the report conveyed by Caesar to the Roman senate in three words, Vent, vuii, vici. The conqueror returned to Rome, which needed his presence ; for Italy was divided, and the partisans of Pompey were yet extremely for¬ midable. His two sons, with Cato and Scipio, were in arms in Africa [with Juba, King of Mauritania, who had espoused their cause]. Caesar pursued them thither, and proceeding with caution till secure of his advantage, defeated them in a decisive engagement at Thapsus. Scipio perished in his passage to Spain. Cato, shutting himself up in Utica, meditated a brave resistance ; but finally, seeing no hope of success, he determined not to survive the liberties of his country, and fell delibe¬ rately by his own hand. Mauritania was now added to the number of the Roman provinces, and Caesar returned to Rome absolute master of the empire. 5. Fi’om that moment his attention was directed solely to the prosperity and happiness of the Ro¬ man people. He remembered no longer that there had been opposite parties ; beneficent alike to the friends of Pompey as to his own. He laboured to reform every species of abuse or grievance. He introduced order into every department of the state, defining the separate rights of all its magis¬ trates, and extending his care to the regulation of its most distant provinces. The reformation of the kalendar, the draining the marshes of Italy, the navigation of the Tiber, the embellishment of Rome, the complete survey and delineation of the empire, alternately employed his liberal and capacious mind. Returning from the final overthrow of Pompey’s party in Spain, [whither Pompey's sons had escaped, and where the eldest son was taken and slain, and Sextus*, the younger son, driven to Celtiberia,] he was hailed the father of his country, * Sextus Pompey, during the triumvirate, having made himself of importance as a naval general, obtained possession of the Peloponnesus and other islands of importance; but he was shortly afterwards driven from Sicily by Octavius, and compelled to seek refuge in the East, where he was put to death by one of Antony’s generals.— Ed. was created consul for ten years, and perpetual dictator. His person was declared sacred, his title henceforth Imperator , a. u. c. 709, B. c. 45. 6*. The Roman republic had thus finally, by its own acts, resigned its liberties. They were not extinguished, as Montesquieu has well remarked, by the ambition of a Pompey or of a Csesar. If the sentiments of Caesar and Pompey had been the same with those of Cato, others would have had the same ambitious thoughts; and since the com¬ monwealth was fated to fall, there never would have been wanting a hand to drag it to destruction. Yet Caesar had by force subdued his country ; he therefore was an usurper ; and had it been possible to l’estore the liberties of the republic, and with these its happiness, by the suppression of that usurpation, the attempt had merited the praise at least of good design. Perhaps so thought his mur¬ derers ; and thus, however weak their policy, how¬ ever base and treacherous their act, with many they will ever find apologists. They madly dreamed an impossible issue, as the event demonstrated. 7. A conspiracy was formed by sixty of the senators, at the head of whom were Brutus and Cassius : the former a man beloved of Csesar, who had saved his life, andheapedupon him numberless benefits. It was l'umoured that the dictator wished to add to his numerous titles that of king, and that the Ides of March was fixed on for investing him with the diadem. On that day, [15 March] when taking his seat in the senate-house, he was suddenly assailed by the conspirators: he defended himself for some time against their daggers, till, seeing Brutus amongst the number, he faintly exclaimed, “ And you, too, my son ! ” and, covering his face with his robe, resigned himself to his fate. He fell, pierced by twenty-three wounds, A. u. c. 711? b. c. 43. 8. The Roman people were struck with horror at the deed: they loved Caesar, master as he was of their lives and liberties. Mark Antony and Lep'idus, ambitious of succeeding to the power of the dictator, resolved to pave the way by avenging his death. The people, to whom Csesar by his testament had bequeathed a great part of his for¬ tune, were penetrated with gratitude to his me¬ mory. A public harangue from Antony over the bleeding body, exposed in the forum, inflamed them with the utmost indignation against his murderers, who must have met with instant destruction had they not escaped with precipitation from the city. Antony profited by these dispositions; and the avenger of Csesar, of course the favourite of the people, was in the immediate prospect of attaining a similar height of dominion. In this, however, he found a formidable competitor in Octavius, the grand-nephew and the adopted heir of Csesar, who, at this critical moment, arrived in Rome. Avail¬ ing himself of these titles, Octavius gained the senate to his interest, and divided with Anton'y the favour of the people. The rivals soon per¬ ceived that it was their wisest plan to unite their interests; and they admitted Lep'idus into their association, whose power, as governor of Gaul, and immense riches, gave him a title to a share of authority. Thus was formed the second triumvir¬ ate, the effects of whose union were beyond mea¬ sure dreadful to the republic. The triumviri di¬ vided among themselves the provinces, and ce¬ mented their union by a deliberate sacrifice made Roman education. Progress of Roman literature. HISTORY OF ROME. 35 Proscription by the second triumvirate. Battle of Philippi.—Battle of Actium. by each of his best friends to the vengeance of his associates. Antony consigned to death his uncle Lucius, Lepidus his brother Paulus, and Octavius his guardian Toranius and his friend Cicero. In this horrible proscription three hundred senators and three thousand knights were put to death. 9. Octavius and Antony now marched against the conspirators, who had a formidable army in the field in Thrace, commanded by Brutus and Cassius. An engagement ensued at Philip'pi, which decided the fate of the empire. Antony was victo¬ rious, for Octavius had no military talents ; he was destitute even of personal bravery; and his conduct after the victory was stained with that cruelty which is ever the attendant of cowardice. Brutus and Cassius escaped the vengeance of their enemies by a voluntary death. [42 b.c.] Antony now sought a recompence for his troops by the plunder of the East. When in Cilicia, he summoned Cleopatra to answer for her conduct in dethroning an infant brother, and in openly favouring the party of Bru¬ tus and Cassius. The queen came to Tarsus, and made a complete conquest of the triumvir. Im¬ mersed in luxury and intoxicated with love, he forgot glory, ambition, fame, and every thing for Cleopati’a; and Octavius saw this phrenzy with delight, as the preparative of his rival’s ruin. He had nothing to dread from Lepidus, whose insigni¬ ficant character first drew on him the contempt of his partisans; and whose folly, in attempting an invasion of the province of his colleague, was punished by his deposition and banishment. 10. Antony had in his madness lavished the pro¬ vinces of the empire in gifts to his paramour and her children. The Roman people were justly indignant at these enormities; and the divorce of his wife Octavia, the sister of his colleague, was at length the signal of declared hostility between them. An immense armament, chiefly naval, came to a decisive conflict near Actium, on the coast of Epirus. Cleopatra, who attended her lover, de¬ serted him with her galleys in the heat of the en¬ gagement; and such was the infatuation of Antony, that he abandoned his fleet and followed her. After a contest of some hours, they yielded to the squad¬ ron of Octavius, a.u.c. 723, b.c. 31. The victor pur¬ sued the fugitives to Egypt; and the base Cleopatra proffered terms to Octavius, including the surren¬ der of her kingdom, and the abandonment of An¬ tony. After an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, he anticipated his fate by falling on his sword. And Cleopatra soon after, either from remorse, or more probably from mortified ambition, as she found it was Octavius’s design to lead her in chains to Rome to grace his triumph, had courage to follow the example of her lover, and put herself to death by the poison of an asp. Octavius returned to Rome, sole master of the Roman empire, a.u.c. 727, b.c. 27 - 35.- CONSIDERATIONS ON SUCH PARTICULARS AS MARK THE GENIUS AND NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS. SYSTEM OF ROMAN EDUCATION. 1. A virtuous but rigid severity of manners was the characteristic of the Romans under their kings, and in the first ages of the republic. The private life of the citizens, frugal, temperate, and laborious, had its influence on their public character. The patria potestas gave to every head of a family a sovereign authority over all the members that com¬ posed it; and this power, felt as a right of nature, was never abused. Plutarch has remarked, as a defect of the Roman laws, that they did not pre¬ scribe, as those of Lacedeemon, a system and rules for the education of youth. But the truth is, the manners of the people supplied this want. The utmost attention was bestowed in the early forma¬ tion of the mind and character. The excellent author of the dialogue De Oratoribus (whether Quin¬ tilian or Tacitus) presents a valuable picture of the Roman education in the early ages of the common¬ wealth, contrasted with the less virtuous practice of the more refined. The Roman matrons did not abandon their infants to mercenary nurses. They esteemed those duties sacred, and regarded the careful nurture of their offspring the rudiments of their education, and the necessary occupations of their household as the highest points of female merit. Next to the care bestowed in the instilment of virtuous morals, a remarkable degree of atten¬ tion seems to have been given to the language of children, and to the attainment of a correctness and purity of expression. Cicero informs us, that the Gracchi, the sons of Cornelia, were educated, non tam in grcemio quam in sermone matris. That urbanity which characterized the Roman citizens, showed itself particularly in their speech and ges¬ ture. 2. The attention to the language of the youth had another source. It was by eloquence more than by any other talent, that the young Roman could rise to the highest offices and dignities of the state. The studia forensia were, therefore, a prin¬ cipal object of the Roman education. Plutarch informs us, that among the sports of the children at Rome, one was, the pleading causes before a mock tribunal, and accusing and defending a cri¬ minal in the usual forms of judicial procedure. 3. The exercises of the body were likewise par¬ ticularly attended to; whatever might harden the temperament, and confer strength and agility. These exercises were daily practised by the youth, under the eye of their elders, in the Campus Martius. 4. At seventeen the youth assumed the manly robe. He ivas consigned to the care of a master of rhetoric, whom he attended constantly to the forum, or to the courts of justice; for, to be an accomplished gentleman, it was necessary for a Roman to be an accomplished orator. The pains bestowed on the attainment of this character, and the best instruc¬ tions for its acquisition, we learn from the writings of Cicero, Quintilian, and the younger Pliny. 36.— OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS. 1. Before the intercourse with Greece, which took place after the Punic wars, the Roman people was utterly rude and illiterate. As among all nations the first appearance of the literary spi¬ rit is shown in poetical composition, the Roman warrior had probably, like the Indian or the Celtic, his war songs which celebrated his triumphs in battle. Religion likewise employs the earliest poetry of most nations; and if a people subsists by agriculture, a plentiful harvest is celebrated in the D 2 38 Dramatic performances of the Romans. Their comedy and tragedy described. HISTORY OF ROME. rustic song of the husbandman. The Versus Fes- cennini, mentioned by Livy, were probably of the nature of poetical dialogue, or alternate verses sung by the labourers, in a strain of coarse mer¬ riment and raillery. This shows a dawning of the drama. 2. About the three hundred and ninetieth year of Rome, on occasion of a pestilence, Ludiones (drolls or stage-dancers) were brought from Etru¬ ria, qui ad tibicinis modos saltantes, hand indecoros motus more Tusco dabant. Livy tells us that the Roman youth imitated these performances, and added to them rude and jocular verses, probably the Fescennine dialogues. It was not, however, till the year 514 a. u. c. that the regular drama was introduced at Rome from Greece by Livius An- dronicus. The earliest Roman plays were there¬ fore, we may presume, translations from the Greek. “ Post Punica bella quietus quaerere ccepit, Quid Sophocles, et Thespis, et iEschylus utile ferrent.” 3. Of the early Roman drama, Ennius was a great ornament, and from his time the art made rapid advancement. The comedies of Plautus, the contemporary of Ennius, with great strength and spirit of dialogue, display a considerable knowledge of human nature, and are read at this day with pleasure. 4. Ctecilius improved so much on the comedy of Plautus, that he is mentioned by Cicero as perhaps the best of the Roman comic writers. Of his com¬ positions we have no remains. His patronage fos¬ tered the rising genius of Terence, whose first comedy, the Andria , was performed a. u. c. 587. The mei’it of the comedies of Terence lies in that nature and simplicity which are observable alike in the structure of his fables, in the delineation of his characters, and in the delicacy and purity of the sentiments of his pieces. They are deficient, how¬ ever, in comic energy; they are not calculated to excite ludicrous emotions. They are chiefly bor¬ rowed from the Greek of Menander and Apollo- dorus. 5. The Roman comedy was of four different species; the Comoedia Togata or Prcetextata, the Comoedia Tabernaria , the Atellanoe , and the Mimi. The first admitted serious scenes and personages, and was of the nature of the modern sentimental comedy. The second was a representation of ordi¬ nary life and manners. The Atellanoe were pieces where the dialogue was not committed to writing, but the subject of the scene was prescribed, and the dialogue filled up by the talents of the actors. The Mimi were pieces of comedy of the lowest species, farces, or entertainments of buffoonery, though sometimes admitting the serious and even the pathetic. 6. The Roman tragedy kept pace in its advance¬ ment with the comedy. The best of the Roman tragic poets were Actius and Pacuvius, of whom we have no remains. The tragedies published under the name of Seneca are generally esteemed the work of different hands. They are none of them of superlative merit. 7. Velleius Paterculus remarks, that the era of the perfection of Roman literature was the age of Cicero, comprehending all of the preceding times whom Cicero might have seen, and all of the suc¬ Roman literature and history criticised as to subject and style. ceeding who might have seen him. Cicero, Quin¬ tilian, and Pliny, celebrate, in high terms, the writings of the elder Cato, whose principal works were historical, and have entirely perished. We have his fragments, de Re Rustica , in which he was imitated by Varro, one of the earliest of the good writers among the Romans, and a man of universal erudition. Of the variety of his talents we may judge, not only from the splendid eulogium of Cicero, but from the circumstance of Pliny having recourse to his authority in every book of his Natural History. 8. Sallust, in order of time, comes next to Varro. This writer introduced an important improvement in history, as treated by the Greek historians, by applying (as Dionysius of Halicarnassus says) the science of philosophy to the study of facts. Sallust is therefore to be considered as the father of philo¬ sophic history; a species of writing which has been so successfully cultivated in modern times. He is an admirable writer for the matter of his compositions, which evince great judgment and knowledge of human nature; but by no means commendable for his style and manner of writing. He affects singularity of expression, an antiquated phraseology, and a petulant brevity and senten¬ tiousness, which has nothing of the dignity of the historical style *. 9. Caesar has much more purity of style, and more correctness and simplicity of expression, but his commentaries, wanting that amplitude of dic¬ tion and fulness of illustration which is essential to history, are rather of the nature of annals. 10. In all the requisites of an historian Livy stands unrivalled among the Romans; possessing consummate judgment in the selection of facts, per¬ spicuity of arrangement, sagacious reflection, sound views of policy, with the most copious, pure, and eloquent expression. It has been objected, that his speeches derogate from the truth of history; but this was a prevalent taste with the ancient writers; and as those speeches are always known to be the composition of the historian, the reader is not deceived. As to the style of Livy, though in general excellent, we sometimes perceive in it, and most commonly in the speeches, an affectation of the pointed sentences (the vibrantes sententiolce) and obscurity of the declaimers, which evinces the per¬ nicious influence acquired by those teachers at Rome since the time of Cicero and Sallust. 11. In the decline of Roman literature, Tacitus is an historian of no common merit. He success¬ fully cultivated the method pointed out by Sallust, of applying philosophy to history. In this he dis¬ plays great knowledge of human nature, and pene¬ trates, with singular acuteness, into the secret springs of policy, and the motives of actions. But his fault is, that he is too much of a politician, draw¬ ing his characters after the model of his own mind; ever assigning actions and events to preconceived scheme and design, and allowing too little for the operation of accidental causes, which often have the greatest influence on human affairs. Tacitus, * These remarks may be qualified by the reader, for Sallust is generally praised for a clear and expressive style. That brevity which is condemned in the text is by many considered as evincing a piercing knowledge of the myste¬ ries of policy, and the motives which influenced the persons who form his chief characters.—E d. Poetic literature of the Romans described and criticised. HISTORY OF ROME. Later Roman poets. Philosophy of the Romans. 37 in his style, professedly imitated that of Sallust; adopting all the ancient phraseology, as well as the new idioms introduced into the Roman language by that writer. To his brevity and abruptness, he added most of the faults of the declaiming school. His expression, therefore, though extremely for¬ cible, is often enigmatically obscure; the very worst property that style can possess. 12. Among the eminent Roman poets (after the dramatic) Lucretius deserves first to be noticed. He has gi’eat inequality, being at some times ver¬ bose, rugged, and perplexed, and at others display¬ ing all the elegance as well as the fire of poetry. This may be in great part attributed to his subject. Philosophical disquisition is unsuitable to poetry. It demands a dry precision of thought and expres¬ sion, rejecting all excursive fancy and ornament of diction. That luxuriance of imagery, which is the soul of poetry, is raving and impertinence when applied to philosophy. 13. Catullus, the cotemporary of Lucretius, is the earliest of the Roman lyric poets. His epigrams are pointed and satirical, but too licentious; his Idyllia tender, natural, and picturesque. He flou¬ rished in the age of Julius Csesar. 14. In the succeeding age of Augustus, poetry attained to its highest elevation among the Romans. Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Tibullus, were all cotem¬ poraries. Virgil is allowed the same rank among the Roman poets as Homer among the Greek. If Homer excels him in the sublime, he surpasses the Greek in the tender and the elegant. The trans¬ cendent merits of Homer are sullied by occasional defects; Virgil is the model of a correct taste. The difference of manner in the Bucolics, the Georgies, and the iEneid, shows that Virgil was capable of excelling in various departments of poetry; and such is the opinion of Martial, who affirms, that he could have surpassed Horace in lyric poetry, and Varius in tragedy. 15. Horace excels as a lyric poet, a satirist, and a critic. In his Odes there is more variety than those of either Anacreon or Pindar; and he can alternately display the sublimity of the one, and the jocose vein of the other. His satires have that characteristic slyness and obliquity of censui’e, as¬ sociated with humour and pleasantry which strongly distinguish them from the stern and cutting sar¬ casm of Juvenal. As a critic, his rules are taken chiefly from Aristotle; but they contain the ele¬ ments of a just taste in poetical composition, and therefore do not admit of variation. The satires of Juvenal, compared with those of Horace, are de¬ ficient in facetiousness and urbanity; but they are superior in acuteness of thought, and in manly vi¬ gour of sentiment. 16. In variety of talent, without supreme excel¬ lence, and ease and elegance of numbers, no Roman poet has excelled Ovid. In his Metamorphoses particularly, with great fancy, we have specimens of the pathetic, the descriptive, the eloquent, and even the sublime. His Elegies have more of nature and of real passion than those of either Tibullus or Propertius. His amatory verses have much ten¬ derness, but are too frequently loose, and even grossly licentious. O v 17- There is nothing more elegant than the com¬ positions of Tibullus, nothing more delicate than the turn of his expression ; but it is not the lan¬ guage of passion. The sentiments are tender, but their power of affecting the heart is weakened by the visible care and solicitude of the poet for refined phraseology and polished numbers ; nor is there either much fancy or variety of thought. A single elegy exhibits the sentiments of the whole. 18. Martial is the last of the Roman poets who can be mentioned with high approbation. His Epigrams, independent of their art and ingenuity, are valuable as throwing light upon the Roman manners. He possesses, above every other poet, a naivete of expression, which is chiefly observable in his serious Epigrams. He is well characterized by the younger Pliny, “ ingeniosus, acer , et qui in scri- bendo et sails haberet et fellis, nee candoris minus” (Epist. 3. 21.) 19. Luxuriance of ornament, and the fondness for point and brilliancy of thought and expression, are certain indications of the decline of good taste. These characters strongly mark the Latin poets of the succeeding ages. Lucan has some scattered examples of genuine poetic imagery, and Persius some happy strokes of animated satire ; but they scarcely compensate the affected obscurity of the one, and the bombast of the other. The succeeding poets, Statius, Silius Italicus, and Valerius Flaccus, in their attempts at the most difficult of all species of poetry, the Epic, have only more signally displayed the inferiority of their genius, and the manifest de¬ cay of the art. 37.— STATE OP PHILOSOPHY AMONG THE ROMANS. 1. The Romans, in the earlier periods of the re¬ public, had little leisure to bestow on the cultivation of the sciences, and had no idea of philosophical speculation. It was not till the end of the 6th century from the building of the city, and in the interval between the war with Perseus and the third Punic war, that philosophy made its first ap¬ pearance at Rome. A few learned Achseans, ban¬ ished from their country, had settled in various parts of Italy, and, applying themselves to the cul¬ tivation of literature and the education of youth, diffused a taste for those studies hitherto unknown to the Romans. The elder citizens regarded these pursuits with an unfavourable eye. Jealous of the introduction of foreign manners with foreign studies, the senate banished the Greek philosophers from Rome. But an Athenian embassy arriving soon after, brought thither Carneades and Critolaus, who revived the taste for the Greek philosophy, and left behind them many able disciples, who publicly taught their doctrines. 2. It was natural that those symptoms should be most generally adopted which were most suitable to the national character. While the manners of the Romans had yet a tincture of ancient severity, the Stoical system prevailed. Scipio, Lafiius, and the younger Cato rank among its chief partisans. 3. The philosophy of Aristotle was little known in Rome till the age of Cicero. Cratippus and Ty- rannion * then taught his system with great reputa¬ tion. Yet Cicero complains that the Peripatetic philosophy was little understood at Rome ; and, on that account, sent his son to study its doctrines in the schools of Athens. 4. Lucullus, whose stay in Greece gave him an opportunity of being acquainted with all the differ- * His original name was Theophrastus.—E d. Natural philosophy not cultivated. TTTQTOPV m? "RDATF Public and private manners of the Romans. Ancient simplicity of the Romans. xlIolU±vi Ur xtUM-ft. Domestic and personal habits described. ent sects, disseminated, on his return to Rome, a very general taste for philosophy. His patronage of learned men, and his liberality in allowing his library to be open for the public use, contributed greatly to the promotion of literature. 5. The old and new academy had each their par¬ tisans. Of the former, which may be termed the stoico-platonic, the most illustrious disciples were Marcus Brutus and Terentius Varro. To the phi¬ losophical talents of Brutus, and the universal eru¬ dition of Varro, the writings of Cicero bear the most ample testimony. Cicero himself must be deemed the most eminent of all the Roman philo¬ sophers. He is classed among the principal sup¬ porters of the new academy; though it seems rather to have been his purpose to elucidate the Greek philosophy in general, than to rank himself among the disciples of any particular sect. 6. The cultivation of physics, or natural philo¬ sophy, seems to have been little attended to either by the Greeks or Romans. Unless agriculture should be classed under this description, we know of no Roman authors, except Varro and the elder Pliny, who seem to have bestowed much attention on the operations of nature. The works of the former have perished, except a few fragments; but the natural history of Pliny is a most valuable storehouse of the knowledge of the ancients in physics, oeconomics, and the arts and sciences. It i is to be regretted that the style is unsuitable to the I matter, being too frequently florid, declamatory, and obscure. 7. The philosophy of Epicurus was unknown in the early ages of the Roman commonwealth. It was introduced with luxury, and kept pace in its advancement with the corruption of manners. Ci- neas having discoursed on the tenets of Epicurus at the table of Pyrrhus, Fabricius exclaimed, May the enemies of Rome ever entertain such principles ! Yet these principles were, in a short time from that period, but too current among her own citizens. 38.— OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MANNERS OF THE ROMANS. 1. The manners of the Romans in the early ages of the republic were so different from those of the latter times, that one should be led to suppose some very extraordinary causes to have co-operated to produce so remarkable a change : yet the transition is easy to be accounted for. A spirit of temperance, of frugality, and probity, is the characteristic of every infant establishment. A virtuous simplicity of manners, and a rigour of military discipline, paved the way for the extension of the Roman arms, and for their prodigious conquests : these conquests introduced wealth, luxury, and corrup¬ tion. 2. In the early times, the patricians, when in the country, forgot the distinction of ranks, and la¬ boured in the cultivation of their fields, like the meanest plebeians. We have the examples of Cincinnatus, Curius, the elder Cato, and Scipio Af- ricanus. The town was visited only every ninth or market-day. In those times of virtuous simplicity, says Sallust, “Domi militicequeboni mores colebantur. —Duabns artibus, audacia in bello, ubi pax evenerat, cequitate, seque remque publicam curabant.” But when, in consequence of this very discipline, and these manners, the Romans had extended their | I dominion, they imported with the wealth of the conquered nations, their tastes, their manners, and their vices. 3. The Romans had no natural taste in the fine arts. On the conquest of Greece, an immense field opened at once to their eyes, and the master-pieces of art poured in upon them in abundance. But their excellencies they could not appreciate. The Roman luxury, so far as the arts were concerned, was in general displayed in an awkward, heavy, and tasteless magnificence. 4. The public and private life of the Romans will be best elucidated by a short account of the manner in which the day was passed at Rome, both by the higher and lower ranks of the people. The morning hours were spent by a part of the citizens in visiting the temples; by others in attending the levees of the great. The clientes waited on their patroni; the patricians visited each other, or paid their compliments to the leaders of the republic. Popularity was always the first object of ambition at Rome, as paving the way to all advancement. From the levee they proceeded to the forum, either to assist in the public business, or for amusement. There the time was spent till noon, the hour of din¬ ner among the Romans, chiefly a very light repast, and of which it was not customary to invite any guests to partake. After dinner the youth repaired to the Campus Martius, where they occupied them¬ selves in athletic exercises and sports till sunset. The elder class retired for an hour to repose, and then passed the afternoon in their porticoes, galle¬ ries, or libraries, where they enjoyed the conversa¬ tion of their friends, or heard recitations of literary works : others repaired to the theatres, or to the shows of the circus and amphitheatre. 5. Combats of gladiators were introduced for the first time about the 490th year of the city, and soon became a most favourite amusement, as did the combats with wild beasts. The spirit of luxury, which in general is not unfavourable to humanity, showed its progress among the Romans by an in¬ creasing ferocity and inhumanity of the public spectacles. Theatrical entertainments were in high request. See supra , sect. 36. § 2—6. The taste for pantomime came to such a height, that the art was taught in public schools, and the nobility and people were divided into parties in favour of the rival performers: an abuse which called at length for the interposition of the laws. 6. From the porticoes, or from the theatre and amphitheatre, it was customary to go to the baths, of which there were many for the use of the pub¬ lic, while the rich had them in their own houses, vying with each other in this as in every other article of luxury or magnificence. From the bath they went immediately to supper, generally about the ninth or tenth hour, counting from sunrise. At table they reclined on couches. The luxury of the Roman suppers far exceeded every thing known among the moderns. An antecosnium of pickles and spices was presented to prepare and sharpen the appetite. Cookery became a science. The number and costliness of the dishes were incredible. The entertainment was heightened by every thing gratifying to the senses; by male and female dan¬ cers, musicians, pantomimes, and even shows of gladiators. 7. In the end of the republic pleasure and amuse¬ ment were the darling objects of all ranks of the Art of war and military tactics tttc'T'/'hjv ■orkAfU’ Mode of intrenchment and siege. .... of the Romans. HIM UK 1 UU KUlVlIii. Naval military art. citizens ; they sought no more than panem et cir- censes. 39. —OF THE ART OF WAR AMONG THE ROMANS. 1. From the prodigious success which attended the arms of the Romans, and that dominion they acquired over the greatest part of the known world, it seems a natural inference that they must have carried the military art to a higher degree of per¬ fection than any other of the cotemporary nations. Vegetius expressly assigns their extensive con¬ quests to that cause alone. It is the discipline of an army that makes the multitude act as one man. It likewise increases the courage of troops; for each individual confides in the steady co-operation of his fellows. 2. From the constant practice of athletic exer¬ cises, the Romans were inured from infancy to hardiness and fatigue, and bred to that species of life which a soldier leads in the most active cam¬ paign in the field. 3. The levies were made annually, by the tribes called out, and divided into their respective number of centuries; each century presenting by rotation as many soldiers as there were legions intended to be raised ; and the tribunes of the several legions taking their turn by rotation in the selection of the men presented by the centuries. (See supra, sect. 24, § 16.) The number of soldiers in the legion was various at different periods, from three thou¬ sand to ten and eleven thousand. 4.. Among the ancient nations there were usually but two different arrangements of the troops in order of battle: the one the “ phalanx,” or close arrangement in parallelogram, intersected only by great divisions, a disposition commonly used by the Greeks, and by most of the bai'barous nations ; the other, the “ quincunx, or chequer,” consisting of small companies or platoons, disposed in three straight lines, with alternate spaces between them equal to the space occupied by each company. In the first line were the hastati , in the second the prin- cipes, and in the third the triarii: on the flanks of the first line were the cavalry, likewise in detached companies; and in front of the line were the relites, or light-armed troops, who usually began by a skir¬ mishing attack, and then were withdrawn to make way for the main body to come into action. The arms of the legion were, for the hastati and prin- cipes, the pilum or heavy javelin and the sword and buckler; and for the triarii, the long spear with the sword and buckler. The advantages of this arrangement were, that the line of battle could be three times formed with fresh troops, and that it was more fitted than any other for rapid changes of movement. 5. Notwithstanding these advantages, the quin¬ cunx went into disuse towards the end of the re¬ public ; and from that time various arrangements of the legion were used, according to circumstances. The tactic of the Romans is supposed to have been at its gi’eatest pitch of excellence during the Punic w ars. Hannibal was a great master of the science, and the Romans profited by the experience of his ability. The battle of Cannae, as described by Po¬ lybius, affords signal evidence of the great talents of the Carthaginian general. That description has been misrepresented by Folard, but is accurately explained in the Memoires Militaires of M. Guis- chardt. Had the quincunx disposition been kept by the Roman anny in that engagement, the event might have been very different, as it would have disappointed the effect of an artful manoeuvre planned by Hannibal, on observing his enemy’s army arranged in the unusual order of the phalanx. 6. The art of intrenchment was carried to great perfection by the Romans, particularly by Julius Caesar. With sixty thousand men he defended himself in his intrenchments before Alexia, while the lines of circumvallation were attacked by two hundred and forty thousand Gauls, and the lines of countervallation by eighty thousand without effect. These intrenchments consisted of a ditch from nine to fifteen feet in depth and w idth, fenced on the inside by the mound of excavated earth, and on the outside by strong stakes with pointed branches. 7. In besieging a town, several camps were formed around the place, joined to each other by lines of circumvallation and countervallation. A mound of earth ( agger) was raised, beginning by a gentle slope from one of the camps, and gradually rising in elevation as it approached the city. The front, where the workmen were employed, was defended by a curtain of hides fixed on strong posts. On this mound the engines of attack, catapultce for the discharge of heavy stones, and balistce for arrows, were advanced till they played on the very spot which the besiegers wished to assail. The same machines were used by the besieged for annoying the enemy. When the batteries from the terrace had silenced those on the walls, the battering-ram (aries) was then brought up under a penthouse (testudo), and if it once reached the wall, was generally decisive of the fate of the town. The mam object of the besieged was therefore to pre¬ vent its approach by every power of annoyance. Stones, darts, and combustible matters, were con¬ tinually launched upon the assailants; and some¬ times a mine was dug from the city to scoop away the terrace and all its engines. These arts of attack and defence of fortified places were in gene¬ ral use among the nations of antiquity, and conti¬ nued down to modern times, till the invention of gunpowder. 8 . The naval military art was utterly unknown among; the Romans till the first Punic war. A Carthaginian galley was the first model; and in the space of two months they equipped a fleet of one hundred galleys of five banks of oars, and twenty of three banks. The structure of these galleys and the mode of arranging the rowers, may be learned from the ancient sculptures and medals. The com¬ batants at sea assailed at a distance with javelins, missile combustibles, and sometimes with catapultce and balistce; but the serious attack was made in boarding, when the vessels grappled together by means of a crane let down from the prow. 9. In the times of the empire, the Romans main¬ tained their distant conquests not only by their armies, but by their fleets, which were moored in the large rivers and bays, and generally preserved a fixed station, as did the legions. 40. — REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM A VIEW OF THE ROMAN HISTORY DURING THE COMMONWEALTH. 1 . The history of all nations evinces, that there is an inseparable connexion between the morals of ,Reflections arising from a view of the Roman history during the common- HISTORY OF ROME. wealth.—Political reflections on the states of antiquity. a people and their political prosperity. But we have no stronger demonstration of this truth than the annals of the Roman commonwealth. To limit to republics alone the necessity of virtue as a prin¬ ciple, is a chimerical notion, fraught with danger¬ ous consequences. Quid leges sine moribus vance proficiunt, is a sentiment equally applicable to all governments whatever; and no political system, however excellent its fabric, can possess any mea¬ sure of duration, without that powerful cement, virtue, in the principles and manners of the people. (Supra, sect. 19, § 4.) 2. The love of our country, and the desire for its rational liberty, are noble and virtuous feelings, and their prevalence is ever a test of the integrity of the national morals. But there is no term which has been more prostituted than the word liberty. Among a corrupted people, the cry for liberty is heard the loudest among the most profligate of the community. With these its meaning has no rela¬ tion to patriotism; it imports no more than the aversion to restraint; and the personal character of the demagogue, and the private morals of his disciples are always sufficient to unmask the coun¬ terfeit. The spirit of patriotism and a general cor¬ ruption of manners cannot possibly be co-existent in the same age and nation. 3. On the other hand, while the morals of a peo¬ ple are pure, no public misfortune is irretrievable, nor any political situation so desperate, that hope may not remain of a favourable change. In such a crisis, the spirit of patriotism pervading all ranks of the state will soon recover the national pros¬ perity. The history of the Roman people, and that of the Grecian states, in vaidous crises, both of honour and of disgrace, afford proofs alike of this position and of its converse. 4. The national character of the Romans seems to have undergone its most remarkable change for the worse from the time of the destruction of their rival Carthage. Sallust assigns the cause: Ante Carthaginem deletam,—metus hostilis in bonis artibus chit at em retinebat. Sed ubi ilia formido mentihus decessit, scilicet ea quae secundce res amant, laschia atque superbia inmsere. 5. In the last ages of the commonwealth, avarice and ambition, unrestrained by moral principle, were the chief motives of the Roman conquests. It was sufficient reason for going to war, that a country offered a tempting object to the rapacity and ambi¬ tion of the military leaders. The conquest of Italy paved the way for the i*eduction of foreign nations. Hence the Romans imported, with their wealth, the manners, the luxuries, and the vices of the na¬ tions they subdued. The generals returned not as formerly, after a successful war, to the labours of the field, and to a life of temperance and industry. They were now the governors of kingdoms and provinces ; and at the period of their command abroad, disdaining the restraints of a subject, they could be satisfied with nothing less than sove reignty at home. The armies, debauched by the plunder of kingdoms, wei*e completely disposed to support them in all their schemes of ambition; and the populace, won by corruption, always took part with the chief who best could pay for their favour and support. Force or bribery overruled every election ; and the inhabitants of distant states, now holding the rights of citizens, were brought to Rome at the command of the demagogue, to in¬ fluence any popular contest, and turn the scale in his favour. In a government thus irretrievably destroyed, by the decay of those springs which supported it, it was of little consequence by the hands of what particular tyrant, usurper, or dema¬ gogue its ruin was finally accomplished. 0. From the consideration of the rise and fall of the principal states of antiquity, it has been a com¬ monly received observation, that the constitution of empires has, like the human body, a period of growth, maturity, decline, and extinction. But ar¬ guments from analogy are extremely deceiving, and particularly so when the analogy is Rom physical to moral truths. The human body is, from its fa¬ bric, naturally subject to decay, and is perpetually undergoing a change from time. The organs, at first weak, attain gradually their perfect strength, and thence, by a similar gradation, proceed to de¬ cay and dissolution. This is an immutable law of its nature. But the springs of the body politic do not necessarily undergo a perpetual change from time. It is not regularly progressive from weak¬ ness to strength, and thence to decay and disso¬ lution; nor is it under the influence of any principle of corruption which may not be checked, and even eradicated, by wholesome laws. Thus the begin¬ ning of the corruption of Sparta is attributed to the breach by Lysander of the institutions of Ly- curgus, in introducing gold into the treasury of the state, instead of her iron money. But was this a necessary or an unavoidable measure ? Perhaps a single vote in the senate decreed its adoption, and therefore another suffrage might have saved or long postponed the downfal of the commonwealth. The Roman republic owed its dissolution to the exten¬ sion of its dominions. Had it been a capital crime for any Roman citizen to have proposed to carry the arms of the republic beyond the limits of Italy, its constitution might have been preserved for many ages beyond the period of its actual duration. “ Accustom your mind,” said Phocion to Aristias, “ to discern, in the fate of nations, that recompense which the great Author of nature has annexed to the practice of virtue. No state ever ceased to be prosperous, but in consequence of having departed from those institutions to which she owed her pros¬ perity.” History indeed has shown, that all states and empires have had their period of duration; but history, instructing us in the causes which have produced their decline and downfal, inculcates also this salutary lesson, that they themselves are in general the masters of their destiny, and that all nations may, and most certainly ought to, aspire at immortality. 7. It was a great desideratum in ancient politics, that If government should possess within itself the power of periodical reformation; a capacity of checking any overgrowth of authority in any of its branches, and of winding up the machine, or bring¬ ing back the constitution to its first principles. To the want of such a power in the states of antiquity, which was ineffectually endeavoured to be supplied by such partial contrivances as the Ostracism and Petalism*, we may certainly ascribe in no small * What ostracism was has been demonstrated ante, p. 11; petalism was a similar mode of condemnation by ballot, prac¬ tised at Syracuse, the name of the obnoxious party being written on an olive leaf; whereas, in ostracism, the name was inscribed on a shell: hence the origin of these terms.— Ed. Rome under the emperors.—Augustus. TiTcmr»T?v ntr T?mvn? Death of Marcellus. Temple of Janus shut. illolUitx Ur xvU±UE/. Birth of our Saviour.—Tiberius. degree the decay of those states; for in their go¬ vernments, when the balance was once destroyed, the evil grew worse from day to day, and admitted of no remedy but a revolution, or entire change of the system. The British constitution possesses this inestimable advantage over all the governments both of ancient and of modern times. Besides the per¬ petual power of reform vested in parliament, the constitution may be purified of every abuse, and brought back to its first principles, at the com¬ mencement of every reign. But of this we shall afterwards treat in its proper place. 41.— ROME UNDER THE EMPERORS. 1. The battle of Actium decided the fate of the commonwealth, and Octavius, now named Augustus, was master of the Roman empire. He possessed completely the sagacity of discerning what charac¬ ter was best fitted for gaining the affections of the people he governed, and the versatility of temper and genius to assume it. His virtues, though the result of policy, not of nature, were certainly fa¬ vourable to the happiness, and even to the liberties of his subjects. The fate of Caesar warned him of the insecurity of an usurped dominion; and there¬ fore, while he studiously imitated the engaging manners and clemency of his great predecessor, he affected a much higher degree of moderation and respect for the rights of the people. 2. The temple of Janus was shut, which had been open for one hundred and eighty-eight years since the beginning of the second Punic war; an event productive of universal joy. “ The Romans (says Condillac) now believed themselves a free people, since they had no longer to fight for their liberty.” The sovereign kept up this delusion by maintaining the ancient forms of the republican constitution in the election of magistrates, &c. [the senate also sat as a council of state, and exercised freedom of speech], though these were nothing more than forms. He even pretended to consider his own function as merely a temporary adminis¬ tration for the public benefit. Invested with the consulate and censorship, he went through the re¬ gular forms of periodical election to those offices : and at the end of the seventh year of his govern¬ ment, actually announced to the senate his resig¬ nation of all authority. The consequence was a general supplication of the senate and people, that he would not abandon the republic, which he had saved from destruction. “ Since it must be so (said he), I accept the empire for ten years, unless the public tranquillity should before that time per¬ mit me to enjoy that retirement I passionately long for.” He repeated the same mockery five times in the course of his government, accepting the ad¬ ministration sometimes for ten, and sometimes only for five years. 3. It was much to the credit of Augustus, that in the government of the empire he reposed un¬ limited confidence in Mecsenas, a most able minis¬ ter, who had sincerely at heart the interest and happiness of the people. It was by his excellent counsels that all public affairs were conducted, and the most salutary laws enacted for the remedy of public grievances, and even the correction of the morals of the people. It was to his patronage that literature and the arts owed their encouragement and advancement. It was by his influence and wise instructions that Augustus assumed those virtues to which his heart was a stranger, and which, in their tendency to the happiness of his subjects, were equally effectual as if the genuine fruits of his nature. 4. On the death of Marcellus, the nephew and son-in-law of Augustus, (23 B.c.) a prince of great hopes, the Emperor bestowed his chief favour on Marcus Agrippa, giving him his daughter Julia, the widow of Marcellus, in marriage. Agrippa had considerable military talents, and was success¬ ful in accomplishing the reduction of Spain, and subduing the revolted provinces of Asia. Augus¬ tus associated him with himself in the office of cen¬ sor, and would probably have given him a share of the empire; but the death of Agrippa occasioned a new arrangement. The daughter of Augustus now took for her third husband Tiberius, who be¬ came the son-in-law of the emperor by a double tie, for Augustus had previously married his mo¬ ther Livia. This artful woman, removing all of the imperial family who stood betwixt her and the object of ambition, thus made room for the succes¬ sion of her son Tiberius, who, on his part, bent all his attention to gain the favour and confidence of Augustus. On the return of Tiberius from a suc¬ cessful campaign against the Germans, the people were made to solicit the emperor to confer on him the government of the provinces and the command of the armies. Augustus now gradually withdrew himself from the cares of empire. He died soon after at Nola in Campania, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and forty-fourth of his imperial reign, 767 a.u.c. and a.d. 14. 5. A considerable part of the lustre thrown on the reign of Augustus is owing to the splendid colouring bestowed on his character by the poets and other authors who adorned his court, and re¬ paid his favours by their adulation. Assuredly other sovereigns of much higher merits have been less fortunate in obtaining the applause of posterity : -“ Illacrymabiles Urgentur, ignotique longa Node, carent quia vate sacro.” One great event distinguished the reign of Augus¬ tus, the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which, according to the best authorities, happened in the 754tli year a.u.c. and four years before the vulgar date of the Christian era *. 5. Augustus had named Tibe'rius f his heir, to¬ gether with his mother Livia, and substituted to them Dru'sus, the son of Tibe'rius, and Germanficus. Tiberius was vicious, debauched, and cruel; yet the very dread of his character operated in securing an easy succession to the empire. An embassy from the senate entreated him to accept the government, which he modestly affected to decline, but suffered himself to be won by their supplications. Notwith¬ standing this symptom of moderation, it soon ap¬ peared that the power enjoyed by his predecessor was too limited for the ambition of Tiberius. It was not enough that the substance of the republic was gone, the very appearance of it was now to be * Vide Dr. Playfair’s System of Chronology, pp. 49, 50, a work of great research and accuracy, and by far the best on that subject. t After his adoption he was called Augustus Tiberius Caesar, before, his name was Tiberius Claudius Nero.—E d. I 42 Treason of Sejanus. Our Saviour suffered death.—Caligula. HISTORY OF ROME. Claudius. Caractaeus captive.—Nero. demolished. The people were no longer assembled, and the magistrates of the state were supplied by the imperial will. 6. Germanicus, the nephew of Tiberius, became the object of his jealousy, from the glory he had acquired by his military exploits in Germany, and the high favour in which he stood with the Roman people. He was recalled in the midst of his suc¬ cesses, and dispatched to the oriental provinces, where he soon after died, as was generally believed, of poison administered by the emperor’s command *. 7. ./Elius Sejanus, prtefect of the praetorian guards, the favourite counsellor of Tiberius, and the obse¬ quious minister of his tyranny and crimes, conceived the daring project of a revolution, which should place himself on the throne by the extermination of the whole imperial family. Drusus, the son of the Emperor, was cut off by poison. Agrip'pina, the widow of Germanicus, with the elder of her sons, was banished, and the younger confined to pri¬ son. Tiberius himself was persuaded by Seja'nus, under the pretence of the discovery of plots for his assassination, to retire from Rome to the Isle of Cap'reee, and devolve the government upon his faithful minister. But while Sejanus, thus far suc¬ cessful, meditated the last step to the accomplish¬ ment of his wishes, by the murder of his sovereign, his treason was detected ; and the emperor dis¬ patched his mandate to the senate, which was followed by his immediate sentence and execution. The public indignation was not satisfied with his death : the populace tore his body to pieces, and flung it into the Tiber. 8. Tiberius now became utterly negligent of the cares of government, and the imperial power was displayed only in public executions, confiscations, and scenes of cruelty and rapine. At length the tyrant falling sick, was strangled in his bed by Mac'ro, the prsefect of the praetorian guards, [at Capreae, the scene of his vicious sensualities, a.d. 37.] in the 73th year of his age, and 23d of his reign. 9. In the 18th year of Tiberius, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Divine Author of our religion, suffered death upon the cross, a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of mankind, a.d. 33. 10. Tiberius had nominated for his heir Calig'ula + [Caius], the son of Germanicus, his grandson by adoption, and joined with him Tiberius, the son of Drusus, his grandson by blood. The former en¬ joyed, on his father’s account, the favour of the people ; and the senate to gratify them set aside the right of his colleague, and conferred on him the empire undivided. The commencement of his reign was signalized by a few acts of clemency and even good policy. He restored the privileges of the comitia, and abolished arbitrary prosecutions for crimes of state. But, tyrannical and cruel by nature, he substituted military execution for legal punishment J. The provinces were loaded with the most oppressive taxes, and daily confiscations filled the imperial coffers. The follies and absurd- * Tiberius commenced his reign by procuring the murder of young Agrippa, posthumous grandson of Augustus, whom he feared as a rival.—E d. •)• So called from the military greaves or hoots he wore.— Ed. | It has been observed, that his intellects were disordered from the effects of a sickness with which he was affected shortly after his accession to the empire.—E d. ities of Caligula were equal to his vices, and it is hard to say whether he was most the object of hatred or of contempt to his subjects. He perished by assassination in [one of the passages of the Cir¬ cus, by the hand of the captain of the praetorian or body guard, in] the 4th year of his reign, and 29th of his age, a.u.c. 794, a.d. 42. 11. Claudius, the uncle of Caligula, was saluted emperor by the praetorian guards, who had been the murderers of his nephew. He was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus ; a man of weak intellects, and of no education ; yet his short reign was marked by an enterprise of importance. He undertook the reduction of Britain; and, after visiting the island in person, left his generals Plau- tius and Vespasian to prosecute a war which was carried on for several years with various success. The Silures or inhabitants of South Wales, under their king Caractaeus (Caradoc), made a brave re¬ sistance, but were finally defeated, and Caractaeus led captive to Rome, where the magnanimity of his demeanour procured him respect and admiration. 12. The civil administration of Claudius was weak and contemptible. He was the slave even of his domestics, and the dupe of his infamous wives, Messalfna and Agrippina. The former, abandoned to the most shameful profligacy, was at length put to death on suspicion of treasonable de¬ signs. The latter, who was the daughter of Ger¬ manicus, bent her utmost endeavours to secure the succession to the empire to her son Domitius Ahenobarbus, and employed every engine of vice and inhumanity to remove the obstacles to the accomplishment of her wishes. Having at length prevailed on Claudius to adopt her son [Domitius (Nero)], and confer on him the title of Csesar, to the exclusion of his own son Britannicus, she now made room for the immediate elevation of Domitius by poisoning her husband. Claudius was put to death [by poison] in the fifteenth year of his reign, and sixty-third of his age. [a. d. 54.] Sect. 42.—1. The son of Agrippina assumed the name of Nero Claudius. He had enjoyed the bene¬ fit of a good education under the philosopher Seneca, but reaped from his instructions no other fruit than a pedantic affectation of taste and learning, with no real pretension to either. While controlled by his tutor Seneca, and by Bur'rhus, captain of the praetorian guards, a man of worth and ability, Nero maintained for a short time a decency of public conduct; but the restraint was intolerable, and nature soon broke out. His real character was a compound of every thing that is base and inhuman. In the murder of his mother Agrippina, he re¬ venged the crime she had committed in raising him to the throne ; he rewarded the fidelity of Bur'rhus by poisoning him; and as a last kindness to his tutor Seneca, he allowed him to choose the mode of his death. It was his darling amusement to exhibit on the stage and amphitheatre as an actor, musician, or gladiator. At length, become the ob¬ ject of univei'sal hatred and contempt, a rebellion of his subjects* headed by [Julius] Vindex, an illustrious Gaul*, hurled this monster from the * This is not quite consistent with historical precision. Vindex was defeated by Virginius, the lieutenant of Nero, and killed himself. Galba was shortly after proclaimed em¬ peror by his soldiers in Spain, as Vindex had been in Keltic Galba.—Otho. Vitellius. HISTORY OF ROME. Vespasian.—Titus. Domitian. 43 throne. He had not courage to attempt l’esistance; and a slave, at his own request, dispatched him with a dagger. Nero perished in the thirtieth year of his age, after a reign of fourteen years, a. d. 69 [and with him terminated the Julian family]. 2. Galba, the successor of Nero, was of an an¬ cient and illustrious family. He was in the seventy- third year of his age when the senate, ratifying the choice of the praetorian bands, proclaimed him emperor. But an impolitic rigour of discipline soon disgusted the army ; the avarice of his dispo¬ sition, grudging the populace their favourite games and spectacles, deprived him of their affections; and some iniquitous prosecutions and confiscations excited general discontent and mutiny. Galba adopted and designed for his successor the able and virtuous Pfso ; a measure which excited the jealousy of Otho, his former favourite, and led him to form the daring plan of raising himself to the throne by the destruction of both. He found the praetorians apt to his purpose ; they proclaimed him emperor, and presented him, as a grateful offering, the heads of Galba and Piso, who were slain in quelling the insurrection. Galba had reigned seven months, Major privato visits (says Tacitus) duni privatus fuit, et omnium consensu capax imperii , nisi imperasset. 3. Otho had a formidable rival in Vitellius, who had been proclaimed emperor by his army in Ger¬ many. It is hard to say which of the competitors was, in point of abilities, the more despicable, or in character the more infamous. A decisive battle was fought at Bedrfacum, near Mantua, where the army of Otho was defeated, and their commander, in a fit of despair, ended his life by his own hand, after a reign of three months, a. d. 70. 4. The reign of Vitellius was of eight months duration. He is said to have proposed Nero for his model, and it was just that he should resemble him in his fate. Vespasian, who had obtained from Nero the charge of the war against the Jews, which he had conducted with ability and success, was proclaimed emperor by his troops in the East; and a great part of Italy submitting to his generals, Vitellius meanly capitulated to save his life by a resignation* of the empire. The [Praetorian guard, who disliked Vespasian as being a strict disciplina¬ rian, with perhaps some few of the] people, indig¬ nant at his dastardly spirit, compelled him to an effort of resistance, but the attempt was fruitless, [and caused a tumult in which many perished, and the capitol was destroyed by fire]. Primus, one of the generals of [the Syrian army of] Vespasian [whom he was commanding in the Jewish war], took possession of Rome, and Vitellius was mas¬ sacred, and his body flung into the Tiber, [a.d. 69.] 5. Vespasian, though of mean descent, was worthy of the empire, and reigned with high popularity for ten years. He possessed great clemency of dispo¬ sition ; his manners were affable and engaging, and Gaul. Galba, although supported by Otho, the governor of Lusitania (Portugal), would not have succeeded after the defeat of Vindex, had not the praetorian guards seconded his revolt. The reign of Nero was remarkable for the great per¬ secution of the Christians, on whom the odium of the firing of Rome had been shifted. He seems to have been a favourite with the multitude, whose excesses he indulged.—Er>. • The word abdication is suggested, as conveying the most correct idea of an act disclaiming future government. —Ed. his mode of life was characterised by simplicity and frugality. He respected the ancient forms of the constitution, restored the senate to its delibera¬ tive rights, and acted by its authority in the admi¬ nistration of all public affairs. The only blemish in his character was a tincture of avarice; and even that is greatly extenuated by the laudable and patriotic use which he made of his revenues. Under his reign, and by the arms of his son Titus, was terminated the war against the Jew's. They had been brought under the yoke of Rome by Pompey, who took Jerusalem. Under Augustus they were governed for some time by Herod as viceroy ; but the tyranny of his son Archelaus was the cause of his banishment, and the reduction of Judea into the ordinary condition of a Roman pro¬ vince [dependent on the prefecture of Syria]. Re¬ belling on every slight* occasion, Nero had sent Vespasian to reduce them to order, and he had just prepared for the siege of Jerusalem, when he was called to Rome to assume the government of the empire. Titus wished to spare the city, and tried every means to prevail on the Jews to sur¬ render : but in vain; their ruin was decreed by Heaven. After an obstinate blockade of six months, Jerusalem was taken by storm, the temple burnt to ashes, and the city buried in ruins. The Roman empire was now in profound peace. Vespasian associated Titus in the imperial dignity, and soon after died, universally lamented, at the age of sixty- nine, a. d. 79. 6. The character of Titus was humane, munifi¬ cent, dignified, and splendid. His short reign was a period of great happiness and prosperity to the empire, and his government a constant example of virtue, justice, and beneficence. In this time [a. d. 79, August 24] happened that dreadful erup¬ tion of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed the cities of Herculaneum, and Pompeii, [and Stabise, Rome,also, was devastated by fire and afterwards by plague] ; and the public losses from these calamities he re¬ paired by the sacrifice of his fortune and revenues. He died in the third year of his reign, and fortieth of his age, ever to be remembered by that most exalted epithet, Delicice humani generis, [a. d. 81.] 7. Domitian, the brother of Titus, and suspected of murdering him by poison, succeeded to the em¬ pire, a.d. 81. He was a vicious and inhuman ty¬ rant. A rebellion in Germany gave him occasion to signalize the barbarity of his disposition; and its consequences were long felt in the sanguinary punishments inflicted under the pretence of justice. The prodigal and voluptuous spirit of this reign was a singular contrast to its tyranny and inhuma¬ nity. The people were loaded with insupportable taxes to furnish spectacles and games for their amusement. The successes of Agric'ola in Britain [a.d. 85] threw a lustre on the Roman arms, no part of which reflected on the Emperor, for he used this eminent commander with the basest in¬ gratitude. After fifteen tedious years, this monster fell at last the victim of assassination, the Empress herself conducting the plot for his murder, a.d. 96.+ * This expression seems unadvised; the .Tews revolted because their governors, especially Pontius Pilate, not only disregarded and grossly violated their religious feelings, but were also most tyrannical, avaricious, and oppressive.—E d. t This man arrogated divine honours. The Christians, because they refused to adore his statues, underwent a gene- 44 Nerva.—Trajan. Adrian. HISTORY OF ROME. Age of the Autonines.—Antoninus. Marcus Aurelius. [Domitian was the last of the twelve Caesars, of whom only four are commemorated as being entitled to notice from posterity, Julius, Augustus, Vespas- sion, and Titus. With respect to eight of the successors of Augustus, Gibbon applies to them the following apposite remarks, u Their unparalleled vices, and the splendid theatre on which they acted, have saved them from oblivion. The dark un¬ relenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero, the beastly Yitellius, and the timid, inhuman Domitian, are condemned to everlasting infamy. During four¬ score years (excepting only the short and doubtful respite of Vespasian’s reign) Rome groaned be¬ neath an unremitting tyranny, which exterminated the ancient families of the republic, and was fatal to almost every virtue, and every talent that arose in that unhappy period].” 8. Cocceius Nerva, a Cretan by [family but an Umbrian by] birth, was chosen Emperor by the senate, from respect to the virtues of his character; but too old for the burden of government, and of a temper too placid for the restraint of rooted cor¬ ruptions and enormities, his reign was weak, in¬ efficient, and contemptible. His only act of real merit as a sovereign, was the adoption of the vir¬ tuous Trajan as his successor. Nerva died, after a reign of sixteen months, a.d. 98. 9. Ulpius Trajanus possessed every talent and every virtue that can adorn a sovereign. Of great military abilities, and an indefatigable spirit of en¬ terprise, he raised the Roman arms to their ancient splendour, and greatly enlarged the boundaries of the empire. He subdued the Dacians, conquered the Parthians, and brought under subjection As¬ syria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia Felix *. Nor was he less eminent in promoting the happiness of his subjects, and the internal prosperity of the empire. His largesses were humane and munificent. He was the friend and support of the virtuous indigent, and the liberal patron of every useful art and talent. His bounties were supplied by a well judged economy in his private fortune, and a wise adminis¬ tration of the public finances. In his own life he was a man of simple manners, modest, affable, fond of the familiar intercourse of his friends, and sen¬ sible to all the social and benevolent affections; in a word, meriting the surname universally bestowed on him, Trajanus Optimus. He died at the age of sixty-three, after a glorious reign of nineteen years, A.D. 118. 10. ^Elius Adrianus, nephew of Trajan f, and worthy to fill his place, was chosen Emperor by the army in the East, and his title was acknowledged by all orders of the state. He adopted a policy different from that of his predecessor; and, judging the limits of the empire too extensive, abandoned all the conquests of Trajan, bounding the eastern provinces by the Euphrates. He visited in person the whole provinces of the empire, reforming, in his progress, all abuses, relieving his subjects of every oppressive burden, rebuilding the ruined ral persecution, in which a cousin-german of Domitian suf¬ fered [a.d. 95]. The first general persecution was under Nero.—E d. * In his reign the third persecution of the Christians took place.—E d. t He has been described as cousin-german and pupil or ward of Trajan.—E d. cities*, and establishing everywhere a regular and mild administration under magistrates of approved probity and humanity. He gave a discharge to the indigent debtors of the state, and appointed liberal institutions for the education of the children of the poor. To the talents of an able politician, he joined an excellent taste in the liberal arts; and his reign, which was of twenty-two years’ duration, was an era both of public happiness and splendour. [But it must be confessed that the last days of his reign were spent, as most of his predecessors’ had been, in the practice of the most filthy debaucheries, and that many eminent men were at that time sacrificed to his capricious and tyrannical suspicions]. In the last year of his life he bequeathed to the empire a double legacy, in adopting and declaring for his im¬ mediate successor Titus Aurelius Antoninus, and substituting Annius Verus to succeed upon his death. These were the Antonines, who for forty years ruled the Roman empire with consummate wisdom, abi¬ lity, and virtue. Adrian died, a.d. 138, at the age of sixty-two. 43.— AGE OF THE ANTONINES, &C. 1. The happiest reigns furnish the fewest events for the pen of history. Antoninus was the father of his people. He preferred peace to the ambition of conquest; yet in every necessary war the Ro¬ man arms had their wonted renown. The British province was enlarged by the conquests of Urbicus, and some formidable rebellions were subdued in Germany, Dacia, and the East. The domestic ad¬ ministration of the sovereign was dignified, splendid, and humane. With all the virtues of Numa, his love of religion, peace, and justice, he had the su¬ perior advantage of diffusing these blessings over a great portion of the world. He died at the age of seventy-four, after a reign of twenty-two years, A.D. 1G1. Annius Verus assumed, at his accession, the namef of Mar'cus Aurelius Antoninus, and he be¬ stowed on his brother Lucius Verus a joint admin¬ istration of the empire. The former was as eminent for the worth and virtues of his character, as the latter was remarkable for profligacy, meanness, and vice. Mar'cus Aurelius was attached both by nature and education to the Stoical philosophy, which he has admirably taught and illustrated in his Medita¬ tions ; and his own life was the best commentary on his precepts. The Parthians were repulsed in an attack upon the empire, and a rebellion of the Ger¬ mans was subdued. In these wars the mean and worthless Verus brought disgrace upon the Roman name in every region where he commanded ; but fortunately relieved the empire of its fears by an early death, [a.d. 171.] The residue of the reign of Mar'cus Aurelius was a continued blessing to his subjects. He reformed the internal policy of the state, regulated the government of the provinces, * He founded a colony at Jerusalem, under the name of ASlia Capitolina, and by introducing idolatry he provoked the remnant of the Jews to revolt for the third time, who were, after a three years’ war, nearly exterminated [a.d. 135].— Ed. t The memory of Antoninus was so venerated by the Romans, that for the greater part of the ensuing century, every emperor, for the sake of popularity, assumed the name of Antoninus.—E d. Commodus.—Pertinax.—Sale of the empire to Didius.—Severus.—Caracallaand Geta. HISTORY OF ROME. Heliogabalus and other emperors to Diocletian.—Constantine. 45 and visited himself, for the purposes of beneficence, the most distant quarters of his dominions. “ He appeared,” says an ancient author, “ like some be¬ nevolent deity, diffusing around him universal peace and happiness.” He died in Pannonia [at Vienna], in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and nineteenth of his reign, a.d. 180. 3. Commodus, his most unworthy son, succeeded to the empire on his death. He resembled in character his mother Faustina, a woman infamous for all manner of vice, but who had yet passed with her husband Mar'cus for a paragon of virtue. Corn- modus had an aversion to every rational and liberal pursuit, and a fond attachment to the sports of the circus and amphitheatre, the hunting of wild beasts, and the combats of boxers and gladiators. The measures of this reign were as unimportant as the character of the sovereign was contemptible. His concubine [Marcia], and some of his chief officers prevented their own destruction by assassinating * the tyrant, in the thirty-second year of his age, and thirteenth of his reign, a.d. 193+. 4. The praetorian guards gave the empire to Publius Helvius Per'tinax, a man of mean birth, who had risen to esteem by his virtues and military talents. He applied himself with zeal to the cor¬ rection of abuses ; but the austerity of his govern¬ ment deprived him of the affections of a corrupted people. He had disappointed the army of a pro¬ mised reward; and after a reign of eighty-six days, was murdered in the imperial palace by the same hands which had placed him on the throne. 5. The empire was now put up to auction by the praetorians, and was purchased by Didius Julianus; while Pescen'nius Niger in Asia, Clddius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in Illyria, were each chosen Emperor by the troops they command¬ ed. Severus marched to Rome ; and the praeto¬ rians, on his approach, abandoned Did'ius, who had failed to pay the stipulated price for his elevation, and the senate formally deposed and put him to death. Severus, master of Rome, prepared to re¬ duce the provinces which had acknowledged the sovereignty of Niger and Al'binus ; and these two rivals being successively subdued, the one lost his life in battle, and the other fell by his own hands. The administration of Seve'rus was wise and equit¬ able, but tinctured with despotic rigour. It was his purpose to erect the fabric of absolute monarchy, and all his institutions operated with able policy to that end. He possessed eminent military talents; and it was a glorious boast of his, that having re¬ ceived the empire oppressed with foreign and domestic wars, he left it in profound, universal, and honourable peace. He carried with him into Bri¬ tain his two sons CaracalTa and Ge'ta, whose un¬ promising dispositions clouded his latter days. In this war the Caledonians under Fingal are said to have defeated, on the banks of the Carron, Caracul , the son of the king of the world. Severus died at York, in the 66th year of his age, after a reign of eighteen years, a.d. 211. 6. The mutual hatred of Caracakla and Ge'ta was increased by their association in the empire ; and the former, with brutal inhumanity, caused his brother to be openly murdered in the arms of his * He was strangled in his bed.—E d. . f By the death of Commodus the Flavian family was ex¬ tinguished.—E d. mother. His reign, which was of six years’ duration, and one continued series of atrocities, was at length terminated by assassination, a.d. 217 . 7. Those disorders in the empire which began with ConTmodus continued for about a century, till the accession of Diocletian. That interval was filled by the reigns of Heliogabalus, Alexander Seve'rus, Maxim'in, Gordian, De'cius, Gaklus, Val- eria'nus, Gallie'nus, Clau'dius, Aurelia'nus, Tac'itus, Pro'bus, and Ca'rus ; a period of which the annals furnish neither amusement nor useful information. The single exception is the reign of Alexander Se¬ ve'rus, a mild, beneficent, and enlightened prince, whose character shines the more from the contrast of those who preceded and followed him. 8. Diocle'tian began his reign a.d. 284, and in¬ troduced a new system of administration, dividing the empire into four governments under as many princes. Maximian shared with him the title of Augustus ; and Galerius and Constantius [the lieu¬ tenants of Diocletian and Maximian] were declared Csesars. Each had his separate department or province, all nominally supreme, but in reality under the direction of the superior talents and authority of Diocletian ; an unwise policy, which depended for its efficacy on individual ability alone *. Dio¬ cletian and Maximian, trusting to the continuance of that order in the empire which their vigour had established, retired from sovereignty, [a.d. 305,] and left the government in the hands of the Caesars; but Constantius died soon after in Britain, and his son Constantine was proclaimed emperor at York, [a.d. 306,] though Gale'rius did not acknowledge his title. Maximian, however, having once more resumed the purple, bestowed on Constantine his daughter in marriage, and thus invested him with a double title to empire. [Maximian was afterwards put to death by order of Constantine for conspiring against him, a.d. 310.] On the death of Maximian and Galerius, Constantine had no other competitor than Maxentius the son of the former, and the con¬ test between them was decided by the sword. Max¬ entius fell in battle, and Constantine remained sole master of the empire. 9. The administration of Constantine was, in the beginning of his reign, mild, equitable, and politic. Though zealously attached to the Christian faith, he made no violent innovations on the i*eligion of the state. He introduced order and economy into the civil government, and repressed every species of oppression and corruption. But his natural tem¬ per was severe and cruel ; and the latter part of his reign was as much deformed by intolerant zeal and sanguinary rigour as the former had been re¬ markable for equity and benignity. From this un¬ favourable change of character he lost the affections of his subjects ; and from a feeling probably of re¬ ciprocal disgust, he removed the seat of the Roman empire to Byzantium, now termed Constantinople. The court followed the sovereign ; the opulent pro¬ prietors were attended by their slaves and retainers ; Rome was in a few years greatly depopulated, and * Rome became now no longer the seat of government, Diocletian residing at Nicomedia and Maximian at Milan. The tenth, last, and greatest persecution of the Christians took place under Diocletian; it lasted ten years. From this fact the reign of Diocletian has been termed the “ era of martyrs.” This persecution took place at the commencement of his reign.—E d. State of the Roman empire in UTCTmjv T>m\/n? Constantine’s division of the empire.—Incur- the time of Constantine. xiloIUxvi Ur xvUiVlJii. sions of the barbarians.— Julian the apostate. the new capital swelled at once to enormous magni¬ tude. It was characterised by Eastern splendour, luxury, and voluptuousness ; and the cities of Greece were despoiled for its embellishment. Of the internal policy of the empire we shall treat in the next section. In an expedition against the Persians, Constantine died at Nicomedia, in the thirtieth year of his reign, and sixty-third of his age, a.d. 337* In the time of Constantine the Goths had made several irruptions on the empire, and, though repulsed and beaten, began gradually to encroach on the provinces. 44.- STATE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE—HIS SUCCESSORS. 1. In lieu of the ancient republican distinctions, which were founded chiefly on personal merit, a rigid subordination of rank and office now went through all the orders of the state. The magistrates were divided into three classes, distinguished by the unmeaning titles of, 1. The Illustrious; 2. The [Spec- tabiles, or] Respectable; 3. The Clarissimi. The epi¬ thet of Illustrious was bestowed on, 1. The Consuls and patricians ; 2. The praetorian prefects of Rome and Constantinople ; 3. The masters-general of the cavalry and infantry ; 4. The seven ministers of the palace. The consuls were created by the sole authority of the emperor : their dignity was in¬ efficient ; they had no appropriate function in the state, and their names served only to give the legal date to the year. The dignity of patrician was not, as in ancient times, a hereditary distinction, but was bestowed as a title of honour by the Emperor on his favourites. From the time of the abolition of the praetorian bands by Constantine, the dignity of praetorian praefect was conferred on the civil governors of the four departments of the empire. These were, the East, Illyria, Italy, and the Gauls. They had the supreme administration of justice and of the finances, the power of supplying all the inferior magistracies in their district, and an appellative jurisdiction from all its tribunals. Independent of their authority, Rome and Con¬ stantinople had each its own prefect, who was the chief magistrate of the city. In the second class, the Spectabiles, were the pro-consuls of Asia, Achaia, and Africa, and the military comites and duces , generals of the imperial armies. The third class, Clarissimi , comprehended the inferior govern¬ ors and magistrates of' the provinces, responsible to the praefects and their deputies. 2. The intercourse between the court and pro¬ vinces was maintained by the construction of roads, and the institution of regular posts or couriers ; under which denomination were ranked the num¬ berless spies of government, whose duty was to convey all sorts of intelligence from the remotest quarters of the empire to its chief seat. Every institution was calculated to support the fabric of despotism. Torture was employed for the discovery of crimes. Taxes and impositions of every nature were prescribed and levied by the sole authority of the Emperor. The quantity and rate were fixed by a census made over all the provinces, and part was generally paid in money, part in the produce of the lands ; a burden frequently found so grievous as to prompt to the neglect of agriculture. Every object of merchandise and manufacture was likewise highly taxed. Subsidies, moreover, were exacted from all the cities, under the name of free gifts, on various occasions of public concern ; as the acces¬ sion of an Emperor, his consulate, the birth of a prince, a victory over the barbarians, or any other event of similar importance. 3. An impolitic distinction was made between the troops stationed in the distant provinces and those in the heart of the empire. The latter, termed Palatines, enjoyed a higher pay and more peculiar favour, and, having less employment, spent their time in idleness and luxury ; while the former, termed the Borderers, who, in fact, had the care of the empire, and were exposed to perpetual hard service, had, with an inferior reward, the mortifi¬ cation of feeling themselves regarded as of meaner rank than their fellow-soldiers. Constantine like¬ wise, from a timid policy of guarding against muti¬ nies of the troops, reduced the legion from its ancient complement of five thousand, six thousand, seven thousand, and eight thousand, to one thou¬ sand or one thousand five hundred, and debased the body of the army by the intermixture of Scy¬ thians, Goths, and Germans. 4. This immense mass of heterogeneous parts, which internally laboured with the seeds of disso¬ lution and corruption, was kept together for some time by the vigorous exertion of despotic authority. The fabric was splendid and august; but it wanted both that energy of constitution and that real dig¬ nity which, in former times, it derived from the exercise of heroic and patriotic virtues. 5. Constantine, with a destructive policy, had divided the empire among five princes, three of them his sons, and two nephews; but Constantius, the youngest of the sons, finally got rid of all his competitors, and ruled the empire alone with a weak and impotent sceptre. A variety of domestic broils, and mutinies of the troops against their ge¬ nerals, had left the western frontier to the mercy of the barbarian nations. The Franks, Saxons, Alemanni, and Sarmatians, laid waste all the fine countries watered bv the Rhine; and the Persians made dreadful incursions in the provinces of the East. Constantius indolently wasted his time in theological controversies, but was prevailed on to adopt one prudent measure, the appointment of his cousin Julian [surnamed the Apostate] to the dig¬ nity of Caesar. 6. Julian possessed many heroic qualities, and his mind was formed by nature for the sovereignty of a great people; but educated at Athens in the schools of the Platonic philosophy, he had un¬ fortunately conceived a rooted antipathy to the doc¬ trines of Christianity. With every talent of a general, and possessing the confidence and affection of his troops, he once more restored the glory of the Roman arms, and successfully repressed the invasions of the Barbarians. His victories excited the jealousy of Constantius, who meanly resolved to remove from his command the better part of his troops. The consequence was a declaration of the army, that it was their choice that Julian should be theirEmperor. Constantius escaped the ignominy that awaited him by dying at this critical juncture, and Julian was immediately acknowledged sove¬ reign of the Roman empire, [a.d. 361.] 7. The reformation of civil abuses formed the first object of his attention; which he next turned to the reformation, as he thought, of religion, by the suppression of Christianity. He began by re- Julian slain.—Jovian.—‘Valcntinian. V ap TiniVTl? Valens.—Gratian.—Theodosius. The Arian heresy. nioiuivi ui liuiuti. Arcadius and Honorius. forming the Pagan theology, and sought to raise the character of its priests, by inculcating purity of life and sanctity of morals; thus bearing in¬ voluntary testimony to the superior excellence, in those respects, of that religion which he laboured to abolish. Without persecuting, he attacked the Christians by the more dangerous policy of treating them with contempt, and removing them, as vision¬ aries, from all employments of public trust. He refused them the benefit of the laws to decide their differences, because their religion forbade all dissen¬ sions; and they were debarred the studies of litera¬ ture and philosophy, which they could not learn but from Pagan authors. He was himself, as a Pagan, the slave of the most bigoted superstition, believing in omens and auguries, and fancying himself fa¬ voured with an actual intercourse with the gods and goddesses. To avenge the injuries which the empire had sustained from the Persians, Julian marched into the heart of Asia, and was for some time in the train of conquest, when, in a fatal engagement, though crowned with victory, he was slain, at the age of thirty-one, after a reign of three years, a.d. 363 [during the last twenty months of which he had been sole master of the Roman empire]. 8. The Roman army was dispirited by the death of its commander. They chose for their emperor Jovian, a captain of the domestic guards, and pur¬ chased a free retreat from the dominions of Persia by the ignominious surrender of five provinces, which had been ceded by a former sovereign to Galerius. The short reign of Jovian, a period of seven months, was mild and equitable. He favoured Christianity, and restored its votaries to all their privileges as subjects. He died suddenly [from ac¬ cidental suffocation by charcoal] at the age of thirty- thi’ee. [a.d. 364.] 9. Valentinian was chosen emperor by the army on the death of Jovian*; a man of obscure birth, and severe manners, but of considerable military talents. He associated with himself in the empire his brother Yalens, to whom he gave the dominion of the eastern provinces, reserving to himself the western. The Persians, under Sapor [Shahpur], were making inroads on the former, and the latter was subject to continual invasion from the northern barbarians. They were success¬ fully repelled by Valentinian in many battles; and his domestic administration was wise, equitable, and politic. The Christian religion was favoured by the emperor, though not promoted by the per¬ secution of its adversaries; a contrast to the con¬ duct of his brother Valens, who, intemperately supporting the Arian heresyf, set the whole pro¬ vinces in a flame, and drew a swarm of invaders upon the empire in the guise of friends and allies, who in the end entirely subverted it. These were the Goths, who, migrating from Scandinavia, had, in the second century, settled on the banks of the Palus Mseotis, and thence gradually extended their territory. In the reign of Valens they took possession of Dacia, and were known by the dis- * There had been an interregnum of ten days.—E d. t The heresy of Arius [a.d. 318] disturbed the Church for three centuries. His notion was, that our Saviour was essentially distinct from the Father, although the most per¬ fect of human beings ; in fact, denying the divinity of Christ: a doctrine so opposed to the declaration of the Bible and the evidence of antiquity, as to have been universally condemned by the earliest councils.— Ed. tinct appellation of Ostrogoths and Visigoths, or Eastern and Western Goths; a remarkable people, and whose manners, customs, government, and laws, are afterwards to be particularly noted. 10. Valentinian died on an expedition against the Alemaimi, and was succeeded in the empire of the West by Gratian, his eldest son, a boy of six¬ teen years of age, a.d. 367. Valens in the east was the scourge of his people. The Huns, a new race of barbarians, of Tartar or Siberian origin, now poured down on the provinces both of the west and east. The Goths, comparatively a civi¬ lized people, fled before them. The Visigoths, who were first attacked, requested protection from the empire, and Valens imprudently gave them a set¬ tlement in Thrace. The Os'trogoths made the same request, and on refusal, forced their way into the same province. Valens gave them battle at Adrianople: his army was defeated [with dread¬ ful loss], and he himself slain in the engagement [a.d. 378]. The Goths, unresisted, ravaged Achaia and Pan non i a. 11. Gratian, a prince of good dispositions, but of little energy of character, assumed Theodosius as his colleague, who, on the early death of Gratian, and minority of his son Valentinian II., governed with great ability both the eastern and western empire. The character of Theodosius, deservedly surnamed the Great, was worthy of the best ages of the Roman state. He successfully repelled the enci’oachments of the barbarians, and secured, by wholesome laws, the prosperity of his people. He died after a reign of eighteen years, assigning to his sons, Arcadius and Honoi’ius, the separate sove¬ reignties of East and West, a.d. 395. 45.— PROGRESS OP THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, FROM ITS INSTITUTION TO THE EXTINCTION OF PAGANISM IN THE REIGN OF THEODOSIUS. 1. The reign of Theodosius was signalized by the downfall of the pagan supei'stition, and the full establishment of the Christian l’eligion in the Ro¬ man empire. This great revolution of opinions is highly worthy of attention, and natui’ally induces a i-eti’ospect to the condition of the Christian church from its institution down to this pei’iod. It has been frequently l’emarked, because it is an obvious truth, that the concuirence of circum¬ stances at the time of our Saviour’s birth was such as, while a divine revelation seemed to be then more peculiarly needed, the state of the woi'ld was l’emarkably favoui'able for the extensive dissemi¬ nation of the doctrines it conveyed. The union of so many nations under one powei’, and the exten¬ sion of civilization, wei'e favoui’able to the pi'ogress of a religion which prescribed universal charity and benevolence. The gross supei’stitions of pa¬ ganism, and its tendency to corrupt instead of purifying the morals, contributed to explode its influence with every thinking mind. Even the pi-evalent philosophy of the times, Epicurism, more easily undei'stood than the refinements of the Pla- tonists, and more grateful than the severities of the Stoics, tended to degrade human nature to the level of the brute creation. The Christian religion, thus necessary for the reformation of the world, found its chief partisans in those who were the fi’iends of virtue, and its enemies among the vota- ries of vice. 0 Persecution of the Christians by the TTTC r rrAT> v /it? paa/TT? 4« Romans.-Form of primitive church. HISTORY O* ROME. 2. The persecution which the Christians under¬ went from the Romans has been deemed an excep¬ tion to that spirit of toleration they showed to the religions of other nations : but they were tolerating only to those whose theologies were not hostile to their own. The religion of the Romans was inter¬ woven with their political constitution. The zeal of the Christians, aiming at the suppression of all idolatry, was not unnaturally regarded as danger¬ ous to the state; and hence they were the object of hatred and persecution. In the first century, the Christian church suffered deeply under Nero and Domitian; yet those persecutions had no ten¬ dency to check the progress of its doctrines. [In¬ deed, as Christianity became more powerful, a vague apprehension began to spread among the Roman people, that the fall of their old religion might, to a certain degree, involve that of their civil dominion ; and this apprehension was con¬ firmed by the writings and language of some of the Christian teachers. This feeling was probably much augmented by the spurious and interpolated Sybilline verses, the interpolations in which are attributed to the present date. The moral supe¬ riority of the Christians in their religion and in their civil deportment, created also a jealousy which ultimately produced open hostility. Many circumstances of a tendency to alarm the supersti¬ tious excited the public mind at this period. Rome was visited with a terrible inundation of the Tiber, which was succeeded by a famine ; Italy also was depopulated by a pestilence, introduced by the sol¬ diers on their return from the East, a.d. 166; but the precise origin of this plague, like that of similar calamities, it was difficult to trace. The public alarm and superstition considered these great afflictions as proceeding from the ven¬ geance of their offended gods : indeed these disas¬ trous events and the martyrdom of the Christians were coincident; for the Christians refused to join in the sacrifices that the national terror had multi¬ plied to appease the heathen divinities. The Jews also were vindictively active against the Chris¬ tians*.] 3. It is matter of question what was the form of the primitive church, and the nature of its govern¬ ment ; and on this head much difference of opinion obtains, not only between the Catholics and Protes¬ tants, but between the different classes of the lat¬ ter, as the Lutherans and Calvinists. It is, more¬ over, an opinion, that our Saviour and his apostles, confining their precepts to the pure doctrines of religion, have left all Christian societies to regulate their frame and government in the manner best suited to the civil constitutions of the countries in which they are established. 4. In the second century, the books of the New Testament were collected into a volume by the elder [or apostolic] fathers of the church f, and * See Milman’s History of Christianity, 8vo. Lond., 1840, wherein the reader will find a most lucid and comprehensive account of the affairs of the early Christian church, and the progressive advancement of Christianity.—E d. f The earliest of the primitive fathers and doctors of the Christian church here alluded to, were Barnabas the apostle, Clement of Rome, and Hermas, contemporaries of St. Paul; Ignatius; Polycarp (a disciple of St. John); Papias; Justin Martyr; Irenasus; Tatius, the composer of the Diatessaron or Harmony of the Gospels ; Athenagoras, a Christian philo- Progress of Christianity.—Christianity ultimately adopted by the Romans. received as a canon of faith. The Old Testament had been translated [by Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus] from the Hebrew into Greek, by order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, two hundred and eighty-four years before Christ. The early church suffered much from an absurd endeavour of the more learned of its votaries to reconcile its doc¬ trines to the tenets of the pagan philosophers ; hence the sects of the Gnostics * and Ammonians, and the Platonizing Christians. The Greek churches began in the second century to form provincial associations, and establish general rules of govern¬ ment and discipline. Assemblies were held, termed [I'uroOot] synodi and concilia , over which a metro¬ politan presided. A short time after arose the superior order of patriarch, presiding over a large district of the Christian world; and a subordina¬ tion taking place even among these, the bishop of Rome was acknowledged the chief of the patri¬ archs. Persecution still attended the early church, even under those excellent princes Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines; and in the reign of Severus, the whole provinces of the empire were stained with the blood of the martyrs. 5. The third century was more favourable to the progress of Christianity and the tranquillity of its disciples. In those times it suffered less from the civil arm than from the pens of the pagan philoso¬ phers, Porphyry, Philostratus, &c.; but these at¬ tacks called forth the zeal and talents of many able defenders, as Origen, Dionysius, and Cyprian. A part of the Gauls, Germany, and Britain received in this century the light of the Gospel. 6. In the fourth century, the Christian Church was alternately persecuted and cherished by the Roman emperors. Among its oppressors we rank Diocletian, Galerius, and Julian. Among its fa- vourei’s, Constantine and his sons, Valentinian, Valens, Gi’atian, and the excellent Theodosius, in whose reign the pagan superstition came to its final pei'iod. 7. From the age of Numa to the l’eign of Gratian, the Romans preserved the regular succession of the several sacerdotal colleges, the Pontiffs, Augurs, Vestals, Flamines, Salii , &c., whose authority, though weakened in the latter ages, was still pro- tected by the laws. Even the Christian emperoi’S held, like their pagan pi’edecessoi’s, the office of Pontifex Maximus. Gi’atian was the first who re¬ fused that ancient dignity as a profanation. In the time of Theodosius the cause of Christianity and of Paganism was solemnly debated in the Roman senate between Ambrose, ai’chbishop of Milan, the champion of the foi’mer, and Symmachus, the de¬ fender of the latter. The cause of Christianity was triumphant, and the senate issued its decree for the abolition of Paganism, whose downfal in the capital was soon followed by its extinction in the provinces. Theodosius, with able policjq pei'mitted no pei’secution of the ancient religion, which perished with the more l’apidity, that its fall was gentle and uni’esisted. 8. But the Christian church exhibited a super¬ stition in some respects little less ii’rational than Polytheism, in the worship of saints and relics; and sopher and Athenian ; Theophilus; Tertullian; Clement of Alexandria ; Origen ; &c. &c.—E d. * The Gnostics interwove the wild doctrines of Oriental philosophy with the tenets of Christianity.—E d Extinction of the Roman empire in the West. ittcthT! V ni? "ROMF t ^ ie ^ ast destroyed by the Vandals and Alaric invades Italy.—The Roman empire in H-lolUn, i iAUivirj. Huns.—Fall of the empire. many novel tenets, unfounded in the precepts of our Saviour and his Apostles, were manifestly bor¬ rowed from the Pagan schools. The doctrines of the Platonic philosophy seem to have led to the notions of an intermediate state of purification; celibacy of the priests, ascetic mortifications, penances, and monastic seclusion [and are said to have been first practised in Alexandria]. 46.— EXTINCTION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 1. In the reigns of Arcadius and Hondrius, the sons and successors of Theoddsius, the barbarian nations established themselves in the frontier pro¬ vinces both of the East and West. Theodosius had committed the government to Rufinus and Stil'icho during the nonage of his sons ; and their fatal dis¬ sensions gave every advantage to the enemies of the empire. The Huns, actually invited by Rufinus, [a person described by all parties as stained with every species of guilt], overspread Armenia, Cap- paddcia, and Syria. The Goths under Al'aric ravaged to the borders of Italy, and laid waste Acliaia to the Peloponnesus. Stil'icho, an able general, made a noble stand against these invaders; but his plans were frustrated by the machinations of his rivals and the weakness of Arcadius, who purchased an ignominious peace by ceding to Al'aric the whole of Greece. 2. Alaric, now styled king of the Visigoths, pre¬ pared to add Italy to his new dominions. He passed the Alps, and was carrying all before him, when, amused by the politic Stilicho with the pros¬ pect of a new cession of territory, he was taken at unawares, and defeated by that general, then com¬ manding the armies of Honorius. The emperor triumphantly celebrated on that occasion the eter¬ nal defeat of the Gothic nation; an eternity bounded by the lapse of a few months. In this interval a torrent of the Goths breaking down upon Germany, forced the nations whom they dispossessed, the Suevi, Alani, and Vandals, to precipitate them¬ selves upon Italy. They joined their arms to those of Alaric, who, thus reinforced, determined to over¬ whelm Rome. The policy of Stilicho made him change his purpose on the promise of four thousand pounds weight of gold ; a promise repeatedly broken by Honorius, and its violation finally revenged by Alaric, by the sack and plunder of the city, a.d. 410. With generous magnanimity he was sparing of the lives of the vanquished, and with singular liberality of spirit, anxious to preserve every an¬ cient edifice from destruction, [and the sixth day after the capture of the city, evacuated the place, and took the road for Southern Italy]. 3. Alaric, preparing now for the conquest of Sicily and Africa, died at this era of his highest glory ; and Honorius, instead of profiting by this event to recover his lost provinces, made a treaty with his successor Ataulfus, gave him in marriage his sister Placidia, and secured his friendship by ceding to him a portion of Spain, while a great part of what remained had before been occupied by the Vandals. He allowed soon after to the Bur¬ gundians a just title to their conquests in Gaul. Thus the western empire was by degrees moulder¬ ing from under the dominion of its ancient masters. 4. In the East, the mean and dissolute Arcadius died in the year 408, leaving that empire to his infant son Theodosius II., whose sister Pulcheria swayed the sceptre with much prudence and ability; and the weakness of her brother allowed her go¬ vernment to be of forty years’ continuance. Hono¬ rius died in the year 423. The laws of Arcddius and Honorius are, with a few exceptions, remark¬ able for their wisdom and equity ; a singular phe¬ nomenon, considering the personal character of those princes, and evincing at least that they em¬ ployed some able ministers. 5. The Vandals under Gen'seric subdued the Roman provinces in Africa. The Huns in the East extended their conquests from the borders of China to the Baltic sea. Under Attila they laid waste Moesia [or Mysia] and Thrace; and Theodosius II., after a mean attempt to murder the barbarian general, ingloriously submitted to pay him an annual tri¬ bute. It was in this crisis of universal decay that the Britons implored the Romans to defend them against the Piets and Scots, but received for answer, that they had nothing to bestow on them but compassion. The Britons, in despair, sought aid from the Saxons and Angles, who seized as their property the country they were invited to pro¬ tect, and founded, in the fifth and sixth centuries, the kingdoms of the Saxon heptarchy. (See Part ii. Sect. 12, § 5.) 6. Attila, with an army of five hundred thousand men, threatened the total destruction of the empire. He was ably opposed by ^Etius, general of Valen- tinian III. now emperor of the West, who was himself shut up in Rome by the arms of the Bar¬ barian, and at length compelled to purchase a peace. On the death of Attila, his dominions were dismembered by his sons, whose dissensions gave temporary relief to the falling empire. 7. After Valentinian III. we have in the West a succession of princes, or rather names; for the events of their reigns merit no detail. In the reign of Romulus, surnamed Augustulus, the son of Ores'tes, the empire of the West came to a final period. Odoacer, prince of the Her'uli, subdued Italy, and spared the life of Augus'tulus, on the condition of his resigning the throne, a.d. 476 [and the conqueror took the title of king of Italy]. From the building of Rome to this era, the extinction of the Western Empire, is a period of 1228 years. 8. We may reduce to one ultimate cause the various circumstances that produced the decline and fall of this once magnificent fabric. The ruin of the Roman empire was the inevitable con¬ sequence of its greatness. The extension of its dominion relaxed the vigour of its frame : the vices of the conquered nations infected the victorious le¬ gions, and foreign luxuries corrupted their com¬ manders; selfish intei'est supplanted the patriotic affection; the martial spirit was purposely debased by the emperors, who dreaded its effects on their own power; and the whole mass thus weakened and enervated, fell an easy prey to the torrent of bar¬ barians which overwhelmed it. 9. The Herulian dominion in Italy was of short duration. Theod'oric, prince of the Ostrogoths (afterwards deservedly surnamed the Great), ob¬ tained permission of Zeno, emperor of the East, to attempt the recovery of Italy, and a promise of its sovereignty as the reward of his success. The whole nation of the Ostrogoths attended the stan¬ dard of their prince; and Theodoi’ic, victorious in repeated engagements, at length compelled Odoacer pa Heruhan (iomination in Italy* IIT^Tni? V TtnitlT? Origin and character of the Gothic The Goths and Lombards overrun Italy. rU^lUIti Ur xvUivlJii. nations before their invasion. to surrender all Italy to the conqueror, [a.d. 492.] The Romans had tasted of happiness under the government of Odoacer, and it was increased under the dominion of Theod'oric, who possessed every talent and virtue of a sovereign. His equity and clemency rendered him a blessing to his subjects: he allied himself with all the surrounding nations, the Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, and Vandals; and he left a peaceable sceptre to his grandson Athalaric, during whose infancy his mother Ama- lasonte governed with such admirable wisdom and moderation, as left her subjects no real cause of regret for the loss of her father. 10. While such was the state of Gothic Italy, the empire of the East was under the government of Justinian, a prince of mean ability, vain, capri¬ cious, aud tyrannical. Yet the Roman name rose for a while from its abasement by the merit of his generals. Belisarius was the support of his throne, yet to him he behaved with the most shocking in¬ gratitude [encouraging the false accusations of con¬ spiracy made against him, and permitting the con¬ fiscation of his property eight months previous to his decease] *. The Persians were at this time the most formidable enemies of the empire, under their sovereigns Cabades and Cosrhoes; and from the latter, a most able prince, Justinian meanly pur¬ chased a peace, by a cession of territory, and an enormous tribute in gold. The civil factions of Constantinople, arising from the most contemptible of causes, the disputes of the performers in the circus and amphitheatre, threatened to hurl Jus¬ tinian from the throne, had they not been for¬ tunately composed by the arms and the policy of Belisarius. This great general overwhelmed the Vandal sovereignty of Africa, and recovered that province to the empire. He wrested Italy from its Gothic sovereign, and once more restoi-ed it for a short space to the dominion of its ancient masters. [To this period is referred the arrangement of the Roman law into what is known as the Justinian Code , a.d. 529-540. This, with the Pandects or Digest , a compilation of previous codes and treatises, and the institutes and novels (elementary treatises), constitute what has been handed down to us as the body of the Roman civil law {corpus juris civilis ).] 11. Italy was once more subdued by the Goths, under the heroic Totila, who besieged and took the city of Rome, but forbore f to destroy it at the re¬ quest of Belisarius. The fortunes of this great man were now in the wane. He was compelled to evacuate Italy; and on his return to Constantinople, his long services were repaid with disgrace. He was superseded in the command of the armies by the eunuch Narses, who defeated Totila in a de¬ cisive engagement, in which the Gothic prince was slain. Narses governed Italy with great ability for thirteen years, when he was ungratefully re¬ called by Justin II. the [nephew and] successor of Justinian [who died a.d. 5G5]. He invited the Lombards to avenge his injuries; and this new * The reader need hardly be reminded, that the pictorial illustration of date obolum Belisario is a mere fiction; his life has been written by Lord Mahon.— Ed. + The forbearance mentioned by Professor Tytler is ima¬ ginary. Totila obtained possession of Rome, pressed by famine, by means of treachery, and was even then repulsed by Belisarius three times. Totila proposed to make the site of Rome a pasturage for cattle.—E d. tribe of invaders overran and conquered the coun¬ try, a.d. 568. 47.—OF THE ORIGIN, MANNERS, AND CHARACTER OF THE GOTHIC NATIONS, BEFORE THEIR ES¬ TABLISHMENT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1. The history and manners of the Gothic na¬ tions are curious objects of inquiry, from their influence on the constitutions and national cha¬ racter of most of the modern kingdoms of Europe. As the present inhabitants of these kingdoms are a mixed race, compounded of the Goths and of the nations whom they subdued, the laws, manners, and institutions of the modern kingdoms are the result of this conjunction; and in so far as these are dif¬ ferent from the usages prevalent before this inter¬ mixture, they are, in all probability, to be traced from the ancient manners and institutions of those northern tribes. We purpose to consider, first, The original character of the Gothic nations; and secondly, The change of their manners on their establishment in the Roman empire. 2. The Scandinavian chronicles attribute to the ancient inhabitants of that country an Asiatic ori¬ gin, and inform us that the Goths were a colony of Scythians, who migrated thither from the banks of the Black Sea and the Caspian : but these chro¬ nicles do not fix the period of this migration, which some later writers suppose to have been one thou¬ sand years, and others only seventy, before the Christian era. Odin, the chief deity of the Scan¬ dinavians, was the god of the Scythians. Sigga, a Scythian prince, is said to have undertaken a dis¬ tant expedition; and after subduing several of the Sarmatian tribes, to have penetrated into the nor¬ thern parts of Germany, and thence into Scandi¬ navia. He assumed the honours of divinity, and the title of Odin his national god. He conquered Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and gave wise and salutary laws to the nations he had subdued by his arms. 3. The agreement in manners between the Scy¬ thians and the ancient Scandinavian nations is strongly corroborative of the accounts given in the northern chronicles of the identity of their origin. The description of the manners of the Germans by Tacitus (though this people was pro¬ bably not of Scythian, but of Keltic origin) may, in many particulars, be applied to the ancient na¬ tions of Scandinavia; and the same description coincides remarkably with the account given by He¬ rodotus of the manners of the Scythians. Their life was spent in hunting, pasturage, and predatory war. Their dress, their weapons, them food, their respect for their women, their religious worship, were the same. They despised learning, and had no other records for many ages than the songs of their bards. 4. The theology of the Scandinavians was most intimately connected with their manners. They held three great principles, or fundamental doc¬ trines of religion : “ To serve the Supreme Being with prayer and sacrifice; to do no wrong or un¬ just action; and to be intrepid in fight.” These principles are the key to the Eclda, or sacred book of the Scandinavians, which, though it contains the substance of a very ancient religion, is not itself a work of high antiquity, being compiled in the thir¬ teenth century by Suoito Sturleson, supreme judge of Iceland. Odin, characterized as the Terrible Scandinavians and Germans derived from the Keltae.—Origin and cha- THE NORTHERN NATIONS. and Severe God, the Father of Carnage, the Avenger, is the principal deity of the Scandina¬ vians; from whose union with Frea, the heavenly mother, sprung various subordinate divinities; as Thor, who perpetually wars against Loke and his evil giants, who envy the power of Odin, and seek to destroy his works. Among the inferior deities are the Virgins of the Valhalla, whose office is to minister to the heroes in paradise. The favourites of Odin are all who die in battle, or, what is equally meritorious, by their own hand. The timid wretch, who allows himself to perish by disease or age, is unworthy of the joys of paradise. These joys are fighting, ceaseless slaughter, and drinking beer out of the skulls of their enemies, with a renovation of life, to furnish a perpetuity of the same pleasures. 5. As the Scandinavians believed this world to be the work of some superior intelligences, so they held all nature to be constantly under the regula¬ tion of an Almighty will and power, and subject to a fixed and unalterable destiny. These notions had a wonderful effect on the national manners, and on the conduct of individuals. The Scandinavian placed his sole delight in war: he entertained an absolute contempt of danger and of death, and his glory was estimated by the number he had slain in battle. The death-song of Regner Loclbrok, who comforts himself in his last agonies by recounting all the acts of carnage he had committed in his lifetime, is a faithful picture of the Scandinavian character. 6. We have remarked the great similarity of the manners of the Scandinavians and those of the ancient Germans. These nations seem, however, to have had a different origin. The Germans, as well as the Gauls, were branches of that great original nation termed Keltas, who inhabited most of the countries of Europe to the south of the Baltic, before they were invaded by the northern tribes from Scandinavia. The Keltse were all of the Druidical religion; a system which, though different from the belief and worship of the Scan¬ dinavians, is founded nearly on the same principles; and the Goths, in their progress, intermixing with the Germans, could not fail to adopt, in part, the notions of a kindred religion. Druidism acknow¬ ledged a God that delighted in bloodshed; it taught the immortality of the soul, and inculcated the contempt of danger and of death: Ignavum redi- turce parcere vitce. Tacitus remarks of the ancient Germans, that they had neither temples nor idols. The open air was the temple of the Divinity, and a consecrated grove the appropriated place for prayer and sacrifice, which none but the priests were al¬ lowed to enter. The chief sacrifices were human victims, most probably the prisoners taken in Avar. The Druids heightened the sanctity of their cha¬ racter by concealing the mysteries of their worship. They had the highest influence over the minds of the people, and thus found it easy to conjoin a civil authority with the sacerdotal; a policy which in the end led to the destruction of the Druidical system; for the Romans found no other way of securing their conquests over any of the Keltic nations, than by exterminating the Druids. 7. Whatever differences of manners there may have been among the various nations or tribes of Gothic origin, the great features of their character appear to have been the same. Nature, education, and pi'evailing habits, all concurred to form them racter of the Gothic nations after their invasion of Italy. 51 for an intrepid and conquering people. Their bo¬ dily frame, invigorated by the climate they inhabi¬ ted, ever inured to danger and fatigue, war their habitual occupation, believing in an unalterable destiny, and taught by their religion, that a heroic sacrifice of life gave certain assurance of eternal happiness; how could a race of men so characterized fail to be the conquerors of the world 2 48. -OF THE MANNERS, LAWS, AND GOVERNMENT OF THE GOTHIC NATIONS, AFTER THEIR ES¬ TABLISHMENT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1. It has been erroneously imagined, that the same ferocity of manners which distinguished the Goths in their original seats, attended their suc¬ cessors in their new establishments in the provinces of the Roman empire. Modern authors ha\ r e given a currency to this false idea. Voltaire, in describing the middle ages, paints the Goths in all the charac¬ ters of horror; as “a troop of hungry wolves, foxes, and tigers, driving before them the scattered timid herds, and involving all in ruin and desolation.” The accounts of historians most worthy of credit will dissipate this injurious prejudice, and show these northern nations in a more favourable point of view, as not umvorthy to be the successors of the Romans. 2. Before the settlement in the southern pro¬ vinces of Europe, the Goths were no longer idola- j ters, but Christians; and their morality was suitable i to the religion they professed. Salvianus, bishop of Marseilles, in the fifth century, draws a parallel between their manners and those of the Romans, highly to the credit of the former. Grotius, in his publication of Procopius and Jornandes, remarks, as a strong testimony to their honourable character as a nation, that no province once subdued by the Goths ever voluntarily withdrew itself from their government. 3. It is not possible to produce a more beautiful picture of an excellent administration than that of the Gothic monarchy in Italy under Theodoric the Great. Although master of the country by con- : quest, he was regarded by his subjects with the ■ affection of a native sovereign. He retained the Roman laws, and as nearly as possible the ancient political regulations. In supplying all civil offices of state, he preferred the native Romans. It was his care to preserve every monument of the ancient ! grandeur of the empire, and to embellish the cities by new works of beauty and utility. In the imposition and levying of taxes, he shewed the most humane indulgence on every occasion of scarcity or calamity. His laws were dictated by the most enlightened prudence and benevolence, and framed on that principle which he nobly incul¬ cated in his instructions to the Roman senate, “ Benigni principis est , non tam delicta Telle punire , quam tollere .” The historians of the times delight in recounting the examples of his munificence and humanity. Partial as he was to the Arian heresy, many even of the Catholic Fathers have done the most ample justice to his merits, acknowledging that, under his reign, the church enjoyed a high measure of prosperity. Such Avas Theodoric the Great, who is justly termed by Sidonius Apollinaris, Romance decns columenque gentis. 4. But a single example could not warrant a j general inference Avith regard to the merits of a j e 2 . Goths divided into Ostrogoths and mrir 1 \rnm i Tn?T>'\T iv.TAT'Tmvrc goths and their government.—Method Visigoths.— Laws of the Visi- ILLLi 1NUK1 rliiilvlN JNAllUiNo. of studying ancient history. whole people. The example of Theodoric is not single. If it does not find a complete parallel, it is at least nearly approached to in the similar cha¬ racters of Alaric, Amalasonte, and Totila. Alaric, compelled by his enemy’s breach of faith to revenge himself by the sack of Rome, showed even in that revenge a noble example of humanity. No blood was shed without necessity ; the churches were in¬ violable asylums ; the honour of the women was preserved ; the treasures of the city were saved from plunder. Amalasonte, the daughter of Theo¬ doric, repaired to her subjects the loss of her father by the equity and wisdom of her administration. She trained her son to the study of literature and of every polite accomplishment, as the best means of reforming and enlightening his people. Totila, twice master of Rome, which he won by his arms after an obstinate resistance, imitated the example of Alaric in his clemency to the vanquished, and in his care to preserve every remnant of ancient mag¬ nificence from destruction *. He restored the senate to its authority ; he adorned Rome with useful edifices, regulated its internal policy, and took a noble pride in reviving the splendour and dignity of the empire. Habitavit cum Romanis, says a con¬ temporary author, tanquam pater cum filiis. 5. The stem of the Gothic nation divided itself into two great branches, the Ostrogoths, who re¬ mained in Pannonia, and the Westrogoths or Visi¬ goths, so termed from their migrating thence to the west of Europe. Italy was possessed by the latter under Alaric, and by the former under Theodoric. The Visigoths, after the death of Alaric, withdrew into Gaul, and obtained from Honorius the province of Aquitaine, of which Thoulouse was the capital. When expelled from that province by the Franks, they crossed the Pyrenees, and settling in Spain, made Toledo the capital of their kingdom. The race of the Visigoth princes was termed the Balti, as that of the Ostrogoths the Amali. The Ostro¬ goths enforced in their dominions the observance of the Roman laws ; the Visigoths adhered to a code compiled by their own sovereigns, and founded on the ancient maimers and usages of their nations. From this code, therefore, we may derive much in¬ formation relative to the genius and character of this ancient people. 6. It is enacted by the Laics of the Visigoths, 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 great equity. No punishment can affect the heirs of the criminal : omnia crimina suos sequantur auctores — ille solus judicetur culpabilis qui culpanda commiserit, et crimen cum illo qui fecerit moriatur. Death was the punishment of the murder of a freeman; and perpetual infamy of the murder of a slave. Pecu¬ niary fines were enacted for various subordinate offences, according to their measure of criminality. An adulterer was delivered in bondage to the in¬ jured husband ; and the free woman who had com¬ mitted adultery with a married man, became the slave of his wife. No physician was allowed to visit a female patient, but in the presence of her nearest kindred. The Lex talionis was in great ob¬ servance for such injuries as admitted of it. It was even carried so far, that the incendiary of a * Vide ante, note to page 50, col. 1. house was burnt alive. The trials by judicial com¬ bat, by ordeal, and by the judgment of God, which were in frequent use among the Franks and Nor¬ mans, had no place among the Visigoths. Montes¬ quieu has erroneously asserted, that in all the Gothic nations it was usual to judge the litigants by the law of their own country ; the Roman by the Roman law, the Frank by that of the Franks, the Aleman by that of the Alemans. On the contrary, the Visigoth code prohibits the laws of all other nations within the territories of that people : Nolumus sire Romanis legibus, sire alienis institutionibus, amplius convexari. The laws of the Franks and Lombards are remarkable for their wisdom and judicious policy. 7. The government of the Goths, after their settlement in the Roman provinces, was monarchical; and, at first elective, became afterwards hereditary ; the sovereign on his death-bed appointing his suc¬ cessors, with the advice or consent of his grandees. Illegitimacy did not disqualify from succession or nomination to the throne. 8. The Dukes and Counts were the chief officers under the Gothic government. The Duke (Dux exercitus) was the commander-in-chief of the troops of the province ; the Count (Comes) was the highest civil magistrate ; but these officers frequently in¬ termixed their functions : the Count being empow¬ ered, on sudden emergencies, to assume a military command, and the Duke, on some occasions, war¬ ranted to exercise judicial authority. In general, however, their departments were distinct. Of Comites there were various orders, with distinct official powers ; as, Comes cubiculi, Chamberlain; Comes stabuli, Constable, &c. These various officers were the proceres or grandees of the kingdom, by whose advice the sovereign conducted himself in important matters of government, or in the nomi¬ nation of his successor: but we do not find that they had a voice in the framing of laws, or in the imposition of taxes; and the prince himself had the sole nomination to all offices of government, magistracies, and dignities. 49.— METHOD OF STUDYING ANCIENT HISTORY. 1. A general and concise view of ancient history may be acquired by the perusal of a very few books; as that part of the Cours d’ Etude of the Abbe Condillac, which regards the history of the nations of antiquity; the Elements of General History by the Abbe Millot, part i.; the Epitome of Turselline, with the notes of L’Agneau, part i.; or the excellent Compendium Historiae Universalis, by Professor Offerhaus of Groningen. The two first of these works have the merit of uniting a spirit of reflec¬ tion with a judicious selection of events. The notes of L’Agneau to the Epitome of Turselline, contain a great store of geographical and biographical in¬ formation; and the work of Offerhaus is peculiarly valuable, as uniting sacred with profane history, and containing most ample references to the ancient authors. The Discours sur l’Histoire Universelle, by the bishop of Meaux, though a work of high merit, is rather useful to those who have already studied history in detail, for uniting in the mind the great current of events, and recalling to the me¬ mory their order and connexion, than fitted to con¬ vey information to the uninstructed. But the student who wishes to derive the most Ancient history.—Grecian history.—Herodo- TijcfrARTP \T rrHTTJQT? Arrian - — Q- Curtius. — Roman his- r ,, tus.—Thucydides.—Xenophon.—Diodorus. 1 UitltAL (jUUKSh. tory.—Dion. Halicarnassus.—Livy. ° complete advantage from history, must not confine himself to such general or compendious views; he must resort to the original historians of ancient times, and the modern writers who have treated with amplitude of particular periods. It may be useful to such students to point out the order in which those historians may be most profitably perused. 2. Next to the historical books of the Old Tes¬ tament, the most ancient history worthy of perusal is that of Herodotus, which comprehends the annals of Lydia, Ionia, Lycia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Macedonia, during above two hundred and thirty years preceding 479 a.c. Book I. contains the history of Lydia from Gyges to Croesus; Ancient Ionia; manners of the Per¬ sians, Babylonians, &c.; history of Cyrus the Elder. Book 2. History of Egypt, and manners of the Egyptians. Book 3. History of Cambyses.—Persian Monar¬ chy under Darius Hystaspes. Book 4. History of Scythia. Book 5. Persian embassy to Macedon; Athens, Lacedaemon, Corinth, at the same period. Book 6. Kings of Lacedaemon.—War of Persia against Greece, to the battle of Marathon. Book 7* The same war, to the battle of Ther¬ mopylae. Book 8. The naval battle of Salamis. Book 9. The defeat and expulsion of the Per¬ sians from Greece. (The merits of Herodotus are shortly charac¬ terized supra , sect. 22, § 1.) 3. A more particular account of the periods treated by Herodotus may be found in Justin, lib. 1, 2, 3, and 7; the Cyropsedia of Xenophon; the lives of Aristides, Themistocles, Cimon, Miltiades, and Pausanias, written by Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos; and those of Anaximander, Zeno, Empe¬ docles, Heraclitus, and Democritus, by Diogenes Laertius. 4. The Grecian history is taken up by Thucy¬ dides from the period where Herodotus ends, and is continued for seventy years, to the twenty-first of the Peloponnesian war. (This work character¬ ized, sect. 22, § 2.) The period he treats of is more amply illustrated by perusing the eleventh and twelfth books of Diodorus Siculus; the lives of Alcibiades, Chabrias, Thrasybulus, and Lysias, by Plutarch and Nepos; the second, third, fourth, and fifth books of Justin, and fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of the first book of Orosius. 5. Next to Thucydides, the student ought to pe¬ ruse the first and second books of Xenophon’s his¬ tory of Greece, which comprehends the narrative of the Peloponnesian war, with the contemporary history of the Medes aud Persians; then the ex¬ pedition of Cyrus ( Anab'asis ) and the continuation of the history to its conclusion with the battle of Mantinea. (Xenophon characterized, sect. 22, § 3.) For illustrating this period, we have the lives of Lysander, Agesilaus, Artaxerxes, Conon, and Da- tames, by Plutarch and Nepos; the fourth, fifth, and sixth books of Justin; and the thirteenth and fourteenth of Diodorus Siculus. 6. After Xenophon, let the student read the fif¬ teenth and sixteenth books of Diodorus, which contain the history of Greece and Persia, from the battle of Mantinea to the reign of Alexander the Great. (Diodorus characterized, sect. 22, § 5.) To complete this period, let him read the lives of Dion, Iphicrates, Timotheus, Phocion, and Timo- leon, by Nepos. 7- For the history of Alexander the Great, we have the admirable works of Arrian and Quintus Curtius (the former characterized, sect. 22, § 8.) Curtius possesses great judgment in the selection of facts, with much elegance and perspicuity of diction. He is a good moralist and a good patriot ; but his passion for embellishment derogates from the purity of history, and renders his authority suspicious. 8. For the continuation of the history of Greece from the death of Alexander, we have the eigh¬ teenth, nineteenth, and twentieth books of Diodorus; and the history of Justin from the thirteenth book downwards ; together with the lives of the prin¬ cipal personages, written by Plutarch. The history of Justin is a most judicious abridgment of a much larger work by Trogus Pompeius, which is lost. Justin excels in the delineation of characters, and in purity of style. 9. I have mentioned the lives of Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos as the best supplement to the account of particular periods of ancient history. It is the highest praise of Plutarch, that his writings breathe the most admirable morality, and furnish the most instructive lessons of active virtue. He makes us familiarly acquainted with the great men of antiquity, and chiefly delights in painting their private character and manners. The short lives written by Nepos show great judgment, and a most happy selection of such facts as display the genius and character of his heroes. They are written likewise with great purity and elegance. 10. For the Roman history in its early periods, we have, first, the Antiquities of Dionysius of Ha¬ licarnassus, which bring down the history of Rome to 412 a.u.c. They are chiefly valuable, as illus¬ trating the manners and customs, the rites, civil and religious, and the laws of the Roman state. But the writer is too apt to frame hypotheses, and to give views instead of narratives. We look for these in the modern writers who treat of ancient times, but we cannot tolerate them in the sources of history. 11. The work of Livy is infinitely more valuable; a perfect model of history, both as to matter and composition (characterized, sect. 36, § 10.) Of one hundred and thirty-two books, we have only re¬ maining thirty-five, and these interrupted by a con¬ siderable chasm. The first decade (or ten books) treats of a period of four hundred and sixty years; the second decade, containing seventy-five years, is lost; the third contains the second Puuic war, including eighteen years; the fourth contains the war against Philip of Macedon, and the Asiatic war against Antiochus, a space of twenty-three years; of the fifth decade there are only five books; aud the remainder, which reaches to the death of Dru- sus, 746 a.u.c., has, together with the second decade, been supplied by Freinshemius. To supply the chasm of the second decade, the student ought to read, together with the epitome of those lost books, the first and second books of Polybius; the seven¬ teenth, eighteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-third books of Justin; the lives of Marcellus and Fabius Maximus by Plutarch; and the Punic and Illyrian wai’s by Appian. 12. But the history of Polybius demands a se- HISTORICAL COURSE. Tacitus.—Herodian.—Modern histories. Chronological tables. Roman history.—Polybius.—Appian. —Sallust.—Suetonius. parate and attentive perusal, as an admirable com¬ pendium of political and military instruction. Of j forty books of general history, we have only five en- i tire, and excerpts of the following twelve. The | matter of which he treats is the history of the Ro- j mans, and the nations with whom they were at war, ' from the beginning of the second Punic war to the I beginning of the war with Macedonia, comprising in all a period of about fifty years. Of the high estimation in which Polybius stood with the authors I of antiquity, we have sufficient proof in the en- | comiums bestowed on him by Cicero, Strabo, Jo- i sephus, and Plutarch; and in the use which Livy | has made of his history, in adopting his narratives in many parts of his work, by an almost literal ! translation. 13. The work of Appian, which originally con¬ sisted of twenty books, from the earliest period of j the Roman history down to the age of Adrian, is I greatly mutilated; there remaining only his account | of the Syrian, Parthian, Mithridatic, Spanish, Pu¬ nic, and Illyrian wars. His narrative of each of these wars is remarkably distinct and judicious, and his composition, on the whole, is chaste and perspicuous. After the history of Appian, the stu¬ dent should resume Livy, from the beginning of the third decade, or twenty-first book, to the end. Then he may peruse with advantage the lives of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Flaminius, Paulus yEmilius, the elder Cato, the Gracchi, Marius, Sylla, the younger Cato, Sertorius, Lucullus, Julius Cse- i sar, Cicero, Pompey, and Brutus, by Plutarch. 14. The histories of the Jugurthine war, and the conspiracy of Catiline by Sallust, come next in order. (Sallust characterized, sect. 36, § 8.) Then follow the Commentaries of Csesar, (sect. 36, § 9.) remarkable for perspicuity of narration, and a happy union of brevity with elegant simplicity of style. The epitomes of Floras and of Velleius Pa¬ terculus (the latter a model for abridgment of his¬ tory) may be perused with advantage at this period of the course. 15. For the history of Rome under the first Emperors, we have Suetonius and Tacitus; and for the subsequent reigns, the series of the minor historians, termed Histories Augustes Scriptores, and the Byzantine writers. Suetonius rather gives us a series bf detached characters, illustrated by an artful selection of facts and anecdotes, than a re¬ gular history. His work is chiefly valuable as de¬ scriptive of Roman manners, though his genius has too much of the caustic humour of a satirist. Tacitus, with greater powers and deeper penetration (see sect. 36, § 11,) has drawn his picture of the times in stern and gloomy colours. From neither of these historians will the ingenuous mind of youth | receive moral improvement, or pleasing or benevo¬ lent impressions; yet we cannot deny their high j utility to the student of politics. 16. If we except Herodian, who wrote with taste and judgment, it is doubtful whether any of the subsequent writers of the Roman history deserve a minute perusal. It were preferable that the stu¬ dent should derive his knowledge of the history of the decline and fall of the empire from modern | authors, resorting to the original winters only for ‘ occasional information on detached points of im¬ portance. For this purpose, the General History by Dr. Howel is a work of very high utility, as being written entirely on the basis of the original historians, whose narrative he in general translates, referring constantly to his authorities in the mar¬ gin. The student will find in this work a most va¬ luable mass of historical information. 17- The reader, having thus founded his know¬ ledge of general history on the original writers, will now peruse with great advantage the modern histories of ancient Greece and Rome, by the able pens of Mitford, Gillies, Gast, Hooke, Gibbon, and Fergusson*, and will find himself qualified to form a just estimate of their merits, on which (though too frequently the practice) it is presump¬ tuous to decide without such preparatory know¬ ledge. 18. The greatest magazine of historical infor¬ mation which has ever been collected into one body, is the English Universal History; a most useful work, from the amplitude of its matter, its general accuracy, and constant reference to the original authors. We may occasionally consult it with great advantage on points where deep research is ne¬ cessary; but we cannot read it with pleasure as a continued work, from its tedious details and harsh¬ ness of style, as well as from its abrupt transitions, and the injudicious arrangement of many of its parts. 19. Geography and chronology have been justly termed the lights of history. We cannot peruse with advantage the historical annals of any country without a competent notion of its geographical site, and even of its particular topography. In reading the description of all events, the mind necessarily pictures out the scenes of action; and these it is surely better to draw with truth from nature and reality, than falsely from imagination. Many ac¬ tions and events are likewise intimately connected with the geography and local circumstances of a country, and are unintelligible without a knowledge of them. 20. The use of chronological tables is very great, both for the purpose of uniting in one view the contemporary events in different nations, which often have an influence on each other, and for recalling to the memory the order and series of events, and renewing the impressions of the objects of former study. It is extremely useful, after perusing the history of a nation in detail, or that of a certain age or period, to run over briefly the principal oc¬ currences in a table of chronology. The most per¬ fect works of this kind are the chronological tables of Dr. Playfair, which unite history and biography; the tables of Dr. Blair; or the older tables by Tallent f. * To these names may be added those of Niebuhr and Arnold, while particular periods of history have been illus¬ trated by Williams’s Life of Alexander and Blackwell’s Court of Augustus.— Ed. f The Charts of history at present in most use are framed upon the improvements suggested by Dr. Priestley, in the description accompanying his historical chart. Dr. Priestley, in his observations upon the use that may be made of these mechanical helps to the knowledge of history, confesses that every chart of this description is liable to two imperfections; first, that if it contain enough to be of any use to a student in history, that extensive empires cannot be represented by con¬ tiguous spaces. The history of a few provinces, or a few states, may be exhibited, and the continuity of empires preserved; but it is absolutely impracticable in the delineation of uni¬ versal or general history. But this defect is in some measure remedied, by colouring the divided parts of the same em- COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY. In the following tables the countries unknown to the ancients, or of which the names are uncertain, are left blank. MODERN EUROPE. Greenland, or the Arctic Continent Spitsbergen Island Iceland Island, belonging to Norway Norway *.< Sweden. < 1. Wardhuis, or Norwegian Lapland 2. Droutheim 3. Bergen .4. Aggerhuis, or Christiana \ 1. Lapland and West Bothnia 2. Sweden Proper 3. Gothland 4. Finland 5. Islands of Gothland, Oeland, Aland, Rugen ANCIENT EUROPE. Scandinavia, Scandia, vel Baltia. r Jutland Denmark./ rl. Alburg r f 1 2. Wyburg / 3. Aarhusen 4. Rypen 15. Sleswick Chersone:-;us ] Cimbrica 1. Zealand > > 2. Funen 3. Falster 4. Longeland Insulse ^ 5. Laland Sinus < 6. Femeren 7. Alsen 8. Moen Codani 9. Bornholm Russia in Europe n Danish Islands in the Baltic r 1. Livonia and Estonia 2. Ingria, or the government of Pe¬ tersburg 3. Carelia, or the government of Wi- burg 4. Novogrod 5. Archangel, Samoiedia 6. Moscow 7. Nishnei Novogrod 8. Smolenski 9. Kiew 10. Bielgorod 11. Woronesk 12. Azoff 2. Nerigon 3. Sitones 1. Scritofinni 2. Suiones 3. Cut so et Hilleviones 4. Finniiigia 5. Insulse Sinus Codani Cimbri 3. Harudes 4. Phundusii, Sigulones .5. Saablingii } Teutones 1. Hirri et iEstii vel Ostiones Sarmatia Europ^a. 4. Budini 6*. Basilici 8. Cariones 10 and 4. Budini 11. Roxolani .12. Iazyges * Norway, which had long belonged to Denmark, was, in 1814, ceded to the king of Sweden. pires in the same manner, so that their relation to one ano¬ ther may be seen at once. Secondly, that only the rise, ter¬ mination, and extent of empires, with respect to a number of considerable provinces, can be exhibited in this manner, and that it can by no means give a just idea of the largeness of empires as measured by their superficies. It is necessary to divide some countries of no great extent, but in which small states of great fame have arisen, as Greece and Italy, into a considerable number of parts, represented by spaces bounded with parallel lines, which must be continued through the whole length of the chart, every where representing the same spot of ground; but if a proportionable width were allowed for other regions barren of events, as Tartary, Sibe¬ ria, and America, the chart will be immoderately large, and the face of it exhibit little more than an uniform blank. A competent knowledge of geography is pre-supposed in the reader of such charts, to enable him to form from thence an estimate of the real extent of empirfes.—E d. 56 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. MODERN EUROPE. r 1. Picardy 2. Isle of France 3. Champagne 4. Normandy 5. Bretany 6. Orleannois France*. 7. Lionnois 8. Provence 9. Languedoc 10. Guienne 11. Gascoigne 12. Dauphine 13. Burgundy and Franche Comptd 14. Lorraine and Alsace ANCIENT EUROPE. 1. Ambiani 2. Bellovaci, Parisii, Suessones 3. Remi, Catalauni, Tricasses, 13. Lin- gones 4. Unelli vel Veneti, Saii,' Lexovii, Veliocasses 5. Osismii, Veneti, Namne- tes, Andes, Redones ) Celt® 6. Aureliani, Carnutes, Se- nones, Turones, Picto- ^ nes, Bituriges 7. iEdui, Segusiam 8. Salyes, Cavares 9. Vole®, Arecomici, Helvii, Tolo- sates 10. Petrocorii, Bituriges, Cadurci, Ru- teni 11. Aquitani 12. Allobroges, Centrones 13. Lingones, ^Edui, Sequani 14. Leuci, Mediomatrici, Triboci, Ne- metes * At the period of the French Revolution, or rather previous to 1789, France was divided into thirty-two military govern¬ ments or provinces, of which eight were situate in the north, thirteen were midland, and eleven in the south. PROVINCES. 1. French Flanders 2. Artois 3. Picardy 4. Normandy PROVINCES. 1. Brittany 2. Maine et Perche 3. Anjou 4. Touraine 5. Orleannois 6. Berri 7. Nivernais The Northern Governments were:— CAPITAL TOWNS. PROVINCES. 1. Lille 2. Arras 3. Amiens 4. Rouen 5. The Isle of France 6. Champaign 7. Lorrain 8. Alsatia The Midland Governments were:— CAPITAL TOWNS. 1. Rennes 2. Le Mans 3. Angers 4. Tours 5. Orleans 6. Bourges 7. Nevers PROVINCES. 8. Burgundy 9. Franche-Comte 10. Poitou 11. Aunis 12. Marche 13. Bourbonnais The Southern Governments were:— PROVINCES. CAPITAL TOWNS. PROVINCES. 1. Saintongeet Angourmois 1. Saintes 2. Limoisin 3. Auvergne 4. Dauphine 5. Lyonnais 6. Guyenne 2. Limoges 3. Clermont 4. Grenoble 5. Lyon 6. Bourdeaux 7. Bearn 8. Foix 9. Roussillon 10. Languedoc 11. Provence CAPITAL TOWNS. 5. Paris 6. Troyes 7. Nancy 8. Strasburgh. CAPITAL TOWNS. 8. Dijon 9. Besanfon 10. Poitiers 11. La Rochelle 12. Gueret 13. Moulins CAPITAL TOWNS. 7. Pau 8. Foix 9. Perpignan 10. Toulouse 11. Aix Added to these were eight petty governments, viz. 1, Paris; 2, the Boulonnais in Picardy; 3, Havre de Grace in Nor¬ mandy ; Saumur with The Saumurois, between Anjou and Poitou; 5, 6, 7, Metz and The Messin, Verdun and the Ver- dunois, Toul and The Toulois, all in Lorraine ; and, 8, Sedan, between the provinces of Lorraine and Champagne. The National, or Constitutional Assembly, in abolishing feudal customs, exclusive privileges, and corporate rights, observed that the provinces regretted the loss of their ancient customs as petty states, governed by their own laws and parliaments ; therefore, to utterly destroy every association which could remind the inhabitants of their former state, and to extinguish that feeling which clings so tenaciously to even the name of an ancient territorial division, France was, in 1789, divided into eighty-three departments of nearly equal extent, on which names were imposed derivable from acci¬ dental locality, or from the rivers or mountains in the district; such appellations being less likely to excite the emotions apprehended, while the ancient name of the province sank into oblivion. The present division of the French empire in Europe, which in almost every particular follows the revolutionary demarcation, consists at this period of eighty-six depart¬ ments, whereof eighty-four have their capital towns situated within the limits of their ancient provinces, while two are necessarily beyond the limits of ancient France, namely, the Island of Corsica, which forms the department of La Corse, and of which the capital town is Ajaccio, and the county (comtat) of Avignon, which forms part of the department of Vau- cluse, whereof the capital town is Avignon.— Ed. [The COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 57 MODERN EUROPE. United Netherlands, < [or Holland.] Austrian, French, and Dutch Netherlands, [or Belgium] *, 1. Holland 2. Friesland 3. Zealand 4. Groningen 5. Overyssell and Drenthe 6. Guelderland and Zutphen 7- Utrecht ([North, or] Dutch 1. Brabant, \ [South, or] Aus- trian Antwerp, Austrian Mechlen, or Malines , Austrian t . -i i f Dutch Lnnburgh ^Austrian t , i ( French Luxemburgh < . . . b [Austrian 6. Namur, Austrian _ TT . ,, f Austrian 7. Hamault \ French 8. Cambresis, French 9. Artois f Dutch 10. Flanders < Austrian [French 2 . 3. 4. 5. Saxones. < ANCIENT EUROPE. ' 1; ] Frisi 4. Cauci vel Chauci 5. Franci 6. Bructeri, Catti, Sicambri 7- Batavi 1. Menapii, Tungrii 2. Toxandri 4. 1 Alemanni BELGiE, &C. / 5. I 6. Treveri 7. Remi 9. Atrebates, Veromandui 10. Belgse, Morini * At the commencement of the wars of the French revolutionists, the Austrian Netherlands were invaded by them and annexed to France as a conquest, under the name of the department of the Sambre et Meuse. In 1794 Holland was re¬ duced by the army of the revolutionists, and the stadtholder, William I., prince of Orange, being driven away, it was, in the language of the revolution, “ fraternized,” under the name of The Batavian Republic. To suit Buonaparte’s views, he made his brother Louis king of Holland in 1806, his territory being what is strictly the United Netherlands, as distinguished from the Austrian Netherlands. Louis Buonaparte, being unwilling to concur in his brother’s schemes of tyranny and universal domination, in 1810 quitted his throne, and Holland remained annexed to France till 1813, when the Hollanders expelled the French, and the stadtholder was reinstated as king of Holland; and, by the treaty of Vienna in 1815, it was settled by the allied powers, that the ten provinces forming the Austrian, French, and Dutch Netherlands, should be united with Holland, so as to form one kingdom under the king of Holland, who thereupon assumed the title of king of the Netherlands. The union of both the Netherlands continued till 1830, when an insurrection having taken place in the Belgic provinces, who renounced their allegiance to William I., Belgium was declared independent, and Leopold, prince of Saxe Coburg, the husband of the deceased princess Charlotte of Wales, was elected king of Belgium by the powers of Europe, 1831. By the treaty of London, Nov. 13, 1831, the kingdom of Belgium was declared to consist of the provinces of South or Austrian Brabant, Liege, Namur, Hainault, West or Dutch Flanders, East or Austrian Flanders, Limburgh, and Antwerp, being the same that constituted part of the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. Holland now consists, in addition to what is mentioned in the text above, of North or Dutch Brabant, Dutch Limburgh, and part of the Duchy of Luxemburgh.— Ed. The eighty-four departments are as follows :— The Northern part or circuit (Partie du Nord) contains: DEPARTMENTS. DEPARTMENTS. CAPITAL TOWNS. Nord Lille Meurthe Nancy Pas de Calais Arras Bas-Rhin Strasbourg Somme Amiens Manche Saint Lo Seine-Inferieure Rouen Calvados Caen Oise Beauvais Eure Evreux Aisne Laon Cotes-du-Nord St. Brieuc Ardennes Mezi&res Orne Alenfon Moselle Metz Seine-et-Oise Versailles Marne Chalons Seine Paris Meuse Bar-sur-Ornain (Bar-le-Duc) Seine-et-Marne Melun CAPITAL TOWNS. The Midland part or circuit contains :— DEPARTMENTS. Finisterre Haute-Saone Morbihan Ile-et-Vilaine Loire-Inferieure CAPITAL TOWNS. Quimper Vesoul Vannes Rennes Nantes DEPARTMENTS. Mayenne Maine-et-Loire Sarthe Indre-et-Loire Eure-et-Loire CAPITAL TOWNS. Laval Angers Le Mans Tours Chartres [The COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 58 MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. [The circles or provinces of ] Germany, 1. Upper Saxony 2. Lower Saxony 3. Westphalia [now associated , as the Germanic j 4. confederation, 5. the protector of 6. which is the em- 7* peror of Austria] 8. 9 . Upper Rhine. Lower Rhine Franconia Austria * Bavaria Suabia Nationes Germanics. 1 . 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6 . 7. 8 . 9. >Saxones Suevi Lingee, &c. Saxones, Longo- bardi, Gambrivii Cherusci, Chamavi, Gauchi, Germania Inferior Germania Superior Marci, Tincteri Marcomanni, Hermonduri Noricum Rhsetia Vindelicia Bohemia +. fl. Bohemia Proper < 2. Silesia |^3. Moravia fl. Boiohoemum < 2. Corconti [_3. Q,uadi Poland ^ 1. Greater Poland 2. Lesser Poland 3. Prussia Royal 4. Prussia Ducal 5. Samogitia 6. Courland / 7- Lithuania 8. Warsovia 9. Polachia 10. Polesia 11. Red Russia 12. Podolia ,.13. Volhinia Germano- SaRMATjE. 1. Peucini 2. Lugii 3. "1 Burgundiones, Rugii, Gu- 4. J thones 5. Ombroges 6. Scyri o‘ \ Germano-Sarmatia n.i 12. >Bastamse 13. J * This circle or province belongs to the emperor of Austria, who also possesses the Tyrol in the circle of Bavaria, Hun¬ gary, Transylvania, and Sclavonia, and Venice, with part of Italy, according to the allotment made by the treaty of Vienna, 1815 .—Ed. f Bohemia Proper and Moravia now belong to the emperor of Austria; Silesia has been ceded to the king of Prussia.—E d. t This kingdom being dismembered is divided between the emperor of Russia (who has the greatest part), the emperor of Austria (who possesses Lesser Poland), and the king of Prussia.—E d. The Midland part or circuit— continued. DEPARTMENTS. CAPITAL TOWNS. DEPARTMENTS. CAPITAL TOWNS. Loire-et-Cher Blois Vienne Poitiers Loiret Orleans Charente-Inferieure Saintes Cher Bourges Charente AngoulSme Aube Troyes Indre Chateauroux Yonne Auxerre Vienne (haute) Limoges Nievre Nevers Creuse Gueret Marne-Haute Chaumont Allier Moulins Cote-d’or Dijon Puy-de-Dome Clermont j Vosges Epinal Saone-et-Loire Macon Doubs Besangon Jura Lons-le-Saulnier Rhin (haut) Colmar Loire Montbrison Vendee Bourbon-Vendee Rhone Lyon Sevres (deux) Niort Ain Bourg The Southern part or circuit contains:— DEPARTMENTS. CAPITAL TOWNS. DEPARTMENTS. CAPITAL TOWNS. Dordogne Perigueux Tarn Alby Corr&ze Tulles Herault Montpellier Cautal Aurillac Gard Nismes Loire (haute) Le Puy Vaucluse Avignon Ardeche Privas Bouches-du-Rhone Marseilles Drome Valence Alpes (hautes) Gap Isere Grenoble Alpes (basses) Digne Gironde Bordeaux Var Draguignan Lot-et-Garonne Agen Pyrenees (hautes) Tarbes Lot Cahors Pyrenees (basses) Pau Aveyron Rhodez Garonne (haute) Toulouse Lozere Mende Arriege Foix Landes Mont-de-Marsan Aude Carcassonne Gers Auch Pyrenees-Orientales Perpignan Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban Corse Ajaccio O COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 59 MODERN EUROPE. - 1. f Gallicia 2. : Asturia 3. (_ Biscay 4. f Navarre 5. \ Aratron 6. I Catalonia Spain. / 7- fValentia 8. j Murcia 9. | Granada 10.1 Andalusia ANCIENT EUROPE. r Hispania, vel Iberia. I' 1 Gallsecia — Cantabri, Astures, 3 r Varduli f‘ 1 Tarraconensis—Vascones, Va¬ 11. 12 . 13. L 14. Old Castile New Castile Leon Estremadura { Ivica Majorca Minorca Entre Minho e Douro Tra los Montes Beii’a Portugal. Estremadura Entre Tajo Alentajo Algarva - 1. Bern 2. Friburg 3. Basle or Bale 4. Lucern 5. Soluturn 6. Schaff hausen 7. Zurick 8. Appenzel 9. Zug 10. Schweitz 11. Glaris 12. Uri 13. Underwald , , „ f Confederates 14. Geneva I ^ 15. Orisons, the Swigg ' 1. Savoy 6-J 9. 10 letani Carthaginensis—iEditani, Con- testani Bsetica — Bastiani, Bastuli, Turdetani, &c. Insult Hispankle 11. Gallsecise pars — Accsei, Are- vaci 12. Tarraconensis pars—Carpetani, Oretani 13. Gallaecim pars—Vettones J4. Lusitanise pars—Beeturia Baleares Lusitania. \ Lusitani f Calliaci l Celtici Switzer¬ land *. il 2 3. 4 Ambrones Helvetia. 8 9 10 7 - L :j Tigurini Italy f. 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6 . 7- 8 . 9. 10 . Piedmont Montferrat Milan Genoa Parma Modena Mantua Venice Trent 11. The Popedom 12. Tuscany 13. Lucca 14. San Marino 15. Kingdom of Naples Italia. 14. Nantuates 15. Veragri, Vallis Pennina, Le- pontii 1. Lepontii, Segusini, Taurini 11. Lingones, Senones, Picenum, Umbria, Sabini, Pars Latii 12. Tuscia vel Etruria 13. Pars Tusciee 14. Pars Umbriee 15. Samnium, Pars Latii, Apulia, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium * Switzerland is now a federative republic, composed of twenty cantons or separate states, which comprise the thirteen ancient cantons and their federative allies.— Ed. + Italy is now divided according to the allotment made by the treaty of Vienna, 1815, which gave to Austria all the states belonging to the ancient Venetian republic, together with the duchies of Milan and Mantua.— Ed. 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6 . 7. 8 . 9. 10 . Orobi Insubres pS uria Anamani Boii Cenomani Venetia Tridentini Gallia Cisalpina, vel Togata 60 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. MODERN EUROPE. ANCIENT EUROPE. fl. Sicily r I. Sicilia, Sicania, vel Trinacria 2. Sardinia 2. Sardo, vel Sai’dinia Italian 3. Corsica INSULA: 3. Cyrnus, vel Corsica Islands. j 4. Malta ITALIC/E. 4. Melita 5. Lipari Islands 5. Lipai'ise Insulae 6. Capri, Ischia, &c. 6. Capreae, Ischia, &c. Hungary. Transylvania Dacia. Sclavonia. Pannonia- Croatia *. f 1. Dalmatia Illyricum. 1. Dalmatia 2. Bosnia 2. Moesia [or Mysia] Superior 3. Servia 3. Dacia Ripensis 4. Wallachia 4. Getae 5. Moldavia and Bessarabia 5. Pars Dacise 6. Bulgaria 6. Mcesia [or Mysia] Inferior Turkey / 7. Albania 7- Epirus in Europe. 8. Macedonia 8. Macedonia 9. Romania 9. Thracia 10. Livadia GRiECIA. < 10. Thessalia 11. Morea 11. Peloponnesus 12. Budziac Tartary or Bessarabia 12. Scythia et pai*s Dacise 13. Little Tartary 13. Parva Scythia 14. Crimea .14. Taurica Chersonesus Geeek J "1. Corfu 2. Cephalonia Insula: '1. Corcyra 2. Cephalonia Islands. 1 3. Zante IONII. 3. Zacynthus _4. Ithaca, Thiace, &c. .4. Ith'aca, &c. r l. Candia Insula: Maris < iEG^I. r l. Creta In the Ar- J 2. Negropont 2. Euboea CHIPELAGO. S 3. Staliinene 3. Lemnos .4. Scyro, &c. ^4. Scyros, &c. Great Britain and Ireland. Q 2 G O Z W r» MODERN. ANCIENT. f MODERN. r 1. Cornwall 2 * j’Damnonii 26. Lincolnshire 2. Devonshire 27. Nottinghamshire < 3. Doi’setshire 3. Dui’otriges 28. Derbyshire 4. Hampshire 4 -l < 29. Rutlandshire 5. Somei’setshire 5. j Belgse 30. Leicestershire . 6. Wiltshire 6.J se • 31. Warwickshire O .32. Northamptonshii’e r 7. Berkshire 7. Attrebatii T '33. Northumberland < 8. 9. Oxfordshire Gloucestershire jj’yDobuni Q -3 34. Durham 35. Yorkshii’e 10. Monmouthshii’e J^"l>Silures G O 36. Lancashire 11. Herefordshire Z; H < 37. Westmoi’eland 12. Worcestershire 1 2*1 38. Cumberland / \ 13. Staffordshire ) \ 13. Cornavii 39. Cheshire .14. Shropshire 14 .J 40. Middlesex r 15. Essex 15. Ti’inobantes ! 16. Hertfordshire 16. Catieuchlani - 1. Anglesey - 17. Kent 17- Cantii 2. Flintshire 18. Surrey J£}Regni 3. Montgomery L 19. Sussex & G 4. Denbighshire 5. Carnarvonshire '20. Noi’folk 20.'1 Simeni, vel 6. Merioneth < 21. Suffolk 21./ Iceni < < £ 7. Cardiganshire < 22. Cambridgeshire 22.1 8. Cairnarthenshii’e 23. Huntingdonshire 23. Catieuchlani 9. Pembrokeshire 24. Bedfoi'dshii’e 24. J 10. Radnoi’shire 25. Buckinghamshire 25. Attrebatii 11. Brecknockshii'e . 12. Glamorganshire ANCIENT. 26.-, 27- 26. ; Coritani 29.1 30. J >Brigantes 31. Cornavii 32. Catieuchlani | Ottadeni 35.1 36. 37. f 38. J 39. Cornavii 40. Attrebatcs et Catieuchlani 1. Mona Insula 2. 3. s 5. 6 . J 7-1 8. Demetse 9. J 10.1 11. >Silures 12. J Ordovices * These kingdoms belong to the empire of Austria, vide antea, Germany. — Ed. Scotland. COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 61 Great Britain and Ireland— continued . modern. 1. Edinburgh 2 . Haddington 3. Berwick 4. Roxburgh 5. Selkirk 6 . Dumfries 7 . Kircudbright 8 . Peebles 9. Wigton 10. Lanerlc 11. Air 12. Dumbarton 13. Bute 14. Renfrew 15. Stirling 16. Linlithgow 17. Fife 18. Clackmannan 19. Kinross 20. Perth 21. Argyle 22. Kincardine 23. Forfar 24. Aberdeen 25. Banff 26. Elgin 27- Nairn 28. Inverness 29. Ross 30. Cromarty 31. Sutherland 32. Caithness 33. Orkney 34. Shetland ANCIENT. •)d amnii^Vectu- Ottodini f riones - Selgovae >Novantes HH © ( O \ cn Damnii - Caledonii >Picti 22 23 24 25 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. Epidii, Gadeni, Cerones Vernicones'i Horestse | Atta . j-Taezali COtl y Vacomagi ! Cantae | c, VScoti Mertao J Orcades Thule MODERN. 1. Louth 2 . Meath East 3. Meath West 4. Longford 5. Dublin , 6 . Kildare •3 ^ 7- King’s County 8 . Queen’s County 9. Wicklow 10. Carlow 11 . Wexford 12 . Kilkenny 13. Donnegal or 'j Tyrconnel j 14. Londonderry 15. Antrim 16. Tyrone 17. F ermanagh U © £ u o S 18. Armagh 19. Down 20. Monaghan 21. Cavan 22 . Cork County 23. Waterford 24. Tipperary 25. Limerick 26. Kerry 27. Clare 2 [28. Galway | c 29. Roscommon 5 | 30. Mayo 1 31. Sligo lu l: Britannic Islands. Shetland and Orkney Western Isles of Scotland Man Anglesey Wight .32. Leitrim Insulae Britannic.®. ancient. r 1 . Voluntii jCauci 4. Auteri fwBlanii 6 ./ jCoriondi 9. Blanii 10 . 11 . 12 . Coriondi *‘"j>Manapii B 13. Vennicnii 14 ‘1 15. Robogdii 16. J 17. Erdini 1 . 2 . 3. 4. 5. Voluntii Cauci 22. Vodiae, Iverni 2 ^’j Brigantes 2 q' j-Velabori 27*1 Gangani 28. J 29. Auteri 30. '] 31. Nagnatae .32. J Thule Ebudes Insulae Monaeda, vel Mona Mona V ectis MODERN ASIA. r fl. Natolia Turkey in Asia. < 2 . Amasia or Siwas 3. Aladulia 4. Caramania /! i r 5. Irak 6 . Diarbeck 7. Kurdistan 8 . Turcomania .9. Georgia 10. Syria and Palestine Arabia. f Arabia Petraea *! Arabia Deserta [_ Arabia Felix Asia Minor. ANCIENT ASIA. 1 . Mysia [or Moesia Inferior], Lydia, Caria, Pln-ygia, Bithynia, Gala¬ tia, Paphlagonia 2 . Pontus 3. Armenia 4. Cappadocia, Cilicia, &c. 5. Babylonia, Chaldaea 6 . Mesopotamia 7. Assyria g’ [Armenia Major 10 Palmyrene Phoenicia, Judaea [Arabia Petraea Arabia. < Arabia Deserta |_Arabia Felix 62 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. Persia. India. China Chinese MODERN ASIA. 1. Khorassan 2. Balk, Sablustan, and Kandahar 3. Sigistan 4. Makeran 5. Kerman 6 . Farsistan 7. Chusestan 8 . Irak Agem 9. Kurdestan 10. Aderbeitzen j 11. Georgia 1 12. Gangea 13. Dagestan i 14. Mazanderam j 15. Gilan Taberistan M6. Chirvan Mogol India within the Ganges 'Delhi Agra Cambaia ^Bengal ’Decan Golconda Bisnagar Malabar Island of Ceylon Pegu t r P India m - beyond the < 011 T um . Ganges pochm-chma ANCIENT ASIA. 1. Pars Hyrcanise et Sogdianee 2 . Bactriana 3. Drangiana Persia. 5. Gedrosia 6 . Persis 7. Susiana 8 . Parthia 9. Pars Assyrise 10 . Media n-l 12 . ^Iberia, Colchis, et Albania 13. J 15. Pars Hyrcanise .16. Pars Albanise fPalibothra J Agora j Regna Pori et t Taxilis India intra Gangem India. ( ^ Gangaridse (Male Dachanos Prasii vel Taprobana Ins. vel Salice India extra Gangem J3inarum Regio MODERN. ANCIENT. MODERN. “Niuche "1. Astracan Corea < HH Laotong Sime C fl <1 2 . Orenburgh Pekin r* 3. Casan Xansi Sericse (Tobolsk Xensi C/5 C/5 . c ., ■ J Jeniseia Xantum Cathsea O 4. Siberia < Irkut3k Nanking HH l Kamschatka / Chekiam \ Honan Indepen- ('1. Great Buc- Huquam DENT < charia Kiamsi Tartary. _2. Karasm F olden Canton 1. Little Bucharia Qnamsi 2. Casgar Suchuen Aluth 3. Turkestan Quecheu Tartars. 4. Kalmac Tartars -Yunum 5. Thibet 6 . Little Thibet ("Formosa 'Kalkas 1 Ainan Chinese , Mongol Tartars 1 Macao Tartary. Mantchou Tartars kBashee Islands , Corea { ANCIENT. 1. Sarmatia Asiatica Scythia y 2. j 3. intra Imaum. 1 . Bactriana Sogdiana 2 . Aria Scythia extra IMAUM fl. 2 . 3. 4. 5. 6 . SlNJE { COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. G3 MODERN. ANCIENT. MODERN. Islands of Chinese Tartary. [Sagalien-Ula-hata ^Jedso Isles of Sunda. ['Borneo Sumatra Java, &c. Islands , of Japan. 1 'Japan or Niphon Xicoco ^Ximo 'Celebes Philippine i 'Lucon or Manilla Molucca i Isles. * Amboyna Ceram Isles. | Mindanao, &c. Timor w Flores, &c. Marian H or Ladrone ^Tinian Islands. J Maldiva Isles. ANCIENT. MODERN AFRICA. { 1. Morocco 2. Algiers* 3. Tunis 4. Tripoli 5. Barca 1. Egypt 2. Bildulgerid 3. Zaara, or the Desert 4. Negroland 5. Guinea fNubia G. Upper Ethiopian Abyssinia (_Abex 7- Lower Ethiopia r Loan go Congo 8 . Lower Guinea. •' Angola Benguela l Matanan 9. Ajan 10. Zanguebar 11. Monomotapa 12. Moncemugi 13. SOFOLA 14. Terra de Natal 15. Caffraria, or Country of the Hottentots ANCIENT AFRICA. rl. Mauretania Tingitana 2 . Mauretania Csesariensis < 3. Numidia, Africa Propria 4. Tripolitana .5. Cyrenaica, Lybia Superior 1. vEgyptus 2. Libya Inferior, Gaitulia 3. Solitudines 4. Autololes G. .ZEtiiiopijE et Liby,® pars 7. ^Ethiopi^e pars NORTH AMERICA. British. Islands. r 1. The Countries on the east and west sides of Baffin’s and Hudson’s Bays 2 . Labrador, or New Britain 3. Canada 4. Nova Scotia, [or Acadia] 5. New England G. New York 7- New Jersey 8 . Pennsylvania 9. Maryland 10. Virginia 11 . North Carolina 12. South Carolina 13. Georgia 14. Florida > United States ~ 1. Newfoundland 2. Cape Breton 3. Bermudas 4. Long Island 5. Bahama Islands G. Jamaica 7. St. Christopher’s \ 8. Nevis 9. Montserrat 10. Antigua 1 1. Dominica 12 . St. Vincent 13. Tobago 14. Grenada -15. Barbadoes, &c. &c. * The kingdom of Algiers now belongs to France, by right, of conquest.—E d 64 COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. NORTH Spanish *. 1. Mexico, or New Spain 2 . New Mexico 3. Louisiana Islands. ']. Cuba 2 . Porto Rico 3. West part of St. Domingo 4. Trinidad 5. Margarita 6. Cubagua, &c. Dutch Islands. 1 . Part of St. Martin’s Isle 2 . Eustatius 3. Aves 4. Buenayres 5. Cura§oa 6 . Aruba AMERICA— continued. French Islands. ' 1. Miquelon 2. St. Pierre 3. Part of St. Martin’s Isle 4. St. Bartholomew I 5. Martinico j 6. Guadaloupe 7. Desiada 8 . Mariegalante 9. St. Lucia AO. Part of St. Domingo +. JDanish Islands. 1 . St. Thomas 2 . Santa Cruz SOUTH AMERICA. French Part of the province of Guiana, Cayenne, &c. Spanish 1 . Terra Firma 2. Country of the Amazons 3. Peru 4. Chili 5. Terra Magellanica 0. Paraguay 7. Tucuman Dutch. Part of Guiana, Surinam, &c. ["Part of Guiana, divided into three set- [English, n tlements of Essequibo, Berbice, and (_ Demerara.] ["Brazil, and many islands on the ortuguese.*; coast The Empire of Assyria, under Ninus and Semi- ramis, about 2200 before J. C. comprehended— Asia Minor Colchis Assyria Media Chaldea Egypt The Empire of Assyria, as divided about 820 be¬ fore J. C. formed three kingdoms— Media Babylo-Chaldea (®Sdea Lydia All Asia Minor The Empire of the Persians, under Darius Hys- taspes, 522 before J. C., comprehended— Persis Susiana Chaldea Assyria Media Bactriana Armenia Asia Parthia Iberia Albania Colchis Egypt Part of Ethiopia Part of Scythia The Empire of Alexander the Great, 330 before J. C., consisted of— 1. All Macedonia and Greece, excepting Pelo¬ ponnesus 2. All the Persian Empire, as above described 3. India to the banks of the Indus on the east, and Iaxartes or Tanais on the north The Empire of Alexander was thus divided 30G before J. C. between Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysi- machus, and Seleucus, Empire • of Ptolemy. Empire of Cassander { Egypt Lybia Arabia Coelosyria Palestine Macedonia Greece * The two first of these provinces of North America now form republics, known as the Republic of Texas, the Republic of Mexico, the republic of Central America. Mexico and Central America are subdivided into states. Louisiana was sold by Buonaparte to the United States.— Ed + The island of St. Domingo now forms the state of Hayti, whose independence was acknowledged in 1825.— Ed. J These provinces now compose what are termed the Republics of South America; viz. New Grenada, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia or Upper Peru, Chili, the Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay. r COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 65 Empire f Thrace of Lysimachus \ Bithynia p , ("Syria, and mpne J ah ^ ie res {. 0 f Alexander’s ol Seleucus I C empire Constantius Chlorus and Galerius divided the Em¬ pire into Eastern and Western ; and under Constantine each had a distinct capital or seat of Empire. The empire of the Parthians, 140 before J. C. comprehended Parthia Hyrcania Media Persis Bactriana Babylonia Mesopotamia India to the Indus The Roman Empire, under the Kings, was confined to the City of Rome, and a few miles around it. The Roman Empire, at the end of the Republic, comprehended All Italy Great part of Gaul Part of Britain Africa Proper Great part of Spain Illyria, Istria, Liburnia, Dalmatia Achaia Macedonia Dardania, Moesia, Thracia Pontus, Armenia Judaea, Cilicia, Syria Egypt Under the Emperors, All Spain The Alpes, Maritimae Piedmont, &c. Rhsetia, Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia Pontus, Armenia Assyria Arabia Egypt were reduced > into Roman provinces. The extent of each division was fluctuating from time to time ; but in general, The Western Em-^ pire comprehended Italy Illyria Africa Spain The Gauls Britain The Eastern Empire comprehended Asia Minor Pontus, Armenia Assyria, Media, &c. < Egypt Thrace Dacia Macedonia The Empire of Charlemagne, A. D. 800, com¬ prehended Neustria, comprehending Bretany, Normandy, Isle of France, Orlean- nois Austria, comprehending Picardy and -r, j Champagne ‘ | Aquitania, comprehending Guienne and Gascony Burgundia, comprehending Burgundy, Lionnois, Languedoc, Dauphine, _ Provence Marca Hispanica, or Navarre and Catalonia Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica, Corsica Italy, as far south as Naples Istria, Liburnia, Dalmatia Rhaetia, Vindelica, Noricum Germany, from the Rhine to the Oder, and the banks of the Baltic. i MODERN HISTORY. PART SECOND. 1.—OF ARABIA AND THE EMPIRE OF THE [ARABS OR] SARACENS. 1. The fall of the western empire of the Ro¬ mans, and the final subjugation of Italy by the Lombards, is the era from which we date the com¬ mencement of modern history. The eastern empire of the Romans continued to exist for many ages after this period, still mag¬ nificent, though in a state of comparative weakness and degeneracy. Towards the end of the sixth century, a new dominion arose in the East, which was destined to produce a wonderful change on a great portion of the globe. The Arabians, at this time a rude nation, living chiefly in independent tribes, who traced their de¬ scent from the Patriarch Abraham, professed a mixed religion, compounded of Judaism and idolatry. Mecca, their holy city, arose to eminence from the donations of pilgrims to its temple, in which was deposited a black stone, an object of high vene¬ ration. Mahomet was born at Mecca, a.d. 57L Of mean descent, and no education, but of great natural talents, he sought to raise himself to ce¬ lebrity, by feigning a divine mission to propagate a new religion for the salvation of mankind. He retired to the desert, and pretended to hold con¬ ferences with the Angel Gabriel, who delivered to him from time to time portions of a sacred book or Koran, containing revelations of the will of the Supreme Being, and of the doctrines which he re¬ quired his Prophet to communicate to the world*. 2. This religion, while it adopted in part the mo¬ rality of Christianity, retained many of the rites of Judaism L, and some of the Arabian superstitions, as the pilgrimage to Mecca; but owed to a certain spirit of Asiatic voluptuousness, its chief recom¬ mendation to its votaries. The Koran taught the belief of one God, whose will and power were constantly exerted towards the happiness of his * The preface to Sale’s Koran conveys the best ideas of the religious doctrines of Mohammed, or Mahomet, which, under the title Islam, i. e. “ resignation to the will of God,” have erected a system of religious belief scarcely yet yield¬ ing to the increasing influence of Christianity.— Ed. t The Koran is filled with stories from the Old Testament and parables from the New; and much can be traced to the corruptions which gained ground in the early Christian church.— Ed. creatures; that the duty of man was to love his neighbours, assist the poor, protect the injured, to be humane to inferior animals, and to pray seven times a day. The pious mussulman was allowed to have four wives, and as many concubines as he chose; and the pleasures of love were promised as the supreme joys of paradise. To revive the im¬ pression of those laws which God had engraven originally in the hearts of men, he had sent from time to time his prophets upon earth, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomet; the last the greatest, to whom all the world should owe its con¬ version to the true religion. By producing the Koran in detached parcels, Mahomet had it in his power to solve all objections by new revelations [and by introducing the doctrine of fatalism he ad¬ vanced his projects, thus encouraging his followers to fight without fear, insomuch as no care could, according to this doctrine, avert danger, or prolong life beyond its predestined term.— Ed.]. Dissensions and popular tumults between the believers and infidels caused the banishment of Mahomet from Mecca. His flight, called the Htgy'ra, (a.d. 622,) is the era of his glory. He be¬ took himself to [Yatreb, since called] Medina, [i.e. the city of the Prophet], was joined by the brave Omar, and propagating his doctrines with great success, marched with his followers in arms, and took the city of Mecca. In a few years he sub¬ dued all Arabia; and then attacking Syria, won several of the [Byzantine, or as they were still called] Roman cities. In the midst of his victories he died at the age of sixty-one, a.d. 632. He had nominated Ali his son-in-law his successor, but Abu-Bekr his father-in-law secured the succession by gaining the army to his interest. 4. Abu-Bekr [who assumed the title of Kaliph, i. e. Vicar], united and published the books of the Koran, and prosecuted the conquests of Mahomet. He defeated the army of Heraclius, took Jerusalem [which was regarded by the Mahometans with quite as much veneration as by the Jews or Christians], and subjected all between Mount Lib'anus and the Mediterranean. On his death [a.d. 634], Omar was elected to the Kaliphate *, and in one campaign deprived the Greek empire of Syria, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and Chaldma. In the next, he sub¬ dued to the Mussulman dominion and religion the * This title has since belonged to the kingdom of the Saracenic emperors.—E d. Successes of Mahomet. Haroun Alrascliid. MODERN HISTORY. whole empire of Persia, [a.d. 641]. His generals at the same time conquered Egypt, Lybia, and Numidia. 5. Otman [or Othman-ebn-Affan], the successor of Omar, added to the dominion of the Kaliphs Bactriana, and part of Tartary, and ravaged Rhodes and the Greek islands. [He was murdered in his palace by the Egyptian army, a.d. 656]. His suc¬ cessor was Ali, the [cousin and] son-in-law of Ma¬ homet, a name to this day revered by the Mahome¬ tans. He transferred the seat of the Kaliphat from Mecca to Couffa, whence it was afterwards removed to Bagdat. His reign w r as glorious, but only of five years’ duration. [He was assassinated a.d. 661.] In the space of half a century from the beginning of the conquests of Mahomet, the Saracens raised an empire more extensive than what remained of the Roman. Nineteen Kaliphs of the race of Omar ( Ommiades ) reigned in succession, after which be¬ gan the dynasty of the Abassidce , descended by the male line from Mahomet. Almanzor, second Ka- liph of this race, removed the seat of empire [from Damascus, whither it had been transferred after the assassination of Ali, by his successor Moa- wiyhar] to Bagdat, and introduced learning and the culture of the sciences, which his successors continued to promote with equal zeal and liberality*. Haroun Alrascliid, who flourished in the beginning of the ninth century, is celebrated as a second Au¬ gustus. The sciences chiefly cultivated by the Arabians were Medicine, Geometry, and Astro¬ nomy. They improved the Oriental Poetry, by adding regularity to its fancy and luxuriancy of imagery [exemplified in the entertaining stories of the thousand and one nights, which are referred to the time of Haroun Alrascliid.— Ed.] 2.— MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS. 1 . The Franks were originally [a confederacy of] those tribes of Germans who inhabited the dis¬ tricts lying on the Lower Rhine and Weser, and who, in the time of Tacitus, passed under the names of Chauci, Cherusci,Catti, Sicambri, [Chamavi, Bruc- i teri,Ampswarii,Lipuarii, (who founded the kingdom of Cologne,) Salii, &c,]. They assumed or received the appellation of Franks , or freemen, from their temporary union to resist the dominion of the Ro¬ mans. Legendary chronicles record a Pharamond and a Meroveus; the latter the head of the first race of the kings of France, termed the Mero¬ vingian; but the authentic history of the Franks commences only with his grandson Clovis, who [as Chief of the Salian tribes, began to reign in the year 481. While only in the twentieth year of his age, Clovis achieved the conquest of Gaul, by the defeat of Syagrius the Roman Governor; and marrying Clotilda, daughter of Chilperic, king of Burgundy, soon added that province to his do¬ minions, by dethroning his father-in-law. He was converted by Clotilda; and the Franks, till then idolaters, became Christians, after their Sovereign’s example. The Visigoths, professing Arianism, were masters at this time of Aquitaine, the country be¬ tween the Rhone and Loire. The intemperate zeal of Clovis prompted the extirpation of these he- * This summary of Saracenic history is too short to he satisfactory. The reader must consult Ockley’s History of the Saracens.—E d. History of the Franks.—Merovin- gian race.—Pepin le Bref. 6/ reties, who retreated across the Pyrenees into Spain, and the province of Aquitaine became part of the kingdom of the Franks. They did not long retain it; for Theodoric the Great, defeating Clovis in the battle of Arles, added Aquitaine to his own dominions. Clovis died a.d. 511. 2 . His four sons divided the monarchy, and were perpetually at war with each other. A series of weak and wicked princes succeeded, and Gaul for some ages was characterized under its Frank sove¬ reigns by more than ancient barbarism. On the death of Dagobert II., (a.d. 715) who left two in¬ fant sons, the government, during their minority, fell into the hands of their chief officers, termed mayors of the palace ; and these ambitious men founded a new power, which for some generations held the Frank sovereigns in absolute subjection, and left them little more than the title of king. Austrasia and Neustria, the two great divisions of the Frank monarchy, were nominally governed by Thierry, but in reality by Pepin Heristel, mayor of the Palace, who, restricting his sovereign to a small domain, ruled France for thirty years with great wisdom and good policy. His son, Charles Martel, succeeded to his power, and under a similar title governed for twenty-six years with equal ability and success. He was victorious over all his domestic foes, his arms kept in awe the surround¬ ing nations, and he delivered France from the ravages of the Saracens, whom he entirely defeated, between Tours and Poictiers, a.d. 732. 3. Charles Martel bequeathed the government of France, as an undisputed inheritance, to his two sons, Pepin le Bref, and Carloman, who governed under the same title of mayor, the one Austrasia, and the other Neustria and Burgundy. On the resignation of Carloman, Pepin succeeded to the sole administration ; and ambitious of adding the title of king to the power which he already enjoyed, proposed the question to Pope Zachary, whether he or his sovereign Childeric was most worthy of the throne ? Zachary, who had his own interest in view, decided that Pepin had a right to add the title of king to the office ; and Childeric was con¬ fined to a monastery for life. With him ended the first or Merovingian race of the kings of France, A.D. 751. 4. Pepin recompensed the service done him by the Pope, by turning his arms against the Lombards; and stripping them of the exarchate of Ravenna *, he made a donation of that and other considerable territories to the Holy See, which were the first, as is alleged, of its temporal possessions. Conscious of his defective title, it was the principal object of Pepin le Bref to conciliate the affections of the people whom he governed. The legislative power among the Franks was vested in the people assem¬ bled in their Champs de Mars f. Under the Mero- * Previous to the middle of the 6th century, the exarchate of Ravenna acknowledged the authority of the Byzantine emperors. It afterwards was reduced by the Lombards. On their defeat by Pepin, a.d. 752, the exarchate was bestowed on Stephen III., then pope ; from this time the power of the Lombards rapidly declined, till its subjugation, a.d. 774.— Ed. t This general assembly was, by Pepin le Bref, holden on the calends of May, and also by his successors, which has occasioned this meeting of the states to be called the champs de Mai .— Ed. F 2 MODERN HISTORY. Reflections on state of France during ^ Merovingian race.—Feudal system. vingian race the regal authority had sunk to nothing, while the power of the nobles had attained to an inordinate extent. Pepin found it his best policy to acknowledge and ratify those rights, which he could not without danger have invaded ; and thus, under the character of guardian of the powers of all the orders of the state, he exalted the regal office to its proper elevation, and founded it on the securest basis. On his deathbed, he called a council of the grandees, and obtained their consent to a division of his kingdom between his two sons, Charles and Carlo- man. He died a.d. 7G8, at the age of fifty-three, after a reign of seventeen years from the death of Childeric III., and an administration of twenty- seven from the death of Charles Martel. 3. —REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF FRANCE DURING THE MEROVINGIAN RACE OF ITS KINGS. ORIGIN OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 1 . The manners of the Franks were similar to those of the other Germanic nations described by Tacitus. Though under the command of a chief or king, their government was extremely democratical, and they acknowledged no other than a military subordination. The legislative authority resided in the general assembly, or Champ de Mars , held annually on the first day of March : a council in which the king had but a single suffrage, equally with the meanest soldier. But when in arms against the enemy, his power was absolute in enforcing military discipline. 2. After the establishment of the Franks in Gaul, some changes took place from their new situ¬ ation. They reduced the Gauls to absolute subjec¬ tion ; yet they left many in possession of their lands, because the new country was too large for its con¬ querors. They left them likewise in the use of their existing laws, which were those of the Roman code, while they themselves were governed by the Salique and Lipuarian laws *, ancient institutions in observance among the Franks before they left their original seats in Germany. Hence arose that extraordinary diversity of local laws and usages in the kingdom of France, which continued down to modern times, and gave occasion to numberless inconveniences. 3. The ancient Germans had the highest venera¬ tion for their priests or druids. It was natural that the Franks, after their conversion to Christi¬ anity, should have the same reverence for their bishops, to whom accordingly they allowed the first rank in the national assembly. These bishops were generally chosen from among the native Gauls ; for having adopted from this nation their new religion, it was natural that their priests should be chosen from the same people. The influence of the clergy contributed much to ameliorate the condition of the conquered Gauls, and to humanise their conquerors; and in a short space of time the two nations were thoroughly incorporated. 4. At this period a new system of policy is visible among this united people, which, by degrees, ex¬ tended itself over most of the nations of Europe, the Feudal System. By this expression is properly meant that tenure or condition on which the proprietors of land held * The Salii and Lipuarii are distinct nations of Franks. The Lipuarian Franks formed a separate kingdom, the capi¬ tal of which was Cologne.—E d. Origin of feudal system.—Peculiar to Gaulish and German nations. their possessions, viz., an obligation to perform military service, whenever required by the chief or overlord to whom they owed allegiance. Many modern writers attribute the origin of this institution or policy to the kings of the Franks, who, after the conquest of Gaul, are supposed to have divided the lands among their followers, on this condition of military service. But this notion is attended with insurmountable difficulties. For, in the first place, it proceeds on this false idea, that the conquered lands belonged in property to the king, and that he had the right of bestowing them in gifts, or dividing them among his followers ; whereas it is a certain fact, that among the Franks the partition of conquered lands was made by lot, as was the division even of the spoil or booty taken in battle ; and that the king’s share, though doubt¬ less a larger portion than that of his captains, was likewise assigned him by lot. Secondly, if we should suppose the king to have made those gifts to his captains out of his own domain, the creation of a very few beneficia would have rendered him a poorer man than his subjects. We must therefore have recourse to another supposition for the origin of the fiefs ; and we shall find that it is to be traced to a source much more remote than the conquest of Gaul by the Franks. 5. Among all barbarous nations, with whom war is the chief occupation, we remark a strict subordi¬ nation of the members of a tribe to their chief or leader. It was observed by Csesar as peculiarly strong among the Gaulish nations, and as subsisting not only between the soldiers and their commander, but between the inferior towns or villages and the canton or province to which they belonged. In peace every man cultivated his land, free of all taxation, and subject to no other burden than that of military service when required 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 its males capable of bearing arms, and from these its rated number was selected by the chief of the province. This clientela sub¬ sisted among the Franks as well as among the Gauls. It subsisted among the Romans, who, in order to secure their distant conquests, were obliged to main¬ tain fixed garrisons on their frontiers, to check the inroads of the barbarian nations. To each officer in these garrisons it was customary to assign a portion of land as the pledge and pay of his service. These gifts were termed beneficia, and their pro¬ prietors beneficiarii, Plin. Ep. lib. 10. ep. 32. The beneficia were at first granted only for life : Alex¬ ander Severus allowed them to descend to heirs, on the like condition of military service *. * It is beyond the purpose of an elementary work to enter fully into the origin of feudality, which, whether English or foreign, exhibits certain peculiar and unalterable incidents. It may suffice, therefore, to refer the reader to Dalrymple’s well-known Essay towards a General History of Feudal Pro¬ perty, where, amongst the earliest propositions, he will find that there were particular circumstances attending the con¬ quests of the German nations which never attended those of any other conquering people; and without a peculiarity of cause, there never will be a peculiarity of effect. The reader will therefore be cautioned against those propositions in the text which tend to assert that feudality existed otherwise than as a consequence of the conquests of the German na¬ tions.— Ed. The origin of feudal tenure illustrated. mnnunv v Pepin le Bref.—Charlemagne. Hereditary feudalism. IVlUUrjxtiN nioiUit i. New empire of the West. 6 . When Gaul was overrun by the Franks, a great part of the lands was possessed on this tenure by the Roman soldiery, as the rest was by the native Gauls. The conquerors, accustomed to the same policy, would naturally adopt it in the par¬ tition of their new conquests; each man, on re¬ ceiving his share, becoming bound to military service, as a condition necessarily annexed to terri¬ torial property. With respect to those Gauls who retained their possessions, no other change was necessary, than to exact the same obligation of military vassalage to their new conquerors, that they had rendered to their former masters the Emperors, and before the Roman conquest, to their native chiefs. Thus no other change took place than that of the overlord. The system was the same which had prevailed for ages. 7. But these beneficia, or fiefs, were personal grants, revocable by the Sovereign or overlord, and reverting to him on the death of the vassal. The weakness of the Frank kings of the Merovingian race emboldened the possessors of fiefs to aspire at independence and security of property. In a convention held at Andeli in 587, to treat of peace between Gontran and Childebert II., the nobles obliged these princes to renounce the right of re¬ voking their benefices, which henceforward passed by inheritance to their eldest male issue *. 8 . It was a necessary consequence of a fief be¬ coming pei*petual and hereditary, that it should be capable of subinfeudation ; and that the vassal himself, holding his land of the Sovereign by the tenure of military service, should be enabled to create a train of inferior vassals, by giving to them portions of his estate to be held on the same con¬ dition, of following his standard in battle, rendering him homage as their lord, and paying, as the sym¬ bol of their subjection, a small annual present, either of money, or the fruits of their lands. Thus, in a little time, the whole territory in the feudal king¬ doms was either held immediately and in capite of the Sovereign himself, or mediately by inferior vas¬ sals of the tenants in capite f. 9. It was natural, that in those disorderly times, when the authority of government and the obliga¬ tion of general laws were extremely weak, the superior or over-lord should acquire a civil and criminal jurisdiction over his vassals. The Comite, to whom, as the chief magistrates of police, the administration of justice belonged of right, paid little attention to the duties of their office, and shamefully abused their powers. The inferior classes naturally chose, instead of seeking justice through this corrupted channel, to submit their lawsuits to the arbitration of their over-lord; and this jurisdiction, conferred at first by the acqui¬ escence of parties, came at length to be regarded as founded on strict right. Hence arose a per¬ petual contest of jurisdiction between the greater barons in their own territories and the established judicatories; a natural cause of that extreme an¬ archy and disorder which prevailed in Finance during the greater part of the Merovingian period, * It is generally asserted, that hereditary feudalism did not take place till Conrad II., emperor of Germany, per¬ mitted the transmission of fiefs to sons and grandsons, circa 1030.—Ed. t The introduction of the feudal system or tenure into England is a subject noticed hereafter, sect. 15, § 2. and which sunk the regal authority to the lowest pitch of abasement. In a government of which every part was at variance with the rest, it is not surprising that a new power should arise, which, in able hands, should be capable of enslaving and bringing the whole under subjection. 10. The Mayor of the Palace, or first officer of the household, gradually usurped, under a series of weak princes, the whole powers of the Sovereign. This office, from a personal dignity, became here¬ ditary in the family of Pepin Heristel; and his grand¬ son, Pepin le Bref, removing from the throne those phantoms of the Merovingian race, assumed, by the authority of a Papal deci'ee, the title of King, and reigned for seventeen years with dignity and success, the founder of the second race of the French mo- narchs, known by the name of the Carlovingian. 4.— CHARLEMAGNE—THE NEW EMPIRE OF THE WEST. 1. Pepin le Bref, with the consent of his nobles, divided, on his death-bed, the kingdom of France between his sons, Charles and Carloman, a.d. 788. The latter dying a few years after his father, Charles succeeded to the undivided sovereignty. In the course of a reign of forty-five years, Charlemagne (for so he was deservedly styled*) extended the limits of his empire beyond the Danube; subdued Dacia, Dalmatia, and Istria; conquered and sub¬ jected all the barbarous tribes to the banks of the Vistula, made himself master of a great portion of Italy, and successfully encountered the arms of the Saracens, the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Saxons. His war with the Saxons was of thirty years’ duration, and their final conquest was not achieved without an inhuman waste of blood. At the request of the Pope, and to discharge the obligation of his father Pepin to the Holy See, Charlemagne, though allied by marriage to Deside- rius, king of the Lombards, dispossessed that prince of all his dominions, and put a final period to the Lombard dominion in Italy, a.d. 774. 2 . He made his entry into Rome at the festival of Easter, was there crowned king of France and of the Lombards, and was, by Pope Adrian I., in¬ vested with the right of ratifying the election of the popes. Irene, empress of the East, sought to ally herself with Charlemagne, by the marriage of her son Constantine to the daughter of this mo¬ narch; but her subsequent inhuman conduct, in putting Constantine to death, gave ground to sus¬ pect the sincerity of her desire for that alliance. 3. In the last visit of Charlemagne to Italy, he was consecrated Emperor of the West [or Csesar, a title that had not existed in the west for three hundred years] by the hands of Pope Leo III. [a.d. 801]. It is probable, that had he chosen Rome for his residence and seat of government, and at his death transmitted to his successor an undivided dominion, that great but fallen empire might have once more been restored to lustre and respect: but Charlemagne had no fixed capital, and he divided, even in his lifetime, his dominions among his children, a.d. 806. 4. The economy of government and the domestic administration of Charlemagne merit attention. Pepin le Bref had introduced the system of annual * Carolus Magnus, or Karl the Great.—E d. Administration of Charlemagne’s MOTiTT'RTV TTT^TTiRV Manners, age, and government of the empire.—Louis le Debonnair. iviUUx!iXti> nioiuitx. age of Charlemagne. assemblies or parliaments, held at first in March, and afterwards in May, where the chief estates of clergy and nobles were called to deliberate on the public affairs and the wants of the people. Charle¬ magne appointed the assemblies to be held twice in the year, in spring and in autumn. In the latter, all affairs were prepared and digested ; in the former was transacted the business of legislation; and of this assembly he made the people a party, by admitting from each province or district, twelve deputies or representatives. The assembly now consisted of three estates, who each formed a separate chamber, which discussed apart the con¬ cerns of its own order, and afterwards united to communicate their resolutions, or to deliberate on their common interests. The sovereign was never present, unless when called to ratify the decrees of the assembly. 5. Charlemagne divided the empire into pro¬ vinces, and these into districts, each comprehend¬ ing a certain number of counties. The districts were governed by royal envoys, chosen from the clergy and nobles, and bound to an exact visitation of their territories every three months. These envoys held yearly conventions, at which were present the higher clergy and barons, to discuss the affairs of the district, examine the conduct of its magistrates, and redress the grievances of indi¬ viduals. At the general assembly, or Champ de Mai*, the royal envoys made their report to the sovereign and states ; and thus the public atten¬ tion was constantly directed to all the concerns of the empire. 6 . The private character of Charlemagne was most amiable and respectable. His secretary, Eginhart, has painted his domestic life in beauti¬ ful and simple colouring. The economy of his family, where the daughters of the emperor were assiduously employed in spinning and housewifery, and the sons trained by their father in the practice of all manly exercises, is characteristic of an age of great simplicity. This illustrious man died a.d. 814, in the seventy-second year of his age [and was buried at Aix la Chapelle]. Contemporary with him was Haroun Alraschid, caliph of the Saracens, equally celebrated for his conquests, excellent po¬ licy, and the wisdom and humanity of his govern¬ ment. 7. Of all the lawful sons of Charlemagne, Louis le Debonnaire was the only one who survived him, and who therefore succeeded without dispute to the imperial dominions, excepting Italy, which the emperor had settled on Bernard, his grandson by Pepin, his second son. 5.— MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, AND CUSTOMS OF THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 1. In establishing the provincial conventions under the royal envoys, Charlemagne did not en¬ tirely abolish the authority of the ancient chief magistrates, the dukes and counts. They conti¬ nued to command the troops of the province, and to make the levies in stated numbers from each district. Cavalry was not numerous in the impe¬ rial armies, twelve farms being taxed to furnish only one horseman, with his armour and accoutre¬ ments. The province supplied six months’ provi- * See ante, p. 67, note. sions to its complement of men, and the king maintained them during the rest of the campaign. 2 . The engines for the attack and defence of towns were, as in former times, the ram, the balista, catapulta, testudo, &c. Charlemagne had his ships of war stationed in the mouths of all the large rivers. He bestowed great attention on com¬ merce. The merchants of Italy and the south of France traded to the Levant, and exchanged the commodities of Europe and Asia. Venice and Genoa were rising into commercial opulence; and the manufactures of wool, of glass, and iron, were successfully cultivated in many of the principal towns in the south of Europe. 3. The value of money was nearly the same as in the Roman empire in the age of Constantine the Great. The numerary livre, in the age of Charle¬ magne, was supposed to be a pound of silver, in value about three pounds sterling of English money. At present the livre [tournois] is worth ten- pence halfpenny English *. Hence we ought to be cautious in forming our estimate of ancient money from its name ; and from the want of this caution have arisen the most erroneous ideas of the com¬ merce, riches, and strength of the ancient king¬ doms. 4. The Capitularia of Charlemagne, compiled into a body, a.d. 827 , were recovered from oblivion in 1531 and 1545. They present many circum¬ stances illustrative of the manners of the times. Unless in great cities, there were no inns; the laws obliged every man to give accommodation to travellers. The chief towns were built of wood, and even the walls were of that material. The state of the mechanic arts was very low in Europe : the Sai’acens had brought them to greater perfec¬ tion. Painting and sculpture were only preserved from absolute extinction by the existing remains of anciont art. Charlemagne appears to have been anxious for the improvement of music ; and the Italians are said to have instructed his French performers in the art of playing on the organ. Architecture was studied and successfully culti¬ vated in that style termed the Gothic, which ad¬ mits of great beauty, elegance, and magnificence. The composition of Mosaic appeal’s to have been an invention of those ages. 5. The knowledge of letters was extremely low, and confined to a few of the ecclesiastics : but Charlemagne gave the utmost encouragement to literature and the sciences, inviting into his domi¬ nions of France, men eminent in those depart¬ ments from Italy, and from the Britannic isles f, which, in those dark ages, preserved more of the light of learning than any of the western king¬ doms. “ Neque enbn silenda laus Britannice, Scotice, et Hibernice, quce studio Uberalium artium eo tempore antecellebant reliquis occidentalibus regnis; et curd prcesertim monachorum , qui literarum gloriam , alibi aut languentem aut depressant, in Us regionibus impigre suscitarent atque tuebantur.’' Murat. An- tiq. Ital. Diss. 48. The scarcity of books in those times, and the nature of their subjects—legends, lives of the saints, &c., evince the narrow diffusion of literature. 6 . The pecuniary fines for homicide, the ordeal * The livre is at present better known by the denomina¬ tion of a franc; its value is now (1844) tenpence sterling.—E d. + Of these, Alcuin was the most celebrated. Affairs of the cliurcli previous to i\TAni?o \r tj i cthd v linage worshippers and Iconoclasts* mi Charlemagne. IVIUUIjxIIN rLlolUxvx. Origin of Monachism. 71 or judgment of God, and judicial combat, were striking peculiarities in the laws and manners of the northern nations, and particularly of the Franks. With this warlike but barbarous people, revenge was esteemed honourable and meritorious. The high-spirited warrior chastised or vindicated with his own hand the injuries he had received or inflicted. The magistrate interfered, not to punish, but to reconcile, and was satisfied if he could per¬ suade the aggressor to pay, and the injured party to accept the moderate fine which was imposed as the price of blood, and of which the measure was estimated according to the rank, the sex, and the country of the person slain. But increasing civili¬ zation abolished those barbarous distinctions. We have remarked the equal severity of the laws of the Visigoths both in the crime of murder and robbery ; and even among the Franks in the age of Charlemagne, deliberate murder was punished with death. 7. By their ancient laws, a party accused of any crime was allowed to produce compurgators, or a certain number of witnesses, according to the mea¬ sure of the offence ; and if these declared upon oath their belief of his innocence, it was held a sufficient exculpation. Seventy-two compurgators were required to acquit a murderer or an incen¬ diary. The flagrant perjuries occasioned by this absurd practice probably gave rise to the trial by ordeal, which was termed, as it was believed to be, the judgment of God. The criminal was ordered, at the option of the judge, to prove his innocence or guilt by the ordeal of cold water, of boiling water, or red hot iron. He was tied hand and foot, and thrown into a pool to sink or swim ; he was made to fetch a ring from the bottom of a vessel of boiling water, or to walk barefooted over burning plough-shares ; and history records ex¬ amples of those wonderful experiments having been undergone without injury or pain. 8. Another peculiarity of the laws and manners of the northern nations was judicial combat. Both in civil suits and in the trial of crimes, the party destitute of legal proofs, might challenge his anta¬ gonist to mortal combat, and rest the cause upon its issue. This sanguinary and most iniquitous custom, which [long existed in England under the name of camp-fight or trial by battle, and] may be traced to this day in the pi’actice of duelling, had the authority of law in the court of the constable and marshal, even in the last century, in France and England. 6.-RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH PRECEDING THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 1. The Arian and Pelagian heresies divided the Christian Church for many ages. In the fourth century Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, main¬ tained the separate and inferior nature of the second Person of the Trinity, regarding Christ as the noblest of created beings, through whose agency the Creator had formed the universe. His doctrine was condemned in the council of Nice, held by Constantine, a.d. 325, who afterwards be¬ came a convert to his opinions. These for many centuries had an extensive influence, and produced the sects of the Eunomians, Semi-Arians, Euse- bians, &c. 2. In the beginning of the fifth century, Pelagius and Celestius, the former a native of Britain, the latter of Ireland, denied the doctrine of original sin, and the necessity of divine grace to enlighten the understanding and purify the heart, and main¬ tained the sufficiency of man’s natural powers for the attainment of the highest degrees of piety and virtue. These tenets were ably combated by St. Augustine, and condemned by an ecclesiastical council, but have ever continued to find many supporters. 3. The most obstinate source of controversy in those ages was regarding the worship of images ; a practice which, though at first opposed by the clergy, was afterwards, from interested motives, countenanced and vindicated by them. It was, however, long a subject of division in the Church. The emperor Leo the Isaurian*, a.d. 727? at¬ tempted to suppress this idolatry, by the destruc¬ tion of every statue and picture found in the churches, and by punishment of their worshippers; but this intemperate zeal rather increased than repressed the superstition. His son Constantine Copronymus, with wiser policy, satisfied himself with procuring its condemnation by the Church [in a general council held at Constantinople, a.d. 754, as not only a corruption of Christianity, but a renewal of Paganism. See post, sect. 8, § 2]. 4. From the doctrines of the Platonic and Stoic philosophy, which recommended the purification of the soul by redeeming it from its subjection to the senses, arose the system of penances, mortification, religious sequestration, and monachism. After Constantine had put an end to the persecution of the Christians, many conceived it a duty to pro¬ cure for themselves voluntary grievances and suf¬ ferings. They retired into caves and hermitages, and there practised the most rigorous mortifica¬ tions of the flesh, by fasting, scourging, vigils, &c. This frenzy first showed itself in Egypt, [“the fruitful parent of superstition,”] in the fourth f century, whence it spread all over the East, a great part of Africa, and within the limits of the bishopric of Rome. In the time of Theodosius, these devotees began to form communities or coeno- bia, each associate binding himself by oath to ob¬ serve the rules of his order. St. Benedict intro¬ duced monachism into Italy under the reign of Totila, and his order, the Benedictine, soon became extremely numerous, and most opulent, from the many rich donations made by the devout and cha¬ ritable, who conceived they profited by their prayers. Benedict sent colonies into Sicily and France, whence they soon spx-ead over all Europe. 5. In the East the monaclii solitarii were first incorporated into coenobia by St. Basil, bishop of Csesarea, in the middle of the fourth century ; and some time before that period, the first monasteries for women were founded in Egypt by the sister of St. Pacomo. From these, in the following age, sprung a variety of orders, under different rules. The rule of the canons regular was framed after the model of the apostolic life. The mendicants, to chastity, obedience, and poverty, added the obligation of begging alms. The military religious orders were unknown till the age of the holy war. * Also surnamed the Iconoclast. | These mortifications are of earlier date than the fourth century. Paul of Thebes, in Egypt, who fled from the per¬ secution of Decius, a.d. 250, is know-n as St. Paul the first hermit. — Ed. Auricular confession.—Pillar-saints. 4- 1 Empire of the West under the suc- (See posted, sect. 17, § 3.) The monastic fraterni¬ ties owed their reputation chiefly to the little lite¬ rary knowledge which, in those ages of ignorance, they exclusively possessed. 6 . In the fifth century arose a set of fanatics termed Stylites, or pillar-saints, who passed their lives on the tops of pillars of various height. Simeon of Syria lived thirty-seven years on a pillar sixty feet high, and died upon it. [a.d. 451.] This frenzy prevailed in the East for many centuries. 7. Auricular confession, which had been abolished in the East in the fourth century, began to be in use in the West in the age of Charlemagne, and has ever since prevailed in the Romish church. The canonization of saints was for near twelve centuries practised by every bishop. Pope Alex¬ ander III., one of the most vicious of men, first claimed and assumed this right, as the exclusive privilege of the successor of St. Peter. 8 . The conquests of Charlemagne spread Chris¬ tianity in the north of Europe ; but all beyond the limits of his conquests was idolatrous. Britain and Ireland had received the light of Christianity at an earlier period, but it was afterwards extinguished, and again revived under the Saxon Heptarchy. 7.—empire of the west under the successors of CHARLEMAGNE. 1. The empire of Charlemagne, raised and sup¬ ported solely by his abilities, fell to pieces under his weak posterity. Louis (le Debonnaire), the only survivor of his lawful sons, was consecrated emperor and king of the Franks at Aix-la-Chapelle, a.d. 816. Among the first acts of his reign was the partition of his dominions among his children. To Pepin, his second son, he gave Aquitaine, the southern third of France; to Louis, the youngest, Bavaria; and he associated his eldest son Lothaire with himself in the government of the rest. The three princes quarrelled among themselves, agree¬ ing in nothing but in hostilities against their father. They made open war against him, supported by pope Gregory IV. The pretence was, that the emperor having a younger son, Charles, born to him after this partition of his states, wanted to provide this child likewise in a share, which could not be done but at the expense of his elder brothers. Louis was compelled to surrender himself a pri¬ soner to his rebellious children. They confined him for a year to a monastery; till, on a new quarrel between Louis the Younger and Pepin, Lothaire once more restored his father to the throne: but his spirits were broken, his health decayed, and he finished soon after an inglorious and turbulent reign, a.d. 840. 2. The dissensions of the brothers still continued. Lothaire, now emperor, and Pepin, his brother’s son, having taken up arms against the two other sons of Louis le Debonnaire, Louis of Bavaria, and Charles the Bald, were defeated by them in the battle of Fontenay, [in Burgundy, a.d. 841,] where one million are said to have fallen in the field. The church, in those times, was a prime organ of civil policy. A council of bishops imme¬ diately assembled, and solemnly deposed Lothaire ; assuming, at the same time, an equal authority over his conquerors, whom they permitted to reign, on the express condition of submissive obedience to the supreme spiritual authority. Yet Lothaire, IITQTORV cessors of Charlemagne.—Germany sepa- xiioIUxv i. rated from the Franks.—Danes, or Northmen. excommunicated and deposed, found means so to accommodate matters with his brothers, that they agreed to a new partition of the empire. By the treaty of Verdun, a. d. 843, the western part of France,termedNeustriaand Aquitaine, was assigned to Charles the Bald ; Lothaire, with the title of emperor, had the nominal sovereignty of Italy, and the real territory of Lorraine, Franche Compte', Provence, and the Lyonnois ; the share of Louis was the kingdom of Germany. [It is with this treaty, properly speaking, that the history of modern France commences, France being but a portion of the empire of the Franks, as under Charlemagne.] 3. Thus was Germany finally separated from the empire of the Franks [and embodied into a mo¬ narchy or government under its own kings}. On the death of Lothaire, Charles the Bald assumed the empire, or, as is said, purchased it from Pope John VIII. on the condition of holding it as vassal of the holy see. This prince, after a weak and in¬ glorious reign, died by poison, a.d. 877- He was the first of the French monarchs who made dignities and titles hereditary. Under the distracted reigns of the Carlovingian kings, the nobles attained great power, and commanded a formidable vassalage. They strengthened themselves in their castles and fortresses, and bid defiance to the arm of govern¬ ment, while the country was ravaged and desolated by their feuds. 4. In the reign of Charles the Bald, France was plundered by the [Danish or] Norman [Vikings], a new race of Goths from Scandinavia, who had begun their depredations even in the time of Char¬ lemagne, checked only in their progress by the terror of his arms. In a.d. 843, they sailed up the Seine, and plundered Rouen ; while another fleet entered the Loire, and laid waste the country in its vicinity, carrying, together with its spoils, men, women, and children, into captivity. In the following year they attacked the coasts of England, France, and Spain, but were repelled from the last by the good conduct and courage of its Mahometan rulers. In 845, they entered the Elbe, plundered Hamburgh, and pene¬ trated far into Germany. Eric, king of Denmark, who commanded these Normans*, sent once more a fleet into the Seine, which advanced to Paris. Its inhabitants fled, and the city was burnt. Another fleet, with little resistance, pillaged Bourdeaux. To avert the arms of these ravagers, Charles the Bald bribed them with money ; and his successor, Charles the Gross, yielded them a part of his Flemish do¬ minions. These were only incentives to fresh de¬ predation. Paris was attacked a second time, but gallantly defended by Count Odo or Eudes, and the venerable bishop Goslin. A truce was a second time concluded, but the barbarians only changed the scene of their attack. They besieged Sens, and plundered Bui'gundy, while an assembly of the States held at Mentz deposed the unworthy Charles, and conferred the Crown on the more deserving: # O Eudes ; who, during a reign of ten years, manfully withstood the Normans. A great part of the states of France, however, refused his title to the Crown, and gave their allegiance to Charles, surnamed the Simple. Rollo, the Norman, in 912, compelled the King * Or rather, Northmen, or Norwegians. A full account of these semi-barbarians is given in Thierry’s History of the Norman Conquest.—E d. Empire of the East during the eighth MATtPPlV TJTQTnT? V State of> the church during the and ninth centuries. IVlUUiiiXviM xlloivjrti. same period. of France to yield him a large portion of the terri¬ tory of Neustria, and to give him his daughter in marriage. The new kingdom was now called Nor¬ mandy, of which Rouen was the capital. It is the race of those warriors whom we shall see presently the conquerors of England. 8.—EMPIRE OF THE EAST DURING THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 1. While the new empire of the West was thus rapidly tending to dissolution, the empire of Con¬ stantinople retained yet a vestige of its ancient grandeur. It had lost its African and Syrian de¬ pendencies, and was plundered by the Saracens on the eastern frontier, and ravaged on the north and west by the Abari and Bulgarians. The capital, though splendid and refined, was a constant scene of rebellions and conspiracies ; and the imperial family itself exhibited a series of the most horrid crimes and ati’ocities : one emperor put to death in revenge of murder and incest ; another poisoned by his queen ; a third assassinated in the bath by his own domestics ; a fourth tearing out the eyes of his brothers ; the empress Irene, respectable for her talents, but infamous for the murder of her only son. Of such complexion was that series of princes who swayed the sceptre of the east for near two hundred years. 2. In the latter part of this period, a most violent controversy was maintained respecting the worship of images, and they were alternately destroyed and replaced according to the humour of the sovereign *. The female sex were their most zealous supporters. This was not the only subject of division in the Christian church : the doctrines of the Manichees were then extremely prevalent, and the sword was frequently employed to support and propagate their tenets. 3. The misfortunes of the empire were increased by an invasion of the Russians from the Palus Mmotis and Euxine. In the reign of Leo, named the philosopher, the Turks, a new race of barbari¬ ans, of Scythian or Tartarian breed, began to make effectual inroads on its territories ; and much about the same time its domestic calamities were aggra¬ vated by the separation of the Greek from the Latin church, of which we shall treat under the following section. 9. —STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 1. The Popes had begun to acquire a temporal authority under Pepin le Bref and Charlemagne, from the donations of territory made by those princes, and they were now gradually extending a spiritual jurisdiction overall the Christian kingdoms. Nicholas I. proclaimed to the whole world his pa¬ ramount judgment in appeal from the sentences of all spiritual judicatories ; his power of assembling councils of the church, and of regulating it by the canons of those councils ; the right of exercising * It has been already observed, at page 71, col. 2, that image-worship was condemned by a council at Constanti¬ nople, in 754; but Gregory II. maintained that the use of images had descended from the apostolic ages, consequently, the council of the Lateran ordered that images should be honoured according to ancient tradition, a.d. 769. The wor¬ ship of images was restored by the empress Irene, by means of a council held at Nice, in 787, which was ratified by pope Adrian I. This, however, did not settle the question.—E d. his authority by legates in all the kingdoms of Eu¬ rope, and the control of the pope over all princes and governors. Literary imposture gave its sup¬ port to these pretences ; the forgery of the epistles of Isidorus was not completely exposed till the six¬ teenth century. Among the prerogatives of the popes was the regulation of the marriages of all crowned heads, by the extreme extension of the prohibitions of the canon law, with which they alone had the power of dispensing. 2. One extraordinary event (if true) afforded, in the ninth century, a ludicrous interruption to the boasted succession of regular bishops from the days of St. Peter—the election of a female pope, who is said to have ably governed the church for three years, till detected by the birth of a child. Till the reformation by Luther, this event was neither re¬ garded by the Catholics as incredible nor disgraceful to the church ; since that time its truth or false¬ hood has been the subject of keen controversy be¬ tween the protestants and Catholics ; and the evi¬ dence for the latter seems to preponderate. 3. While the church was thus gradually extend¬ ing its influence, and its head arrogating the control over sovereign princes, these, by a singular inter¬ change of character, seem, in those ages, to have fixed their chief attention on spiritual concerns. Kings, dukes, and counts, neglecting their temporal duties, shut themselves up in cloisters, and spent their lives in prayers and penances. Ecclesiastics were employed in all the departments of secular government; and these alone conducted all public measures and state negociations, which of course they directed to the great objects of advancing the interests of the church, and establishing the para¬ mount authority of the holy see. 4. At this period, however, when the popedom seemed to have attained its highest ascendancy, it suffered a severe wound in that remarkable schism which separated the patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople, or the Greek and Latin churches. The Roman pontiff had hitherto claim¬ ed the right of nominating the patriarch of Con¬ stantinople. The emperor, Michael III., denied this right; and deposing the pope’s patriarch, Ignatius, appointed the celebrated Photius in his stead. Pope Nicholas I. resented this affront with a high spirit, and deposed and excommunicated Photius, a.d. 8G3, who, in his turn, pronounced a similar sentence against the pope ; [but on the death of Ignatius, a.d. 877> Photius was restored]. The church was divided, each patriarch being supported by many bishops and their dependent clergy. The Greek and Latin bishops had long differed in many points of practice and discipline, as the celibacy of the clergy, the shaving their beards, &c. ; but, in reality, the prime source of division was the ambition of the rival pontiffs, and the jealousy of the Greek emperors, unwilling to admit the control of Rome, and obstinately assert¬ ing every prerogative which they conceived to be annexed to the capital of the Roman empire. As neither party would yield its pretensions, the divi¬ sion of the Greek and Latin churches became from this time permanent, [a.d. 1054.] 5. Amid these ambitious contests for ecclesias¬ tical power and pre-eminence, the Christian reli¬ gion itself was disgraced, both by the practice and the principles of its teachers. Worldly ambition, gross voluptuousness, and grosser ignorance, cha- 74 Saracens in the eighth and ninth cen¬ turies.—Moors of Spain. MODERN HISTORY. Empire of the West and Italy in the tenth and eleventh centuries. racterized all ranks of the clergy ; and the open sale of benefices placed them often in the hands of the basest and most profligate of men. Yet the character of Photius forms an illustrious excep¬ tion. Though bred a statesman and a soldier, and in both these respects of great reputation, he at¬ tained, by his singular abilities, learning, and worth, the highest dignity of the church. His Bibliotheca is a monument of the most various knowledge, erudition, and critical judgment. 10.—OF THE SARACENS IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 1. In the beginning of the eighth century, the Saracens [under the Ivaliphate of Walid, a.d. 711] subverted the monarchy of the Visigoths in Spain, and easily overran the country. They had lately founded in Africa the empire of Morocco, which was governed by Muza, viceroy of the Caliph Valid Almanzor. Muza sent his general, Taric, into Spain, who, in one memorable engagement, fought a.d. 713, stripped the Gothic king Rodrigo of his crown and life. The conquerors, satisfied with the sovereignty of the country, left the vanquished Goths in possession of their property, their laws, and their religion. Abdallah the Moor married the widow of Rodrigo, and the two nations formed a perfect union. One small part of the rocky country of Asturia alone adhered to its Christian prince, Pelagius, who maintained his little so¬ vereignty, [since called the kingdom of Oviedo or Leon] and transmitted it inviolate to his succes¬ sors. 2 . The Moors pushed their conquests beyond the Pyrenees, [even to the gates of Rome] ; but divi¬ sion arising among their emirs, and civil wars en¬ suing, Louis le Debonnaire took advantage of the turbulent state of the country, and invaded and seized Barcelona. The Moorish sovereignty in the north of Spain was weakened by throwing off its dependence on the kaliphs ; and at this juncture the Christian sovereignty of the Asturias, under Alphonso the Chaste, began to make vigor¬ ous encroachments on the territory of the Moors. Navarre and Arragon, roused by this example, chose each a Christian king, and boldly asserted their liberty and independence. 3. While the Moors of Spain were thus losing ground in the north, they were highly flourishing in the southern parts of that kingdom. Abdalrah- man, the last heir of the family of the Ommiades (the Abassidee now enjoying the Kaliphate), was recognized as the true representative of the an¬ cient line by the southern Moors. He fixed the seat of his government at Cordova, which, from that time, for two centuries, was the capital of a splendid monarchy. This period, from the middle of the eighth to the middle of flie tenth century, is the most brilliant era of Arabian magnificence. Whilst Haroun Alraschid made Bagdat illustrious by the splendour of the arts and sciences, the Moors of Cordova vied with their brethren of Asia in the same honourable pursuits, and were undoubtedly, at this period, the most enlightened of the states in Europe. Under a series of able princes, they gained the highest reputation, both in arts and arms, of all the nations of the west. [The use of the numerical characters, the manu¬ facture of paper, cotton, and gunpowder, are de¬ rived to us from the Arabians, especially the Ara¬ bians of Spain.] 4. The Saracens were at this time extending their conquests in almost every quarter of the world. The Mahometan religion was professed over a great part of India, and all along the east¬ ern and Mediterranean coast of Africa. The African Saracens invaded Sicily, and projected the conquest of Italy. They actually laid siege to Rome, which was nobly defended by Pope Leo IV. They were repulsed, their ships were dispersed by a storm, and their army was cut to pieces, a.d. 848. 5. The Saracens might have raised an immense empire, had they acknowledged only one head ; but their states were always disunited. Egypt, Morocco, Spain, India, had all their separate so¬ vereigns, who, though they continued to respect the kaliph of Bagdat as the successor of the pro¬ phet, acknowledged no temporal subjection to his government. 11.-EMPIRE OF THE WEST AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES. 1. The empire founded by Charlemagne now subsisted only in name. Arnulph, a bastard son of Carloman, possessed Germany. Italy was divided between Guy, duke of Spoletto, and Berenger, duke of Friuli, who had received these duchies from Charles the Bald. France, though claimed by Arnulph, was governed by Eudes. Thus the empire in ideality consisted only of a part of Ger¬ many, while France, Spain, Italy, Burgundy, and the countries between the Maes and Rhine, were all subject to different powers. The emperors were at this time elected by the bishops and grandees, all of whom claimed a voice. In this manner Louis, the son of Arnulph, the last of the blood of Charlemagne, was chosen emperor after the death of his father [being elected by the states of Ger¬ many, a custom that descended in Germany to modern times]. On his demise, Otho duke of Saxony, by his credit with his brother grandees, conferred the empire on Conrad duke of Franconia, at whose death, Henry, surnamed the Fowler, son of the same duke Otho, was elected emperor, a.d. 918. 2 . Henry I. (the Fowler), a prince of great abilities, introduced order and good government into the empire. He united the grandees, and curbed their usurpations; built, embellished, and fortified the cities, and enforced with great rigour the execution of the laws in the repression of all enormities. He had been consecrated by his own bishops, and maintained no correspondence with the see of Rome. 3. His son Otho (the Great), a.d. 938, again united Italy to the empfre [which since the revo¬ lution that took place upon the death of Charles the Fat, a.d. 888 , had been a distinct kingdom], and kept the popedom in complete subjection. He made Denmark tributary to the imperial crown, annexed the crown of Bohemia to his own domi¬ nions, and seemed to aim at a paramount authority over all the sovereigns of Europe. 4. Otho owed his ascendancy in Italy to the dis¬ orders of the papacy. Formosus, twice excommu¬ nicated by pope John VIII., had himself arrived at the triple crown. On his death, his rival, pope Contentions between the emperors of Germany and the popes. MODERN HISTORY. Great Britain, from the Romans to the Norman conquest. 1 75 Stephen VII., caused his body to be dug out of the grave, and after trial for his crimes, condemned it to be flung into the Tiber. The friends of For- mdsus fished up the corpse, and had interest to procure the deposition of Stephen, who was stran¬ gled in prison. A succeeding pope, Sergius III., again dug up the ill-fated carcase, and once more threw it into the river. Two infamous women, Marozia and Theodora, managed for many years the popedom, and filled the chair of St. Peter with their own gallants, or their adulterous offspring. Such was the state of the holy see, when Berenger I., duke of Fi'iuli, disputed the sovereignty of Italy with Hugh of Arles *. The Italian states and pope John XII., who took part against Berenger II., invited Otho to compose the disorders of the coun¬ try [a.d. 951]. He entered Italy, defeated Beren¬ ger, and was consecrated emperor by the pope, with the titles of Caesar and Augustus; in return for which honours he confirmed the donations made to the holy see by his predecessors, Pepin, Charle¬ magne, and Louis le Debonnaire, a.d. 962. 5 . But John XII. was false to his new ally. He made his peace with Berenger, and both turned their arms against the emperor. Otho flew back to Rome, and revenged himself by the trial and deposition of the pope; but he had scarcely left the city, when John, by the aid of his party, dis¬ placed his rival Leo VIII. Otho once more re¬ turned, and took exemplary vengeance 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 absolute right of the emperor to elect to the papacy, to give the investiture of the crown of Italy, and to nominate to all vacant bishoprics; concessions no longer ob¬ served than while the emperor was present to enforce them. 6 . Such was the state of Rome and Italy under Otho the Great, and it continued to be much the same under his successors for [nearly] a century [when the Saxon dynasty became extinct with the emperor Henry II., the Saxon being succeeded by the Franconian or Salic house, of which Conrad II. was the ffrst emperor, a.d. 1024]. The emperors asserted their sovereignty over Italy and the pope¬ dom, though with a constant resistance on the part of the Romans, and a general repugnance of the pope, when once established. In those ages of ecclesiastical profligacy it was not unusual to put up the popedom to sale. Benedict VIII. and John XIX., two brothel’s, publicly bought the chair of St. Peter, one after the other; and to keep it in their family, it was purchased afterwards by their friends for Benedict IX., a child of twelve years of age. Three popes, each pretending regular elec¬ tion and equal right, agi’eed ffrst to divide the revenues between them, and afterwards sold all their shai’es to a fourth. 7- The emperor Heni’y III. [who succeeded Coni’ad II. a.d. 1039], a prince of gi’eat ability, strenuously vindicated his right to supply the pon¬ tifical chair, [deposed thi’ee schismatical or anti popes] and ci’eated thi’ee successive popes without opposition. [He died a.d. 1056, leaving Henry IV. an infant of six years old. See postea, sect. 14, § 6 .] * Arles is a name given sometimes to the kingdom of Burgundy.—E d. 12.— HISTORY OF BRITAIN FROM ITS EARLIEST PERIOD DOWN TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 1. The history of Britain has been postponed to this time, in order that it may be considered in one connected view, from its earliest period to the end of the Anglo-Saxon government. We strive not to piei’ce thi’ough that mist of obscurity which veils the original population of the British Isles; l'emarking only as a matter of high pi’obability, that they dei’ived their first inha¬ bitants from the Keltae of Gaul. Their authentic histoi’y commences with the first Roman invasion ; and we learn from Caesar and Tacitus, that the counfry was at that pei'iod in a state very remote from bai’barism. It was divided into a number of small independent sovereignties, each prince hav¬ ing a regular army and a fixed revenue. The manners, language, and religion of the people were the same with those of the Gallic Keltic. The last was the Druidical system, whose influence per¬ vaded evei'y department of the government, and by its power over the minds of the people, sup¬ plied the imperfection of laws. 2. Julius Csesar, after the conquest of Gaul, turned his eyes towards Bi-itain. He landed on the southern coast of the island, 55 b.c.; and meet¬ ing with most obstinate resistance, though on the whole gaining some advantage, he found himself obliged, after a short campaign, to withdi’aw for the winter into Gaul. He retui'ned in the following- summer with a great increase of foi’ce, an ai'my of twenty thousand foot, a competent body of hoi'se, and a fleet of eight liundi’ed sail. The independent chiefs of the Bi’itons united their forces under Cassibelaunus king of the Ti’inobantes, and, en- countei’ing the legions with gi’eat resolution, dis¬ played all the ability of practised warriors. But the contest was vain. Caesar advanced into the country, burnt Verulamium, the capital of Cassi¬ belaunus, and, after forcing the Bi’itons into articles of submission, retui’ned to Gaul. 3. The domestic disorders of Italy gave tran¬ quillity to the Britons for near a century; but, in the reign of Claudius, the conquest of the island was determined. The Emperor landed in Britain, and compelled the submission of the south-eastern provinces. Ostorius Scap'ula defeated Carac'tacus, who was sent prisoner to Rome. Suetonius Pau- linus, the general of Nero, destroyed Mona (An¬ glesey, or, as others think, Man), the centre of the Druidical superstition. The Iceni (inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk), under their queen Boadicea, attacked several of the Roman settlements. Lon¬ don, with its Roman garrison, was burnt to ashes. But a decisive battle ensued, in which eighty thou¬ sand of the Britons fell in the field, a.d. 61. The reduction of the island, however, was not completed till thirty years afterwards, in the reign of Titus, by Julius Agricola; who, after securing the Roman province against invasion from the Caledonians by walls and garrisons, reconciled the southern inha¬ bitants, by the introduction of Roman arts and im¬ provements, to the government of their conquerors. Under Severus, the Roman province was far ex¬ tended into the north of Scotland. 4. With the decline of the Roman power in the i west, the southern Britons recovered their liberty, but it was only to become the object of incessant 70 Departure of the Romans.—Saxons.— Heptarchy.—Danish invasions. MODERN HISTORY. King Alfred repels the Danes.—His govern- j ment and cultivation of learning. predatory invasion from their brethren of the north. The Romans, after rebuilding the wall of Severus, finally bid adieu to Britain, a.d. 448. The Piets and Caledonians now broke down upon the south, ravaging and desolating the country, though without a purpose of conquest, merely, as it ap¬ pears, for the supply of their temporary wants. After repeated application for aid from Rome, without success, the Britons meanly solicited the Saxons of Germany for succour and protection. 5. The Saxons received the embassy with great satisfaction. Britain had been long known to them in their piratical voyages to its coasts. They landed to the amount of sixteen hundred, under the com¬ mand of Hengist and Horsa, a.d. 450, and joining the South Britons, soon compelled the Scots to re¬ tire to their mountains. They next turned their thoughts to theentii’e reduction of the Britons; and receiving large reinforcements of their country¬ men, after an obstinate contest of nearly one hun¬ dred and fifty years, they reduced the whole of England under the Saxon government. Seven distinct provinces became as many independent kingdoms. 6 . The history of the Saxon Heptarchy is un¬ interesting, from its obscurity and confusion. It is sufficient to mark the duration of the several king¬ doms, till their union under Egbert. Kent began in 455, and lasted, under seventeen princes, till 827, when it was subdued by the West Saxons. Under Ethelbert, one of its kings, the Saxons were con¬ verted to Christianity bv the monk Augustine. Northumberland began in 597, And lasted, under twenty-three kings, till 792. East Anglia began in 575, and ended in 793. Mercia subsisted from 582 to 827. Essex had fourteen princes from 527 to 747; Sussex only five, before its reduction under the dominion of the West Saxons, about 600. Wes¬ sex, which finally subdued and united the whole of the Heptarchy, began in 519, and had not subsisted above eighty years, when Cadwalla, its king, con¬ quered and annexed Sussex to his dominions. As there was no fixed rule of succession, it was the policy of the Saxon princes to put to death all the rivals of their intended successor. From this cause, and from their passion for celibacy, the royal fami¬ lies were nearly extinguished in the kingdoms of the Heptarchy; and Egbert, prince of the West Saxons, remained the sole surviving descendant of the Saxon conquerors of Britain. This circum¬ stance, so favourable to his ambition, prompted him to attempt the conquest of the Heptarchy. He succeeded in that enterprise; and, by his vic¬ torious arms and judicious policy, the whole of the separate states were united into one great kingdom, a.d. 827 , near four hundred years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain. 7. England, thus united, was far from enjoying tranquillity. The piratical Normans or Danes had for fifty years desolated her coasts, and continued for some centuries after this period to be a per¬ petual scourge to the country. Under Alfred (the Great), grandson of Egbert, the kingdom was from this cause reduced to extreme wretchedness. The heroic Alfred, in one year, engaged and defeated the Danes in eight battles; when a new irruption of their countrymen forced him to solicit a peace, which these pirates constantly interrupted by new hostilities. The monarch himself was compelled to seekliis safety for many months in an obscure quarter of the country, till the disorders of the Danish army offered a fair opportunity, which he improved to the entire defeat of his enemies. He might have cut them all to pieces, but he chose rather to spare, and to incorporate them with his English subjects. This clemency did not restrain them from attempt¬ ing a new invasion; but they were again defeated with immense loss : and the extreme severity now from necessity shown to the vanquished, had the effect of suspending, for several years, the Danish depredations. 8 . Alfred, whether considered in his public or private character, deserves to be reckoned among the best and greatest of princes. He united the most enterprizing and heroic spirit with consum¬ mate prudence and moderation; the utmost vigour of authority with the most engaging gentleness of manner; the most exemplary justice with the great¬ est lenity; the talents of the statesman, and the man of letters, with the intrepid resolution and conduct of the general. He found the kingdom in the most miserable condition, to which anarchy, domestic barbarism, and foreign hostility, could reduce it: he brought it to a pitch of eminence surpassing, in many respects, the situation of its contemporary nations. 9. Alfred divided England into counties, with their subdivisions of hundreds and tithings. The tithing or decennary consisted of ten families, over which presided a tithing man, or borgholder; and ten of these composed the hundred. Every house¬ holder was answerable for his family, and the tithing-man, for all within his tithing. In the de¬ cision of differences, the tithing-man had the assist¬ ance of the rest of his decennary. An appeal lay from the decennary to the court of the hundred, which was assembled every four weeks; and the cause was tried by a jury of twelve freeholders, sworn to do impartial justice. An annual meeting of the hundred was held for the regulation of the police of the district. The county-court, superior to that of the hundred, and consisting of all the freeholders, met twice a year, after Michaelmas and Easter, to determine appeals from the hundreds, and settle disputes between the inhabitants of dif¬ ferent hundreds. The ultimate appeal from all these courts lay to the king in council; and the frequency of these appeals prompted Alfred to the most extreme circumspection in the appointment of his judges. He composed for the regulation of these courts, and of his kingdom, a body of laws, the basis of the common law of England. 10. Alfred gave every encouragement to the cultivation of letters, as the best means of eradi¬ cating barbarism. He invited, from every quarter of Europe, the learned to reside in his dominions, established schools, and is said to have founded the university of Oxford. He was himself a most ac¬ complished scholar for the age in which he lived, as appears from the works he composed; poetical apologues, the translation of the histories of Bede and Orosius, and of Boethius on the consolation of philosophy. In every view of his character, we must regard Alfred the Great as one of the best and wisest men that ever occupied the regal seat. He died in the vigour of his age, a.d. 901, after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a half. 11 . The admirable institutions of Alfred were partially and feebly enforced under his successors; and England, still a prey to the ravages of the Ethelred’s tribute to the Danes.—Canute sole iur»rkrT> XT utcthpv Harold defeated by William the Conqueror. __ king of England.—Edward the Confessor. IviULHliltiN riloIUlxi. Thoughts on the Anglo-Saxons. 77 Danes and intestine disorder, relapsed into con¬ fusion and barbarism. The reigns of Edward the elder, the son of Alfred, and of his successors, Athelstan, Edmund, and Edred, were tumultuous and anarchical. The clergy began to extend their authority over the throne, and a series of succeeding princes were the obsequious slaves of their tyranny and ambition. Under Ethelred, a.d. 981, thg,Danes seriously projected the conquest of England, and led by Sweyn king of Denmark, and Olaiis king of Norway, made a formidable descent, won several important battles, and were restrained from the de¬ struction of London only by a dastardly submission, and a promise of tribute to be paid, by the inglo¬ rious Ethelred. The English nobility were ashamed of their prince, and seeing no other relief to the kingdom, made a tender of the crown to the Danish monarch. On the death of Sweyn, Ethelred at¬ tempted to regain his kingdom, but found in Canute the son of Sweyn, a prince determined to support his claims, which, on the death of Ethelred, were gallantly but ineffectually resisted by his son Ed¬ mund Ironside. At length a partition of the king¬ dom was made between Canute and Edmund, which, after a few months, the Danes annulled by the murder of Edmund, thus securing to their monarch Canute the throne of all England, a.d. 1017- Ed¬ mund left two children, Edgar Atlieling, and Mar¬ garet, afterwards wife to Malcolm Kanmore, king of Scotland. 12. Canute, the most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign of Denmark, Norway, and England, swayed for seventeen years the sceptre of England with a firm and vigorous hand; severe in the be¬ ginning of his reign, while his government was insecure, but mild and equitable when possessed of a settled dominion. He left (a.d. 1036) three sons, Sweyn, who was crowned king of Norway, Harold, who succeeded to the throne of England, and Har- dicanute, Sovereign of Denmark. Harold, a mer¬ ciless tyrant, died in the fourth year of his reign, and was succeeded by Hardicanute, who, after a violent administration of two years, died in a fit of debauch. The English seized this opportunity of shaking off the Danish yoke; and they conferred the crown on Edward, a younger son of Ethelred, rejecting the preferable right of Edgar Atheling, the son of Edmund, who, unfortunately for his pretensions, was, at this time, abroad in Hungary. Ed ward, surnamed the Confessor (a.d. 1041), reigned weakly and ingloriously for twenty-five years. The rebellious attempts of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, aimed at nothing less than an usurpation of the crown, and, on his death, his son Harold, cherishing secretly the same views of ambition, had the ad¬ dress to secure to his interest a very formidable party in the kingdom. Edward, to defeat these views, bequeathed [or rather had in the earlier part of his life promised to bequeath] the crown to William Duke of Normandy, a prince whose great abilities and personal prowess had rendered his name illustrious over Europe. 13. On the death of Edward the Confessor, 1066, the usurper* Harold took possession of the throne, which the intrepid Norman determined immediately to reclaim as his inheritance of right. - He made * Harold was elected king the day after the decease of Edward the Confessor, who had, on his death-bed, pointed him out as most worthy to be his successor.—E d. the most formidable preparations, aided in this age of romantic enterprise by many of the Sovereign Princes, and a vast body of the nobility, from the different continental kingdoms. A Norwegian fleet of three hundred sail entered the Humber, and disembarking their troops, were, after one success¬ ful engagement, defeated by the English army in the interest of Hai*old. William landed his army on the coast of Sussex, to the amount of sixty thou¬ sand; and the English, under Harold, flushed with their recent success, hastily advanced to meet him, imprudently resolved to venture all on one decisive battle. The total rout and discomfiture of the English army in the field of Hastings (14th October, 1066), and the death of Harold, after some fruitless attempts of further resistance, put William duke of N&rmandy in possession of the throne of En¬ gland. 13.— OF THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, AND MANNERS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 1. The government, laws, and manners of the Anglo-Saxons have become the subject of inquiry to modern writers, as being supposed to have had their influence in the formation of the British con¬ stitution. The government of the Saxons was the same with that of all the ancient Germanic nations, and they naturally retained in their new settlement in Britain, a policy similar to their accustomed usages. Their subordination was chiefly a military one, the king having no more authority than what belonged to the general, or military leader. There was no strict rule of succession to the throne; for although the king was generally chosen from the family of the last prince, the choice usually fell on the person of the best capacity for government. In some instances the destination of the last sove¬ reign regulated the choice. We know very little of the nature of the Anglo-Saxon government, or of the distinct rights of the sovereign and people. 2. One institution common to all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy was the Wittenagemot, or assem¬ bly of the wise men, whose consent was requisite for enacting laws, and ratifying the chief acts of public administration. The bishops and abbots formed a part of this assembly, as did the aider- men, or earls, and governors of counties. The Wites, or wise men, are discriminated from the prelates and nobility, and have by some been supposed to have been the representatives of the commons. But we hear nothing of election or re¬ presentation in those periods, and we must therefore presume that they were merely landholders, or men of considerable estate, who, from their weight and consequence in the country, were held entitled, without any election, to take a share in the public delibex*ations. 3. The Anglo-Saxon government was extremely aristocratical; the regal authority being very limi¬ ted, the rights of the people little known or re¬ garded, and the nobility possessing much uncon¬ trolled and lawless rule over their dependents. The offices of government were hereditary in their families, and they commanded the whole military force of their respective provinces. So strict was the clientela between these nobles and their vassals, that the murder of a vassal was compensated by a fine paid to his lord. r " Anglo-Saxon government and manners, TTTQTOT1V State of Europe during the tenth, 7° military force, and revenue. ALUJJ.cjI.vin moiuiu. eleventh, and twelfth centuries. 4. There were three ranks of the people, the no¬ bles, the free, and the slaves. The nobles were either the king’s thanes, who held their lands directly from the sovereign, or lesser thanes, who held lands from the former. One law of Athelstan declared that a merchant who had made three voyages on his own account was entitled to the dignity of thane ; another decreed the same rank to a ceorle, or hus¬ bandman, who was able to purchase five hides of land, and had a chapel, a kitchen, a hall, and a bell. The ceorles, or freemen of the lower rank, occupied the farms of the thanes, for which they paid rent, and they were removable at the pleasure of their lord. The slaves, or villans, were either employed in domestic purposes or in cultivating the lands. A master was fined for the murder of his slave ; and if he mutilated him, the slave recovered his freedom. 5. Under this aristocratical government there were some traces of the ancient Germanic demo¬ cracy. The courts of the decennary, the hundred, and the county, were a considerable restraint on the power of the nobles. In the county courts the freeholders met twice a year to determine appeals by the majority of suffrages. The alderman pre¬ sided in those courts, but had no vote ; he received a third of the fines, the remaining two-thirds de¬ volving to the king, which was a great part of the royal revenue. Pecuniary fines were the ordinary atonement for every species of crime, and the modes of proof were the ordeal by fire or water, or by compurgators. (See supra, part II., sect. 5, § 7.) 6. As to the military force, the expense of de¬ fending the state lay equally on all the land, every five hides or ploughs being taxed to furnish a soldier. There were two hundred and forty-three thousand six hundred hides in England, consequently the or¬ dinary military force consisted of forty-eight thou¬ sand seven hundred and twenty men. 7. The king’s revenue, besides the fines imposed by the courts, consisted partly of his demesnes of property-lands, which were extensive, and partly in imposts on boroughs and sea-ports. The Dane- geld was a tax imposed by the states, either for payment of tribute exacted by the Danes, or for defending the kingdom against them. By the cus¬ tom of gavelkind, the land was divided equally among all the male children of the deceased pro¬ prietor. Bookland was that which was held by charter ; and folkland, what was held by tenants removable at pleasure *. 8 . The Anglo-Saxons were behind the Normans in every point of civilization ; and the conquest was therefore to them a real advantage, as it led to material impi’ovement in arts, science, government, and laws +. 14. —STATE OF EUROPE DURING THE TENTH, ELEVENTH, AND TWELFTH CENTURIES. 1. France, from the extent and splendour of its dominion under Charlemagne, had dwindled to a * The real meaning of these words, “ bookland ” and “folkland,” has been a subject of disquisition, and the pre¬ cise effect of these terms is far from being settled.— Ed. •J- The student wlic wishes to be more fully informed upon the history of a nation whose descendants form perhaps the greatest portion of the southern part of Great Britain, should consult Mr, Sharon Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons. —■ Ed. shadow under his weak posterity. At the end of the Carlovingian period, France comprehended neither Normandy, Dauphine, nor Provence. On the death of Louis V. (Faineant*), the crown ought to have devolved on his uncle, Charles of Brabant, as the last male of the race of Charle¬ magne ; but Hugh Capet, lord of Picardy and Champagne f, the most powerful of the French nobles, was elected sovereign by the voice of his brother peers, a.d. 987. The kingdom, torn by parties, suffered much domestic misery under the reign of Hugh, and that of his successor Robert, who was the victim of papal tyranny, for daring to marry a distant cousin without the dispensation of the church. 2 . The prevailing passion of the times was pil¬ grimage and chivalrous enterprise. In this career of adventure, the Normans most remarkably dis¬ tinguished themselves. In 983, they relieved the prince of Salerno, by expelling the Saracens from his territory. They did a similar service to Pope Benedict VIII. and the Duke of Capua ; while another band of their countrymen fought first against the Greeks and afterwards against the popes, always selling their services to those who best re¬ warded them. William Fierabras, and his bro¬ thers Humphrey, Robert, and Richard, kept the pope a prisoner for a year at Benevento, and forced the court of Rome to yield Capua to Richard, and Apulia and Calabria to Robert, with the investiture of Sicily, if he should gain the country from the Saracens. In 1101, Rogero the Norman completed the conquest of Sicily, of which the popes continued to be the lords paramount. 3. The north of Europe was in those periods ex¬ tremely barbarous. Russia received the Christian religion in the eighth century. Sweden, after its conversion in the ninth century, relapsed into idol¬ atry, as did Hungary and Bohemia. The Constan- tinopolitan empire defended its frontiers with difficulty against the Bulgarians on the west, and against the Turks and Arabians on the east and north. 4. In Italy, excepting the territory of the pope¬ dom, the principalities of the independent nobles, and the states of Venice and Genoa, the greatest part of the country was now in the possession of the Normans. Venice and Genoa were rising gradually to great opulence from commerce. Venice was for some ages tributary to the emperors of Germany. In the tenth century its doge assumed the title of Duke of Dalmatia, of which the republic had acquired the property by conquest, as well as of Istria, Spalatro, Ragusa, and Narenza. 5. Spain was chiefly possessed by the Moors ; the Christians retaining only about a fourth of the kingdom, namely, Asturia, part of Castile and Cata¬ lonia, Navarre, and Arragon. Portugal was like¬ wise occupied by the Moors. Their capital was Cor'dova, the seat of luxury and magnificence. In the tenth century, the Moorish dominions were split among a number of petty sovereigns, who were constantly at war with each other ; but such, un¬ fortunately, was likewise the situation of the Chris¬ tian part of the kingdom ; and it was no uncommon policy for the Christian princes to form alliances * Slothful. t He was also count of Paris, duke of France and Neus- tria. —Ed. Italy, Spain, and Papal power during lurkTtVlJM iTTC'T’rvr? V England during the eleventh, twelfth, „„ the twelfth century. IVIUUiliXVlN nloiUitx. and part of the thirteenth centuries. 7“ with the Moors against each other. Besides these, the country abounded with independent lords, who made war their profession, and performed the office of champions in deciding the quarrels of princes, or enlisting themselves in their service, with all their vassals and attendants. Of these, termed Camlleros andantes , or knights-errant, the most dis¬ tinguished was Rodrigo the Cid, who undertook for his sovereign, Alphonso, king of Old Castile, to conquer the kingdom of New Castile, and achieved it with success, obtaining the government of Va¬ lencia as the reward of his services. 6 . The contentions between the imperial and papal powers make a distinguished figure in those ages. Henry III. vindicated the imperial right to fill the chair of St. Peter, and nominated three suc¬ cessive popes, without the intervention of a council of the church. But in the minority of his son, Henry IV., this right was frequently interrupted, and Alexander II. kept his seat, though the em¬ peror named another in his place. It was the lot of this emperor to experience the utmost extent of papal insolence and tyranny. After a spirited contest with Gregory VII., in which the pope was twice his prisoner, and the emperor as often ex¬ communicated and deposed, Henry fell at length the victim of ecclesiastical vengeance. Urban II., a successor of Gregory, prompted the two sons of Henry to rebel against their father; and his misfor¬ tunes were terminated by imprisonment and death in 1106 *. The same contest went on under a suc¬ cession of popes and emperors, but ended com¬ monly in favour of the former. Frederic I. (Bar- barossa), a prince of high spirit, after an indignant denial of the supremacy of Alexander III. and a refusal of the customary homage, was at length compelled to kiss his feet, and appease his holi¬ ness by a large cession of territory. Pope Celes- tinus kicked off the imperial crown of Henry VI. while doing homage on his knees, but made amends for this insolence by the gift of Naples and Sicily, from which Henry had expelled the Normans. These territories now became an appanage of the empire, 1194. The succeeding popes rose on the pretensions of their predecessors, till at length Innocent III., in the beginning of the thirteenth century, established the powers of the popedom on a settled basis, and obtained a positive acknow¬ ledgment of the papal supremacy, or the right principaliter et finaliter to confer the imperial crown. It was the same Pope Innocent, whom we shall presently see the disposer of the crown of England in the l’eign of the tyrant John. 15. —HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE ELEVENTH, TWELFTH, AND PART OF THE THIRTEENTH CEN¬ TURIES. 1. The consequence of the battle of Hastings was the [tardy] submission of all England to William the Conqueror. The character of this prince was spirited, haughty, and tyrannical, yet not without * There are different accounts of the manner of his death; he is said to have died of hunger on the steps of a church which he had founded, after having been refused the humble post of reader. He was denied the rites of sepul¬ ture, as being excommunicated. Other accounts describe him as dying at Liege, in extreme want. I cannot find the authority for Professor Tytler’s account.—E d. a portion of the generous affections. He disgusted his English subjects by the strong partiality he shewed to his Norman followers, preferring them to all offices of trust and dignity. A conspiracy arose from these discontents, which William de¬ feated, and avenged with signal rigour and cruelty. He determined henceforward to treat the English as a conquered people ; a policy which involved his reign in perpetual commotions, which, while they robbed him of all peace of mind, aggravated the tyranny of his disposition. To his own chil¬ dren he owed the severest of his troubles. His eldest son Robert rose in rebellion, to wrest from him the sovereignty of Maine ; and his foreign sub¬ jects took part with the rebel. William led against them an army of the English, and was on the point of perishing in fight by his son’s hand. Philip I. of France had aided this rebellion, which was avenged by William, who carried havoc and devas¬ tation into the heart of his kingdom, but was killed in the enterprise by [the consequences of ] a fall from his horse, 1087- He bequeathed England to William, his second son; to Robert he left Nor¬ mandy ; and to Henry, his youngest son, the pro¬ perty of his mother Matilda. 2. William the Conqueror introduced into Eng¬ land the feudal law, dividing the whole kingdom, except the royal demesnes, into baronies, and be¬ stowing the most of these, under the tenure of military service, on his Norman followers *. By the forest laws, he reserved to himself the exclu¬ sive privilege of killing game all over the kingdom ; a restriction resented by his subjects above every other mark of servitude. Preparatory to the intro¬ duction of the feudal tenures, he planned and ac¬ complished a general survey of all the lands in the kingdom, with a distinct specification of their ex¬ tent, nature, value, names of their proprietors, and an enumeration of every class of inhabitants who lived on them. This most valuable record, called Doomsday Booh [was finished a.d. 1086] is pre¬ served in the English Exchequer, and is now printed f. * And though the time of this great revolution in our landed property cannot he ascertained with exactness, yet there are some circumstances that may lead us to a probable conjecture concerning it. For we learn from the Saxon chronicle, a.d. 1085, that in the nineteenth year of King William’s reign, an invasion was apprehended from Den¬ mark; and the military constitution of the Saxons being then laid aside, and no other introduced in its stead, the kingdom was wholly defenceless; which occasioned the king to bring over a large army of Normans and Bretons, who were quartered upon every landowner, and greatly oppressed the people. This apparent weakness, together with the grievances occasioned by a foreign force, might co-operate with the king’s remonstrances, and the better incline the nobility to listen to his proposals for putting them in a posture of defence. For, as soon as the danger was over, the king held a great council to inquire into the state of the nation; the immediate consequence of which was, the compiling of the great survey, called Doomsday-Book, which was finished in the next year; and, in the latter end of that very year, the king was attended by all his nobility at Sarum; where all the principal landowners submitted their lands to tne yoke of military tenure, became the king’s vassals, and did homage and fealty to his person. (Cap. 52. Wilk. 228.) This may possibly have been the era of formally introducing the feudal tenures by law. (Blackstone’s Comm. ii. c. 4, p. 49.) f Its place of custody was “ at the receipt of Exchequer,” MODERN HISTORY. William Rufus. Henry the Second. 3. William II. (Rufus) inherited the vices with¬ out any of the virtues of his father. His reign is distinguished by no event of importance ; and after the defeat of one conspiracy in its outset, presents nothing but a dull career of unresisted despotism. After a reign of thirteen years he was killed when hunting, by the random shot of an arrow, 1100. The crown of England should have devolved on his elder brother Robert; but his absence on a crusade* in Palestine [ posted , sect. 17, § 2] made way for the unopposed succession of his younger brother Henry, who, by his marriage with Matilda, the niece of Edgar Atheling, united the last remnant of the Saxon with the Norman line. With the most criminal ambition he now invaded his brother’s dominions of Normandy ; and Robert, on his return, was defeated in battle, and detained for life a prisoner in England. The crimes of Henry were expiated by his misfortunes. His only son was drowned in his passage from Normandy. [a.d. 1120.] His daughter Matilda, married first to the Emperor Henry Y. and afterwards to Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, was destined to be his successor; but the popularity of his nephew Stephen, son of the Count of Blois, defeated this intention. Henry I. died in Normandy, after a reign of thirty-five years, a.d. 1135 ; and, in spite of his destination to Matilda, Stephen seized the vacant throne. The party of Matilda, headed by her natural brother, the earl of Gloucester, en¬ gaged, defeated, and made Stephen prisoner. Matilda, in her turn, mounted the throne; but, unpopular from the tyranny of her disposition, she was solemnly deposed by the prevailing party of her rival, and Stephen once more restored. He found, however, in Henry Plantagenet, the son of Matilda, a more formidable competitor. Of a noble and intrepid spirit, while yet a boy, he re¬ solved to reclaim his hereditary crown ; and, land¬ ing in England, won by his prowess, and the favour of a just cause, a great part of the kingdom to his interest. By treaty with Stephen, who was allowed to reign for life, he secured the succession at his j death, which soon after ensued, 1154. , 4. Henry II., a prince in every sense deserving of the throne, began his reign with the reforma¬ tion of all the abuses of the government of his pre¬ decessors ; revoking all impolitic grants, abolishing partial immunities, regulating the administration of justice, and establishing the freedom of the towns by charters, which are at this day the basis of the national liberty. Happy in the affections of his people, and powerful in the vast extent of addi¬ tional territory he enjoyed on the continent in right of his father and of his wife, the heiress of a i great portion of France, his reign had every pro- | mise of prosperity and happiness; but from one fatal source, these pleasing prospects were all de¬ stroyed. Thomas a Becket was raised by Henry from obscurity to the office of chancellor of Eng¬ land. On the vacancy of the see of Canterbury, the king, desirous of his aid in the correction of ecclesiastical abuses, conferred the primacy on his the keepers being the chamberlains of the exchequer. It is at this time preserved in the chapter-house, Westminster Abbey, from whence it will be shortly removed to the new depository for public records.—E d. * The crusade here alluded to is the first crusade, under Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, and Hugh the Great of Vermandois.—E d. Thomas 4 Becket. Conquest of Ireland. favourite, and the arrogant Becket availed himself of that authority to abase the prerogative of his sovereign, and exalt the spiritual power above the crown. It was disputed whether a priest could be tried for a murder, and punished by the civil court. It was determined in the affirmative by the council of Clarendon, against the opinion of Becket. Pope Alexander III. annulled the decree of the council; and Becket, who took part with the pope, was deprived by Henry of all his dignities and estates. He avenged himself by the excommunication of the king’s ministers ; and Henry, in return, pro¬ hibited all intercourse with the see of Rome. At length both parties found it their interest to come to a good understanding. Becket was restored to favour, and reinstated in his primacy, when the increasing insolence of his demeanour drew from the king some hasty expressions of indignation, which his servants interpreted into a sentence of proscription ; and trusting that the deed would be grateful to their master, murdered the prelate while in the act of celebrating vespers at the altar. For this shocking action Henry expressed the regret which he sincerely felt, and the pope indul¬ gently granted his pardon, on the assurance of his dutiful obedience to the holy church. 5. The most important event of the reign of Henry II. was the conquest of Ireland. The Irish, an early civilized people, and among the first of the nations of the West who embraced the Chris¬ tian religion, were, by frequent invasions of the Danes, and their own domestic commotions, re¬ plunged into barbarism for many ages. In the twelfth century the kingdom consisted of five se¬ parate sovereignties, Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Meath, and Connaught; but these were subdivided among an infinite number of petty chiefs, owning a very weak allegiance to their respective sovereigns. Dermot Macmorrogh, expelled from his kingdom of Leinster for a rape on the daughter of the king of Meath, sought protection from Henry, and en¬ gaged to become his feudatory if he should recover his kingdom by the aid of the English. Henry empowered his subjects to invade Ireland; and while Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, and his fol¬ lowers were laying waste the country, landed in the island himself in 1172 , and received the sub¬ mission of a great number of the independent chiefs. Roderick O’Connor, prince of Connaught, whom the Irish elected nominal sovereign of all the provinces, resisted for three years the arms of Henry, but finally acknowledged his dominion by a solemn embassy to the king at Windsor. The terms of the submission were, an annual tribute of every tenth hide of land, to be applied for the support of government, and an obligation of alle¬ giance to the crown of England; on which condi¬ tions the Irish should retain their possessions, and Roderick his kingdom, except the territory of the Pale, or that part which the English barons had subdued before the arrival of Henry. 6 . Henry divided Ireland into counties, appointed sheriffs in each, and introduced the laws of Eng¬ land into the territory of the Pale; 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 ; and in the first Irish parliament, which was held in the same reign, Sir John Wogan presided as deputy of the sovereign. From that English history.—Henry II.—Richard I. n/rr\T\i?T>\T TJTQTnuv puled by his nephew Arthur, whom 01 John’s claim to the English throne dis- ivlUiJijrvJN nloIUitx. he kills.—Magna Charta. ol time for some centuries, there was little intercourse between the kingdoms, nor was the island consi¬ dered as fully subdued till the reign of Elizabeth and of her successor James I. 7. The latter part of the reign of Henry II. was clouded by domestic misfortune. His children, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, instigated by their unnatural mother, rose in rebellion, and with the aid of Louis VII. king of France, prepared to dethrone their father. While opposing them with spirit on the continent, his kingdom was invaded by the Scots under William (the Lion). He has¬ tened back to England, defeated the Scots, and made their king his prisoner. Two of his sons, Henry and Geoffrey, expiated their offences by an early death; but Richard, once reconciled, was again seduced from his allegiance, and in league with the king of France, plundered his father’s continental dominions. The spirit of Henry was unequal to his domestic misfortunes, and he died of a broken heart in the fifty-eighth year of his age, 1189, an ornament to the English throne, and a prince surpassing all his contemporaries in the valuable qualities of a sovereign. To him England owed her first permanent improvement in arts, in laws, in government, and in civil liberty. 8 . Richard I. (Coeur de Lion), immediately on his accession, embarked for the Holy Land, on a crusade * against the infidels, after plundering his subjects of an immense sum of money to defray the charges of the enterprise. Forming a league with Philip Augustus of France, the two monarchs joined their forces, and acting for some time in concert, were successful in the taking of Acra or Ptolemais ; but Philip, jealous of his rival’s glory, soon returned to France, while Richard had the honour of defeating the heroic Saladin in the battle of Ascalon, with prodigious slaughter of his ene¬ mies. He prepared now for the siege of Jerusalem, but finding his army wasted with famine and fatigue, he was compelled to end the war by a truce with Saladin, in which he obtained a free passage to the Holy Land for every Christian pil¬ grim. [a.d. 1192.] Wrecked in his voyage home¬ ward, and travelling in disguise through Germany, Richard was seized, and detained in prison by command of the emperor Henry VI. The king of France ungenerously opposed his release, as did his unnatural brother John, from selfish ambition ; but he was at length ransomed by his subjects for the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand marks, and after an absence of nine years, returned to his dominions. His traitorous brother was pardoned after some submission, and Richard employed the short residue of his reign in a spirited revenge against his rival, Philip. A truce, however, was concluded by the mediation of Rome; and Richard was soon after killed while storming the castle of one of his rebellious vassals in the Limosin. He died in the tenth year of his reign, and forty- second of his age, 1199. 9. John (Lackland) succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, but found a competitor in his nephew Arthur, the son of Geoffrey, supported by Philip of France. War was, of course, renewed with that country : but Arthur, with fatal confi¬ dence, throwing himself into the hands of his uncle, ♦ This crusade is known as the third crusade, which took place after Saladin had made himself master of Jerusalem, A.D. 118". was removed by poison or the sword ; a deed which, joined to the known tyranny of his character, ren¬ dered John the detestation of his subjects. He was stripped by Philip of his continental dominions, and he made the pope his enemy by an avaricious attack on the treasures of the church. After an ineffectual menace of vengeance, Innocent III. pronounced a sentence of interdict against the kingdom, which put a stop to all the ordinances of religion, to baptism, and the burial of the dead. He next excommunicated John, and absolved his subjects from their allegiance ; and he finally de¬ posed him, and made a gift of the kingdom to Philip. John, intimidated into submission, declared himself the pope’s vassal, swore allegiance on his knees to the papal legate, and agreed to hold his kingdom tributary to the holy see. On these conditions, which ensured the universal hatred and contempt of his people, he made his peace with the church. It was natural that his subjects, thus trampled upon and sold, should vindicate their rights. The barons of the kingdom assembled, and binding themselves by oath to an union of measures, they resolutely demanded from the king a ratification of a charter of privileges granted by Henry I. John appealed to the pope, who, in support of his vassal, prohibited the confederacy of the barons as rebel¬ lious. These were only the more resolute in their purpose, and the sword was their last resource. At length John was compelled to yield to their de¬ mands, and signed, at Runnymede, 19th June, 1215, [the articles of] that solemn charter, which is the foundation and bulwark of English liberty, Magna Charta. 10 . By this great charter, 1. The freedom of election to benefices was secured to the clergy ; 2. The fines to the overlord on the succession of vas¬ sals were regulated ; 3. No aids or subsidies were allowed to be levied from the subject, unless in a few special cases, without the consent of the great council ; 4. The Crown shall not seize the lands [or rent] of a baron* for a debt, while he has [chattels, i. e.] personal property sufficient to dis¬ charge it; 5. All the privileges granted by the king to his vassals shall be communicated by them to their inferior vassals ; 6. One weight and one measure shall be used throughout the kingdom ; 7- All men shall pass from and return to the realm at their pleasure ; 8. All cities and boroughs shall preserve their ancient liberties ; 9. The estate of every freeman shall be regulated by his will, and, if he die intestate, by the law ; 10. The king’s court shall be stationary and open to all; 11. Every free¬ man shall be fined only in proportion to his offence, and no fine shall be imposed to his utter ruin ; 12. No peasant [in fact no person] shall, by a fine, be deprived of his instruments of husbandry ; 13. No person shall be tried on suspicion alone, but on the evidence of lawful witnesses ; 14. No person shall be tried or punished but by the judgment of his peers and the law of the land f. * The words of the Great Charter are: Non seisiemus ierram aliquant vel reditum pro debito aliquo (§ 8), which words do not confer the liberty on a baron more than on any one else.—E d. f The words are : Nullus liber homo capiatur vel impri- sonelur, aut disseisielur de libero tenemenlo suo, vel libertati- bns, vel liberis consueludinibus suis, aut utlagetur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur, nee super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus. nisi per legale judicium parium G English history.—Charta de Foresta. at/vtvi 7 t> at utctadv Germany and Italy in the thirteenth century. 32 Accession of Henry III. MODERN HibiORY. The Crusades. 11. John granted at tlie same time the Charta de Foresta , which abolished the royal privilege of killing game over all the kingdom, and restored to the lawful proprietors their woods and forests, which they were now allowed to enclose and use at their pleasure. As compulsion alone had produced these concessions, John was determined to disregard them, and a foreign force was brought into the kingdom to reduce the barons into submission. These applied for aid to France, and Philip sent his son Louis to England with an army ; and such was the people’s hatred of their sovereign, that they swore allegi¬ ance to this foreigner. At this critical period John died at NeAvark, 1216, and an instant change ensued. His son, Henry III., a boy of nine years of age, was crowned at Bristol, and his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, appointed protector of the realm : the disaffected barons returned to their allegiance, the people hailed their sovereign, and Louis with his army, after an ineffectual struggle, made peace with the protector, and evacuated the kingdom. 16.— STATE OF GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE THIR¬ TEENTH CENTURY. 1. Frederick II., son of Henry VI. [who was poisoned in 1197], was elected emperor on the re¬ signation of Otho IV., 1212. At this period Naples, Sicily, and Lombardy, were all appendages of the empire ; and the contentions between the imperial and papal powers divided the states of Italy into factions, known by the name of Guelphs and Ghi- bellines ; the former maintaining the supremacy of the pope, the latter that of the emperor. The op¬ position of Frederick to four successive popes was avenged by excommunication and deposition ; yet he kept possession of his throne, and vindicated his authority with great spirit. Frequent attempts were made against his life, by assassination and poison, which he openly attributed to papal resent- suorum. Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differ emus justitiam vel rectum (§ 29); i. e. ( ‘ No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or deprived of his freehold, or his franchises, or his free customs (for the customs of England bring a freedom with them, as Sir Edward Coke observes), nor shall be outlawed, or banished, or in any wise destroyed, nor shall any man be attached or arrested, but by legal verdict of his peers (viz., by process of law, and according to the law of the land). We will not sell, we will not disturb or delay to any common law or right.’ The writ of habeas corpus has been, from the earliest times, the most prompt amongst the remedies allowed by the law for unjust detention or imprison¬ ment. With regard to the preservation of public liberty which is guarded by this writ, it needs scarcely be observed, that if any person, no matter who, had the power to im¬ prison arbitrarily , there would soon be an end of that civil liberty which is warranted by the great charter and the law of the land, for the great charter is only declaratory of the common law. The Habeas Corpus Act, 31 Car. 2, c. 2, which gives additional remedies for the enforcement of this remedial process, to parties imprisoned for offences or upon criminal charges, as also the Habeas Corpus Act 56 Geo. 3, c. 100, which extends the remedy by habeas corpus at common law to every other description of unlawful de¬ tention or custody, were not passed as granting any new liberty to the subject, but solely for the purpose of enforcing the declaration of the great charter above alluded to. See postea, sect. 59, § 14. The form of the writ of habeas corpus is one of the most ancient formularies in our law, and has suffered no alteration in its language for centuries. The declaration of Magna Charta in favour of the liberty of the subject can also be enforced by indictment and action of false imprisonment.—E d. ment. On his death, 1250, the splendour of the empire was for many years obscured. It was a prey to incessant factions and civil war, the fruit of contested claims of sovereignty ; yet the popes gained nothing by its disorders ; for the troubles of Italy were equally hostile to their ambition. We have seen the turbulent state of England ; France was equally weak and anarchical; Spain, ravaged by the contests of the Moors and Christians. Yet, distracted as appears the situation of Europe, one great project gave a species of union to this dis¬ cordant mass, of which we now proceed to give account. 17- —THE CRUSADES, OR HOLY WARS. 1. The Turks, or Turcomans, a race of Tartars from the regions of Mount Taurus and Imaiis, in¬ vaded the dominions of Moscovy in the eleventh century, and came down upon the banks of the Cas¬ pian. The Kaliphs employed Turkish mercenaries ; and they acquired the reputation of able soldiers in the wars that took place on occasion of the contested Kaliphate. The Kaliphs of Bagdat, the Abassidse, were deprived, by their rival Kaliphs of the race of Omar, of Syria, Egypt, and Africa ; and the Turks stripped of their dominions both the Abas- sidae and Ommiades. Bagdat was taken by the Turks, and the empire of the Kaliphs overthrown in 1055 ; and these princes, from temporal monarchs, became now the supreme pontiffs of the Mahometan faith, as the popes of the Christian. At the time of the first crusade, in the end of the eleventh century, Arabia was governed by a Turkish'sultan, as were Persia and the greater portion of Lesser Asia. The eastern empire was thus abridged of its Asiatic territory, and had lost a great part of its dominions in Europe. It retained, however, Greece, Mace¬ donia, Thrace, and Illyria ; and Constantinople it¬ self was populous, opulent, and luxurious. Pales¬ tine was in the possession of the Turks ; and its capital, Jerusalem, fallen from its ancient conse¬ quence and splendour, was yet held in respect by its conquerors as a holy city, and constantly at¬ tracted the resort of Mahometans to the mosque of Omar, as of Christian pilgrims to the sepulchre of our Saviour. 2 . Peter the Hermit, a native of Amiens, on his return from this pilgrimage, complained in loud terms of the grievances which the Christians suf¬ fered from the Turks ; and Urban II. pitched on this enthusiast as a fit person to commence the execution of a grand design which the popes had long entertained, of arming all Christendom, and exterminating the infidels from the Holy Land. The project was opened in two general councils held at Placentia and Clermont. The French pos¬ sessed more ardour than the Italians ; and an im¬ mense multitude of ambitious and disorderly nobles, with all their dependants, eager for enterprise and plunder, and assured of eternal salvation, immedi¬ ately took the cross. Peter the Hermit led 80,000 under his banners, and they began their march to¬ wards the east in 1095. Their progress was marked by rapine and hostility in every Christian country through which they passed; and the army of the Hermit, on its arrival at Constantinople, was wasted down to 20,000. The emperor Alexius Conmenus, to whom the crusaders behaved with the most provoking insolence and folly, conducted himself with admirable moderation and good sense. Jerusalem taken by the crusaders. TV/mr»T?TJ itf iiKTARV Fourth crusade.—Conquests of Gengis- Second crusade.—Third crusade. MUJJJiilviN 11 i *^> A Glx 1. khan.—Effects of the crusades. He hastened to get rid of this disorderly multi¬ tude, by furnishing them with every aid which they required, and cheerfully lent his ships to transport them across the Bosphorus. The Sultan Solyman met them on the plain of Nicea, and cut to pieces the army of the Hermit. A new host, in the mean time, arrived at Constantinople, led by more illustrious commanders ; by Godfrey of Bou¬ illon Duke of Brabant, Raymond Count of Tliou- louse, Robert of Normandy, son of William King of England, Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of Sicily, and other princes of high reputation. To these, who amounted to some hundred thousands, Alexius manifested the same prudent conduct, to accelerate their departure. The Turks, overpowered by numbers, were twice defeated, and the crusaders, pursuing their suc¬ cesses, peneti’ated at length to Jerusalem, which, after a siege of six weeks, they took by storm, and with savage fury massacred the whole of its Maho- metan and Jewish inhabitants, a.d. 1099. God¬ frey was hailed king of Jerusalem, but w’as obliged soon after to cede his kingdom to the Pope’s legate. The crusaders divided Syria and Palestine, and formed four separate states, which weakened their power. The Turks began to recover strength ; and the Christian states of Asia soon found it necessary to solicit aid from Europe. 3. The second crusade set out from the West in 1146, to the amount of 200,000, French, Germans, and Italians, led by Hugh, brother to Philip I. of France. These met with the same fate which at¬ tended the army of Peter the Hermit. The garri¬ son of Jerusalem was at this time so weak, that it became necessary to embody and arm the monks for its defence, and hence arose the military orders of the Knights Templars and Hospitallers, and soon after the Teutonic, from the German pilgrims. Meantime pope Eugenius III. employed St. Ber¬ nard to preach up a new crusade in France, which w T as headed by its sovereign Louis YII. | (the Young), who, in conjunction with Coni'ad III., emperor of Germany, mustered jointly 300,000 men. The Germans were cut to pieces by the sultan of lcdnium ; the French were totally de¬ feated near Laodicea; and the two monarchs, after much disaster, returned with shame to their dominions. 4. The illustrious Saladin, nephew of the Sultan of Egypt, formed the design of recovering Pales¬ tine from the Christians ; and besieging Jerusalem, he took the city, and made prisoner its sovereign, Guy of Lusignan. Pope Clement III., alarmed at the successes of the Infidels, began to stir up a new crusade from France, England, and Germany; and the armies of each country were headed by their respective sovereigns, Philip Augustus, Rich¬ ard I., and Frederick Barbarossa. In this third crusade, the emperor Frederick died in Asia, and his army, by repeated defeats, smouldered to no¬ thing. The English and Fi’ench were more suc¬ cessful ; they besieged and took Ptolemais; but Richard and Philip quarrelled from jealousy of each other’s glory, and the French monarch re¬ turned in disgust to his country. Richard nobly sustained the contest with Saladin, whom he de¬ feated near Ascalon ; but his army was reduced by famine and fatigue; and concluding a treaty, at least not dishonourable, with his enemy, he was forced at length to escape from Palestine with a single ship. (See supra, sect. xv. § 8.) Saladin, revered even by the Christians, died 1195. 5. A fourth crusade was fitted out in 1202, under Baldwin, Count of Flanders, of which the object w'as not the extirpation of the infidels, but the destruction of the empire of the east. Constanti¬ nople, embroiled by civil war and revolution, from disputed claims to the sovereignty, was besieged and taken by the crusaders ; and Baldwin, their chief, was elected emperor, to be within a few months dethroned and murdered. The Imperial dominions w r ere shared among the principal lead¬ ers ; and the Venetians, who had lent their ships for the expedition, got the isle of Candia (an¬ ciently Crete) for their reward. Alexius, of the Imperial family of the Comneni, founded a new sovereignty in Asia, which he termed the empire of Trebizond. The object of a fifth crusade was to lay w'aste Egypt, in revenge for an attack on Pales¬ tine by its sultan Saphadin. Paitial success and ultimate ruin w'astlie issue of this expedition, as of all the preceding*, [ a.dj 1217—1221.] 6 . At this period, 1207, a great revolution took place in Asia. Gengis Khan, with his Tartars, broke down from the north upon Persia and Syria, and massacred indiscriminately Turks, Jews, and Chris¬ tians, who opposed them. The Christian knights templars, hospitallers, and Teutonic, made a des¬ perate but ineffectual resistance ; and Palestine must have been abandoned to these invaders, had not its fate been for a while retarded by the last crusade under Louis IX. of France [surnamed the Saint]. This prince, summoned, as he believed, by heaven, after four years’ preparation, set out for the Holy Land, with his queen, his three bro¬ thers, and all the knights of France. His army began their enterprise by an attack on Egypt, where, after some considerable successes, they were at length utterly defeated, and the French monarch, with two of his brothers, fell into the hands of the enemy. He purchased his liberty at an immense ransom, and, returning to France, reigned prosperously and wisely for thirteen years. But the same frenzy again assailing him, he em¬ barked on a crusade against the Moors in Africa, where his army was destroyed by a pestilence, and he himself became its victim [at the siege of Tunis], 1270. It is computed that, in the whole of the crusades to Palestine, two millions of Europeans were buried in the east. [Gengis Khan died in 1226, leaving his conquests to be continued by his successors; one of whom in 1236, conquered Russia, invaded Poland, and destroyed the cities of Lublin and Cracow.] 7- Effects of the Crusades .—One consequence of the holy wars is supposed to have been the im¬ provement of European manners; but the times immediately succeeding the crusades exhibit no such actual improvement. Two centuries of bar¬ barism and darkness elapsed between the termi¬ nation of those enterprises, and the fall of the Greek empire in 1453, the era of the revival of letters, and the commencement of civilization. A certain consequence of the crusades was the change of * In 1202 upwards of 80,000 youths of different countries left their parents in order to betake themselves to the Holy Land. Cold, famine, disease, and captivity became the fate of these juvenile enthusiasts, none of whom ever returned home. See Michaud’s History of the Crusades.— Ed. g 2 84 Effects of the crusades.—Levant trade. Chivalry and romance. MODERN HISTORY. Gallantry and romantic exploits. Tales of fiction. territorial property in ail the feudal kingdoms, the sale of the estates of the nobles, and their division among a number of smaller proprietors. Hence the feudal aristocracy was weakened, and the lower classes began to acquire weight, and a spirit ol independence. The towns, hitherto bound by a sort of vassalage to the nobles, began to purchase their immunity, acquired the right of electing their own magistrates, and were governed by their own mu¬ nicipal laws. The church in some respects gained, and in others lost by those enterprises. The Popes gained a more extended jurisdiction; but the fatal issue of those expeditions opened the eyes of the world to the selfish and interested motives which had prompted them, and weakened the sway of i superstition. Many of the religious orders ac- j quired an increase of wealth ; but this was ba¬ lanced by the taxes imposed on the clergy. The coin was altered and debased in most of the kingdoms of Europe from the scarcity of specie. The Jews were supposed to have hoarded and concealed it, and they became hence the vic¬ tims of general persecution. The most substantial gainers by the crusades were the Italian states of Genoa, Pisa,and Venice, from the increased trade to the Levant, for the supply of those immense armies. Venice, as we have seen, took an active concern, and obtained her share of the conquered ter¬ ritory *. The age of the crusades brought chivalry to its perfection, and gave rise to romantic fiction. 18.— OF CHIVALRY AND ROMANCE. 1. Chivalry arose naturally from the condition of society in those ages in which it prevailed. Among the Germanic nations, the profession of arms was esteemed the sole employment that de¬ served the name of manly or honourable. The initiation of the youth to this profession was at¬ tended with peculiar solemnity, and appropriate ceremonies. The chief of the tribe bestowed the sword and armour on his vassal, as a symbol of their being devoted to his service. In the pro¬ gress of the feudal system, these vassals, in imi¬ tation of their chief, assumed the power of conferring arms on their sub-vassals, with a similar form of mysterious and pompous ceremonial. The can¬ didate for knighthood underwent his preparatory fasts and vigils, and received on his knees the accollade and benediction of his chief. Armed and caparisoned, he sallied forth in quest of ad¬ venture, which, whether just or not in its purpose, was ever esteemed honourable in proportion as it was perilous. 2 . The high esteem of the female sex is charac¬ teristic of the Gothic manners. In those ages of barbarism, the castles of the greater barons were in miniature the courts of Sovereigns. The society of the ladies, who found only in such fortresses a security from outrage, polished the manners; and to protect the chastity and honour of the fair, was the best employ and highest merit of an accom¬ plished knight. Romantic exploit had, therefore, always a tincture of gallantry : “ It hath been through all ages ever seen. That with the praise of arms and chivalry * The reader is referred to Mill’s History of the Crusades for a copious account of these military expeditions.—E d. The prize of beauty still hath joined been, And that for reasons special privity; For either doth on other much rely; For he, me seems, most fit the fair to serve, That can her best defend from villany; And she most fit his service doth deserve That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve.” (Spenser’s Fairy Queen.) 3. To the passion for adventure and romantic love, were added very high ideas of morality and religion; but, as the latter were ever subordinate to the former, we may presume more in favour of their refinement than of their purity. It was the pride of a knight to redress wrongs and injuries; but in that honourable employment he made small account of those he committed; and it was easy to expiate the greatest offences by a penance or a pil¬ grimage, which furnished only a new opportunity for adventurous exploit. 4. Chivalry, whether it began with the Moors or Normans, attained its perfection at the period of the crusades, which presented a noble object of adventure, and a boundless field for military glory. Few, it is true, returned from those desperate en¬ terprises, but those few had a high reward in the admiration of their countrymen. The bards and romancers sung their praises, and recorded their exploits, with a thousand circumstances of fabulous embellishment. 5. The earliest of the old romances (so termed from the Romance language, a mixture of the Frank and Latin, in which they were written) ap¬ peared about the middle of the twelfth century, the period of the second crusade. But those more ancient compositions did not record contemporary events, whose known truth would have precluded all liberty of fiction or exaggeration. Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the author who assumed the name of Archbishop Turpin, had free scope to their fancy, by celebrating the deeds of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, and the exploits of Charle¬ magne and his twelve peers; and from the fruitful stock of those first romances sprung a numerous offspring, equally wild and extravagant. 8 . Philosophers have analyzed the pleasure aris¬ ing from works of fiction, and have endeavoured, by various hypotheses, to account for the interest we take in the description of an event or scene which we know to be utterly impossible. We may account thus simply for the phenomenon : Every narration is in some degree attended with a dra¬ matic deception. We enter for the time into the situation of the persons concerned. Adopting their passions and their feelings, we lose for a moment all sense of the absurdity of their cause, whilst we see the agents themselves hold it for reasonable and adequate. The most incredulous sceptic may sympathize strongly with the feelings of Hamlet at the sight of his father’s spectre. 7- Thus powerfully affected as we are by sym¬ pathy, even against the conviction of our reason, how much greater must have been the effect of such works of the imagination in those days when popular superstition gave full credit to the reality, or at least the possibility, of all that they described. And hence we must censure, as both unnecessary and improbable, that theory of Dr. Hurd, which accounts for all the wildness of the old romances, on the supposition that their fictions were entirely allegorical; which explains the giants and savages MODERN HISTORY. Persecution of the Albigenses.—Rise of the „ r House of Austria.—Hanseatic league. State of Europe in the thirteenth and four¬ teenth centuries.—Sicilian Vespers. into the oppressive feudal lords and their barbarous dependants; as M. Mallett construes the serpents and dragons which guarded the enchanted castles, into their winding walls, fosses, and battlements. It were sufficient to say, that many of those old romances are inexplicable by allegory. They were received by the popular belief as truths, and even their contrivers believed in the possibility of the scenes and actions they described. In latter ages, and in the wane of superstition, yet while it still retained a powerful influence, the poets adopted allegory as a vehicle of moral instruction : and to this period belong those poetical romances which bear an allegorical explanation; as the Fairy Queen of Spenser, the Orlando of Ariosto, and the Gieru- salemme Liberata of Tasso *. 8 . In more modern times the taste for romantic composition declined with the popular credulity; and the fastidiousness of philosophy affected to treat all supernatural fiction with contempt. But it was at length perceived that this refinement had cut off a source of very high mental enjoyment. The pub¬ lic taste now took a new turn; and this moral revolution is at present tending to its extreme. We are gone back to the nursery to listen to tales of hobgoblins^ a change which we may safely prog- , nosticate can be of no long duration. 19.— STATE OF EUROPE IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES. 1. Constantinople, taken in 1202 by the crusaders [who had been diverted from their original design to dethrone an usurper], was possessed only for a short time by its conquerors [Baldwin, count of Flanders, being made Emperor by the Christian army, a.d. 1204]. It was governed by French [and Venetian] Emperors for the space of sixty years, and was taken by the Greeks in 1261, under Michael Palseol'ogus, who, by imprisoning and put¬ ting out the eyes of his pupil Theodore Lascaris f, secured to himself the sovereignty. 2. Germany was governed in the beginning of the thirteenth century by Frederick II., who paid homage to the pope for the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, possessed by his son Conrad, and afterwards by his brother Manfred, who usurped the crown in violation of the right of his nephew Conradin. Pope Clement IV., jealous of the dominion of the Imperial family, gave the investiture of Naples and Sicily to Charles of Anjou, brother of Lewis IX. of France, who defeated and put to death his competitors. The Sicilians revenged this act of usurpation and cruelty by the murder, in one night, of every Frenchman in the island. This shocking massacre, termed the Sicilian Vespers, happened on Easter Sunday, 1282. It was followed by every evil that comes in the train of civil war and re¬ volution. 3. The beginning of the thirteenth century had been signalized by a new species of crusade. The Albigenses, inhabitants of Albi in the Pays de «• * The best version, and that which most closely follows the spirit of Tasso’s allegorical as well as heroical poem, is that of Edward Fairfax. The hero, Godfrey of Bulloign, was Earl of Boulogne sur mer in Picardy, and duke of Bouillon , adjoining to the bishopric of Liege.— Ed. f John III. should be substituted for Theodore Lascaris. —Ed. Vaud, were bold enough to dispute many of the tenets of the Catholic church, as judging them contrary to the doctrines of Scripture. Innocent III. established a holy commission at Toulouse, with power to try and punish these heretics. [Ray¬ mond] the [sixth] count of Toulouse opposed this persecution, and was, for the punishment of his offence, compelled by the pope to assist in a cru¬ sade against his own vassals. Simon de Montfort was the leader of this [miscalled] pious enterprise, which was marked by the most atrocious cruelties. The benefits of the holy commission were judged by the popes to be so great, that it became from that time a permanent establishment [at Toulouse] known by the name of the Inquisition. 4. The rise of the house of Austria may be dated from 1274, when Rodolpli of Hapsburg, a Swiss baron, was elected emperor of Germany. He owed his elevation to the jealousies of the elec¬ toral princes, who could not agree in the choice of any one of themselves. The king of Bohemia [Ottocar], to whom Rodolpli had been steward of the household, could ill brook the supremacy of his former dependent; and refusing him the cus¬ tomary homage for his Germanic possessions, Ro- dolph stripped him of Austria, which has ever since remained in the family of its conqueror. [Rodolph died a.d. 1291.] 5. The Italian states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, were at this time flourishing and opulent, while most of the kingdoms of Europe (if we ex¬ cept England under Edward I.) were exhausted, feeble, and disorderly. [To the middle or some¬ what earlier part of the thirteenth century is to be referred the commercial association termed the Hanseatic league.] The dawning of civil liberty began to appear in France under Philip IV. (le Bel), who summoned the third estate to the national assemblies, which had hitherto consisted of the nobility and clergy, 1308. It was the same prince who established perpetual courts of judicature in France, under the name of parliaments. Over these the parliament of Paris possessed a jurisdic¬ tion by appeal; but it was not till latter times that it assumed any authority in matters of state. 6 . The parliament of England had before this era begun to assume its present constitution. The commons, or the representatives of counties and boroughs, were first called to parliament by Henry III.; before that time this assembly consisted only of the greater barons and clergy. But of the rise and progress of the constitution of England we shall afterwards treat more particularly in a sepa¬ rate section. 7. The spirit of the popedom, zealous in the main¬ tenance and extension of its prerogatives, continued much the same in the thirteenth and fourteenth, as we have seen it in the three preceding centuries. Philip the Fair had subjected his clergy to bear their share of the public taxes, and prohibited all contributions to be levied by the pope in his domi¬ nions. This double offence was highly resented by Boniface VIII., who expressed his indignation by a sentence of excommunication and interdict, and a solemn transference of the kingdom of France to the emperor Albert. Philip, in revenge, sent his general Nogaret to Rome, who threw the pope into prison. The French, however, were over¬ powered by the papal troops, and the death of Boniface put an end to the quarrel. Persecution of the Templars.—Revolution mcTnPV The golden bull.—The great schism of the of Switzerland.—State of Europe. MUPLK1N TilolUIv I. West.—The Wickliffites persecuted. I 86 8. It is less easy to justify the conduct of Philip the Fair to the knights templars than his behaviour to pope Boniface. The whole of this order had in¬ curred his resentment, from suspicion of harbour¬ ing treasonable designs. He had influence with Clement Y. to procure a papal bull, warranting their extirpation from all the Christian kingdoms ; and this infamous proscription was carried into effect all over Europe. These unfortunate men were solemnly tried, not for their real offence, but for pretended impieties and idolatrous practices, and committed to the flames, 1309—1312. [In England they were stripped of their property and possessions, the bulk of which was bestowed on the knights hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem in England.] 20.— REVOLUTION OF SWITZERLAND. 1. The beginning of the fourteenth century was distinguished by the revolution of Switzerland, and the rise of the Helvetic republic. The emperor Rodolph of Hapsburg was hereditary sovereign of several of the Swiss cantons, and governed his states with much equity and moderation; but his successor Albert, a tyrannical prince, 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 cantons of Schewitz, Ury, and Underwald, which had always 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 won and secured their dear-bought liberty. 2. Constitution of Switzerland .—The thirteen can¬ tons were united by a solemn treaty, which stipu¬ lated the proportional succours to be furnished by each in the case of foreign hostility, and the mea¬ sures to be followed for securing the union of the states, and accommodating domestic differences. With respect to its internal government and eco¬ nomy, each canton was independent. Of some the constitution was monarchical, and of others repub¬ lican. All matters touching the general league were transacted either by letters sent to Zurich, and thence officially circulated to all the cantons, or by conferences. The general diet, where two deputies attended from each canton, was held once a-year, the first deputy of Zurich presiding. The Catholic and Protestant cantons likewise held their separate diets on occasional emergencies. 3. The Swiss, when at peace, employed their troops for hire in foreign service, judging it a wise policy to keep alive the military spirit of the nation, and the armies thus employed have been equally distinguished for their courage and fidelity. The industry and economy of the Swiss are proverbial; and their country supports a most abundant popu¬ lation from the zealous promotion of agriculture and manufactures. 21.- STATE OF EUROPE (CONTINUED) IN THE THIR¬ TEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND PART OF THE FIF¬ TEENTH CENTURIES. 1. The rival claims of superiority between the popes and empei’ors still continued. Henry VII., the successor of Albert, vindicated his right by the sword, triumphantly fought his way to Rome, where he was solemnly crowned, and imposed a tribute on all the states of Italy. His sudden death was suspected to be the consequence of papal resent¬ ment. It was in his time that the seat of the pope¬ dom was transferred by Clement Y. from Rome to Avignon, 1309, where it remained till 1377- The factions of Italy were the cause of this removal. Lewis of Bavaria, the successor of Henry, deprived and excommunicated by John XXII., revenged himself by deposing the pope. This pontiff, who had originally been a cobler, surpassed the most of his predecessors in pride and tyranny. He kept his seat on the papal chair, and left at his death an immense treasure, accumulated by the sale of benefices, while his rival, the emperor, died in in¬ digence. 2. His successor in the empire, Charles IV., pub¬ lished, in 1355, the imperial constitution, termed The G-olden Bull *, the fundamental law of the Germanic body, which reduced the number of electors to seven, and settled on them all the here¬ ditary offices of state. These exemplified their new rights by deposing his son Wenceslaus [who had succeeded to the empire in 1378] for incapacity, 1400. 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 opportunity for his inter¬ ference, to reconcile all differences, and establish his own supremacy. He summoned a general council at Constance, 1414, and ended the dispute by degrading all the three pontiffs, and naming a fourth, Martin Colonna. This division of the papacy is termed The great schism of the west. 3. The spiritual business of the council of Con¬ stance was no less important than its temporal. John Huss, a disciple of Wickliff, was tried for heresy, in denying the hierarchy, and satirising the immoralities of the popes and bishops. He did not deny the charge ; and refusing to confess his errors, was burnt alive. A similar fate was the portion of his friend and disciple, Jerome of Prague, who displayed at his execution the eloquence of an apostle, and the constancy of a martyr, 1416. ‘Si¬ gismund felt the consequence of these horrible pro¬ ceedings ; for the Bohemians opposed his succession to their vacant crown, and it cost him a war of six¬ teen years to attain it. 4. Whatever was the imperial power at this time, it derived but small consequence from its actual revenues. The wealth of the Germanic states was exclusively possessed by their separate sovereigns, and the emperor had little more than what he drew from Bohemia and Hungary. The sovereignty of Italy was an empty title. The interest of the em¬ peror in that country furnished only a source of faction to its princes, and embroiled the states in perpetual quarrels. A series of conspiracies and civil tumults form, for above two hundred years, the annals of the principal cities. Naples and Sicily were ruined by the weak and disorderly go¬ vernment of the two Joannas. A passion which the younger of these conceived for a soldier, of the name of Sforza, raised him to the sovereignty of Milan ; and her adoption, first of Alphonso of Arragon, and afterwards of Lewis of Anjou, laid * So called from the golden seal suspended to it.—E d. England in the thirteenth century.—Wars A/mruTT} xr ITT<5T'r>T?V Wales by Edward I.—Scotland, from the of the barons.—Edward I.—Conquest of 1'i'J-U.tiivrN xllolUxvI. eleventh to the fourteenth century. the foundation of those contests between Spain and France for the sovereignty of the two Sicilies, which afterwards agitated all Europe. 22. — HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 1. Henry III., who, at nine years of age, suc¬ ceeded to the crown of England on the death of his father John, was a prince of amiable dispositions, but of weak understanding [and void of energy.] His preference for foreign favourites disgusted his nobles ; and the want of economy in his govern¬ ment, and oppressive exactions, deprived him of the affection of his people. Montfort, Earl of Lei¬ cester, son of the leader of the crusade against the Albigenses, and brother-in-law of the king, con¬ ceived a plan for usurping the government; and, forming a league with the barons, on the pretext of reforming abuses, compelled Henry to delegate all the regal power into the bauds of twenty-four of their number. These divided among themselves the offices of government, and new-modelled the parliament, by summoning a certain number of knights chosen from each county, a measure fatal to their own power ; for these representatives of the people, indignant at Leicester’s usurpation, de¬ termined to restore the royal authority ; and they called on Prince Edward, a youth of intrepid spirit, to avenge his father’s wrongs, and save the kingdom. 2. Leicester raised a formidable force, and in a successful engagement, at Lewes, in Sussex, 126*4, defeated the royal army, and made both the king and prince his prisoners. He now compelled the impotent Henry to ratify his authority by a solemn treaty; and assuming the character of regent, he called a parliament, summoning two knights from each of the counties, and deputies from the principal boroughs : the first regular plan of the English House of Commons. This assembly, exercising its just rights, and asserting with firmness the re¬ establishment of the ancient government of the kingdom, Leicester judged it prudent to release the prince from his confinement; and Edward was no sooner at liberty, than he took the field against the usurper, who, in the battle of Evesham, 4th August, 1265, was defeated and slain*. Henry was now re¬ stored to his throne by the arms of his gallant son, who, after establishing domestic tranquillity, embarked in the last crusade with Lewis IX., and signalized his prowess by many valorous exploits in Palestine. He had the honour of concluding an advantageous truce for ten years with the Sultan of Babylon, and was on his return to England when he received in¬ telligence of his accession to the crown by the death of his father, 1272. 3. Edward 1., in the beginning of his reign, pro¬ jected the conquest of Wales [his object being to unite the whole of Great Britain under one sove¬ reignty]. The Welsh, the descendants of the an- * After his death, Simon Montfort was considered a martyr by the vulgar, and healing miracles were long said to be worked at a holy well through his mediation. The English derived this propensity to martyrization and saint worship from the Saxons, who considered those who died as patriots worthy of being considered saints. St. Edmund the King and Martyr, St. Edward the Confessor, and St. Thomas 4 Becket, are amongst the most noted instances of this national peculiarity on the objects of its devotion.—Ed. cient Britons who had escaped the Roman and Saxon conquests, preserved their liberty, their laws, their manners, and their language. Their prince, Lewellyn, refusing his customary homage, Edward invaded Wales, and surrounding the army of the prince, who retreated to the mountains, cut off all his supplies, and compelled him to an unqualified submission. The terms demanded were, the sur¬ render of a part of the country, a large sum of money, and an obligation of perpetual fealty to the crown of England. The Welsh infringed this treaty ; and Edward inarched his army into the heart of the country, where the troops of Lewellyn made a most desperate but ineffectual resistance. In a decisive engagement, in 1283, the prince was slain. His brother David, betrayed into the hand of the conqueror, was inhumanly executed on a gibbet; and Wales, completely subdued, was an¬ nexed to the crown of England. [During Edward’s stay in Wales, his queen Eleanor gave birth to a son in the Castle of Carnarvon (a.d. 1284) ; and from this circumstance, he was declared Prince of Wales—a title borne ever since by the eldest son of the reigning English monarch.] With a policy equally absurd and cruel, Edward ordered the Welsh bards to be put to death wherever found ; thereby insuring the perpetuation of their heroic songs, and increasing the abhorrence of the van¬ quished people for their barbarous conqueror. 4. The conquest of Wales inflamed the ambition of Edward, and inspired him with the design of extending his dominion to the extremity of the is¬ land. The designs of this enterprising monarch on the kingdom of Scotland invite our attention to that quarter ; but previously require a short retrospect to its earlier history. 23.— HISTORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 1. The history of Scotland, before the reign of Malcolm III.,surnamed Canmore, is obscure, from the deficiency of historical records. This prince, by the defeat of Macbeth, the murderer of his fa¬ ther Duncan, succeeded to the throne in 1057 ; and espousing the cause of Edgar Atheling, heir of the Saxon Kings of England, whose sister he married, he thus provoked a war with William the Conqueror, which was equally prejudicial to both kingdoms. In an expedition of Malcolm into England, it is alleged that, after concluding a truce, he was compelled by William to do homage for his kingdom. The truth is, that this homage was done for the territories in Cumberland and Northum¬ berland won by the Scots, and held in vassalage of the English crown ; though this homage was after¬ wards absurdly made the pretext of a claim of feudal sovereignty over all Scotland. In a reign of twenty-seven years, Malcolm supported a spirited contest with England, both under William I. and his son Rufus ; and to the virtues of his queen Margaret his kingdom, in its domestic policy, owed a degree of civilization remarkable in those ages of barbarism. 2. Alexander I., his son and successor, defended, with equal spirit and good policy, the independence of his kingdom; and his son David I., celebrated even by the democratic Buchanan as an honour to his country and to monarchy, won from Stephen, and annexed to his crown, the whole earldom of Edward I. invades Scotland. a/tatat?!? M TJTCTnnv England in the fourteenth century. William Wallace.—Robert Bruce. MUL>r_jrti\ IlloIUlti. Edward II.—Edward III. Northumberland. In those reigns we hear of no i claim of the feudal subjection of Scotland to the crown of England; though the accidental fortune of war afterwards furnished a ground for it. Wil¬ liam 1. (the Lion), taken prisoner at Alnwick by Henry II., was compelled, as the price of his re¬ lease, to do homage for his whole kingdom ; an obligation which his successor Richard voluntarily discharged, as deeming it to have been unjustly extorted. 3. On the death of Alexander III. without male issue, in 1285, Bruce and Baliol, descendants of David I. by the female line, Avere competitors for the crown, and the pretensions of each were sup¬ ported by a formidable party in the kingdom. Edward I., of England, chosen umpire of the con¬ test, arrogated to himself, in that character, the feudal sovereignty of the kingdom, compelling all the barons to swear allegiance to him, and taking actual possession of the country by his troops. He then adjudged the crown to Baliol, on the express condition of his swearing fealty to him as lord paramount. Baliol, however, soon after renouncing his allegiance, the indignant Edward invaded Scot¬ land with an immense force, and compelled the Aveak prince to abdicate the throne, and resign the kingdom into his hands, [a.d. 1296.] 4. William Wallace, one of the greatest heroes Avhom history records, restored the fallen honours of his country. Joined by a few patriots, his first successes in attacking the English garrisons brought numbers to his patriotic standard. Their successes were signal and conspicuous ; victory folloAved upon victory; and while EdAvard was en¬ gaged on the Continent, his troops Avere utterly defeated in a desperate engagement at Stirling, and forced to evacuate the kingdom. Wallace, the deliverer of his country, now assumed the title of governor of Scotland under Baliol, who Avas Ed- Avard’s prisoner ; a distinction which was followed by the envy and disaffection of many of the nobles, and the consequent diminution of his army. The Scots were defeated at Falkirk. Edward returned Avith a vast accession of force; and, after a fruitless resistance, the Scottish barons finally obtained peace by a capitulation, from which the brave Wallace Avas excepted by name. A fugitive for some time, he Avas betraved into the hands of Ed- ward, who put him to death with every circum¬ stance of cruelty that barbarous revenge could dictate, 1304. 5. Scotland found a second champion and deli¬ verer in Robert Bruce, the grandson of the com¬ petitor with Baliol ; who, deeply resenting the humiliation of his country, once more set up the standard of Avar, and gave defiance to the English monarch, to whom his father and grandfather had meanly SAvorn allegiance. Under this intrepid leader the spirit of the nation Avas roused at once: the English were attacked in every quarter, and once more entirely driven out- of the kingdom. Robert Bruce Avas croAvned king at Scone, 1306 ; and EdAvard, advancing with an immense army, died at Carlisle, 7th July, 1307, enjoining it with his last breath to his son Edward II. to prosecute the war with the Scots to the entire reduction of the country. 24.- HISTORY OP ENGLAND IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 1. In the reign of Edward I., we observe the constitution of England gradually advancing. The Commons had been admitted to Parliament in the latter period of his father Henry III. A statute was passed by EdAvard, which declared, that no tax or impost should be levied without the con¬ sent of Lords and Commons. The same monarch ratified the Magna CJiarta no less than eleven times in the course of his reign ; and henceforward this fundamental laAv began to be regarded as sacred and unalterable. 2. EdAvard II. Avas in character the very oppo¬ site of his father, Aveak, indolent, and capricious, but of humane and benevolent affections. He dis¬ gusted his nobles by his attachment to mean and undeserving favourites, Avliom he raised to the highest dignities of the state, and honoured Avith his exclusive confidence. Piers Gaveston, a vicious and trifling minion, Avhom the king appointed re¬ gent Avlien on a journey to Paris to marry Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, disgusted the barons to such a pitch, that they compelled the king to delegate all the authority of government to certain commissioners, and to abandon his favourite to their resentment. He was doomed to perpetual imprisonment, and, on attempt to escape, was seized and beheaded. 3. Edward, in obedience to his father’s Avill, in- \ r aded Scotland with 100,000 men. King Robert Bruce met this immense force with 30,000 at Bannockburn, and defeated them Avith prodigious slaughter, [a.d. 1314.] This important victory secured the independency of Scotland. EdAvard escaped by sea to his oavii dominions ; and a neAV favourite, Spencer, supplying the place of Gaves¬ ton, his undeserved elevation and overbearing character completed the disaffection of the nobles to their sovereign. The queen, a vicious adulteress, joined the malcontents, and, passing over to France, obtained from her brother Charles IV. an army to invade England, and dethrone her husband. Her enterprise Avas successful. Spencer and his father Avere betrayed into the hands of their enemies, and perished on a scaffold. The king was taken prisoner, tried by Parliament, and solemnly de¬ posed ; and, being confined to prison, was soon after put to death with unexampled circumstances of cruelty, 1327- 4. EdAvard III., croAvned at fourteen year’s of age, could not submit to the regency of a mother stained Avith the foulest of crimes. His father’s death was revenged by the perpetual imprisonment of Isabella, and the public execution of her para¬ mour Mortimer. Bent on the conquest of Scotland, Edward marched to the North with a prodigious army, vanquished the Scots in the battle of Hali- dounhiil, and placed Edward Baliol, his vassal and tributary, on the throne. But the kingdom Avas as repugnant as ever to the rule of England, and a favourable opportunity Avas taken for the reneAval of hostilities, on the departure of EdAvard for a foreign enterprize, which gave full scope to his ambition. 5. On the death of Charles IV. Avithout male issue, the crown of France was claimed by EdAvard III. of England, in right of his mother [Isabel], Edward the Black Prince.—John king of Mnnri) vr TiTQTmjv England and France in the fifteenth century. 0 France, and David II. of Scotland, prisoners. MUDJiiliiN lllolUll I. Henry IV.—Henry V.—Battle of Azincourt. the sister of Charles [and sister to the two previous kings], while, in the mean time, the throne was oc¬ cupied by the male heir, Philip of Valois. Edward fitted out an immense armament by sea and land; and, obtaining a signal victory over the French fleet, landed on the coast of Normandy, and, with his son, the Black Prince, ran a career of the most glorious* exploits. Philip, with one hundred thou¬ sand men, met the English with thirty thousand, and was entirely defeated in the field of Cressy, August 26, 1348. Here the English are said for the first time to have used artillery in battle. Fire¬ arms are thus but a recent invention (1340) and have much contributed to lessen both the slaughter and the frequency of wars. Mr. Hume observes, that war is now reduced nearly to a matter of cal¬ culation. A nation knows its power ; and when overmatched, either yields to its enemies, or secures itself by alliance. But late events have given some contradiction to these opinions. Calais, taken by the English, remained in their possession for two hundred and ten years. 6. The Scots, in the mean time, invading Eng¬ land, were defeated in the battle of Durham, by Philippa, the heroic Queen of Edward III., and their sovereign David II. led prisoner to London. A truce concluded between Edward and Philip was dissolved by the death of the latter, and the suc¬ cession of his son, John, who took the field with sixty thousand men against the Black Prince, and was defeated by him with a far inferior number, in the signal battle of Poitiers, September 19, 1356. John, king of France, was led in triumph to Lon¬ don, the fellow-prisoner of David, king of Scotland. But England derived from these victories nothing but honour. The French continued the war with great vigour during the captivity of their sovereign, who died in London, 1364; and they obtained a peace by the cession to the English of Poitou, St. Onge, Perigord, &c., while Edward consented to re¬ nounce his claim to the crown of France. The death of the Black Prince, a most heroic and vir¬ tuous character, plunged the nation in grief, and broke the spirits of his father, who did not long survive him. 7. Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, 1377? at the age of eleven. Charles VI. soon after be¬ came king of France at the age of twelve [a.d. 1380], and both kingdoms suffered from the dis¬ tractions attending a regal minority. In England the contests for power between the king’s uncles, Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, embroiled all public measures, and the consequent disorders re¬ quired a stronger hand to compose them than that of the weak and facile Richard. Taking advan¬ tage of the king’s absence, then engaged in quelling an insurrection in Ireland, Henry of Lancaster rose in open rebellion, and compelled Richard at his return to resign the crown. The parliament con¬ firmed his deposition, and he was soon after pri¬ vately assassinated. Thus began the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster. 25.— ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.—STATE OF MANNERS. 1. Henry IV. ascended the throne on the depo¬ sition of Richard II., 1399, and had immediately * This word should rather apply to the success of the in¬ vasion, than to the justice of Edward the Third’s claim, •which was based upon a false distinction.— Ed. to combat a rebellion raised by the Earl of Nor¬ thumberland, for placing Mortimer, the heir of the house of York, on the throne. The Scotch and Welsh took part with the rebels, but their united forces were defeated at Shrewsbury, and their leader, young Percy (Hotspur), killed on the field. A se¬ cond rebellion, headed by the Archbishop of York, was quelled by the capital punishment of its author. The secular arm was rigorously extended against the follower's of Wickliff, and this reign saw the first detestable examples of religious persecution. The life of Henry was embittered by the youthful disorders of his son the Prince of Wales, who after¬ wards nobly redeemed his character. Henry IV. died 1413, at the age of forty-six. 2. Henry V. took advantage of the disorders of France, from the temporary insanity of its sove¬ reign Charles VI., and the factious struggles for power between the dukes of Burgundy and Orleans, to invade the kingdom with a large army, which a contagious distemper wasted down to a fifth of its numbers; yet with this handful of resolute and hardy troops he defeated the French army of sixty- thousand, under the Constable d’Albert, in the famous battle of Azincourt, in which ten thousand of the enemy were slain, and fourteen thousand made prisoners, October 24, 1415. Returning to England to recruit his forces, he landed again with an army of twenty-five thousand, and fought his way to Paris. The insane monarch, with his court, fled to Troyes, and Henry pursuing, terminated the war by a treaty with the Queen-mother and the Duke of Burgundy, by which it was agreed that he should marry the daughter of Charles VI., and re¬ ceive the kingdom of France as her dowry, which, till the death of her father, he should govern as regent ; [such was the compact of the treaty of Troyes, May, 1420]. 3. Meantime the return of Henry to England gave the Dauphin hopes of the recovery of his kingdom. He was victorious in an engagement with the English, under the Duke of Clarence: but his success was of no longer duration than the ab¬ sence of the English sovereign, who was himself hastening to the period of his triumphs. Seized with a mortal distemper, Henry died in the thirty- fourth year of his age, 1422, one of the most heroic princes that ever swayed the sceptre of England. His brother, the Duke of Bedford, was declared Regent of France, and Henry VI., an infant nine months old, was proclaimed King at Paris [on the decease of Charles VI.] and at London, 1422. 4. Charles VII. recovered France by slow de¬ grees [for all the northern provinces of France were in the power of the English (a few fortresses excepted), the greatest part of Guienne and Bur¬ gundy]. With the aid of a young female enthusiast, the maid of Orleans, whom the credulity of the age supposed to be inspired by Heaven,he gained several important advantages over the English, which the latter [or rather the Burgundians] inhumanly re¬ venged, by burning this heroine [upon the judg¬ ment of an inquisitor] as a sorceress [a.d. 1450]. Her death was of equal advantage to the French as her life had been. The government of the English was universally detested : it was a struggle of many years; but at length, in 1450, they were deprived of all they had ever possessed in France, except Calais and Guines. Charles, when he had restored his kingdom to peace, governed it with 90 Habits and manners of England and France in fifteenth century.—Decline MODERN admirable wisdom and moderation. [He died in 1461, and was succeeded by his son, Louis XL] 5. The state of England and of France, the two most polished kingdoms in Europe, furnishes a good criterion of the condition of society in those ages of which we have been treating. Even in the large cities, the houses were roofed with thatch, and had no chimneys. Glass windows were extremely rare, and the floors were covered with straw. In England, wine was sold only in the shops of the apothecaries. Paper made from linen rags was first manufactured in the beginning of the fifteenth century*; and the use of linen for shirts was at that time a very rare piece of luxury. Yet it ap¬ pears, that even before that age the progress of luxury had excited a serious alarm; for the par¬ liament under Edward III. found it necessary to prohibit the use of gold and silver in apparel to all who had not a hundred pounds a year; and Charles YI. of France ordained, that none should presume to entertain with more than two dishes and a mess of soup. Before the reign of Edward I. the whole country of England was plundered by robbers in great bands, who laid waste entire villages; and some of the household-officers of Henry III. ex¬ cused themselves for robbing on the highway, be¬ cause the king allowed them no wages. In 1313 the abbot and monks of Westminster were indicted for robbing the king’s exchequer, but acquitted +. The admirable laws of Edwai’d I. which acquired him the title of the English Justinian, give strong testimony of the miserable policy and barbarism of the preceding times. 26.— DECLINE AND FALL OF THE GREEK EMPIRE. ]. In the fourteenth century the Turks were proceeding by degrees to encroach on the frontiers of the Greek empire. The Sultan Ottoman had fixed the seat of his government at Byrsa in Bi- thynia, and his son Orcan extended his sove¬ reignty to the Propontis, and obtained in marriage the daughter of the emperor John Cantacuzenos. About the middle of the century the Turks crossed over into Europe, and took Adrianople. The empe¬ ror John Palseologus, after meanly soliciting aid * The first manufactory of linen- paper, of which any certain account has been preserved, is that which existed at Nuremburg (a.d. 1390). Cotton paper was known and used in China before the Christian era. In the thirteenth century it was discovered that lirjen would answer all the purposes of cotton: but nothing more is known of the discovery be¬ yond that it existed, for the inventor is unknown.—E d. + The presentments on this occasion have lately been published, under the title of “ Calendars of the Exche¬ quer Records, by Sir Francis Palgrave,” i. pp. 262—286; and from them it appears, that this theft of the king’s treasure (consisting of plate and jewels), then deposited in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, was committed by one Geryn, a linendraper, of London, and others holding a good position in society as then constituted; this Geryn being assisted by some few of the monks of Westminster Abbey. The reader will, on perusal of these printed records, come to a different conclusion than that assumed in the text, as to the innocence of all the parties accused. It does not appear what was done upon these presentments, which are alluded to by Stow, in his Survey of London, tit. City of Westminster, &c., and p. 173 of that edition which forms the series “Popular Library of Modern Authors,” of which the present volume is a part. Ed. LTTQTm? V ail< * ^ ol ^ l * ie Greek empire.—Turks —Baja- rilolUKY. zet —Tamerlane.—Scanderbeg.--Mahomet II. from the pope, concluded a humiliating treaty with sultan Amurat, and gave his son as a hostage to serve in the Turkish army. 2. Bajazet, the successor of Amurat, compelled the emperor to destroy his fort of Galata, and to admit a Turkish judge into the city. He prepared now to besiege Constantinople in form, when he was forced to change his purpose, and defend himself against the victorious Tamerlane. 3. Timur-bek or Tamerlane, a prince of the Usbek Tartars, and descended from Gengis Khan, after the conquest of Persia, and a great part of India and Syria, was invited by the Asiatic princes, enemies of Bajazet, to protect them against the Ottoman power, which threatened to overwhelm them. Tamerlane, flattered by this request, im¬ periously summoned the Turk to renounce his con¬ quests ; a message answered with a proud defiance. The armies met near Angoria (Ancyra) in Phry¬ gia, and Bajazet was totally defeated and made prisoner by Tamerlane, 1402. The conqueror made Samarcand the capital of his empire, and there received the homage of all the princes of the east. Illiterate himself, he was solicitous for the cultivation of literature and science in his dominions ; and Samarcand became for a while the seat of learning, politeness, and the arts, but was destined to relapse, after a short period, into its ancient barbarism. 4. The Turks, after the death of Tamerlane, re¬ sumed their pui’pose of destroying the empire of the east. Amurat II., a prince of a singular cha¬ racter, had, on the faith of a solemn treaty with the king of Poland, devoted his days to retirement and study. A violation of the treaty, by an attack from the Poles on his dominions, made him quit his solitude. He engaged and cut to pieces the Polish army, with their perfidious sovereign, and then calmly returned to his retreat, till a similar crisis of public expediency once more brought him into active life. He left his dominions to his son Mahomet II., surnamed the Great, who resumed the project for the destruction of Constantinople; but its fall was a second time retarded by the ne¬ cessity in which the Turks were unexpectedly placed, of defending their own dominions against a powerful invader. 5. Scanderbeg (John Castriot), prince of Albania, whose territories had been seized by Amurat II., was educated by the Sultan as his own child, and, when of age, intrusted with the command of an army, which he employed in wresting from Amurat his paternal kingdom, 1443. By great talents and military skill, he maintained his independent sove¬ reignty against the whole force of the Turkish empire. 6. Mahomet II., son of the philosophic Amurat, a youth of twenty-one years of age, resumed the plan of extinguishing the empire of the Greeks, and making Constantinople the capital of the Otto¬ man power. Its indolent inhabitants made but a feeble preparation for defence, and the powers of Europe looked on with the most supine indiffer¬ ence. The Turks assailed the city both on the land side and that of the sea ; and, battering down its walls with their cannon, entered sword in hand, and massacred all who opposed them. The empe¬ ror Constantine was slain ; the city surrendered ; and thus was finally extinguished the eastern em¬ pire of the Romans, a.d. 1453, which, from the J Taking of Constantinople —Government and lyTOTlF'TiXr policy of the Turkish empire.—France and iVlUUhKIN building of its capital by Constantine the Great, had subsisted 1123 years. The imperial edifices were preserved from destruction, the churches converted into mosques ; but the exercise of their religion was allowed to all the Christians. From that time the Greek Christians have regularly chosen their own patriarch, whom the Sultan in¬ state ; although his authority continues to be dis¬ puted by the Latin patriarch, who is chosen by the Pope. Mahomet the Great 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 coun¬ tries of Europe, invited both artists and men of letters to his capital from other kingdoms. 7. The taking of Constantinople was followed by the conquest of Greece and Epirus ; and Italy might probably have met with a similar fate, but for the fleet of the Venetians, who opposed the arms of Mahomet with considerable success, and even attacked him in Gi'eece ; but the contending powers soon after put an end to hostilities by a treaty. Mahomet the Great died at the age of fifty-one, 1481. 27.—GOVERNMENT AND POLICY OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 1. The government of Turkey is an absolute monarchy, the whole legislative and executive authority of the state centering in the sultan, whose power is subject to no constitutional control. It is, however, limited in some degree by religious opinion ; the precepts of the Koran inculcating certain duties on the sovereign which it would be held an impiety to transgress. It is yet more strongly limited by the fear of dethronement and assassination. Under these restraints, the prince can never venture on an extreme abuse of power. 2. The spirit of the people is fitted for a subjec¬ tion bordering on slavery. Concubinage being agreeable to the law of Mahomet, the grand seig¬ nior, the viziers, are born of female slaves ; and there is scarce a subject of the empire of ingenu¬ ous blood by both parents. It is a fundamental maxim of the Turkish policy, that all the officers of state should be such as the sultan can entirely command, and at any time destroy, without dan¬ ger to himself. 3. The grand vizier is usually intrusted with the whole functions of government, and of course sub¬ jected to the sole responsibility for all public measures. Subordinate to him are six viziers of the bench, who are his council and assessors in cases of law, of which he is supreme judge. The power of the grand vizier is absolute over all the subjects of the empire ; but he cannot put to death a beglerbeg or a bashaw without the imperial sig¬ nature ; nor punish a janizary, unless through the medium of his military commander. The begler- begs are the governors of several provinces, the bashaws of a single province. All dignities in the Turkish empire are personal, and dependent on the sovereign’s pleasure. 4. The revenues of the grand seignior arise from taxes and customs laid on the subject, annual tri¬ butes paid by the Tartars, stated gifts from the governors of the provinces, and, above all, the con¬ fiscations of estates, from the viziers and bashaws downwards to the lowest subjects of the empire. HTQTADV Italy at the end of fifteenth century.— rllolUxtl. Louis XI. of France.—Charles VIII. The certain and fixed revenues of the sovereign are small in comparison to those which are arbitrary; and his absolute power enables him to execute great projects at a small expense. 28.— FRANCE AND ITALY IN THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 1. There was scarcely any vestige now remaining in France of the ancient feudal government. The only subsisting fiefs were Burgundy and Brittany. Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, who sought to increase his territories by the conquest of Switzer¬ land and Lorraine, was defeated by the Swiss, and killed in battle ; and, as he left no son, Louis XI. of France took possession of Burgundy as a male fief, 1477* The duke’s daughter married Maximi¬ lian [of Austria], son of the emperor Frederic III., who, by this marriage, acquired the sovereignty of the [provinces which composed the] Netherlands [which Philip the Good, the father of Charles the Bold, had possessed himself of by various titles, and had been holden as fiefs of the empire, although not much dependent upon it, and alienated without superior consent]. 2. The acquisition of Burgundy and of Provence, which was bequeathed to France by the count de la Marche, increased very greatly the power of the crown. Louis XI., an odious compound of vice, cruelty, and superstition, and a tyrant to his people, was yet the author of many wise and excel¬ lent regulations of public policy. The barbarity of the public executions in his reign is beyond all belief; yet the wisdom of his laws, the encouragement he gave to commerce, the restraints he imposed on the oppressions of the nobility, and the attention he bestowed in regulating the courts of justice, must ever be mentioned to his honour. 3. The count de la Marche, besides the bequest of Provence to Louis XI., left him his empty title of Sovereign of the Two Sicilies. Louis was satisfied with the substantial gift; but his son Charles VIII.* was dazzled with the shadow. In the beginning of his reign he projected the conquest of Naples, and embarked in the enterprise with the most improvi¬ dent precipitancy. 4. The dismembered state of Italy was favour¬ able to his views. The popedom, during the trans¬ ference of its seat to Avignon, had lost many of its territories. Mantua, Modena, and Ferrara had their independent sovereigns. Piedmont belonged to the duke of Savoy ; Genoa and Milan to the family of Sforza. Florence, under the Medici, had attained to a very high pitch of splendour. Cosmo, the founder of that family, employed a vast fortune acquired by commerce, in the improvement of his country, in acts of public munificence, and in the cultivation of the sciences and elegant arts. His high reputation obtained for himself and his pos¬ terity the chief authority in his native state. Peter de Medici, his great grandson, ruled in Floi’ence at the period of the expedition of Charles VIII. into Italy. 5. The papacy was enjoyed at this time by Alexander VI., a monster of wickedness. The * Louis XI. died at Tours, 1483. Most of the incidents attending his contests with the Duke of Burgundy, as well as an account of his private life, are detailed in the Chronicle or History of Philip de Comines.—E d. Confederacy against Charles VIII. and TYTrn'U?T>TVJ Louis XII. of France.—Spain in four- MUDEK.IN pope and the duke of Milan, who had invited Charles to this enterprise, immediately betrayed him, and joined the interest of the king of Naples. Charles, after besieging the pope in Rome, and forcing him to submission, devoutly kissed his feet. He now marched against Naples, while its timid Prince Alphonso fled to Sicily, and his son to the Isle of Ischia, after absolving his subjects from their allegiance. Charles entered Naples in tri¬ umph, and was hailed emperor and Augustus : but he lost his new kingdom in almost as short a time as he had gained it. A league was formed against France between the pope, the emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand of Arragon, Isabella of Castile, and the Venetians; and, on the return of Charles to France, the troops he had left to guard his conquests were entirely driven out of Italy. G. It has been remarked, that from the decisive effect of this confederacy against Charles VIII. 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 preven¬ tion of the inordinate aggrandisement of any particular state. 7. Charles VIII. died at the age of twenty-eight, 1498 ; and leaving no children, the duke of Orleans succeeded to the throne of France, by the title of Louis XII. 29.— HISTORY OF SPAIN IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. 1. We go back a little to the middle of the four¬ teenth century to trace the history of Spain. Peter of Castile, surnamed the Cruel, (for no other reason than that he employed severe means to support his just rights,) had to contend against a bastard brother, Henry of Transtamarre, who, with the aid of a French banditti, called Malandrins, led by Bertrand du Guesclin, strove to dispossess him of his kingdom. Peter was aided by Edward the Black Prince, then sovereign of Guienne, who de¬ feated Transtamarre, and took Bertrand prisoner ; but on the return of the prince to England, Peter was attacked by his former enemies, and entirely defeated. Unable to restrain his rage in the first interview with Transtamarre, the latter put him to death with his own hand, 1361 ; and thus this usurper secured for himself and his posterity the throne of'Castile. 2. The weakness and debauchery of one of his descendants, Henry IV. of Castile, occasioned a revolution in the kingdom. The majority of the nation rose in rebellion; the assembly of the nobles solemnly deposed their king, and, on the alleged ground of his daughter Johanna being a bastard, compelled him to settle the crown on his sister Isabella. They next brought about a marriage between Isabella and Ferdinand of Arragon, which united the monarchies of Arragon and Castile. After a ruinous civil war, the revolution was at length completed by the death of the deposed sove¬ reign, 1474, and the retirement of his daughter Johanna to a monastery, 1479. 3. At the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella to the thrones of Arragon and Castile, Spain was in a state of great disorder, from the lawless depreda¬ tions of the nobles and their vassals. It was the first object of the new sovei’eigns to repress these T teenth and fifteenth centuries.—Moorish do¬ ll lb I UR 1. minion in Spain terminated by Ferdinand. enormities, by subjecting the offenders to the ut¬ most rigour of law, enforced by the sword. The Holy Brotherhood was instituted for the discovery and punishment of crimes ; and the Inquisition (see supra, sect. 19, § 3), under the pretext of extirpating heresy and impiety, afforded the most detestable example of sanguinary persecution. 4. The Moorish kingdom of Granada, a most splendid monarchy, but at that time weakened by faction, and a prey to civil war, offered a tempting object to the ambition of Ferdinand and Isabella. Alboacen was at war with his nephew Aboabdeli, who wanted to dethrone him; and Ferdinand aided Aboabdeli, in the view of ruining both ; for no sooner was the latter in possession of the crown, by the death of Alboacen, than Ferdinand invaded his ally with the whole force of Arragon and Castile. Granada was besieged in 1491; and, after a block¬ ade of eight months, surrendered to the victor. Aboabdeli, by a mean capitulation, saved his life, and purchased a retreat for his countrymen to a mountainous part of the kingdom, where they were suffered to enjoy unmolested their laws and their religion. Thus ended the dominion of the Moors in Spain, which had subsisted for eight hundred years. 5. Ferdinand, from that period, took the title of king of Spain. In 1492 he expelled all the Jews from his dominions, on the absurd ground that they kept in their hands the commerce of the kingdom; and Spain thus lost above one hundred and fifty thousand of the most industrious of her inhabitants. The exiles spread themselves over the other king¬ doms of Europe, and were often the victims of a persecution equally inhuman. It would appear that Spain has felt, even to the present times, the effects of this folly, in the slow progress of the arts, and that deplorable inactivity which is the charac¬ teristic of her people. Even the discovery of the new world, which happened at this very period, and which stimulated the spirit of enterprise and in¬ dustry in all the neighbouring kingdoms, produced but a feeble impression on that nation, which might, in a great degree, have monopolized its benefits. Of that great discovery we shall after¬ wards treat in a separate section. 30.- FRANCE, SPAIN, AND ITALY IN THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH AND BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 1. Louis XII., eagerly bent on vindicating his right to Naples, courted the interest of Pope Alex¬ ander VI., who promised his aid, on the condition that his natural son, Csesar Borgia, should receive from Louis the duchy of Valentinois, with the king of Navarre’s sister in marriage. Louis crossed the Alps; and in the space of a few days was mas¬ ter of Milan and Genoa. Sforza duke of Milan became his prisoner for life. Afraid of the power of Ferdinand of Spain, Louis joined with him in the conquest of Naples; and agreed to divide with him the conquered dominions, the pope making no scruple to sanction the partition. But the com¬ promise was of no duration; for Alexander VI. and Ferdinand judging it a better policy to share Italy between themselves, united their interest to strip Louis of his new territories. The Spaniards, under Gonsalvo de Cordova, defeated the French under the duke de Nemours and the chevalier Bayard; Pope Alexander VI. and his son Caesar Borgia. ivrrmi?T?Nr TTTQTnPV civil wars i n England between the York- . Pope Julius II. — League of Cambray. MUUHilvIN liloiUivl. ists and Lancastrians. — Edward VI. and Louis irrecoverably lost his share of the king¬ dom of Naples. 2. History relates with horror the crimes of pope Alexander VI. and his son Ceesar Borgia; their murders, robberies, profanations, incests. They compassed their ends in attaining every object of their ambition, but with the universal abhorrence of mankind, and finally met with an ample retribu¬ tion for their crimes. The pope died by poison, prepared, as was alleged, by himself for an enemy; and Borgia, stripped of all his possessions by pope Julius II. and sent prisoner to Spain by Gonsalvo de Cordova, perished in miserable obscurity. 3. Julius II., the successor of Alexander, pro¬ jected the formidable league of Cambray, 1508, with the Emperor, the kings of France and Spain, the duke of Savoy, and king of Hungary, for the destruction of Venice, and dividing her territories among the confederates. They accomplished in part their design; and Venice was on the verge of annihilation, when the pope changed his politics; and having made the French subservient to his views of plundering the Venetians, now formed a new league with them, and the Germans and Spa¬ niards, to expel the French from Italy, and appro¬ priate all their conquests. The Swiss and the English co-operated in this design. The French made a bi’ave resistance under their generals Bayard and Gaston de Foix, but were finally overpowered. Louis was compelled to evacuate Italy : Ferdinand, with the aid of Henry VIII. of England, stripped him of Navarre, and forced him to purchase a peace. He died in 1515; and though unfortunate in his military enterprises, from the superior abili¬ ties of his rivals pope Julius and Ferdinand, was justly esteemed by his subjects for the wisdom and equity of his government. 31.—HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIX¬ TEENTH CENTURY.—CIVIL WARS OF YORK AND LANCASTER. 1. We have seen France recovered from the English in the early part of the reign of Henry VI. by the talents and prowess of Charles VII. Dur¬ ing the minority of Henry, who was a prince of no capacity, England was embroiled by the factious contention for power between his uncles, the duke of Gloucester and the cardinal of Winchester. The latter, to promote his own views of ambition, mar¬ ried Henry to Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Regnier the titular king of Naples, a woman of great mental endowments and singular heroism of character, but whose severity in the persecution of her enemies alienated a great part of the nobles from their allegiance, and increased the partisans of a rival claimant of the crown. 2. This was Richard duke of York, descended by his mother from Lionel, second son of Edward III., and elder brother to John of Gaunt, the pro¬ genitor of Henry VI. The White Rose distin¬ guished the faction of York, as the Red that of Lancaster. The party of York gained much strength from the incapacity of Henry, who was subject to fits of lunacy; and Richard was appointed lieutenant and protector of the kingdom. The authority of Henry was now annihilated; but Margaret roused her husband, in an interval of sanity, to assert his right; and the nation was divided in arms between the rival parties. In the battle of St. Albans five thousand of the Lancastrians were slain, and the king was taken prisoner by the duke of York, 22d May, 1454. Yet the Parliament, while it confirmed the authority of the protector, maintained its allegi¬ ance to the king. 3. The spirit of the queen re-animated the royal party; and the Lancastrians gained such advantage, that the duke of York fled to Ireland, while his cause was secretly maintained in England by Guy earl of Warwick. In the battle of Northampton the party of York again prevailed, and Henry once more was brought prisoner to London, while his dauntless queen still nobly exerted herself to re¬ trieve his fortunes. York now claimed the crown in open parliament, but prevailed only to have his right of succession ascertained on Henry’s death, to the exclusion of the royal issue. 4. In the next battle the duke of York was slain, and his party defeated; but his successor Edward, supported by Warwick, avenged this disaster by a signal victory near Touton, in Yorkshire, in which forty thousand of the Lancastrians were slain. York was proclaimed king by the title of Edward IV., while Margaret, with her dethroned husband and infant son, fled to Flanders. 5. Edward, who owed his crown to Warwick, was ungrateful to his benefactor; and the impru¬ dence and injustice of his conduct forced that nobleman at length to take part with the faction of Lancaster. The consequence was, that after some struggles, Edward was deposed, and Henry VI. once more restored to the throne by the hands of Warwick, now known by the epithet of the King¬ maker. But this change was of no duration: the party of York ultimately prevailed; the Lancas¬ trians were defeated in the battle of Barnet, and the brave Warwick slain in the engagement, 1472. 6. The intrepid Margaret, whose spirit was su¬ perior to every change of fortune, prepared to strike a last blow for the crown of England in the battle of Tewkesbury. The event was fatal to her hopes : victory declared for Edward. Margaret was sent prisoner to the tower of London ; and the prince, her son, a youth of high spirit, when brought into the presence of his conqueror, having nobly dared to justify his enterprise to the face of his rival, was barbarously murdered by the Dukes of Gloucester and Clarence. Henry V1. was soon after privately put to death in the tower. The heroic Margaret, ransomed by Louis XI., died in France, 1482. 7- Edward IV. thus secured on the throne by the death of all his competitors, abandoned himself without reserve to the indulgence of a vicious and tyrannical nature. He put to death, on the most frivolous pretence, his brother Clarence ; and, pre¬ paring to gratify his subjects by a war with France, he died suddenly in the forty-second year of his age, poisoned, as was suspected, by his brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester, 1483. 8. Edward left two sons, the elder, Edward V., a boy of thirteen years of age. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, named protector in the minority of his nephew, hired, by means of Buckingham, a mob of the dregs of the populace to declare their wish for his assumption of the crown. He yielded, with affected reluctance, to this voice of the nation, and was proclaimed king by the title of Richard III., 1483. Edward V., (after a reign of two months) . Battle of Bosworth. — Henry VII. i»/rr*Tvr'T> at utotadv Baliol crowned. —Robert II. ! ' 4 History of Scotland. MUDEKJN iilbiUKY. James I.— James II. together with his brother, the Duke of York, were' by command of the usurper, smothered while asleep, and privately buried in the tower. 9. These atrocious crimes found an avenger in Henry, Earl of Richmond, the surviving heir of the house of Lancaster, who, aided by Charles VIII. of France, landed in England, and revived the spirits of a party almost extinguished in the king¬ dom. He gave battle to Richard in the field of Bosworth, and entirely defeated the army of the usurper, who was slain while fighting with the most desperate courage, August 22, 1485. The crown he wore in the engagement was immediately placed on the head of the conqueror. This auspicious day put an end to the civil wars of York and Lancaster. Henry VII. united the rights of both families by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. 10. The reign of Henry VII. was of twenty-four years’ duration; and under his wise and politic go¬ vernment the kingdom recovered all the wounds it had sustained in those unhappy contests. Industry, good order, and perfect subordination, were the fruit of the excellent laws passed in his reign; though the temper of the sovereign was despotic, and his avarice, in the latter part of his reign, prompted to the most oppressive exactions. 11. The government of Henry was disturbed by two very singular enterprises ; the attempt of Lam¬ bert Simnel, the son of a baker, to counterfeit the person of the Earl of Warwick, son of the Duke of Clarence ; and the similar attempt of Perkin Warbeck, son of a Flemish Jew, to counterfeit the Duke of York, who had been smothered in the tower by Richard III. Both impostors found con¬ siderable support, but were finally defeated. Sim¬ nel, after being crowned at Dublin king of England and Ireland, ended his days in a menial office of Henry’s household. Perkin, for five years, sup¬ ported his cause by force of arms, and was aided by a great proportion of the English nobility. Overpowered at length, he surrendered to Henry, who condemned him to perpetual imprisonment ; but his ambitious spirit meditating a new insurrec¬ tion, he was put to death as a traitor. Henry VII. died 1509, in the fifty-third year of his age, and twenty-fourth of his reign. 32.— HISTORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF JAMES V. 1. In no country of Europe had the feudal aris¬ tocracy attained to a greater height than in Scotland. The power of the greater barons, while it rendered them independent, and often the rivals of their sovereign, was a perpetual source of turbulence and disorder in the kingdom. It was, therefore, a constant policy of the Scottish kings to humble the nobles, and break their factious combinations. Robert I. attempted to retrench the vast territorial possessions of his barons, by requiring every land¬ holder to produce the titles of his estate ; but was resolutely answered that the sword was their charter of possession. 2. On the death of Robert, in 1329, and during the minority of his son David, Edward Baliol, the son of John, formerly king of Scotland, with the aid of Edward III. of England, and sup¬ ported by many of the factious barons, invaded the kingdom, and was crowned at Scone, while the young David was conveyed for security to France. The mean dependance of Baliol on the English monarch deprived him of the affections of the peo¬ ple. Robert, the Steward of Scotland, Randolph, and Douglas, supported the Brucian interest, and, asisted by the French, restored David to his throne ; a prince destined to sustain many reverses of for¬ tune ; for, in a subsequent invasion of the English territory by the Scots, David was taken prisoner in the battle of Durham, and conveyed to London. He remained for eleven years in captivity, and witnessed the similar fate of a brother monarch, John king of France, taken prisoner by the Black Prince in the battle of Poitiers. David was ran¬ somed by his subjects, and restored to his kingdom in 1357 ; and he ended a tui'bulent reign in 1370-1. The crown passed at his demise to his nephew Robert the High Steward of Scotland, in virtue of a desti¬ nation made by Robert I., with consent of the States. 3. The reign of Robert II., which was of twenty years’ duration, was spent in a series of hostilities between the Scots and English, productive of no material consequence to either kingdom ; and the weak and indolent disposition of his successor Ro¬ bert III., who found himself unequal to the contest with his factious nobles, prompted him to resign the government to his brother, the duke of Albany. This ambitious man formed the design of usurping the throne by the murder of his nephews, the sons of Robert. The elder, Rothsay, a prince of high spirit, was imprisoned, on pretence of treasonable designs, and starved to death. The younger, James, escaped a similar fate, which was intended for him ; but on his passage to France, whither he was sent for safety by his father, he was taken by an English ship of war, and brought prisoner to London. The weak Robert sunk under these mis¬ fortunes, and died 1405, after a reign of fifteen years. 4. James I., a prince of great natural endow¬ ments, profited by a captivity of eighteen years at the court of England, in adorning his mind with every valuable accomplishment. At his return to his kingdom, which in his absence had been weakly governed by the Regent Albany, and suffered under all the disorders of anarchy, he bent his whole at¬ tention to the improvement and civilization of his people, by the enactment of many excellent laws, enforced with a resolute authority. The factions of the nobles, their dangerous combinations, and their domineering tyranny over their dependents, the great sources of the people’s miseries, were firmly restrained, and most severely punished. But these wholesome innovations, while they procured to James the affections of the nation at large, excited the odium of the nobility, and gave birth to a con¬ spiracy, headed by the Earl of Athole, the king’s uncle, which terminated in the murder of this ex¬ cellent prince, in the forty-fourth year of his age, a.d. 1437- 5. His son James II. inherited a considerable portion of the talents of his father ; and in the like purpose of restraining the inordinate power of his nobles, pursued the same maxims of government, which an impetuous temper prompted him, in some instances, to carry to the most blameable excess. The Earl of Douglas, trusting to a powerful vassal- age, had assumed an authority above the laws, and a state and splendour rival to those of his sovereign. He was seized, and without accusation or trial, be- James III., James IV., and James V. of Scotland. MODERN HISTORY. James V. of Scotland dies. or Ancient constitution of Scotland. J" headed. His successor imprudently running the same career, and boldly justifying, in a conference, his rebellious practices, was put to death by the king’s own hand. Thus were the factions of the nobles quelled by a barbarous rigour of authority. To his people James was beneficent and humane, and his laws contributed materially to their civili¬ zation and prosperity. He was killed in the thirtieth year of his age, by the bursting of a cannon, in be¬ sieging the castle of Roxburgh, a.d. ] 460. 6. His son, James III., without the talents of his predecessors, affected to tread in the same steps. To humble his nobles, he bestowed his con¬ fidence on mean favourites; an insult which the former avenged by rebellion. His brothers Albany and Mar, aided by Edward IV. of England, at¬ tempted a revolution in the kingdom, which was frustrated only by the death of Edward. In a second rebellion, the confederate nobles forced the prince of Rothsay, eldest son of James, to appear in arms against his father. In an engagement near Bannockburn the rebels were successful, and the king was slain in the thirty-fifth year of his age, 1488. 7- James IV., a great and most accomplished prince, whose talents were equalled by his virtues, while his measures of government were dictated by a true spirit of patriotism, won by a well-placed confidence the affections of his nobility. In his marriage with Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII. of England, both sovereigns wisely sought a bond of amity between the kingdoms; but this purpose was frustrated in the succeeding reign of Henry VIII. The high spirit of the rival monarchs was easily inflamed by trifling causes of offence; and France, then at war with England, courted the aid of her ancient ally. James invaded England with a powerful army, which he wished to lead to immediate action; but the prudent delays of Surrey, the English general, wasted and weakened his force; and in the fatal battle of Flodden the Scots were defeated with prodigious slaughter. The gal¬ lant James perished in the fight, and with him almost the whole of the Scottish nobles, a.d. 1513. 8. Under the long minority of his son James V., an infant at the time of his father’s death, the kingdom was feebly ruled by his uncle Albany. The aristocracy began to resume its ancient spirit of independence, which was ill-brooked by a prince of a proud and uncontrollable mind, who felt the keenest jealousy of a high prerogative. With a systematic policy he employed the church to abase the nobility, conferring all the offices of state on able ecclesiastics. The cardinal Beaton co-operated with great zeal in the designs of his master, and under him ruled the kingdom. 9. Henry VIII., embroiled with the papacy, sought an alliance with the king of Scots, but the ecclesiastical counsellors of the latter defeated this beneficial purpose. A war was thus provoked, and James was reluctantly compelled to court those nobles whom it had been hitherto his darling ob¬ ject to humiliate. They now determined on a dis¬ graceful revenge. In an attack on the Scottish border the English were repelled, and an opportu¬ nity offered to the Scots of cutting off' their retreat. The king gave his orders to that end, but his barons obstinately refused to advance beyond the fron¬ tier. One measure more was wanting to drive their sovereign to despair. In a subsequent en¬ gagement with the English, ten thousand of the Scots deliberately surrendered themselves prisoners to five hundred of the enemy. The high spirit of James sunk under his contending passions, and he died of a broken heart in the thirty-third year of his age, a few days after the birth of a daughter, yet more unfortunate than her father, Mary queen of Scots, a.d. 1542. 33.— ON THE ANCIENT CONSTITUTION OF TIIE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT. 1. We have seen it a constant policy with the Scottish kings to abase the power of their nobles, and this struggle we have observed to have been the source of much misery and bloodshed ; but the policy was necessary, from the dangerous ambition and lawless tyranny of those nobles, who frequently aimed at overturning the throne, and exercised the severest oppression on all their dependents. The interests, therefore, of the people, no less than the security of the prince, demanded the repression of this overbearing and destructive power. The aris¬ tocracy was, however, preserved, no less by its own strength than by the concurrence of circum¬ stances, and chiefly by the violent and unhappy fate of the sovereigns. Meantime, although the measures they pursued were not successful, their consequences were beneficial. They restrained if they did not destroy, the spirit of feudal oppression, and gave birth to order, wise laws, and a more tranquil administration of government. 2. The legislative power, though nominally resi¬ dent in the parliament, was virtually in the king, who, by his influence, entirely controlled its pro¬ ceedings. The parliament consisted of three estates, the nobles, the dignified clergy, and the lesser barons, the representatives of the towns and shires. The disposal of benefices gave the crown the en¬ tire command of the churchmen, who equalled the nobles in number, and at least a majority of the commons were the dependents of the sovereign. A committee, termed the lords of the articles, pre¬ pared every measure that was tp come before the parliament, and these, by the mode of their elec¬ tion, were in effect nominated by the king. It is to the credit of the Scottish princes that there are few instances of their abusing an authority so ex¬ tensive as that which they constitutionally enjoyed. 3. The king had anciently the supreme jurisdic¬ tion in all causes, civil and criminal, which he generally exercised through the medium of his privy council; but in 1425 James I. instituted the court of session, consisting of the chancellor and certain judges chosen from the three estates. This court was new-modelled by James V. and its juris¬ diction limited to civil causes, the cognizance of crimes being committed to the justiciary. The chancellor was the highest officer of the crown, and president of the parliament. To the chamberlain belonged the care of the finances and the public police ; to the high steward the charge of the king’s household ; the constable regulated all mat¬ ters of military arrangement; and the marshal was the king’s lieutenant, and master of the horse. 4. The revenue of the sovereign consisted of his domain, which was extensive, of the feudal casual¬ ties and forfeitures, the profits of the wardships of his vassals, the rents of vacant benefices, the pecuniary fines for offences, and the aids or pre- Q p Progress of literature.—Arabian trans- at n TVI? II \T HTQTAPV Norman chroniclers.—Jurisprudence, lations.—Anglo-Saxon writers. MUD±jlijN nlMUili . Astronomy.—Troubadours. sents occasionally given by the subject, a revenue at all times sufficient for the purposes of govern¬ ment, and the support of the dignity of the crown. 5. The political principles which regulated the conduct of the Scots towards other nations were obvious and simple. It had ever been an object of ambition to England to acquire the sovereignty of her sister kingdom, who was constantly on her guard against this design of her more potent neigh¬ bour. It was the wisest policy for Scotland to attach herself to France, the natural enemy of England; an alliance reciprocally courted from similar motives. In those days this attachment was justly esteemed patriotic, while the Scots who were the partisans of England were with equal justice regarded as traitors to their country. In the period of which we now treat, it was a settled policy of the English sovereigns to have a secret faction in their pay in Scotland, for the purpose of dividing and thus enslaving the nation ; and to this source all the subsequent disorders of the latter kingdom are to be attributed. 34.— A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE IN EUROPE, FROM THE REVIVAL OF LET¬ TERS DOWN TO THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CEN¬ TURY. 1. The first restorers of learning in Europe were the Arabians, who, in the course of their Asiatic conquests, becoming acquainted with some of the ancient Greek authors, discovered and justly appre¬ ciated the knowledge and improvement to be de¬ rived from them. The kaliphs procured from the eastern emperors copies of the ancient manuscripts, and had them carefully translated into Arabic, esteeming principally those which treated of ma¬ thematics, physic, and metaphysics. They disse¬ minated their knowledge in the course of their conquests, and founded schools and colleges in all the countries they subdued. 2. The western kingdoms of Europe became first acquainted with the learning of the ancients through the medium of those Arabian translations. Charle¬ magne caused Latin translations to be made from the Arabian, and founded, after the example of the kaliphs, the universities of Bononia, Pavia, Osnaburgh, and Paris. Alfred, with a similar spirit, and by similar means, introduced a taste for literature in England; but the subsequent dis¬ orders of the kingdom replunged it into barbarism. [The earliest Anglo-Saxon author was Gildas; Nennius, a name connected with his as being author of an historical tract, is supposititious. St. Columbanus, a native of Ireland, who died 615, was a man of ability, and wrote religious treatises. Latin was then deemed the only language fit for literary composition. The earliest author of poetry in the Anglo-Saxon language is Ktedmon, a monk of Whitby, who died circa 680. Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, Keolfrid, abbot of Wearmouth, Felix of Croyland, and the Venerable Bede, precede king Alfred. Alfric, bishop of Canterbury, Kynewulf, bishop of Winchester, and Wulfstan, archbishop of York, with some others, flourished between that period and the Norman conquest.] The Normans, however, brought from the continent some tincture of ancient learning, which was kept alive in the monasteries, where the monks were meritoriously employed in transcribing a few of the ancient authors, along with the legendary lives pf the saints. 3. In this dawn of literature in England ap¬ peared [Ingulphus, abbot of Croyland, Eadmer,] Henry of Huntingdon and Geoffrey of Monmouth, names distinguished in the earliest annals of poetry and Romance, John of Salisbury, a moralist, Wil¬ liam of Malmesbury, annalist of the history of England before the reign of Stephen, [William Neubrigensis, the author of five books of English history from the Norman conquest to 1197,] Giral- dus Cambrensis, known in the fields of history, theology, and poetry, Joseph of Exeter, author of two Latin epic poems on the Trojan war, and the war of Antioch, or the crusade, which are read with pleasure even in the present day. 4. But this era of a good taste in letters was of short duration. The taste for classical composition and historic information yielded to the barbarous subtleties of scholastic divinity taught by Lombard and Abelard; and the abstruse doctrines of the Roman law, which began to engage the general attention from the recent discovery of the Pandects at Amalfi, 1137 *. The amusements of the vulgar in those periods were metrical and prose romances, unintelligible prophecies, and fables of giants and enchanters. 5. In the middle of the thirteenth century ap¬ peared a distinguished genius, Roger Bacon, an English friar, whose comprehensive mind was filled with all the stores of ancient learning, who possessed a discriminating judgment to separate the precious ore from the dross, and a power of invention fitted to advance in every science which was the object of his study. He saw the insuffici¬ ency of the school philosophy, and first recom¬ mended the prosecution of knowledge by experi¬ ment and the observation of nature. He made discoveries of importance in astronomy, in optics, in chemistry and medicine, and mechanics. He reformed the kalendar, discovered the construction of telescopic glasses, forgotten after his time, and revived by Galileo, and has left a plain intimation of his knowledge of the composition of gunpowder. Yet this most superior genius believed in the pos¬ sibility of discovering an elixir for the prolonga¬ tion of life, in the transmutation of metals into gold, and in judicial astrology >f. 6. A general taste prevailed for poetical com¬ position in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The troubadours of Provence wrote sonnets, ma¬ drigals, and satirical ballads, and excelled in ex¬ tempore dialogues on the subject of love, which they treated in a metaphysical and Platonic strain. They contended for the prize of poetry at solemn meetings, where princes, nobles, and the most illus¬ trious ladies, attended to decide between the rival bards; and some of those princes, as Richard I. of England, Frederick 1. emperor of Germany, are celebrated themselves as troubadours of eminence. Many fragments yet remain of their compositions. * It is certain that the Pandects were the subject of legal studies before the siege of Amalfi. See Hallam’s Lit. of Europe, chap. i. § 67. t The mind of Roger Bacon was strangely compounded of almost prophetic gleams of the future course of science, and the best principles of the inductive philosophy, with a more than usual credulity in the superstitions of his own time. Hallam’s Introd. Literature of Europe, chap. ii. § 33. Dante.—Petrarch.—Boccacio.—Chaucer. \rnr»FT?\T BTSTDRY and chroniclers of England and Italy. _ Gower.—Spanish romances.—Historians MUlIRiwN IHolUIUi. Discovery of classical mss. —Dramas. ”7 7. The transference of the papal seat to Avignon in the fourteenth century, familiarised the Italian poets with the songs of the troubadours, and gave a tincture of the Provencal style to their composi¬ tions, which is very observable in the poetry of Petrarch and of Dante. The Divina Commedia of Dante first introduced the machinery of angels and devils in the room of the Pagan mythology, and is a work containing many examples of the terrible sublime. The sonnets and canzoni of Petrarch are highly tender and pathetic, though vitiated with a quaiutness and conceit, which is a prevalent feature of the Italian poetry. The Decamerone of Boccac¬ cio, a work of the same age, is a masterpiece for invention, ingenious narrative, and acquaintance with human nature. These authors have fixed the standard of the Italian language. 8. Contemporary with them, and of rival merit, was the English Chaucer [born in 1328], who dis¬ plays all the talents of Boccaccio through the me¬ dium of excellent poetry. The works of Chaucer discover an extensive knowledge of the sciences, an acquaintance both with ancient and modern learn¬ ing, particularly the literature of France and Italy, and, above all, a most acute discernment of life and manners. 9. Of similar character are the poems of Gower, [Chaucer’s contemporary] but of a graver cast, and a more chastened morality *. Equal to these eminent men, in every species of literary merit, was the accomplished James I. of Scotland, of which his remaining writings bear convincing testi¬ mony. The doubtful Rowley of Bristol is said to have adorned the fifteenth century +. 10. Spain at this period began to emerge from ignoi’ance and barbarism, and to produce a few of those works which are enumerated with approba¬ tion in the whimsical but judicious criticism of Cer¬ vantes. (D. Quixote, B. 1, c. 6.) 11. But although poetry attained in those ages a considerable degree of splendour, there was but little advancement in general litei*ature and science. History was disgraced by the intermixture of mira¬ cle and fable; though we find much curious infor¬ mation in the writings of Matthew of Westminster, of Walsingham, Everard, Duysburg, and the Chro¬ nicles of Froissart and Monstrelet. Philip de Comines happily describes the reigns of Louis XI. and Charles VIII. of France. Villani and Platiua are valuable recorders of the affairs of Italy. 12. A taste for classical learning in the fifteenth century, led to the discovery of many of the ancient authors. Poggio discovered the writings of Quin¬ tilian and several of the compositions of Cicero, which stimulated to farther research, and the reco¬ very of many valuable remains of Greek and Roman literature. But this taste was not generally dif¬ fused. [The first half of the fifteenth century has been sometimes called the age of Poggio Braccio- lini, which it expi’esses not very inaccurately as to * The poems of Laurence Minot on the wars of Edward III., and the epic poem of John Barbour, archdeacon of Aberdeen, “The Bruce,” belong to this period. Ritson refers Minot to 1352, and Hallam suggests Barbour to have completed his poem in 1373 .—Ed. t Thomas Chatterton was the author of the poems pub¬ lished under the name of Rowley. Chatterton committed suicide in 1770* being involved in great distress. Horace Walpole had been applied to by this unfortunate for relief, but he refused it.—E d. his literary life, since he was born in 1381 and died in 1459; but it seems to involve too high a compliment. The chief merit of Poggio was his diligence, aided by good fortune, in recovering lost works of Roman literature, that lay mouldering in the repositories of convents. Hence we owe to this man eight orations of Cicero, a complete Quin¬ tilian, Columella, part of Lucretius, three books of Valerius Flaccus, Silius ltalicus, Ammianus Mar- cellinus, Tertullian, and several less important writers; twelve comedies of Plautus were also recovered in Germany through his directions. Poggio besides this was undoubtedly a man of con¬ siderable learning for his time, and still greater sense and spirit as a writer, though he never reached a very correct or elegant style.— Hallam’s Tntrod. Lit. of Europe , ch. ii. §2.] France and England were extremely barbarous. The library at Oxford contained only 800 volumes, and there were but four classics in the royal library at Paris. But a brighter period was appi'oaching. The dis¬ persion of the Greeks, on the fall of the eastern empire, in the end of the fifteenth century, diffused a taste for polite literature over all the west of Europe. A succession of popes, endowed with a liberal and enlightened spirit, gave every encou¬ ragement to learning and the sciences ; and, above all, the noble discovery of the art of printing contri¬ buted to their rapid advancement and dissemina¬ tion, and gave a certain assurance of the perpetu¬ ation of every valuable art, and the progressive im¬ provement of human knowledge. 13. The rise of dramatic composition among the moderns, is to be traced to the absurd and ludicrous representation in the churches of the scripture his¬ tories, called in England mysteries, miracles, and moralities. These were first exhibited in the twelfth century, and continued to the sixteenth, when in England they were prohibited by law. Of these we have amusing specimens in Warton’s his¬ tory of English poetry. Profane dramas were substituted in their place ; and a mixture of the sacred and profane appears to have been known in France as early as 1300. In Spain the farcical mysteries keep their ground to the present day ; nor was it till the end of the sixteenth century, that any regular composition for the stage was known in that country. The Italians are allowed by their own writers to have borrowed their theatre from the French and English*. 35.— VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF COMMERCE IN EUROPE BEFORE THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 1. Before giving an account of the discoveries of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, in explor¬ ing a new route to India, we shall present a short view of the progress of commerce in Europe down to that period. The boldest naval enterprise of the ancients was the Periplus of Hanno f, who sailed (570 b.c.) from Carthage to the coast of Guinea, within four or five degrees of the line. Africa was not known by the ancients to be almost circumnavigable. They had * The history of English dramatic composition has re¬ ceived a great accession by the researches of Mr. Malone, who has been recently followed by Mr. J. Payne Collier. — Ed. f See antea, note, page 29, col. 2. H 98 Commerce in Europe before the fifteenth century.—Venetians.—Lombards. MODERN HISTORY. Hanseatic league.—Levant trade. Woollen manufactures. a very limited knowledge of the habitable earth. They believed that both the torrid and frigid zones were uninhabitable; and they were but very imper¬ fectly acquainted with a great part of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, the greatest part of Russia, were unknown to them. In Ptolemy’s description of the globe, the sixty-third degree of latitude is the limit of the earth to the north, the equinoctial to the south. 2. Britain was cii'cumnavigated in the time of Domitian. The Romans frequented it for the pur¬ poses of commerce; and Tacitus mentions London as a celebrated resort of merchants. The com¬ merce of the ancients was, however, chiefly con¬ fined to the Mediterranean. In the flourishing periods of the Constantinopolitan empire, the merchandise of India was imported from Alexan¬ dria ; but, after the conquest of Egypt by the Arabians, it was carried up the Indus, and thence by land to the Oxus, which then ran into the Caspian sea; thence it was brought up the Wolga, and again carried over land to the Don, whence it descended into the Euxine. 3. After the fall of the western empire, com¬ merce was long at a stand in Europe. When Attila was ravaging Italy the Yeneti took refuge in the small islands at the northern extremity of the Adriatic, and there founded Venice, a.d. 452, which began very early to equip small fleets, and trade to the coasts of Egypt and the Levant, for spices and other merchandise of Arabia and India. Genoa, Florence, and Pisa, imitated this example, and began to acquire considerable wealth ; but Venice retained her superiority over these rival states, and gained considerable territories on the opposite coast of Illyricum and Dalmatia. 4. The maritime cities of Italy profited by the crusades, in furnishing the armies with supplies, and bringing home the produce of the east. The Italian merchants established manufactures similar to those of Constantinople. Rogero, king of Sicily, brought artisans from Athens, and established a silk manufacture at Palermo in 1130. The sugar¬ cane was planted in Sicily in the twelfth century, and thence carried to Madeira, and finally made its way to the West Indies. 5. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Italians were the only commercial people of Eu¬ rope. Venice set the first example of a national bank in 1157, which has maintained its credit to the present times. The only trade of France, Spain, and Germany, at this time, was carried on at stated fairs and markets, to which traders re¬ sorted from all quarters, paying a tax to the sove¬ reign or the lords of the territory. The more enterprising bought a privilege of exemption, by paying at once a large sum, and were thence called free traders. 6. In the middle ages, the Italian merchants, usually called Lombards, were the factors of all the Eui’opean nations, and were enticed by privi¬ leges granted by the sovereigns, to settle in France, Germany, and England. They were not only traders in commodities, but bankers, or money- dealers; but they found in this last business a severe restraint from the canon-law prohibiting the taking of interest; and hence, from the neces¬ sary privacy of their bargains, there were no bounds to exorbitant usury. The Jews, too, who were the chief dealers in money, brought disrepute on the trade of banking, and frequently suffered, on that account, the most intolerable persecution and confiscation of their fortunes. To guard against these injuries, they invented bills of exchange. 7. The Lombard merchants awakened a spirit of commerce, and gave birth to manufactures, which were generally encouraged by the sovereigns in the different kingdoms of Europe. Among the chief encouragements was the institution of corporations or monopolies, the earliest of which are traced up to the eleventh century ; a policy beneficial, and perhaps necessary where the spirit of industry is low, and manufactures are in their infancy, but of hurtful consequence where trade and manufactures are flourishing. 8. Commerce began to spread towards the north of Europe about the end of the twelfth century. The sea-ports on the Baltic traded with France and Britain, and with the Mediterranean by the staple of the Isle of Oleron, near the mouth of the Ga¬ ronne, then possessed by the English. The com¬ mercial laws of Oleron and Wisbuy (on the Baltic) regulated for many ages the trade of Europe. To protect their trade from piracy, Lubec, Hamburgh, and most of the northern sea-ports, joined in a con¬ federacy, under certain general regulations, termed the League of the Hanse-towns ; an union so benefi¬ cial in its nature, and so formidable in point of strength, as to have its alliance courted by the pre¬ dominant powers of Europe. 9. For the trade of the Hanse-towns with the southern kingdoms, Bruges on the coast of Flanders, was found a convenient entrepot, and thither the Mediterranean merchants brought the commodities of India and the Levant to exchange with the pro¬ duce and manufactures of the North. The Fle¬ mings now began to encourage trade and manufac¬ tures, which thence spread to the Brabanters ; but their growth being checked by the impolitic sove¬ reigns of those provinces, they found a more favourable field in England, which was destined thence to derive the great source of its national opulence. 10. The Britons had very early seen the import¬ ance of commerce. Bede relates that London, in 614, was frequented by foreigners for the purpose of trade ; and William of Malmesbury speaks of it in 1041, as a most populous and wealthy city. The cinque ports, Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney, and Sandwich, obtained in that age their privileges and immunities, on condition of furnishing each five ships of war. These ports are now eight in number, and send their members to parliament. 11. The woollen manufacture of England was considerable in the twelfth century. Heni’y II. in¬ corporated the weavers of London and gave them vax-ious pidvileges. By a law passed in his reign, all cloth made of foreign wool was condemned to be burnt. Scotland at this time seems to have pos¬ sessed a considei'able source of wealth, as is evident from the payment of the l’ansom of William the Lion, which was ten thousand merks, equal to one hundred thousand pounds sterling of present money. The English found it difficult to raise double that sum for the ransom of Richard I., and the Scots contributed a pi’oportion of it. The En¬ glish sovei’eigns at first drew a considerable revenue from the custom on wool exported to be manufac¬ tured abroad ; but becoming soon sensible of the benefit of encouraging its home manufactui’e, they Woollen trade introduced from Flanders. Maritime discoveries of the Portuguese MODERN HISTORY. in the fifteenth century, and their consequences. 99 invited, for that purpose, the foreign artisans and merchants to reside in England, and gave them valuable immunities. Edward III. was peculiarly attentive to trade and manufactures, as appears by the laws passed in his reign, and he was bountiful in the encouragement of foreign artisans. [In 1331 he invited the manufacturers of Flanders to settle in England, and these Flemings introduced a finer manufacture of woollen cloths than had been here¬ tofore known in England.] The succeeding reigns were not so favourable ; and during the civil wars of York and Lancaster, the spirit of trade and manufactures greatly declined ; nor was it till the accession of Henry VII. that they began once more to revive and flourish. In that interval, however, of their decay in England, commerce and the arts were encouraged in Scotland by James I. and his successors, as much as the comparatively rude and turbulent state of the kingdom would permit. The herring fishery then began to be vigorously pro¬ moted ; and the duties laid on the exportation of woollen cloth show that this manufacture was then considerable among the Scots. Glasgow began, in 1420, to acquire wealth by the fisheries, but had little or no foreign trade till after the discovery of America and the West Indies. 12. Henry VII. gave the most liberal encourage¬ ment to trade and manufactures, particularly the woollen, by inviting foreign artisans, and establishing them at Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax, &c. The navi¬ gation acts were passed in his reign, and commercial treaties were formed with the continental kingdoms, for the protection of the merchant shipping. Such was the state of commerce at the time when the Portuguese made those great discoveries which opened a new route to India, and gave a circulation to its wealth over most of the nations of Europe. 36.— DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE IN THE FIF¬ TEENTH CENTURY, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE COMMERCE OF EUROPE. 1. The polarity of the magnet had been known in Europe as early as the thirteenth century, but the compass was not used in sailing till the middle of the fourteenth ; and another century had elapsed from that period, while yet the European mariners scarcely ventured out of the sight of their coasts. The eastern ocean was little otherwise known than by name ; and the Atlantic was supposed to be a boundless expanse of sea, extending probably to the eastern shores of Asia. In the belief that the torrid zone was uninhabitable, a promontox*y on the African coast, in the 29th degree of north latitude, was termed Cape Non, as forming an impassable limit. 2. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, John I., king of Portugal, sent a few vessels to ex¬ plore the African coast ; and these doubling Cape Non proceeded to Cape Boyador, within two degrees of the northern tropic. Prince Henry, the son of John, equipped a single ship, which, being driven out to sea, landed on the island of Porto Santo. This involuntary experiment emboldened the ma¬ riners to abandon their timid mode of coasting, and launch into the open sea. In 1420, the Por¬ tuguese discovered Madeira, where they established a colony, and planted the Cyprus vine and the sugar-cane. [The Canaries were discovered 1424; and the Azores 1431.] 3. The spirit of enterprise thus awakened, Prince Henry obtained from Eugene IV. a bull granting to the Portuguese the property of all the countries they might discover between Cape Non and India. Under John II. of Portugal, the Cape Verd Islands were discovered [a.d. 1460] and colonised ; and the fleets, advancing to the coast of Guinea [and Nigri- tia], brought home gold-dust, gums, and ivory. Passing the equator, the Portuguese entered a new hemisphere, and boldly proceeded to the extremity of the continent. [Bartholomew Diaz, their admi¬ ral, was the first who doubled the stormy Cape, afterwards called, by order of John II., the Cape of Good Hope, and at last] in 1497, a fleet under Vasco de Gama [another Portuguese admiral, again] doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and sailing on¬ wards beyond the mouths of the Arabian and Per¬ sian Gulfs, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast, after a voyage of 1500 leagues, performed in thirteen months [in the third year of King Em¬ manuel, 1498]. 4. De Gama entered into an alliance with the Rajah of Calicut, a tributary of the Mogul empire, and returned to Lisbon with specimens of the wealth and produce of the country. A succeeding fleet formed settlements; and vanquishing the op¬ position of the native princes, soon achieved the conquest of all the coast of Malabar. The city of Goa, taken by storm [a.d. 1511], became the resi¬ dence of a Portuguese viceroy, and the capital of their Indian settlements. 5. The Venetians, who had hitherto engrossed the Indian trade by [theport of] Alexandria [or that of Beirout in Syria], now lost it for ever. After an ineffectual project of cutting through the isthmus of Suez, they attempted to intercept the Portuguese by their fleets stationed at the mouth of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, but were every where encountered by a superior force. The Por¬ tuguese made settlements in both the gulfs, and vigorously prosecuted their conquests on the Indian coast and sea. The rich island of Ceylon, the king¬ doms of Pegu, Siam, and Malacca, were speedily subdued, and a settlement established in Bengal. They proceeded onward to China [in 1517], hitherto scarcely known to the Europeans but by the ac¬ count of a single Venetian traveller, Marco Paolo, in the thirteenth century; and they obtained the Emperor’s permission to form a settlement at Ma¬ cao; thus opening a commerce with that immense empire, and the neighbouring islands of Japan. [a.d. 1542]. In the space of fifty years, the Por¬ tuguese were masters of the whole trade of the Indian Ocean, and sovereigns of a large extent of Asiatic territory. 6. These discoveries produced a wonderful effect on the commerce of Europe. The produce of the spice islands was computed to be worth annually two hundred thousand ducats to Lisbon. The Ve¬ netians, after every effort to destroy the trade of the Portuguese, offered to become sole purchasers of all the spice brought to Europe, but were re¬ fused. Commercial industry was roused in every quarter, and manufactures made a rapid progress. Lyons, Tours, Abbeville, Marseilles, Bourdeaux, acquired immense wealth. Antwerp and Amster¬ dam became the great marts of the north. The former owed its splendour to the decline of Bruges, which was ruined by civil commotions; and the Portuguese made Antwerp their entrepot for the H 2 r— inn Trade and commerce of England, Ger- at tj rcrpnnv Charles V. and Francis I.— Battle of IUU many, and France, in the reigns of MU-DFjxvIN lilbiUK 1 . Pavia. supply of the northern kingdoms. It continued highly flourishing till the revolt of the Netherlands, in the end of the sixteenth century, when it was taken by the Spaniards, and its port destroyed by blocking up the Scheldt. 7. The trade of Holland rose on the fall of Ant¬ werp. Amsterdam had become considerable after the decline of the Hanseatic confederacy in 1428, but rose into splendour and high commercial opu¬ lence from the destruction of Antwerp: and the United Provinces, dependent on industry alone for their support, became a model of commercial ac¬ tivity to all other nations. 8. It is not to be doubted that Britain felt the effect of that general stimulus which the Portu¬ guese discoveries gave to the trade of Europe; but other causes had a more sensible operation to that end in England. The Reformation, by suppressing the convents, and restoring many thousands to so¬ ciety, and the cutting off the papal exactions, which drained the kingdom of its wealth, the politic laws passed in the reign of Henry VIII. and the active patriotism of Elizabeth, were vigorous incentives to national industry. 9. From the time of Henry A III. to the present, the commerce and manufactures of England have been uniformly progressive. The rental of England in lands and houses did not then exceed five mil¬ lions per annum; and it is now* above eighteen millions. The unmanufactured wool of one year’s growth is supposed to be worth two millions; when manufactured, as it now is, by British hands, in¬ stead of being sent abroad as formerly for that purpose, it is worth eight millions. Above a million and a half of hands are employed in that manu¬ facture alone; half a million are employed in the manufactures of iron, steel, copper, brass, lead; the 1 linen manufactures of England, Scotland, and Ire¬ land, occupy near a million; and a number not much inferior is employed in the fisheries. It is presumable, on the whole, that nearly a fourth of the population of the united kingdom is actually employed in commerce and manufactures. 10. The vast increase of the national wealth of Britain appears chiefly, first, From the increase of population, which is supposed to be nearly five to one (at least in the large cities) since the reign of Elizabeth; secondly, From the great addition made to the cultivated lands of the kingdom, and the high improvement of agriculture since that period, whence more than quadruple the quantity of food is produced; thirdly, From the increase of the commercial shipping, at least six-fold within the same time; fourthly, From the comparative low rate of interest, which is demonstrative of the in¬ crease of wealth. The consequences of the diffu¬ sion of the commercial spirit are most important to the national welfare : From general industry arises influence, joined to a spirit of independence: and on this spirit rests the freedom of the British constitution, and all the blessings we enjoy under its protection. 37 . - GERMANY AND FRANCE IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES V. AND FRANCIS I. 1. We resume the detail of the history of Europe * The reader must correct this and the other statements in this section hy a reference to financial statistics, which are constantly varying.— Ed. 1 L at the beginning of the sixteenth century; pre¬ viously remarking, that the Germanic empire con¬ tinued for above fifty years in a state of languid tranquillity, from the time of Albert II., the suc¬ cessor of Sigismund, during the long reign of Fre¬ derick III. whose son Maximilian acquired, by his marriage with Mary duchess of Burgundy, the sovereignty of the Netherlands. Maximilian was elected emperor in 1493; and by establishing a perpetual peace between the separate Germanic states, laid the foundation of the subsequent gran¬ deur of the empire. 2. Philip, archduke of Austria, son of Maxi¬ milian, married Jane, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella ; and of that marriage the eldest son was Charles V., who succeeded to the throne of Spain in 1516, and who, on the death of his grand¬ father Maximilian, preferred his claim to the va¬ cant imperial throne. He had for his competitor Francis I. of France, who had distinguished himself by the conquest of the Milanese, and the adjust¬ ment of the contending interests of the Italian states. The German electors, afraid of the exor¬ bitant power both of Charles and of Francis, would have rejected both, and conferred the impe¬ rial crown on Frederick duke of Saxony ; but this extraordinary man declined the proffered dignity, and his counsel determined the election in favour of Charles of Austria, 1519. 3. Charles V. and Francis I. were now declared enemies, and their mutual claims on each other’s dominions w-ere the subject of perpetual hostility. The emperor claimed Artois as part of the Nether¬ lands. Francis prepared to make good his right to the two Sicilies. Charles had to defend Milan, and support his title to Navarre, which had been wrested from France by his grandfather Ferdi¬ nand. Henry VIII. of England was courted by the rival monarchs, as the weight of England was sufficient to turn the scale, where the power of each was nearly balanced. 4. The first hostile attack was made by Francis on the kingdom of Navarre, which he won and lost in the course of a few months. The emperor at¬ tacked Picardy, and his troops at the same time drove the French out of the Milanese. On the death of Leo X., Charles placed cardinal Adrian on the papal throne, 1521 ; and by the promise of elevating Wolsey, the minister of Henry VIII., to that dignity, on the death of Adrian, gained the alliance of the English monarch in his war against France. 5. At this critical time Francis imprudently quarrelled with his best general, the constable of Bourbon, who, in revenge, deserted to the emperor, and was by him invested with the chief command of his armies. The imperial generals were far superior in abilities to their opponents. The French were defeated at Biagrassa, and Charles was car¬ rying every thing before him in Italy, when Fran¬ cis entered the Milanese, and retook the capital ; but, in the subsequent battle of Pavia, his troops were entirely defeated, and the French monarch became the constable of Bourbon’s prisoner, 1525. 6. The emperor made no advantage of his good fortune. By the treaty of Madrid, Francis regained his liberty, on yielding to Charles the duchy of Burgundy, and the superiority of Flanders and Artois. He gave his two sons as hostages for the fulfilment of these conditions; but the states re- Pcbcc of Cambray. yjpi?iv ti rV Charles V. rctnes from the world. Foundation of the Jesuits. JMUl^HiixiN rllolulti. Germanic constitution. fused to ratify them, and the failure was compro¬ mised for a sum of money. 7. On a renewal of the Avar, Henry VIII. took part with France, and Charles lost an opportunity of obtaining the sovereignty of Italy. The papal army in the French interest was defeated by the constable of Bourbon, and the pope himself made prisoner ; but Bourbon was killed in the siege of Rome, and Charles allowed the pope to purchase his release. 8. After the conclusion of the peace of Cambray, 1529, Charles visited Italy, and received the impe¬ rial diadem from pope Clement VII. The Turks having invaded Hungary, the emperor marched against them in person, and compelled the sultan Solyman, with an army of 300,000 men, to evacu¬ ate the country. He soon after embarked lor Africa, to replace the dethroned Muley Hassan in the sovereignty of Tunis and Algiers, which had been usurped by Hayradin Barbarossa, and he achieved the enterprise with honour. His reputa¬ tion exceeded at this period that of all the sove¬ reigns of Europe, both for political ability, for real power, and the extent and opulence of his domi¬ nions. 9. Francis was glad to ally himself even with the Turks to cope with the Imperialists, and Bar¬ barossa invaded Italy ; but the troops of Charles prevented the co-operation of the French, and separately defeated and dispersed the allied powers, while another army of the Imperialists ravaged Champagne and Picardy. 10. In the interval of a truce, which was con¬ cluded at Nice for ten years between the rival monarchs, Charles passed through France to the Netherlands, and was entertained by Francis with the most magnificent hospitality. He had pro¬ mised to grant to the French king his favourite desire, the investiture of Milan ; but, failing to keep his word, the war was renewed with double animosity. The French and Turkish fleets at¬ tacked Nice, but were dispersed by the Genoese admiral, Andrea Doria. In Italy the French were victorious in the battle of Cerizoles, but drew no benefit from this partial advantage. The Impe¬ rialists, on the whole, had a decided superiority, and France must have been undone, had not the disorders of Germany, from the contending inte¬ rests of the Catholics and Protestants, forced the emperor to conclude the treaty of Crepi with Francis, 1544 ; who, at the same time, purchased a peace with Henry VIII., who had once more taken part with his rival. Francis died soon after, 1547 ; a prince of great spirit and abilities, and of a generous and noble mind, unfortunate only from the necessity of smuggling against a power which overmatched him both in policy and in resources. 11. A short time before this period was founded (1535) * the order of the Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola [who died 1556]. The principle of the order was implicit obedience and submission to the pope. The brethren were not confined to their cloisters, but allowed to mix with the world; and thus, by gaining the confidence of princes and statesmen, they were enabled to direct the policy of nations to the great end of establishing the su- pi’eme authority of the holy see. The wealth they • The bull of Paul III., legalizing the society, is dated 37th September, 1540 .—Ed. accumulated, the extent of their power, and the supposed consequences of their intrigues to the peace of nations, excited at length a general hos¬ tility to their order ; and the institution has re¬ cently been abolished in all the kingdoms of Europe *. 12. If Charles V. aimed at universal empire, he was ever at a distance from the object of his wishes. The formidable confederacy of the Pro¬ testants to preserve their liberties and their reli¬ gion, gave him perpetual disquiet in Germany. He never could form his dominions into a well- connected body, from the separate national inte¬ rests of the Spaniards, Flemish, and Germans ; and even the imperial states were divided by their jealousies, political and religious. The hostilities of foreign powers gave him continual annoyance. He found in Henry II., the successor of Francis, an antagonist as formidable as his father. His cares and difficulties increased as he advanced in life, and at length entirely broke the vigour of his mind. In a state of melancholy despondency, he retired from the world at the age of fifty-six, re¬ signing first the kingdom of Spain to his son Philip II., 1556, and afterwards the imperial crown in favour of his brother Ferdinand, who was elected emperor 24th February, 1558. 38.— OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 1. Previous to the reign of Maximilian I. the Germanic empire was subject to all the disorders of the feudal governments. The general diets of the states were tumultuous and indecisive, and their constant wars with each other kept the whole in anarchy and barbarism. Wenceslaus, in 1383, endeavoured to remedy these evils by the enact¬ ment of a general peace, but no effectual means were taken for securing it. Albert II. attempted to accomplish the same end, and had some success. He divided Germany into six circles, each regu¬ lated by its own diet; but the jealousies of the states prompted them constantly to hostilities, which there was no superior power sufficient to restrain. 2. At length Maximilian I. procured, in 1500, that solemn enactment which established a perpe¬ tual peace among the Germanic states, under the cogent penalty of the aggressor being treated as a common enemy. He established the imperial chamber for the settlement of all differences. The empire was divided anew into ten circles, each sending its representatives to the imperial cham¬ ber, and bound to enforce the public laws through its own territory. A regency was appointed to subsist in the intervals of the diet, composed of twenty members, over whom the emperor pre¬ sided. 3. These regulations, however wise, would pro¬ bably have failed of their end, but for the influence of the house of Austria, which has for three centu¬ ries continued to occupy the imperial throne. The ambition and policy of Charles V. would have been dangerous to the freedom of the German princes, had not the new system of preserving a balance of * The bull of Ganganelli (Clement XTV.), suppressing the order, is dated 21st July, 1773. Pope Pius VII., in 1814, revived the order ; but notwithstanding this revival, the order is virtually extinct.— Ed. 102 Germanic constitution considered. MODERN HISTORY. The reformation in Germany and Switzerland.—Luther. power in Europe made these princes find allies and protectors sufficient to traverse the emperor’s schemes of absolute dominion. He attained, how¬ ever, an authority far beyond that of any of his predecessors. The succeeding emperors imitated his policy, but without his talents, and therefore found yet stronger obstacles to their encroach¬ ments on the freedom of the states. 4. The Germanic liberties were settled for the last time by the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which fixed the emperor’s prerogatives, and the privileges of the states. The constitution of the empire is not framed for the ordinary ends of government, the prosperity and happiness of the people. It regards not the rights of the subjects, but only the independence of the several princes, and its sole object is to maintain each in the enjoy¬ ment of its sovereignty, and prevent usurpations and encroachments on each other’s territories. It has no relation to the particular government of the states, each of which has its own law's and consti¬ tution, some more free, and othei’S more despotic. 5. The general diet has the power of enacting the public laws of the empire. It consists of three colleges, the electors, the princes, and the free cities. All such public laws, and all general mea¬ sures, are the subject of the separate deliberation of the electoral college and that of the princes. When jointly approved by them, the resolution is canvassed by the college of the free cities, and if agreed to, becomes a placitum of the empire. If approved finally by the emperor, it is a conclusum or general law. If disapproved, the resolution is of no effect. Moreover, the emperor must be the proposer of all general laws. Still further, no com¬ plaint or request can be made by any of the princes to the diet without the approbation of the elector archbishop of Mentz, who may refuse it at his plea¬ sure. These constitutional defects are the more hurtful in their consequences, from the separate and often contending interests of the princes, who have all the rights of sovereignty, the power of contracting foreign alliances, and are frequently possessed of foreign dominions of far greater value than their imperial territories. 6. The Germanic constitution has, however, in some respects its advantages. The particular diets of each circle tend to unite those princes in all matters of national concern, whatever may be the discordance of their individual interests. The re¬ gulations made in those diets make up for the want of a general legislative power. Besides the cir¬ cular diets, the electors, the princes, the free cities, the catholics, and the protestants, hold their parti¬ cular diets, when their common interests require it; and these powers balance each other. Con¬ sidered, therefore, solely in the light of a league of several independent princes and states associating for their common benefit, the Germanic constitu¬ tion has many advantages, in promoting general harmony, securing the rights of its members, and preventing the weak from being oppressed by the strong *. * The Germanic constitution was first changed by the confederation of the Rhine, July 12th, 1806, a consequence of the treaty of Presburgh, signed by Francis II., then em¬ peror of Germany. This confederation was an association between Buonaparte and sixteen of the German princes (some of whom were made kings), who formed an union, of 39.— OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY AND SWIT¬ ZERLAND, AND THE REVOLUTION IN DENMARK AND SWEDEN. 1. The age of Charles Y. is the era of the refor¬ mation of religion, of the discovery of the new world, and of the highest splendour of the fine arts in Italy and the south of Europe. We shall treat in order of each of these great objects; and first, of the reformation. The voluptuous taste and the splendid projects of pope Leo X. demanding large supplies of money, he instituted through all the Christian kingdoms a sale of indulgences, or remittances from the pains of purgatory [an expedient which several of his predecessors had adopted as a means of recruiting their finances]. This traffic being abused * to the most shocking purposes, Martin Luther, an Augus¬ tine friar, took upon him to preach against it, and to inveigh with acrimony against the power which authorized it. He found many willing hearers, particularly in the electorate of Saxony, of which the prince Frederick was his friend and protector. Leo X. condemned his tenets by a papal bull, [1520], which only increased the zeal and indigna¬ tion of the preacher. In a book he published, called the Babylonish Captivity, he applied all the scriptural attributes of the whore of Babylon to the papal hierarchy, and attacked with equal force and virulence the doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, the celibacy of the priests, and the re¬ fusal of wine in the communion to the people. The book being condemned to the flames, Luther took upon him to burn the pope’s bull and the decretals at Wittemburg, 1520. 2. One of the first champions who took up the pen against Luther was Henry VITI. of England, whose book, presented to pope Leo, procured him the title now annexed to his crown of defender of the faith. The rest of Europe seemed to pay little attention to these rising controversies. Charles V., studious of the friendship of the pope, took part against Luther, and summoned him to answer for his doctrines in the diet of Worms. The reformer defended himself with great spirit, and aided by his friend the elector, made a safe escape into Saxony, where the mass was now universally abo¬ lished, the images destroyed, and the convents shut up. The friars and nuns returned to the world, and Luther took a nun for his wife. Nor did these secularized priests abuse their new freedom, for their manners were decent, and then* life exem¬ plary. which Buonaparte was protector. Francis II. thereupon (August 6th) resigned the imperial crown. After the retreat of Buonaparte from Russia, Francis II. joined the confederates against Buonaparte, and an act of confederation was signed at Vienna, a.d. 1813, consisting of the sovereigns and free towns of Germany, under the pro¬ tectorship of Austria, now known as the Germanic confede¬ ration. The principal members of the Germanic confedera¬ tion are, the emperor of Austria, the king of Prussia, the king of Denmark as grand-duke of Holstein, the king of the Netherlands as duke of Luxemburgh, the king of Hanover, the king of Bavaria, the king of Wurtemburg, the grand- dukes of Baden, of Hesse, of Brunswick, and Mecklenburgli, &c., and the free cities of Lubeck, Frankfort, Bremen, and Hamburgh.—E d. * The ostensible reason was, the completion of the basili- con of St. Peter’s at Rome.— Ed. MODERN HISTORY. Reformation in Switzerland. Zuingle. 3. Erasmus has justly censured the impolicy of the Catholic clergy in their modes of resisting and suppressing the new doctrines. They allowed them to be discussed in sermons before the people, and employed for that purpose furious and bigoted declaimers, who only increased and widened differ¬ ences. They would not yield in the most insignifi¬ cant trifle, nor acknowledge a single fault; and they persecuted with the utmost cruelty all whose opinions were not agreeable to their own standard of faith. How wise is the council of Lord Bacon ! “ There is no better way to stop the rise of new sects and schisms, than to reform abuses, compound the lesser differences, proceed mildly from the first, refrain from sanguinary persecutions, and rather to soften and win the principal leaders, by gracing and advancing them, than to enrage them by violence and bitterness.” (Bac. Mor. Ess. sect, i., ess. 12.) 4. Switzerland followed in the path of reforma¬ tion, Ulric Zuingle at [Linsiedeln, afterwards at] Zurich, preached forth the new tenets with such zeal and effect, that the whole canton were his converts, and the senate publicly abolished the mass, and purified the churches. Berne took the same measures with yet greater solemnity, after a discussion in the senate which lasted two months. Bale imitated the same example. Others of the cantons armed in defence of their faith ; and in a desperate engagement, in which the protestants were defeated, Zuingle was slain, 1531. 5. Lutheranism was now making its progress towards the north of Europe. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, were at this time governed by Chris- tiern II., the Nero of the north. The Swedes, reluctantly submitting to the yoke, were kept in awe by Troll, archbishop of Upsal, a faithful minister of the tyrant in all his schemes of oppres¬ sion and cruelty. On intelligence of a revolt, the king and his primate, armed with a bull from Pope Leo X., massacred the whole body of the nobles and senators, amidst the festivity of a banquet. Gustavus Yasa, grand-nephew of Charles Canutson, formerly king of Sweden, escaped from this car¬ nage, and concealed himself in the mines of Dale- carlia. By degrees assembling a small army, he defeated the generals of Christiern, whose cruelties at length determined the united nations to vindicate their rights, by a solemn sentence of deposition. The tyrant fled to Flanders, and Frederic, duke of Holstein, was elected sovereign of the three king¬ doms, though Sweden, adhering to her heroic deliverer, and the heir of her ancient kings, ac¬ knowledged alone the sovereignty of Gustavus Vasa, 1521. The bull of Leo X., and its bloody conse¬ quences, were sufficient to convert Sweden and Denmark to the tenets of the reformed religion. Gustavus enjoyed his sceptre many years in peace, and contributed greatly to the happiness and pros¬ perity of his kingdom. 6. As early as 1525, the States of Saxony, Brunswick, Hesse Cassel, and the cities of Stras- burgh and Frankfort, had embraced the doctrines of the Reformation. Luther had now a species of spiritual control, which he exercised by the medium of a synod of six reformers. His successful ex¬ ample gave rise to reformers of different kinds, whose doctrines were less consonant to reason or good policy. Two fanatics of Saxony, Storck and Muncer, condemned infant baptism (hence termed Protestantism.—Calvin.—Reforma¬ tion in England under Henry VI il. Anabaptists). They preached up universal equa¬ lity and freedom of religious opinion, but, with singular inconsistency, attempted to propagate their doctrines by the sword. They were defeated at Mulhausen, and Muncer died on a scaffold; but the party seemed to acquire new courage. They sur¬ prised Munster, expelled the bishop, and anointed for their king a tailor named Jack of Leyden, who defended the city with the most desperate courage, but fell at length with his party under the superior force of regular troops. The Anabaptists, thus sanguinary in their original tenets and practices, have long ago become peaceable and harmless subjects. 7. The united power of the pope and emperor found it impossible to check the progress of the Reformation. The diet of Spires proposed articles of accommodation between the Lutherans and Catholics. Fourteen cities of Germany, and seve¬ ral of the electors, protested formally against those articles ; and hence the Lutheran party acquired the name of Protestants. They presented to the assembly at Augsburg a confession of their faith, which is the standard of the protestant doctrines. [1529.] 8. The virtuous lives and conduct of the protest- ant leaders, compared with those ofsthe higher clergy among the Catholics, formed a contrast very favourable to the progress of the Reformation. The solemn manner in which the states of Switzer¬ land, and particularly Geneva, had proceeded, in calmly discussing every point of controversy, and yielding only to the force of rational conviction, attracted the respect of all Europe. John Calvin, a Frenchman, becoming a zealous convert to the new doctrines, [began to distinguish himself at Paris in 1532, but was compelled to leave that city, on account of his opinions, 1538]. He was the first who gave them a systematic form, by his institutions, and enforced their authority by the establishment of synods, consistories, and deacons. The magis¬ tracy of Geneva gave these ordinances the authority of the law ; and they were adopted by six of the Swiss cantons, by the protestants of France, and the Presbyterians of Scotland and England. The ablest advocates of Calvin will find it difficult to vindicate him from the charge of intolerance and the spirit of persecution ; but these, which are the vices or defects of the individual, attach not in the least to the doctrines of the Reformation, which are subject to the test of reason, and can derive no blem¬ ish or dishonour from the men who propagated them, or even the motives which might influence some of their earliest supports. This observation applies more particularly to the subject of the ensuing section. 40. —OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND UNDER HENRY VIII. AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 1. Wickliffe, in the middle of the fourteenth cen¬ tury, by an attack on the doctrines of transubstan- tiation, indulgences, and auricular confession, and yet more by translation of the scriptures into the vernacular tongue, had prepared the minds of the people of England for a revolution in religious opinions; but his professed followers were not nu¬ merous. The intemperate passions of Henry VII1. were the immediate cause of the Reformation in England. He had been married for eighteen years to Catharine of Spain, aunt of Charles V., by whom MODERN HISTORY. 104 Immediate causes of the reformation in England.—Persecution of Queen Mary.—Discovery of America by the Spaniards. he had three children, one of them Mary, after¬ wards queen of England; when falling in love with Anna Bullen, he solicited Clement VII. for a di¬ vorce from Catharine, on the score of her former marriage to his elder brother Arthur. The pope found himself in the painful dilemma of either af¬ fronting the emperor, or mortally offending the king of England. In hope that the king’s passion might cool, lie spun off the time by preliminaries and negotiations, but to no purpose. Henry was reso¬ lutely bent on accomplishing his wishes. The Soi’- bonneand other French Universities gave an opinion in his favour; and armed with this sanction he caused Cranmer archbishop of Canterbury to annul his marriage. The repudiated queen gave place to Anna Bullen. On this occasion Wolsey, the minister of Henry, lost the favour of his master, by opposing, as was believed, his darling measure. 2. Clement VII., from this specimen of the way¬ ward temper of Henry, resolved to keep well with the emperor, and issued his bull, condemnatory of the sentence of the archbishop of Canterbury. Henry immediately proclaimed himself head of the church of England; the parliament ratified his title, and the pope’s authority was instantly suppressed in all his dominions, 1534. He proceeded to abolish the monasteries, and confiscate their treasures and revenues, erecting out of the latter six new bishop¬ rics and a college. The immoralities of the monks were sedulously exposed, the forgery of relics, false miracles, &c. held up to the popular scorn. 3. Yet Henry, though a reformer, and pope in his own kingdom, had not renounced the religion of Rome; he was equally an enemy to the tenets of Luther and Calvin as to the pope’s jurisdiction in England. Inconstant in his affections, and a stran¬ ger to all humanity, he removed Anna Bullen from the throne to the scaffold, to gratify a new passion for Jane Seymoui’, a maid of honour, who happily died about a year after. To her succeeded Anne of Cleves, whom he divorced in nine months, to make way for Catharine Howard. She underwent the same fate with Anna Bullen, on a similar sus¬ picion of infidelity to his bed. His sixth wife, Catharine Parr, with difficulty retained her hazard¬ ous elevation, but had the good fortune to survive the tyrant. 4. On the death of Henry VIII., 1547, and the accession of his son Edward VI., the Protestant religion prevailed in England, and was favoured by the sovereign; but he died at the early age of fif¬ teen, 1553; and the sceptre passed to the hands of his sister Mary, an intolerant catholic, and most cruel persecutor of the protestants. In her reign, which was but of five years’ duration, above eight hundred miserable victims were burnt at a stake, martyrs to their religious opinions. Mai’y inherited a congenial spirit with her husband, Philip II. of Spain, whose intolerance cost him the loss of a third part of his dominions. 5. Mary was succeeded (1558) by her sister Elizabeth, the daughter of Anna Bullen, a pro- testant, and the more zealous from an abhorrence of the character of her predecessor. In her reign the religion of England became stationary. The hierarchy was established in its present form, by archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, the king being by law the head of the church. The liturgy had been settled in the reign of Edward VI. The canons are agreeable chiefly to the Lutheran tenets. Of the Reformation in Scotland, we shall after¬ wards treat under a separate section. 41.— OF THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF AMERICA. 1. Among those great events which distinguished the age of Charles V., was the conquest of Mexico by Ferdinando Cortez, and of Peru by the Pizarros. The discovery of America had preceded the first of these events about twenty-seven years; but we have postponed the mention of it till now, that the whole may be shortly treated in connexion. Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, a man of en¬ terprising spirit, having in vain solicited encourage¬ ment from his native state, from Portugal, and from England, to attempt discoveries in the western seas, applied to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, who furnished him with three small ships, ninety men, and a few thousand ducats for the charges of his voyage. After thirty-three days’ sail from the Canaries, he discovered San Salvador, and soon after the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola*; whence returning, accompanied with some of the natives, some presents in gold, and curiosities of the country, he was treated by the Spaniards with the highest honours, and soon supplied with a suitable arma¬ ment for the prosecution of his discoveries. In his second voyage he discovered the Caribbees and Jamaica. In a third voyage he descried the con¬ tinent of America, within ten degrees of the line, towards the isthmus of Panama. To this continent [a Florentine merchant] the Geographer Ameri- cus ■f, who, five years after, followed the footsteps of Columbus, had the undeserved honour of giving his name [he was accompanied by a Spanish cap¬ tain called Alfonso de Ojeda, and made several voyages to the New World after 1497, and made charts and maps of his discoveries]. 2. The inhabitants of America and its islands were a race of men quite new to the Europeans. They are of the colour of copper, and have no beard. In some quarters, as in Mexico and Peru, the Spa¬ niards found a flourishing empire, and a people polished, refined, and luxurious. In others, man was a naked savage, the member of a wandering tribe, whose sole occupation was hunting or war. The savages of the continent were characterized alike by their cruelty to their enemies, their con¬ tempt of death, and their generous affection for their friends. The inhabitants of the islands were a milder race, of gentler manners, and less hardy conformation of body and mind. The larger ani¬ mals, as the horse, the cow, were unknown in America. 3. To the inhabitants of those new discovered countries, which were believed to contain inex¬ haustible treasures, the Spaniards, under the pre¬ tence of religion and policy, conducted themselves with the most shocking inhumanity. The rack, the scourge, the fagot, were employed to convert them to Christianity. They were hunted down like wild beasts, or burnt alive in their thickets and fastnesses. Hispaniola, [or Domingo] containing three millions of inhabitants, and Cuba, containing above six hundred thousand, were, in a few years, absolutely depopulated. It was now resolved to explore the * Better known as St. Domingo.—E d. f Amerigo Vesputio, a name latinized as Americus Ves- pucius.—E d. MODERN HISTORY. Pizarro slain.—Effect of Spanish con¬ quests.—Brazilian settlements. 105 Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. Incas of Peru.—Atabalipa. continent ; and Ferdinando Cortez, with eleven ships and six hundred and seventeen men, sailed for that purpose from Cuba in 1519. Landing at Ta¬ basco, he advanced, though with a brave opposition from the natives, into the heart of the country. The state of Tlascala, after ineffectual resistance, became the ally of the Spaniards ; and, on their approach to Mexico, the terror of their name had paved the way for an easy conquest. 4. The Mexican empire, though founded little more than a century before this period, had arisen to great splendour. Its sovereign, Montezuma, re¬ ceived the invaders with the deference due to su¬ perior beings. But a short acquaintance opened the eyes of the Mexicans ; and finding nothing in the Spaniards beyond what was human, they were daring enough to attack, and put to death a few of them. The intrepid Cortez immediately marched to the palace with fifty men, and putting the em¬ peror in irons, carried him off prisoner to his camp. The astonished Mexicans submitted to every term, and agreed to redeem their sovereign by the sur- render of all the imperial treasures. 5. Velasquez, governor of Cuba, jealous of Cor¬ tez, attempted to supersede him, by dispatching a superior army to the continent; but the latter de¬ feating his troops, compelled them to join his own banners. In an attack from the Mexicans for the rescue of their sovereign, Montezuma having offered to mediate between the Mexicans and their enemies, was indignantly put to death by one of his own sub¬ jects. The whole empire, under its new sovereign, Guatimozin, was now armed against the Spaniards ; and while the plains were covered with their arch¬ ers and spearmen, the lake of Mexico was filled with armed canoes. To oppose the latter, the Spaniards built a few vessels under the walls of their city, and soon evinced their superiority on both elements to their feeble foe. The monarch was taken prisoner by the officers of Cortez, and re¬ fusing to discover his treasures, was stretched naked on burning coals. Soon after, on the discovery of a conspiracy against the Spaniards, the wretched Guatimozin, with all the princes of his blood, were executed on a gibbet. This was the last blow to the power of the Mexicans, and Cortez was now absolute master of the whole empire, 1527- 6. In the same year, 1527, Diego D’Almagro, and Francis Pizarro, with two hundred and fifty foot, sixty horse, and twelve small pieces of cannon, landed in Peru, a large and flourishing empire, go¬ verned by an ancient race of monarchs, named In¬ cas. The Inca Atabalipa receiving the Spaniards with reverence, they immediately required him to embrace the Christian faith, and surrender all his dominions to the emperor Charles V., who had ob¬ tained a gift of them from the pope. The proposal being misunderstood, or received with hesitation, Pizarro seized the monarch as his prisoner, while his troops massacred five thousand of the Peruvians on the spot. The empire was now plundered of prodigious treasures in gold and precious stones ; but Atabalipa, being suspected of concealing a part from his insatiable invaders, was solemnly tried as a criminal, and strangled at a stake. [1533.] 7. The courage of the Spaniards surpassed even their inhumanity. D’Almagro marched five hun¬ dred leagues, through continual opposition, to Cusco, and penetrated across the Cordilleras into Chili, two degrees beyond the southern tropic. He was slain in a civil war between him and his asso¬ ciate Francis Pizarro, who was soon after assassi¬ nated by the party of his rival. At this time the Spaniards discovered the inexhaustible silver mines of Potosi, which they compelled the Peruvians to work for their advantage. They are now wrought by the negroes of Africa. The native Peruvians, who are a weakly race of men, were soon almost exterminated by cruelty and intolerable labour. The humane bishop of Cliiapa remonstrated with success to Charles Y. on this subject,and the residue of this miserable people have been since treated with more indulgence. 8. The Spanish acquisitions in America belong to the crown, and not to the state : they are the ab¬ solute property of the sovereign, and regulated solely by his will. They are governed by the three viceroys of Mexico, Peru, and Terra Firm a, who exercise supreme civil and military authority over their provinces *. There are eleven courts of au¬ dience for the administration of justice, with whose judicial proceedings the viceroys cannot interfere ; and their judgments are subject to appeal to the royal council of the Indies, whose jurisdiction ex¬ tends to every department, ecclesiastical, civil, military, and commercial. A tribunal in Spain, called Casa de la Contratacion, regulates the depart¬ ure of the fleets, and their destination and equip¬ ment, under the control of the council of the Indies. 9. The gold and silver of Spanish America, though the exclusive property of the crown of Spain, has by means of wars, marriages of princes, and extension of commerce, come into general cir¬ culation, and has greatly increased the quantity of specie, and diminished the value of money over all Europe. 42.— POSSESSIONS OF THE OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONS IN AMERICA. 1. The example of the Spaniards excited a desire in the other nations of Europe to participate with them in the riches of the new world. The French, in 1557, attempted to form a settlement on the coast of Brazil, [which comprises the eastern por¬ tion of South America] where the Portuguese had already established themselves from the beginning of the century. The colony was divided by faction, and was soon utterly destroyed by the Portuguese. It is one of the richest of the American settlements, both from the produce of its soil, and its mines of gold and precious stones f. * Mexico was evacuated by the royalists on 27th Novem¬ ber, 1821, after a long series of tumults and popular commo¬ tions, which dated their origin from the dethronement of the Bourbons by Napoleon Buonaparte, in 1808. Mexico is at this time divided into the republic of Mexico (1821), the re¬ public of Guatemala or Central America (1825), and the re¬ public of Texas (1836); and each of these republics is sub¬ divided into several states or provinces. The same causes originated the South American republics, formed of the Spanish colonies in South America, who have recently de¬ clared their independence. Therefore Peru and Terra Firma now form the republics of New Grenada, Venezuela, Ecu¬ ador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, La Plata and Buenos Ayres, or the Argentine republic, Uruguay, and Paraguay.—E d. + Portugal being occupied by the French army in 1807, the royal family of Portugal transferred themselves to Brazil, whither they arrived January 1808. Brazil was made a king- MODERN HISTORY. Early painters.—Cimabue. School of Florence.—Angelo. North American settlements. Fine arts under Leo X. 2. The Spaniards were in possession of Florida, when the French attempted to colonise it in 1564, but without success. The French then established a settlement in Canada, and founded Quebec in 1608 ; but the colony was perpetually subject to attack from the English. In 1629 the French had not a foot of territory in America. Canada has been repeatedly taken by the English, and restored by different treaties to the French; but it has now for many years been permanently a British settle¬ ment. The French drew their greatest advantages from the Islands of St. Domingo, Guadaloupe, and Martinico. From their continental possessions of Louisiana, and the settlements on the Mississippi, which they have now lost, they never derived any solid benefit. 3. The Dutch have no other settlement on the continent of America but Surinam, a part of Guiana; and in the West Indies, the islands of Curassoa and St. Eustatius. The Danes possess the incon¬ siderable islands of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. 4. The British have extensive settlements on the continent of America and the West India islands. England derived her right to her settlements in North America from the first discovery of the country by Sebastian Cabot in 1499, a few years after the discovery of South America by Columbus; but there were no attempts to colonise any part of the country till about a century afterwards, when Sir Walter Raleigh planted the colony of Virginia, so named in honour of his queen. Nova Scotia was planted under James I., and New England in the reign of Charles I., cliiefly by the refugee puritans. New York and Pennsylvania were in the hands of the Dutch, till conquered by the Eng¬ lish in the reign of Charles II., who granted a gift of the latter province, with a charter of privileges, to William Penn the Quaker. Maryland was colonised in the time of Charles I. by English catholics. The Carolinas were settled in the reign of Charles II. Georgia was not colonised till the reign of George II. The Floridas were ceded to Britain by Spain at the peace of 1763, [and ulti¬ mately by the British to the United States in 1819 for five millions of dollars, payable to those subjects of their republic who had claims on the Spanish government]. 5. The British American colonies, under which name we include the United States, are greatly in¬ ferior in natural riches to those of the Spaniards, as they produce neither silver nor gold, indigo nor cochineal; but they are in general of fertile soil, and highly improved by industry, and they afford a most profitable market for home manufactures. The pi’oduce of the West India islands, Jamaica, Barbadoes, St. Christopher’s, Antigua, the Gra- nadas, &c. in sugar, cotton, tobacco, &c., is of very great value to the mother country 43.— OF THE STATE OF THE FINE ARTS IN EUROPE IN THE AGE OF LEO X. 1. In enumerating those great objects which characterized the end of the fifteenth and begin- dom by John VI. in 1815, and he returned to Portugal in 1821, leaving his son Don Pedro as regent. In 1822 Brazil was declared independent, and Don Pedro was crowned em¬ peror of Brazil. He abdicated in favour of his son, Don Pedro II., born 1825, under whom a constitutional monarchy exists.—E d. ning of the sixteenth century, we remarked the high advancement to which the fine arts attained in Europe in the age of Leo X. The strong bent which the human mind seems to take in certain periods to one class of pursuits in preference to all others, as in that age to the fine arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, may be in part ac¬ counted for from moral causes, such as the peace¬ ful state of a country, the genius or taste of its sovereigns, and their liberal encouragement of those arts; the general emulation that arises where one or two artists are of confessed eminence, and the aid which they derive from the studies and works of each other. These causes have doubtless great influence, but do not seem entirely sufficient to account for the phenomenon. The operation of such causes must be slow and gradual. In the case of the fine arts, the transition from obscurity to splendour was rapid and instantaneous. From the contemptible mediocrity in which they had re¬ mained for ages, they rose at one step to the high¬ est pitch of excellence. 2. The arts of painting and sculpture were buried in the West under the ruins of the Roman empire. They gradually declined in the latter ages, as we may perceive by the series of the coins of the lower empire. The Ostrogoths, instead of destroy¬ ing, sought to preserve the monuments of taste and genius. They were even the inventors of some of the arts dependent on design, as the composition of Mosaic. But, in the middle ages, those arts were at a very low ebb in Europe. They began, however, to revive a little about the end of the thirteenth century. Cimabue, a Florentine [born 1240], from the sight of the paintings of some Greek artists in one of the churches, began to attempt similar performances [in oil painting], and soon excelled his models. His scholars were, Ghi- otto, Gaddi, Tasi, Cavallini, and Stephano Fioren- tino ; and these formed an academy at Florence in 1350. 3. The works of these early painters, with some fidelity of imitation, had not a spark of grace or elegance; and such continued to be the state of the art till towards the end of the fifteenth century, when it arose at once to the summit of perfection. Raphael painted at first in the hard manner of his master Perugino, but soon deserted it, and struck at once into the noble, elegant, and graceful; in short the imitation of the antique. This change was the result of genius alone. The ancient sculp¬ tures were familiar to the early painters, but they had looked on them with cold indifference. They were now surveyed by other eyes. Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, were animated by the same genius that formed the Grecian Apelles, Zeuxis, Glycon, Phid'ias, and Praxit'eles. 4. Nor was Italy alone thus distinguished. Ger¬ many, Flanders, and Switzerland, produced in the same age artists of consummate merit. Before the notice of these, we shall briefly characterize the schools of Italy. 5. First in order is the school of Florence, of which the most eminent master was Michael An¬ gelo, born in 1474. His works are characterized by a profound knowledge of the anatomy of the human figure, perhaps chiefly formed on the con¬ templation of the ancient sculptures. His paintings exhibit the grand, the sublime and terrible ; but I Roman school: Raphael.—School of Lombardy: Ti/mnTTTJAr TTTQTm?V Sculpture and architecture.—Engraving 1n - Titian.—Roman and Flemish schools. lYlUJJrjxviN riiolUxvx. on copper,in mezzotinto.--The Turks. lie drew not from the antique its simple grace and beauty. 6. The Roman school was founded by Raphael d’Urbino, born 1483. This great painter united almost every excellence of the art. In invention, grace, majestic simplicity, forcible expression of the passions, he stands unrivalled, and far beyond all competition. He has borrowed liberally, but without servility, from the antique. 7. Of the school of Lombardy, or the Venetian, the most eminent artists were, Titian, Giorgione, Corregio, and Parmeggiano. Titian is most eminent in portrait, and in the painting of female beauty. Such is the truth of his colouring, that his figures are nature itself. It was the testimony of Michael Angelo to the merits of Titian, that, if he had studied at Rome or Florence amidst the master- pieces of antiquity, he would have eclipsed all the painters in the world. Giorgione, with similar merits, was cut off in the flower of his youth. Titian lived to the age of an hundred. Corregio was superior in colouring and knowledge of light and shade, to all that have preceded or followed him. This knowledge was the result of study; in other painters those effects are frequently acci¬ dental, as we observe they are not uniform. Par¬ meggiano imitated the graceful manner of Raphael, but carried it to a degree of affectation. 8. Such were the three original Italian schools. The character of the Florentine is grandeur and sublimity, with great excellence of design, but a want of grace, of skill in colouring, and effect of light and shade. The character of the Roman is equal excellence of design, a grandeur tempered with moderation and simplicity, a high degree of grace and elegance, and a superior knowledge, though not an excellence in colouring. The cha- l’acter of the Venetian is the perfection of colour¬ ing, and the utmost force of light and shade, with an inferiority in every other particular. 9. To the school of Raphael succeeded the se¬ cond Roman school, or that of the Caraccis, three brothers, of whom Annibal was the most excellent. His scholai’s were Guercino, Albano, Lanfranc, Domenichino, and Guido. Of these, though all eminent painters, the first and last were the most excellent. The elegant contours of Guercino, and the strength, sweetness, and majesty of Guido, are the admiration of all true judges of painting. 10. In the same age, the Flemish school, though of a quite diffei’ent character, and inferior to the Italian, shone with great lustre. Oil painting was invented by the Flemings in the fifteenth century: and, in that age, Heemskirk, Franse Floris, Quin- tin Matsys, and the German Albert Durer, were deservedly distinguished. Of the Flemish school, Rubens, though a painter of a much later age, is the chief ornament. His figures, though too cor¬ pulent, are drawn with great truth and nature, and lie possesses inexhaustible invention, and great skill in the expression of the passions. Switzerland produced Hans Holbein, a painter of great emi¬ nence in portrait, and remarkable for truth of co¬ louring. Of his works, from his residence at the court of Henry VIII., there are more specimens in Britain than those of any other foreign painter. Holland had likewise its painters, whose chief merit was the faithful representation of vulgar nature, and perfect knowledge of the mechanism of the art, the power of colours, and the effect of light and shade. 11. With the art of painting, sculpture and archi¬ tecture were likewise revived in the same age, and brought to high perfection. The universal genius of Michael Angelo shone equally conspicuous in all the three departments. His statue of Bacchus was judged by Raphael to be the work of Phid'ias or Praxit'eles. The Grecian architecture was first revived by the Florentines in the fourteenth cen¬ tury; and the cathedral of Pisa was constructed partly from the materials of an ancient Greek temple. The art arrived at high perfection in the age of Leo X., when the church of St. Peter at Rome, under the direction of Bramante, San Gallo, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, exhibited the noblest specimen of architecture in the universe. 12. The invention of the art of engraving on copper by Tomaso Finiguerra, a goldsmith of Flo¬ rence, is dated 1460*. From Italy it travelled into Flanders, where it was first practised by Mar¬ tin Schoen of Antwerp. His scholar was the ce¬ lebrated Albert Durer, who engraved with excellence both on copper and on wood. Etching on copper by means of aquafortis, which gives more ease than the stroke of the graver, was discovered by Par¬ meggiano, who executed in that manner his own beautiful designs. No art underwent in its early stages so rapid an improvement as that of en¬ graving. In the course of one hundred and fifty years from its invention, it attained nearly to its perfection; for there has been but little proportional improvement in the last century, since the days of Audran, Poilly, and Edelinck. 13. The art of engraving in mezzotinto is of much later date than the ordinary mode of engraving on copper. It was the invention of prince Rupert about 1650. It is characterized by a softness equal to that of the pencil, and a happy blending of light and shade, and is therefore peculiarly adapted to portrait, where those requisites are most essential. 14. The age of Leo X. was likewise an era of very high literary splendour; but of the distin¬ guished writers of that period we shall afterwards treat, in a connected view of the progress of litera¬ ture and the sciences during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 44.— OF THE OTTOMAN POWER IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 1. From the period of the taking of Constanti¬ nople, in the middle of the fifteenth century, the Turks were a great and conquering people. In the sixteenth century, Selim I. after subduing Syria and Mesopotamia, undertook the conquest of Egypt, then governed by the Mamalukes, a race of Circassians, who had seized the country in 1250, and put an end to the government of the Arabian princes, the posterity of Saladin. The conquest of Egypt by Selim made little change in the form of its government. It professes to own the sovereignty of the Turks, but is in reality governed still by the Mamaluke Beysf. 2. Solyman (the Magnificent), son of Selim, was, like his predecessors, a great conqueror. The island of Rhodes, possessed by the knights of St. John, * This seems doubtful, as plates are to be found in the European cabinets of so early a date as 1440. —Ed. t Or rather by their own pashas or governors.—E d. 108 Expulsion of knights of Rhodes.—Persia and Asiatic kingdoms in the sixteenth MODERN HISTORY. was a darling object of his ambition. These knights had expelled the Saracens from the island in 1310. Solyman attacked Rhodes with one hundred and forty thousand men and four hundred ships. The Rhodian knights, aided by the English, Italians, and Spaniards, made a noble defence; but, after a siege of many months, were forced to capitulate, and evacuate the island, 1522, which has been the property of the Turks ever since. The commercial laws of the ancient Rhodians were adopted by the Romans [except when opposed to the common law of the country], and are at this day [with the laws of Oleron, the laws of Wisbuy, and other maritime laws] the foundation of the maritime jurisprudence of all the nations of Europe [being received as the general law for deciding all maritime causes in aid of the common law of each country]. 3. Solyman subdued the greatest part of Hun¬ gary, Moldavia, and Walachia, and took from the Persians Georgia and Bagdat. His son Selim II. took Cyprus from the Venetians in 1571. They applied to the pope for aid, who, together with Philip II. of Spain, entered into a triple alliance against the Ottoman power. An armament of two hundred and fifty ships of war, commanded by Philip’s natural brother, Don John of Austria, was opposed to two hundred and fifty Turkish gal¬ leys in the gulph of Lepanto, near Corinth; and the Turks were defeated, with the loss of one hun¬ dred and fifty ships, and fifteen thousand men, 1571. This great victory was soon after followed by the taking of Tunis by the same commander. 4. But these successes were of little consequence. The Ottoman power continued extremely formid¬ able. Under Amurath II. the Turks made en¬ croachments on Hungary, and subdued a part of Persia. Mahomet III., though a barbarian in his private character, supported the dignity of the empire, and extended its dominions. The Ottoman power declined from his time, and yielded to that of the Persians under Schah-Abbas the Great, who wrested from the Turks a large part of their late- acquired dominions. 45.— STATE OF PERSIA AND THE OTHER ASIATIC KINGDOMS IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 1. The great empire of Persia, in the end of the fifteenth century, underwent a re volution on account of religion. Haydar, or Sophi, a religious enthu¬ siast, established a new sect of Mahometans, which held Ali to be the successor of Mahomet instead of Omar, and abolished the pilgrimages to Mecca. The Persians eagerly embraced a doctrine which distinguished them from their enemies the Turks; and Ismael, the son of Sophi, following the example of Mahomet, enforced his opinions by the sword. He subdued all Persia and Armenia, and left this vast empire to his descendants. 2. Schah-Abbas, surnamed the Great, was the great-grandson of Ismael Sophi. He ruled his empire with despotic sway, but with most able policy. He regained the provinces which had been taken by the Turks, and drove the Portuguese from their settlement of Orcnuz. He rebuilt the fallen cities of Persia, and contributed greatly to the introduction of arts and civilization. His son Schah-Sesi reigned weakly and unfortunately. In his time, Schah-Gean, the Great Mogul, deprived and seventeenth centuries.—Tartary. —Thibet.—History of India. Persia of Candahar, and the Turks took Bagdat in 1638. From that period the Persian monarchy gradually declined. Its sovereigns became the most despicable slaves to their own ministers ; and a revolution in the beginning of the eighteenth century put an end to the dynasty of the Sophis, and gave the throne to the Afghan princes, a race of Tartars. 3. The government of Persia is almost as de¬ spotic as that of Turkey. The sovereign draws a small yearly tax from every subject, and receives likewise stated gifts on particular occasions. The crown is hereditary, with the exclusion of females ; but the sons of a daughter succeed in their room. There is no other rank in Persia than that annexed to office, which is held during the monarch’s plea¬ sure. The national religion is the Mahometan, as reformed by Sophi. The sect of the Guebres pre¬ serve the religion of Zoroaster, as contained in the Zendavesta and Sadder, (see supra, part 1, sect. XI.) and keep alive the sacred fire. 4. The poetry of the Persians displays great fancy and luxuriance of imagery. The epic poet Fir- dousi is said to rival the various merits of Homer and Ariosto ; and the writings of Sadi and Hafez, both in prose and poetry, are admired by all who are conversant in oriental literature. 5. Tartary .—From this vast tract of country sprang those conquerors who produced all the great revolutions in Asia. The Turks, a race of Tartars, overwhelmed the empire of the Kaliphs. Mah¬ moud, a Tartar, conquered Persia and great part of India in the tenth century. The Tartar Gen- giscan subdued India, China, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Batoucan, one of his sons, ravaged to the frontiers of Germany. Tamerlane, the scourge of the Turks, and conqueror of a great part of Asia, was of the race of Gengiscan. Babar, great-grandson of Ta¬ merlane, subdued all between Samarcand and Agra in the empire of the Mogul. The descendants of those conquerors reign in India, Persia and China; but Tartary itself is no more than a vast desert, inhabited by wandering tribes, who follow the life of the ancient Scythians. 6. Thibet .—This southern part of Tartary exhibits the phenomenon of a kingdom governed by a living god, the Dalai Lama, or Great Lama, whose divi¬ nity is acknowledged not only by his own subjects, but over China and a part of India. This god is a young man whom the priests educate and train to his function, and in whose name they in reality go¬ vern the kingdom. 46. —HISTORY OF INDIA. 1. The earliest accounts of this great tract of civilized country are those of Herodotus, who lived about a century before Alexander the Great ; and it is remarkable that the character given of the people by that early writer corresponds perfectly with that of the modern Hindoos. He had proba¬ bly taken his accounts from Scylax of Caryanda, whom Darius Hystaspes had sent to explore the country. But it was not till the age of Alexander that the Greeks had any particular knowledge of that extraordinary people. Alexander penetrated into the Panjab, where his troops refusing to pro¬ ceed, he embarked on the Hydaspes, which runs hito the Indus, and thence pursued his course for Mahometans in India.—Mogul empire. Bengal.—East India Company. MODERN HISTORY. Ancient state of India. ... ( . Manners and customs of the Hindoos. above one thousand miles to the ocean. The nar¬ rative given by Arrian of this expedition was taken from the mouths of Alexander’s officers ; and its particulars tally yet more remarkably than those of Herodotus with the modern manners of the Hindoos. 2. India was visited by Seleucus, to whose share it fell in the partition of Alexander’s empire ; and Antiochus the Great, two hundred years afterwards, made a short expedition thither. It is probable too that some small intercourse subsisted between the Greek empire of Bactriana and India; but, till the fifteenth century, no European power i thought of forming any establishment in that coun- j try ; though, from the age of Alexander down to the period of the Portuguese discoveries, there had constantly been some commercial intercourse between Europe and India, both by sea and across the desert. 3. The Mahometans, as early as a.d. 1000, had i begun to establish an empire in India. Mahmoud, | a Tartar, conquered a great part of the country, and established his capital at Ghazna, near the sources of the Indus, extirpating, wherever he came, the Hindoo religion, and establishing the Mahometan in its stead. Mohammed Gori, in 1194, penetrated to Benares, and one of his suc¬ cessors fixed the seat of his empire at Delhi, which has continued to be the capital of the Mogul princes. The sovereignty founded by Mahmoud was overwhelmed in 1222 by Gengiskan, as was his em¬ pire in the following century by Tamerlane, whose posterity are at this day on the throne of the Mo¬ gul empire. 4. The Mogul empire was, even in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the most powerful and flourishing of all the Asiatic monarchies, under Aurengzebe, the son of Schah-Gean, who, though a monster of cruelty, and most despotic tyrant, enjoyed a life prolonged to an hundred years, crowned with uninterrupted prosperity and success. He extended his empire over the whole peninsula of India within the Ganges. 5. The dominion of the Mogul was not absolute over all the countries which composed his empire. Tamerlane allowed the petty princes, rajahs or nabobs, to retain their territories, of which their descendants are at this day in possession. They paid a tribute to the great mogul, as an acknow¬ ledgment of his sovereignty, and observed the treaties agreed to by their ancestors ; but they were in other respects independent princes. 6. Bengal became a part of the Mogul’s empire by conquest in the end of the sixteenth century, and was commonly governed by a son of the Great Mogul, who had under him several inferior nabobs, the former princes of the country. Such was its condition when the British East India Company, between 1751 and 1760, conquered and obtained possession of that kingdom, together with Bahar and part of Orissa, a large, populous, and most flourishing country, containing above ten millions of inhabitants, and producing an immense reve¬ nue ; and these territories have since that period received a considerable addition *. The East India * It had long been a matter of consideration, upon con¬ stitutional points, whether the East India Company was warranted in retaining its territorial acquisitions, as the crown has a claim to the conquests made by its subjects; Company thence has the benefit of the whole com¬ merce of the Mogul empire, with Arabia, Persia, and Thibet, as well as with the kingdoms of Azem, Aracan, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, China, and many of the oriental islands. The fixed establishments of the British in the country of Hindustan have afforded opportunity of obtaining much instructive knowledge relative to the ancient state of that country, of which we shall give a short sketch in the following section. 47.— ANCIENT STATE OF INDIA ; MANNERS, LAWS, ARTS AND SCIENCES, AND RELIGION OF THE HIN¬ DOOS. 1. The remains of the ancient knowledge of the Hindoos have been preserved by an hereditary priesthood, in the Sanscrit language, long since extinct, and only known to a few of the Bramins. The zeal of some learned Europeans has lately opened that source of information, whence we learn the most interesting particulars of this extraordi¬ nary people, perhaps the most early cultivators of the sciences, and the instructors of all the nations of antiquity. We shall briefly notice their singu¬ lar division into castes, their civil policy, their laws, their progress in the arts and sciences, and their religion. 2. The whole body of the people was divided into four orders or castes. The highest, that of the Bramins, was devoted to religion and the cultiva¬ tion of the sciences ; to the second belonged the preservation of the state ; they were its sovereigns and its magistrates in peace, and its soldiers in war : the third were the husbandmen and mer¬ chants : and the fourth the artisans, labourers, and servants. These are inseparable distinctions, and descend from generation to generation. More¬ over, the individuals of each class follow invariably the professions of their forefathers. Every man, from his birth, knows the function allotted to him, and fulfils with ease and satisfaction the duty which he cannot avoid. Hence arises that permanence of manners and institutions which so singularly characterizes this ancient nation. 3. This classification is an artificial arrange¬ ment, which could have originated only from the mind of a legislator among a polished people, com¬ pletely obedient to government. It is, therefore, a proof of the highly civilized state of the Hindoo nation in the most remote periods of antiquity. [Such a system was not uncommon in antiquity, and it prevailed in Persia and Egypt. In these countries, however, it generally died away, but in India it has been carried far beyond the extent contemplated in the original system.] 4. The civil policy of the Hindoos is another proof of the same fact. At the time of Alexander the Great, India was divided into large and power¬ ful kingdoms, governed by sovereigns whose domi¬ nion was not absolute, but controlled by the supe¬ rior authority of the Bramins. A system of feu- and the charters granted from time to time to the East India Company only secured the right of exclusive trade, in itself against the common law, as a monopoly, and therefore con¬ firmed by parliament. However, on the last expiration of the East India Company’s charter, in 1833, the commerce with India and China was thrown open, and the company retains only the political government of Hindostan till 1853. —Ed. MODERN HISTORY. . Jurisprudence of Hindostan. 1U Ancient monuments there. ■ dalism * lias ever prevailed in India ; the rights to lands flow from the sovereign, to whom a cei’- tain duty is payable by the class of the husband¬ men, who transmit their possessions to their chil¬ dren under the same tenure. Strabo and Diodorus remarked among the Indians three classes of officers ; one whose department was the regulation of agriculture, tanks, highways ; another which superintend the police of the cities ; a third which regulated the military department. The same policy prevails at this day under the Hindoo princes. 5. The jurisprudence of Hindostan is an addi¬ tional proof of great antiquity and civilization. The Ayen-Akbery, and still more the compilation of Hindoo laws from the ancient Sanscrit records, made by order of Mr. Hastings, contain the juris¬ prudence of a refined and commercial people, among whom law itself had been a study and pro¬ fession. 6. Many monuments exist in India of the ad¬ vanced state of the useful and elegant arts in the remotest periods of antiquity. The ancient pago¬ das, of vast extent and magnificence, whether cut in the solid rock, as in Elephanta and Salsette, or in the open air, as at Chillambrum and Seringham, the sumptuous residences of the Bramins ; and the ancient hill fortresses, constructed with prodigious strength and solidity, evince a great advancement in the arts : as the resort of the most polished na¬ tions of antiquity to that country for cotton cloths, fine linen, and works in metal and in ivory, proves the superior state of those manufactures to all known at that time in Europe. 7. The late translations from the Sanscrit, of several ingenious compositions of high antiquity, as the dramatic piece Sacontala, the Hitopadesa , a series of moral apologues and fables, the Mahaba- rat, an epic poem, composed above two thousand years befoi’e the Christian era, all concur in proof of a similar advancement in literature ; and we have reason to believe, from such works as are of a philosophical nature, that there is scarce a tenet of the Greek philosophy that has not been antece¬ dently the subject of discussion among the Bramins of India. 8. The numeral ciphers, first introduced into Europe by the Arabians, were, as confessed by those authors themselves, borrowed from the Indians +. It is above a century since the French philosophers evinced, by the evidence of a Siamese manuscript, containing tables for calculating the places of the heavenly bodies, the astonishing ad¬ vancement made by this ancient people in the science of astronomy. A set of tables, obtained lately from the Bramins by M. Gentil, goes back to an era, termed Calyougham, commencing 3102 years * It has been before remarked, that a mere tenancy or hold¬ ing, even though it be hereditary, does not create feudality, ■which requires certain incidents visible only in those coun¬ tries which have been subjected to the feudal system. See antea, p. 68, col. 2, note. —Ed. t The earliest instance of Arabic numerals being used in England is in the year 1282. Arabic figures or notation, then called algorism, were known in Castile long before as well as in England. Notwithstanding this, they do not ap¬ pear to have been in common use for the purposes of ac¬ counts till the end of the sixteenth century, and even then not very frequently. Their use previously had been con¬ fined to the mathematics or similar purposes.— Ed. Bramins.—China and Japan. Japan discovered by the Portuguese. before the birth of Christ. These tables are used by the modern Bramins, who are quite ignorant of the principles on which they have been constructed, and which M. Bailly has shown to be the same em¬ ployed by the moderns, but with which the Greeks and Chaldeans were utterly unacquainted. 9. Lastly, from the religious opinions and wor¬ ship of the Hindoos, we must draw the same con¬ clusion as from all the preceding facts. One uni¬ form system of superstition pervades every religion of India, which is supported by the most sagacious policy, and every thing that can excite the venera¬ tion of its votaries. The Bramins, elevated above every other class of men, and exclusively ac¬ quainted with the mysteries of that religion, which it is held impious for any other class to attempt to penetrate ; the implicit reliance on the authority of these Bramins; the ceremonies of their worship, fitted to impress the imagination, and affect the passions; all concurred to fortify this potent superstition, and to give its priests a supreme ascendency over the minds of the people. But those priests themselves, enlightened as they were, rejected that false the¬ ology. Their writings demonstrate that they entertained the most rational and elevated concep¬ tions with regard to the Supreme Being, and the support of the universe. 10. On the whole, there is a high probability that India was the great school from which the most early polished nations of Europe derived their knowledge of the arts, of sciences, and of literature. 48.— OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 1. Proceeding eastward in the survey of the Asiatic continent, the great empire of China next solicits our attention. In the end of the tenth century, China, Persia, and the greatest part of India, were ruled by the Tartar descendants of Gengiskan. The Tartar family of Yven, who con¬ quered China, made no change in its laws and system of government, which had been permanent from time immemorial. Of this family there reigned nine successive monarchs, without any attempt by the Chinese to throw off* the Tartar yoke. The odious and contemptible character of the last of these sovereigns at length excited a rebellion, which, in 1357, drove the Tartars from the throne; and the Chinese, for two hundred and seventy-six years, obeyed their native princes. At that period, a second revolution gave the throne once more to the Tartars. Taking advantage of an insurrection in one of the provinces, they invaded China in 1641, and made an easy conquest. The emperor shut himself up in his palace, and, after putting to death all his family, finished the scene by hanging himself. The same Tartars occupy the throne of China at this day, and observe the same wise policy of maintaining inviolate the Chinese laws, policy, and manners. Of these we shall give a brief account in the subsequent section. 2. The empire of Japan was discovered by the Portuguese about the middle of the sixteenth cen¬ tury. The open and unsuspicious character of this industrious and polished people, led them to encou¬ rage the resort of foreigners to their ports; and the Spaniards, after they had obtained the sovereignty of Portugal, carried on a most beneficial trade to the coasts of Japan. The emperor zealously pro¬ moted this intercourse, till the insatiable ambition Spaniards and Portuguese expelled from Japan. ■vr/'\rn?P'\T titqtoTIV Manners and customs. China, its antiquity.—Sciences and Laws. MUU-cjxvIN xilolUlvx. Sciences in China stationary. of the Spaniards gave him alarming conviction of its danger. Under the pretence of converting the Japanese from idolatry, a vast number of priests were sent into the country, and one half of the people were speedily set at mortal variance with the other. It now became necessary to prohibit this work of conversion by an imperial edict. Still, however, a free trade was allowed, till 1637. when a conspiracy of the Spaniards was discovered for dethroning the emperor, and seizing the government. An edict was issued for the expulsion of all the Spaniards and Portuguese, who were mad enough to resist, till overpowered by force of arms. Since that period all the European nations have been excluded from the ports of Japan. The Dutch only, who had been the discoverers of the conspiracy of the Spaniards, are allowed the privilege of landing on one of the small islands, for the purposes of trade, after making oath that they are not of the Portu¬ guese religion. 49.— OF THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. STATE OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, LAWS. 1. The antiquity of this vast empire, and the state of its government, laws, manners, and attainments in the arts and sciences, have furnished a most ample field of controversy. Voltaire, Raynal, and other writers of similar principles, have, for the purpose of discrediting the scriptural account of the origin of mankind, and the received notions of the age of the universe, given to the Chinese empire an immense antiquity, and a character of such high civilization and knowledge of the sciences and arts at that remote period, as to be utterly irreconcilable with the state and progress of man, as described in the books of Moses. On the other hand, it is pro¬ bable that the desire of invalidating those opinions has induced other writers of ability to go to an opposite extreme : to undervalue this singular people, and to give too little weight to any accounts which we have, either of the duration of their em¬ pire, the economy of their government and police, or of their attainments in the arts and sciences. Amidst this contrariety of sentiments, we shall endeavour to form such opinion as appears most consonant to the truth. 2. The panegyrists of the Chinese assert that their empire has subsisted above four thousand years, without any material alteration in its laws, manners, language, or even fashion of dress ; in evidence of which they appeal to a series of eclipses, marking contemporary events, all accurately calcu¬ lated, for two thousand one hundred and fifty-five years before the birth of Christ. As it is easy to calculate eclipses backwards from the present day to any given period of time, it is thus possible to give to a history, fictitious from beginning to end, its chronology of real eclipses. This proof, there¬ fore, amounts to nothing, unless it were likewise proved that all those eclipses were actually recorded at the time when they happened ; but this neither has been nor can be done ; for it is an allowed fact that there are no regular historical records be¬ yond the third century before the Christian era. The present Chinese are utterly ignorant of the motions of the celestial bodies, and cannot calculate eclipses. The series mentioned has therefore in all probability been calculated by some of the Jesuits, to ingratiate themselves with the emperors, and flatter the national vanity. The Jesuits have pre¬ sided in the tribunal of mathematics for above two hundred years. 3. But if the authentic annals of this empire go back even to the third century before Christ, and record at that time a high state of civilization, we must allow that the Chinese are an ancient and early polished people, and that they have possessed a singular constancy in their government, laws, and manners. Sir William Jones, no bigoted en¬ comiast of this people, allows their great antiquity and early civilization, and, with much apparent probability, traces their origin from the Hindoos. He appeals to the ancient Sanscrit records, which mention a migration from India of certain of the military class termed Chinas to the countries east from Bengal. The stationary condition of the arts and sciences in China proves that these have not originated with that people ; and many peculiarities of the manners, institutions, and popular religion of the Chinese have a near affinity with those of the Hindoos. 4. The government of China is that of an abso¬ lute monarchy. The patriarchal system pervades the whole, and binds all the members of this vast empire in the strictest subordination. Every father is absolute in his family, and may inflict any punish¬ ment short of death upon his children. The man¬ darin of the district is absolute with the power of life and death over all its members ; but a capital sentence cannot be inflicted without the emperor’s approbation. The emperor’s power is absolute over all the mandarins, and every subject of the empire. To reconcile the people to this despotic authority, the sovereign alone is entitled to relieve the wants of the poor, and to compensate public calamities, as well as the misfortunes of individuals. He is therefore regarded as the father of his people, and even adored as a benevolent divinity. 5. Another circumstance which conciliates the people to their government is, that all honours in China are conferred according to merit, and that chiefly literary. The civil mandarins, who are the magistrates and judges, are appointed to office ac¬ cording to their measure of knowledge and mental endowments. No office or rank is hereditary, but may be aspired to by the meanest of the people. The penal laws of China are remarkably severe, but their execution may be remitted by the emperor. The judicial tribunals are regulated by a body of written laws of great antiquity, and founded on the basis of universal justice and equity. The empe¬ ror’s opinion rarely differs from the sentences of those courts. One tribunal judges of the qualifica¬ tions of the mandarins ; another regulates the morals of the people, and the national manners ; a third is the tribunal of censors, which reviews the laws, the conduct of the magistrates and judges, and even that of the emperor himself. These tri¬ bunals are filled by an equal number of Chinese and Tartars. 6. It has been observed, that the sciences have been stationary in this empire for many ages ; and they are at this day extremely low, though far be¬ yond the attainments of a barbarous people. The language of China seems to oppose the prosecution of speculative researches. It has no l’egular in¬ flexions, and can with difficulty express abstract ideas. We have remarked the ignorance of the Chinese ignorant in mathematics and phy- UTCTORV powder. — Religion of the Chinese. — Bailly’s H- 1 sics, but yet inventors of glass and gun- l'iCHJilixvIN xllolUxtx. theory of the origin of sciences in Asia. Chinese in mathematics and astronomy. Of physics they have no acquaintance beyond the knowledge of apparent facts. They never ascend to principles or form theories. Their knowledge of medicine is extremely limited, and is blended with the most contemptible superstition. Of anatomy they know next to nothing ; and in surgery they have never ventured to amputate a limb, or to reduce a fracture. 7. The state of the useful and elegant arts has been equally stationary as that of the sciences. They have attained many ages ago to a certain point of advancement, which they have never gone be¬ yond. The Chinese are said to have manufactured glass for two thousand years, yet at this day it is in¬ ferior in transparency to the European, and is not used in their windows. Gunpowder they are re¬ ported to have known from time immemorial, but they never employed it in artillery or fire-arms till taught by the Europeans. Printing they are said to have invented in the age of Julius Caesar ; yet they know not the use of moveable types, but print from blocks of wood. When first shown the use of the compass in sailing, they affirmed that they were well acquainted with it, but found no occasion to employ it. The art of painting in China is mere mechanical imitation, without grace, expression, or even accuracy of proportions. Of the rules of per¬ spective they have not the smallest idea. In sculp¬ ture, as in the figures of their idols, the Chinese artists seem to delight in distortion and deformity. Their music is not regulated by any principles of science : they have no semi-tones ; and their instil¬ ments are imperfect and untunable. The Chinese architecture has variety, lightness, and sometimes elegance, but has no grandeur or symmetrical beauty. 8. Yet, in some of the arts, the Chinese have attained to great perfection. Agriculture is carried in China to the highest pitch of improvement. There is not a spot of waste land in the whole em¬ pire, nor any which is not highly cultivated. The emperor himself is the chief of the husbandmen, and annually holds the plough with his own hands. Hence, and from the mode of economising food, is supported the astonishing population of three hun¬ dred and thirty-three millions, or two hundred and sixty inhabitants to every square mile of the em¬ pire. The gardening of the Chinese, and their admirable embellishment of rural nature, have of late been the object of imitation in Europe, but with far inferior success. The manufacture of porcelain is an original invention of this people; and the Europeans, though excelling them in the form and ornament of the utensils, have never been able to attain to the excellence of the material. 9. The morals of the Chinese have furnished much subject both of encomium and censure. The books of Confucius are said to contain a most ad¬ mirable system of morality; but the principles of morals have their foundation in human nature, and must in theory be every where the same. The moral virtues of a people are not to be estimated from the books of their philosophers. It is pro¬ bable that the manners of the superior classes are in China as elsewhere, much influenced by educa¬ tion and example. The morals of the lower classes are said to be beyond measure loose, and their practices most dishonest; nor are they regulated by any principle but selfish interest, or restrained but by the fear of punishment. 10. The religion of the Chinese is different in the different ranks of society. There is no religion of the state. The emperor and the higher man¬ darins profess the belief of one Supreme Being, Cahngti, whom they worship by prayer and thanks¬ giving, without any mixture of idolatrous practices. They respect the Lama of Thibet as the liigh-priest or prophet of this religion. A prevalent sect is that of Tao-sse, who believe in the power of magic, the agency of spirits, and the divining of future events. A third is the sect of Fo , derived from India, whose priests are the Bonzes, and whose fundamental doctrine is, that all things rose out of nothing, and finally must return to it ; that all animals are first to undergo a series of transmigra¬ tions ; and that as man’s chief happiness is to ap¬ proach as near as possible to a state of annihilation in this life, absolute idleness is more laudable than occupation of any kind. A variety of hideous idols are worshipped by this sect. 11. The Chinese have their sacred books, termed Kings; as the Ylcing, Chouking , &c. ; which, amidst some good moral precepts, contain much mystery, childish superstition, and absurdity. These are chiefly resorted to for the divining of future events, which seems the ultimatum of research among the Chinese philosophers. The observation of the heavenly bodies is made for that purpose alone : the changes of weather, the performance or omis¬ sion of certain ceremonies, the occurrence of cer¬ tain events in particular times and places, are all believed to have their influence on futurity, and are therefore carefully observed and recorded ; and the rules by which those omens are inter¬ preted are said to have been prescribed by the great Confucius, the father of the Chinese philo¬ sophy, five hundred years before the Christian era. 12. We conclude, on the whole, that the Chinese are a very remarkable people ; that their govern¬ ment, laws, policy, and knowledge of the arts and sciences, exhibit unquestionable proofs of great antiquity and early civilization, but that the extra¬ ordinary measure of duration assigned to their empire by some modern writers rests on no solid proofs ; nor are their government, laws, manners, arts, or scientific entertainments, at all deserving of that superlative and most exaggerated encomium which has been bestowed on them. 50.—m. bailly’s theory of the origin of the SCIENCES AMONG THE NATIONS OF ASIA. 1. The striking resemblance in many points of character between the Chinese and ancient Egyp¬ tians has led to the conjecture, either that they were originally the same people, the one being a colony of the other, or that the two nations have had, at some remote period, such intercourse, either by conquest or in the way of commerce, as to occasion a reciprocal communication of manners, arts and knowledge of the sciences. M. de Mairan has remarked the following points of similarity. The Egyptians and Chinese had the same perma¬ nence of manners, and abhorrence of innovations ; they were alike remarkable for the respect enter¬ tained by children to their parents ; they were equally averse to war ; they had the same general but superficial knowledge in the arts and sciences, without the ability to make great attainments ; they both in the most ancient times, used hiero- Bailly’s theory continued. — Chinese. —Chal- nnPTJXr deans.—Coincidence of Customs.—Worship MUDErvJN glyphics ; the Egyptians had a solemn festival, called the Feast of the Lights; the Chinese have the Feast of the Lanterns; the features of the Chinese are said to resemble the ancient Egyptian statues; certain characters engraven on an Egyptian bust of Isis were found to belong to the Chinese language. 2. M. Bailly has taken a wider range of obser¬ vations, and has, from a review of the manners, customs, opinions, and attainments of the Indians, Persians, Chinese, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, dis¬ covered many circumstances of similarity between all those nations equally remarkable as the foregoing. He has thence formed the singular hypothesis, that the knowledge common to the whole of those na- ! tions has been derived from the same original source, namely, a most ancient and highly cultivated people of Asia, of whose memory every trace is now extinct, but who have been the parent instruc¬ tors of all around them. If we find, says he, in the scattered huts of peasants, fragments inter¬ spersed of sculptured columns, we conclude for certain that these are not the works of the rude peasants who reai’ed those huts, but that they are the remains of a magnificent building, the work of able architects, though we discover no other traces of the existence of that building, and cannot ascer¬ tain its precise situation. 3. The sciences and arts of the Chinese have been stationai’y for two thousand years. The people seem never to have availed themselves of the lights of their ancestors. They are like the inhabitants of a country recently discovered by a polished people, who have taught them some of their arts, and left their instruments among them. The know¬ ledge they possess seems to have been imported, and not of original growth, for it has never been progressive. 4. The Chaldeans were an enlightened people at the commencement of the Babylonish empii’e, two thousand years before the Christian era. They were great astronomers, and understood the revo¬ lutions of comets, which became known to the mo¬ derns only in the sixteenth century. The Chaldeans were probably the remains of this ancient people. The Bramins of India believe in the unity of God, and the immortality of the soul, but with these sublime tenets they intermix the most childish ab¬ surdities. They derived the former from wise instructors, the latter were the fruit of their own ignorance. The Sanscrit, a most copious and elegant language, and the vehicle of all the Indian knowledge and philosophy, has been a dead tongue for thousands of years, and is intelligible only to a few of those Bramins. It was probably the lan¬ guage of that great ancient people. 5. The coincidence or similarity of customs con- cui’s to establish the same idea. The custom of libation was common to the Tartars and Chinese, as well as to the Greeks and Romans. All the Asiatic nations had festivals of the nature of the Roman Saturnalia. The tradition of the deluge is diffused among all those nations : the tradition of the giants attacking heaven is equally general. The docti'ine of the metempsychosis was common to the Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Persians, Tar- tarians, and Chinese. The religion of all these nations is founded on the profound, though erro- neous, doctrine of the two principles, an universal soul pervading all nature, and inei*t matter on which it acts. A conformity in a true doctrine is no proof TirSTOP V of lhe snn -“Long measures.--Lama of Thi- .. „ nlolUrv x . i) e t.—Conclusions of Bailly unsatisfactory. ^ I of mutual communication or concert; but it is in¬ geniously remarked, that a conformity in a false doctrine comes very near to such a proof. 6. The Egyptians, Chaldeans, Indians, Persians, and Chinese, all placed their temples fronting the East, to receive the first rays of the sun. The worship of the sun has been the religion of that ancient people. All the above-mentioned nations had a cycle, or pei’iod of sixty years, for regulating their chronology; they all divided the cii'cle into three hundred and sixty degrees, the zodiac into twelve signs, and the week into seven days; and the Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians designated those days by the names of the planets ranged in the same order. The long measures of the ancient nations had all one common origin. 7- These singular coincidences, argues M. Bailly, can be accounted for only by three suppositions : first, That there was a free communication between all those ancient nations : secondly, That those cii'- cumstances of coincidence are so founded in human nature, that the most unconnected nations could not fail to hit upon them : or, thirdly, That they have been all derived from a common source. He re¬ jects the two former suppositions, as contrary, in his opinion, to fact, and rests of coui’se upon the last. 8. The precise situation of this great ancient people M. Bailly does not pretend to fix with cer- tainty; but he offers probable reasons for conjec¬ turing that it was about the forty-ninth or fiftieth degree of north latitude, in the southern regions of Siberia. Many of the European and Asiatic nations attribute their origin to that quartei’, which thence appears to have been extremely populous. Nitre, a production from animal substances, is more abun¬ dant there than in any other region. The obser¬ vations of the rising of the stars, collected by Ptolemy, must have been made in a climate where the longest day was sixteen hours, which corresponds to the latitude mentioned. No European nation in that latitude understood astronomy in those early periods. The veneration of the Indians and Chinese for the Lama of Thibet is a proof that the religion of those nations originated in that quarter. 9. But does that region exhibit any traces of having been ever inhabited by a polished people 1 It is here that the theory of M. Bailly seems to be least supported by proof. He observes, that ancient mines have been discovered in those parts of Siberia, which have been wrought to great extent in a period beyond all record or tradition; that ancient sepul- chres have been found, in which there were orna¬ ments of gold of skilful woi'kmanship ; but the facts specified are so few as to warrant no positive inference. 10. This theory is an amusing specimen of the author’s ingenuity; but it has not the force to draw our assent to his conclusions. We have noticed it, as specifying many curious facts relative to the mannei’s and attainments of the ancient nations, and as furnishing strong evidence of the common origin of mankind. The nations above mentioned, though many of them remote from each other, were all connected as links of a chain, by proximity; whence it is easy to conceive that knowledge should diverge from a centi’e to a very distant circum¬ ference. M. Bailly has given no reasonable grounds for fixing that centre in the position he has as¬ signed it. I MODERN HISTORY. Europe in the sixteenth century. Philip II. of Spain. 51.- REIGN OF PHILTP II. OF SPAIN.-REVOLUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HOLLAND. 1. After a short survey of the Asiatic kingdoms, we return to the history of Europe in the sixteenth century. In the time of Philip II., the successor of Charles V., the balance of power in Europe [an idea first generated in Italy to counteract the power of Aus¬ tria] was sustained by Spain, France, England, and Germany, all at this time highly flourishing and respectable, either from the talents of their sove¬ reigns, or their internal strength. Elizabeth, Henry IV. and Philip II. were all acute and able politicians, though the policy of the last partook more of selfish craft, and had less of the manly and heroic, than that of either of his rival monarclis. Philip was at this time the sovereign of Spain, the Two Sicilies, Milan, and the Netherlands. He had likewise, for a few years, the power of England at his command by his marriage with Mary, the elder sister and predecessor of Elizabeth. 2. Pope Paul IV., jealous of the power of Philip, formed an alliance with Henry II. of France, to deprive the Spaniards of Milan and the Sicilies. Philip, with the aid of the English, defeated the French at St. Quintin, in Picardy, and hoped, from this signal victory, to force the allies into a peace ; but the duke of Guise recovered the spirits of the French by the taking of Calais from the English, which they had now possessed for two hundred years. Another great victory, however, obtained by Philip, near Gravelines, brought on the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis, in 1559, by which the French surrendered to Spain no less than eighty- nine fortified towns in the Low Countries and in Italy. 3. Philip, now at ease from foreign disturbances, began to be disquieted on the score of religion. An intolerant bigot by nature, he resolved to extirpate every species of heresy from his dominions. The Netherlands, an assemblage of separate states, were all subject to Philip, under various titles ; and he had conferred the government of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Utrecht, on William, prince of Orange, a count of the Gei'man empire. The Lutheran and Calvinistic opinions had made great progress in those quarters; and Philip, determining to repress them, established the Inquisition with plenary powers, created new bishops, and prepared to abrogate the ancient laws, and give the pro¬ vinces a new political institution. These innova¬ tions, creating alarm and tumult, the duke of Alva was sent into Flanders to enforce implicit submission. 4. The inquisition began its bloody work, and many of the principal nobility of the provinces were its victims. The minds of the people were com¬ pletely alienated, and a chief was only wanting to give union to their measures. The prince of Orange, who was himself under sentence of the Inquisition, found no difficulty to raise an army, and having easily reduced some of the most im¬ portant garrisons, he was proclaimed Stadtholder of Holland and Zealand in 1570. Eighteen thousand persons perished by the hands of the executioner in the course of the duke of Alva’s government, wdiich was of five years’ duration. His place was Revolution of the Netherlands.—United Provinces and their constitution. supplied by Zunega Requesens, [Dec. 1573,] a man of humanity, but bound to obey his inhuman master, who, on the death of Requesens, sent his brother, Don John of Austria, to endeavour to regain the revolted states ; but the attempt was fruitless. The whole seventeen provinces had suffered alike from the tyranny of their sovereign, but particular jealousies prevented a general union, and only seven of these asserted their independence by a solemn treaty, formed at Utrecht, 23rd Jan. 1579; by which it was agreed that they should de¬ fend their liberties as one united republic ; that they should jointly determine in matters of peace and war, establish a general legislative authority, and maintain a liberty of conscience in matters of religion. These seven united provinces are Guel- derland, Holland, Zealand, Friesland, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen. William, prince of Orange, was declared their chief magistrate, gene¬ ral, and admiral, by the title of Stadtholder. 5. Philip vented his indignation by a proscription of the prince of Orange, offering twenty-five thou¬ sand crowns for his head, and he compassed his revenge, for this illustrious man was cut off by an assassin, 1584. His son Maurice [then of the age of eighteen] was elected Stadtholder in his room, and sustained his important part with great courage and ability. With a slender aid from Elizabeth, of England, who delighted to traverse the plans of Philip, this infant commonwealth accomplished and secured its independence, which it has main¬ tained, till its disgraceful subjugation in the present times, the miserable fruit of faction and political disunion. 6. The other ten provinces, whose discontents were expressed only by murmur and complaint, were soothed by a new charter from Philip, con¬ firming their privileges; while at the same time he took every possible measure to prevent any attempt on their part to throw off the yoke. 52.— ON THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. 1. The treaty of confederation of the Seven United Provinces, framed in 1579, and solemnly renewed in 1583, is declared to be, by its nature, indissoluble. Each province thereby preserved its own laws, its magistrates, its sovereignty, and its independence. They form, however, one body politic, having renounced the right of making sepa¬ rate alliances and treaties, and established a general council, with power of assembling the states and regulating the common affairs of the republic. The assembly of the states-general was originally held only twice a yeai’, but became afterwards a per¬ petual council. • 2. In all matters which regard not the general interest of the nation, each of the states or pro¬ vinces is in itself a republic, governed by its own laws and magistrates, and possessing a supreme legislative authority. The deputies from each of the towns form the council of the province, in which is vested its separate government; and these deputies are regulated by the instructions of their constituents. The votes of the majority of de¬ puties decide in the provincial council, in all mat¬ ters which regard not the general interest of the nation. 3. The great council of the states-general always United Provinces continued.—Reign of Philip II. continued.—Invincible ar- met in assembly at the Hague, is composed of the deputies from the Seven Provinces, of which Hol¬ land sends three, Zealand and Uti'echt two, and the others one ; each deputy being regulated by the council of his province. A majority of voices is here decisive, unless in the great questions of peace, war, and alliance, in which unanimity is requisite. The disadvantage of this constitution is the delay and difficulty in the execution of public measures. All the towns and all the nobles of a province must deliberate, and instruct their deputy, before the states-general can take the matter under conside¬ ration. This great defect is in some measure corrected by the power and influence of the Stadt- holder. 4. The stadtholder is commander in chief of the sea and land forces, and disposes of all the mili¬ tary employments. He presides over all the courts of justice, and has the power of pardoning crimes. He appoints the magistrates of the towns from a list made by themselves ; receives and names am¬ bassadors, and is charged with the execution of the law r s. He is supreme arbiter in all differences between the provinces, cities, or other members of the state. 5. William, the first Stadtholder, did not abuse these high powers ; nor did his successors, Maurice and Henry Frederick. But under William II. the states became jealous of an exorbitant autho¬ rity in their chief magistrate, and on his death the office was for some time abolished. In that inter¬ val the republic was almost annihilated by the arms of Louis XIV. ; and, sensible of their error, they restored the office of stadtholder in the person of William III., who retrieved the fortunes and ho¬ nour of his country. In gratitude for his services, the dignity was made hereditary in his family, a solecism in the government of a republic. On the death of William without issue, the office was once more abolished for twenty years, when it was again restored, declared hereditary in the family of Orange, and descendable even to the issue of a daughter. The only restrictions are, that the suc¬ ceeding prince shall be of the Protestant religion, and neither king nor elector of the German empire *. 53.— REIGN OF PHILIP II. CONTINUED. 1. The loss of the Netherlands was in some de¬ gree compensated to Philip II. by the acquisition of the kingdom of Portugal. Muley Mahomet, king of Fez and Morocco, dethroned by his uncle Muley Moluc, solicited the aid of Don Sebastian, king of Portugal, to regain his throne. Sebastian landed with an army in Africa, but was defeated by the Moors, and slain ; and the contending Moorish princes perished in the same engagement. Sebas¬ tian was succeeded by his granduncle Don Henry, who died after a reign of two years. The competi- * The present kingdom of Holland, which by the French revolutionists was created The Batavian Republic, and by Buonaparte erected into The kingdom of Holland, was re¬ stored to its ancient condition, with an addition of the Aus¬ trian, Dutch, and French Netherlands, under the title of the kingdom of the Netherlands (a.d. 1815). But by the Treaty of London, 13th Nov. 1831, Holland now comprises no more than those provinces formerly containing the republic of the United Provinces, with some additions; the remainder of the Netherlands forms the kingdom of Belgium. Vide antea, p. 57. mada.—Projects of Philip II.—France . . r at the end of the sixteenth century. * ‘ ° tors for the crown were Don Antonio, prior of Crato, and Philip II., paternal and maternal uncles of the last sovereign. Philip defeated his rival in a decisive engagement at sea, and, without farther opposition, took possession of the throne of Portu¬ gal, 1580. 2. Elizabeth of England had warmly espoused the cause of the revolted Netherlands, and her admiral, Sir Francis Drake, had taken some of the Spanish settlements in America. To avenge these injuries, the invincible armada of 150 ships of war, 27,000 men, and 3000 pieces of cannon, was equipped by Philip for the invasion of England. The English fleet of 108 ships attacked them in the night, and burnt and destroyed a great part of the squadron: a storm, which drove them on the rocks and sands of Zealand, completed their dis¬ comfiture, and only fifty shattered vessels, with 6000 men, returned to Spain, 1588. 3. The restless spirit of Philip II. was engaged at the same time in the reduction of the Nether¬ lands, the project for the invasion of England, and the dismembering the kingdom of France. The last scheme was as ineffectual as we have seen the two former. It was defeated at once by the conver¬ sion of Henry IV. to the Catholic religion. The policy of Philip had nothing in it great or gene¬ rous. His restless ambition was fitted to embroil Europe, but he had not the judgment to turn the distresses he occasioned to his own advantage. In his own kingdoms, as in his domestic life, he was a gloomy and inhuman tyrant. Yet from the va¬ riety and magnitude of his designs, the power by which they were supported, and the splendour of his dominion, the character of Spain was high and respectable in the scale of the nations of Europe. 54.— STATE OF FRANCE IN THE END OF THE SIX¬ TEENTH CENTURY, UNDER HENRY II., FRANCIS II., CHARLES IX., HENRY III., AND HENRY IV. 1. The reformed religion had made the greater progress in France, from the impolitic persecution it sustained from Henry II., the son and successor of Francis I., who, though he aided the Protestants of Germany in resisting the despotism of Charles V., showed no mercy to their brethren in his own kingdom. 2. On the death of Henry II. the conspiracy of Amboise was planned by the prince of Conde, for the destruction of the duke of Guise, who ruled the kingdom under Francis II., and to whose intoler¬ ance and cruelty the Protestants attributed all their calamities. Guise owed his ascendency chiefly to the marriage of his niece, Mary Queen of Scots, with the young monarch : and the detec¬ tion of this conspiracy, the massacre of its princi¬ pal leaders, and the barbarous punishment of all who partook in it, while they confirmed his power, served only to increase the rancour of the contend¬ ing parties. 3. Francis II. died after a reign of a year, 1560, and was succeeded by his brother Charles IX., a boy of ten years of age. The queen-mother, Catha¬ rine de Medicis, who had no other principle but the love of power, was equally jealous of the influ¬ ence of the Conde's and the Guises. An ecclesias¬ tical assembly, held by her desire at Poissy, gave toleration to the Protestants to exercise their wor¬ ship through all France, without the walls of the MODERN HISTORY. . . „ Charles IX. of France.—Massacre of St. * Bartholomew.—Henry III. ot France. MODERN HISTORY. towns. The zeal or the imprudence of the duke of Guise infringed this ordinance, and both parties flew to arms. The admiral Coligni headed the troops of the Protestants, who were aided by ten thousand Germans from the Palatinate; and Philip of Spain, to increase the disorder’s, sent an | army to the aid of the Catholics. 4. The horrors of civil war were aggravated by murders and assassinations. The Duke of Guise was the victim of the frantic zeal of an enthusiast. After many desperate engagements with various success, a treacherous peace was agreed to by the Catholics ; and Coligni, with the chiefs of the Pro¬ testant party, were invited to court, and received by the queen-mother and her son with the most ex¬ traordinary marks of favour ; among the rest Henry of Navarre, to whom the young monarch had given his sister in marriage. Such were the preparatives to the infernal massacre of St. Bartholomew. On the night of the twenty-third of August, 1572, at the ringing of the matin-bell, a general massacre was made by the Catholics of all the Protestants throughout the kingdom of France. Charles IX., a monster of cruelty, assisted himself in the murder of his own subjects. 5. Amidst these horrors, Henry, duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX., was elected king of Poland, but had scarcely taken possession of his throne when he was called to that of France by the death of its execrable sovereign, 1574. The weakness of the new monarch Henry III. was ill-fitted to com¬ pose the disorders of the kingdom. Equally bigoted and profligate, he became the scorn of his subjects, and the dupe of the contending factions. 6. The Protestant party was now supported by the Prince of Conde, and young Henry of Navarre, descended from Robert of Bourbon, a younger son of Lewis IX. The Duke of Alenyon, the king’s brother, had likewise joined their party. The Ca¬ tholics, to accumulate their strength, formed a bond of union, termed the League, nominally for defence of the state and its religion, but in’ reality for usurping all the powers of government, and sup¬ pressing the Protestant faith. Of this dangerous association Henry III., with the weakest policy, de¬ clared himself the head, and thus the avowed ene¬ my of one half of his subjects. He saw his error when too late ; and dreading the designs of the Duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, whose authority had superseded his own, he basely rid himself of his fears by procuring their assassination. This vicious and contemptible tyrant, after a reign of fifteen years, was himself assassi¬ nated by Jacques Clement, a Jacobin monk, from the frenzy of fanaticism, 1589. 7- The next heir of the crown was Henry of Navarre, who had been educated a Protestant by his mother, the daughter of Henry d’Albret, king of Navarre. At the age of sixteen he had been declared head of the party of the Huguenots ; his uncle, the prince of Conde, and the admiral Coligni acting as his lieutenants. His first military enter¬ prises were unsuccessful. Invited to Paris, at the peace of 1572, to marry the sister of Charles IX., he narrowly escaped from the massacre of St. Bartholomew, but remained three years a prisoner. On the death of Charles, lie again took the field against the army of the League, which he defeated in the battle of Courtras, 1587, and still more sig¬ nally in that of Arques, 1589. x\fter the death of The League—Henry IV. assassinated. Elizabeth and Mary queen of Scots. Henry III. he w T on the celebrated battle of Ivry ; and being acknowledged sovereign of France by all but the party of the League, then in possession of Paris, he laid siege to the city, which must have capitulated, but for the succoui's of Philip II. Re¬ ligion was the sole cause of the disunion of France, and the only obstacle to the acknowledgment of Henry’s title by the greatest part of his subjects. At the earnest persuasion of Rosni (Duke of Sully), himself a protestant, Henry was prevailed on to de¬ clare himself a Catholic. He abjured at St. Denis, and was crowned king at Chartres, 1594. He soon after took possession of Paris ; but it cost him several years, both of war and negociation, before he gained the whole of his kingdom, exhausted as it was and ruined by civil discord. 8. The subsequent life of this excellent prince was devoted to the reparation of these misfortunes. After forcing Philip II. to conclude the advanta¬ geous peace of Vervins, 1598, his whole attention was bestowed on the improvement of his kingdom, by reforming its laws, regulating its finances, en¬ couraging agriculture and manufactures, enlarging and embellishing the cities, and finally by success¬ fully reconciling the partizansof the contending re¬ ligions. In all his beneficial schemes, he found an able assistant in his minister the Duke of Sully, who has beautifully depicted the life and character of his master. It is in his memoirs that we see not only the great designs, but the private virtues, the engaging and amiable manners of this illustrious man ; who, while he was the arbiter of the con¬ tending powers of Europe, was the indulgent father of a happy people. 9. The period of the splendour and happiness of France was of short duration. Henry IV., worthy to be immortal, was assassinated at the age of fifty- seven, 4tlx May, 1610, by Ravaillac, an insane fa¬ natic. He meditated, at the time of his death, the great project of a perpetual peace between the states of Europe ; a design highly characteristic of the benevolent mind of its author, but which the weakness of mankind, and the impossibility of reasoning with nations as with wise individuals, must for certain have rendered abortive. 55.— HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND OF SCOTLAND IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 1. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII. by Anne Bullen, succeeded to the throne on the death of her sister Mary, 1558 ; and England attained to a high degree of splendour under the rule of this great and politic princess, whose talents enabled her to pursue the true interests of her people, while her vigorous and intrepid mind led her to take an im¬ portant part in maintaining the balance of power in Europe. While she encouraged at home every use¬ ful art and manufacture, she colonised a great part of North America, supported the infant republic of Holland against its tyrannical enemy, humbled the pride of Spain in the defeat of its invincible armada, and assisted Henry IV. in the recovery of his kingdom. It was her fortune to have the aid of most able ministers, and her merit to place her confidence in their counsels. 2. Had Elizabeth been equally endowed with the virtues of the heart as with the powers of the mind, she would have shone the most illustrious character Mary queen of Scots and her times.—Her ■vrrvnr , T>'\r HTCTfiHV and M ar y suspected of his murder.— marriage with Darnley.—Darn ley killed, MU-U-ExvlN llioIUivx. Marries Bothwell.-Confined at Lochleven. ‘*7 in the annals of modern Europe. Her conduct to her cousin Mary Queen of Scots lias fixed an in¬ delible stain on her character. Mary, the daughter of James V. and great grand-daughter of Henry VII., educated in France, and married when very young to the Dauphin, afterwards Francis II., had imprudently assumed the arms and title of Queen of England, by the persuasion of her maternal uncles, the Guises. The pretence was the illegiti¬ macy of Elizabeth, declared by Henry VIII. on his divorce from Anna Bullen. This false step laid the foundation of all the miseries of the Queen of Scots. 3. The Reformation was at this time going for¬ ward in Scotland with the most ardent zeal. The earls of Argyle, Morton, Glencairn, and others, its chief promoters, had, by their own authority, suppressed the worship of the mass over a great part of the kingdom. The Catholic bishops, by an ill-judged persecution of the Reformers, greatly increased the number of their proselytes. They began to muster their strength; and headed by John Knox, a disciple of Calvin, a virtuous man, but of the most furious and intemperate zeal, threw down the altars and images, expelled the priests, and demolished the churches and monasteries. Acting now in arms, and in open defiance of government, the queen-mother, Mar}' of Guise, attempted by the aid of French troops, to reduce her protestant subjects to submission; and these applied for aid to the protestant queen of England. Elizabeth sent an army and a fleet to their assistance. The death of the queen-mother was followed by a capitu¬ lation, by which it was agreed that the French should evacuate Scotland, and that Mary should renounce all pretension to the crown of England. The protestant religion, under presbyterian forms, was now established in the room of the catholic. 4. In this situation of Scotland, Mary, at the age of eighteen, on the death of her mother, and of her husband Francis II., returned to her hereditary kingdom; having fortunately escaped an English fleet which Elizabeth had dispatched to take her prisoner on her passage. Her misfortunes began from that hour. Her protestant subjects regarded their catholic queen with abhorrence, and looked up to her enemy Elizabeth as their support and defender. That artful princess had secured to her interest the very men on whom the unsuspecting Mary placed her utmost confidence, her bastard brother the earl of Murray, the earl of Morton, and secretary Lethington. The views of Murray aimed at nothing less than his sister’s crown, and the obstacles which opposed his criminal ambition served only to render his attempts more daring and more flagitious. 5. The marriage of Mary with her cousin lord Darnley, son of the earl of Lennox, who stood in the same relation to Elizabeth, was not relished by that princess. Encouraged by her ministers, Ran¬ dolph and Cecil, Murray formed a conspiracy to seize and imprison the queen, and put to death her husband, and usurp the government; and on the detection of his designs, attempted to support them by open rebellion. Defeated, exiled, pardoned, and loaded with benefits by his injured sovereign, he persevered in the same atrocious purposes, till he at length accomplished them. 6. The spouse of Mary had incurred her resent¬ ment by his vices and his follies. Taking advan- tnge of the weakness of his mind, Murray, Morton, and Lethington, had rendered him jealous of the partiality of Mary for her foreign secretary, the aged llizzio, and engaged him in the barbarous act 1 of murdering this ill-fated wretch at the feet of the queen, to whose garments he clung for protection. The purpose of this shocking outrage was to procure the abortion of Mary, then big with child, and pos¬ sibly her death; or should she survive, to alienate completely her affections from her husband, and thus to render her suspected of the design they had projected of cutting him off by assassination. In the latter purpose they succeeded. The house which Darnley inhabited was blown up by gun¬ powder; his body was found strangled near the place, and the report immediately prevailed that Mary had been accessary to his murder. 7. A most imprudent step, to which she was conducted by the same band of traitors, gave countenance to this suspicion. At the earnest re¬ commendation of Morton and some of her chief nobility, she mai’ried the earl of Bothwell, a man openly stigmatized as one of the murderers of her husband. He had, it is true, been absolved on trial for that crime, and had by force made himself master of her person. The plans of Murray and his associates, successful to the utmost of their wishes, were now ripe for consummation. On the pretext of the queen’s guilt of murder and adultery, she was confined by Murray in the castle of Loch¬ leven, and there compelled to resign her crown into the hands of her unnatural brother, who was to govern the kingdom as regent during the minority of her infant son, now proclaimed king by the title of James VI. 1567- Bothwell escaped beyond seas, and died in Denmark. 8. A great part of the nation reprobated these infamous proceedings. Mary escaped from her confinement; and at the head of an army gave battle to the rebels at Langside ; but, being defeated, she fled for shelter to the north of England. Eli¬ zabeth, who had secretly taken part in all the ma¬ chinations of her enemies, had now gained a great object of her ambition : she had in her hands a hated rival, and by her support of Murray and his party, the absolute command of the kingdom of Scotland. Yet policy required some show of friend¬ ship and humanity to the queen of Scots, who claimed as a suppliant her protection and aid. She professed her desire to do her justice, but first required that she should clear herself of the crimes alleged against her. To this Mary agreed, in the intrepidity of conscious innocence *. In a con¬ ference held for that purpose, Murray openly stood forth as the accuser of his sister and queen, ap¬ pealing to certain letters said to be written by her to Bothwell, plainly intimating her guilt. Copies of these letters were produced. Mary demanded the originals, boldly declaring them to be the for¬ geries of her enemies; but they were never pro¬ duced. She retorted on Murray and Morton the * These facts have been made a subject of historical con¬ troversy in modern times. All that need be stated in this place is, that two great historians of Mary’s own time, both of them presumedly liable to be influenced in her favour by national feelings, Buchanan and De Thou, have adopted different conclusions, and sum up with almost judicial accu¬ racy the points which influence their condemnatory verdict. —Ed. MODERN HISTORY. Mary detained by Elizabeth.—Conspi- ' racies in her favour.—Is beheaded. charge of Darnley’s murder; and the conference was broken off at the command of the queen of England, who detained Mary in close imprison¬ ment. 9. The ungenerous policy of Elizabeth was con¬ demned by her own subjects. The duke of Norfolk, the first of her nobility, and, though a protestant, favoured by the Catholic party in England, secretly projected to marry the Queen of Scots ; and the discovery of these views giving alarm to Elizabeth, brought'that ill-fated nobleman to the block, and hastened the doom of the unfortunate Mary. Worn out with the miseries of her confinement, she pri¬ vately solicited the aid of foreign princes for her delivei’ance. Her cause was espoused by all the Catholics of England; and some of the most intem¬ perate of these had formed a plot to deliver her from captivity, and to place her on the throne, by the murder of Elizabeth. This dangerous con¬ spiracy was discovered, and its authors deservedly suffered death. The schemes of Mary for her own deliverance were held presumptive of her acqui¬ escence in the whole of the plot. Though an independent sovereign, she was brought to trial before a foreign tribunal, which had already de¬ creed her fate ; and, being condemned to suffer death, she was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle, 1587, in the forty-fifth year of her age, and nine¬ teenth of her captivity in England. Previously to this event, Murray had fallen the victim of the private revenge of a gentleman whom he had injured, and Lethington poisoned himself in prison, to escape the sentence of his enemies ; Morton, for some time regent of the kingdom, was afterwards tried, and suffered death for his concern in the murder of Darnley. 10. We have noticed the formidable prepara¬ tions of Philip II. for the invasion of England, and their disastrous issue, in the total destruction of the Invincible Armada. The English, in their turn, made descents on the Spanish coasts ; and the glory of the nation was nobly sustained by those great admirals, Rawleigh, Howard, Drake, Caven¬ dish, and Hawkins. The earl of Essex distinguished himself in those expeditions, and won the favour of Elizabeth, both by his prowess and personal accom¬ plishments. The death of Leicester, her former favourite, and of her minister Burleigh, left Essex unrivalled in her affections, and of chief authority in the direction of her councils. Haughty and im¬ patient of control, he disgusted the nobles ; and his failure in quelling a rebellion in Ireland gave them ground to undermine him in the favour of his sovereign. In the madness of inordinate ambition, he proposed to possess himself of the person of the queen, and compel her to remove his enemies, and acquiesce in all his measures. This treasonable enterprise brought him to the scaffold, 1600. 11. From that time Elizabeth fell into profound melancholy, and soon after died, in the seventieth year of her age, 1603, having named for her suc¬ cessor James VI., king of Scotland. Her talents were great, and the firmness of her mind une¬ qualled ; yet her private character was tarnished by cruelty, hypocrisy, and an unsatiable desire of admiration. Her maxims of government were despotic, and she had little regard for the liberties of her people, or the privileges of her parliaments, to whom she never allowed the liberty of disputing her commands. The actual government of England Earl of Essex beheaded.—Elizabeth dies. Great Britain under James I. and Charles I. in those days was little different from an absolute monarchy. 56.- HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN IN THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. 1. James YI. of Scotland succeeded bv heredi- •» tary right to the throne of England, thus uniting the two crowns ; a prince of considerable learn¬ ing and talents, but of little vigour of mind or political energy. He became unpopular, from his notions of an uncontrolable prerogative, to which, unwisely proclaiming his title, he provoked his subjects to question it. The current of public opinion was now strongly turned to an extension of the rights of the subject, and retrenchment of the powers of the crown ; and during this reign, the seeds were sown of that spirit of resistance on the part of the people, which was destined, in the next, to overturn the constitution. 2. Domestic events were such as chiefly distin¬ guished the reign of James I. A conspiracy was discovered in 1603, for subverting the government, and placing the king’s cousin, Arabella Stuart, on the throne, in which the Lords Cobham and Grey, and Sir Walter Raleigh, were principally concerned. The two former were pardoned, and Raleigh con¬ demned, but reprieved; when, on the ground of his infringement of the peace with Spain, by unwar¬ rantably attacking one of her American settlements, he was, after an interval of fifteen years, beheaded on his former sentence. 3. Another conspiracy followed, of a still more dangerous nature, the gunpowder treason ; a plot of the Catholics to destroy, at one blow, the king and the whole body of the parliament, 1604. It was discovered, from a circumstance of private friendship, on the very eve of its accomplishment; and the principal conspirators suffered a capital punishment. The public indignation now raged against the Catholics ; and the humanity of James, which sought to mitigate this fury, was as ungene¬ rously as absurdly construed into a favour which he entertained for their religious principles. 4. It was a peculiar weakness of the king to at¬ tach himself to undeserving favourites. Such was Carr, earl of Somerset, who had no other recom¬ mendation than a handsome person, and who, after several years’ exercise of all the insolence of power, fell into disgrace, on conviction of his concern in an infamous murder. His place was supplied by Villiers, afterwards duke of Buckingham ; a man devoid of every talent of a minister, and odious to all ranks of the state. He planned a journey of Charles, prince of Wales, into Spain, to court the Infanta; and, by his folly and insolence, frustrated the treatv on the brink of its conclusion. 5. Elizabeth, the daughter of James, was mar¬ ried to the Protestant elector palatine, who was dispossessed of his electorate by the emperor Ferdi¬ nand III. for imprudently accepting the crown of Bohemia, till then an appanage of the empire. James was urged by parliament to a war in de¬ fence of his son-in-law, which touched the nation both as a point of honour, and as the cause of the Protestant interest. He sent a feeble armament, which was of no service ; the only military enter¬ prise of his reign. His favourite project was a complete union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland; a measure which, however beneficial, Death of Janies I.—Contests of Charles with tit/at his parliaments.—Siege of Rochelle. MLMJJliKIN the mutual prejudices of the two nations were as yet too violent to bear. As a preparatory step, the episcopal hierarchy was introduced into Scotland ; but this served only as the food of future commo¬ tions. James I. died 1625, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and twenty-second of his reign over England. 6. On an impartial estimate of the character of the succeeding monarch, Charles I., it may be allowed, that had the nation in his reign enter¬ tained the same ideas of the regal prerogative, of the powers of parliament, and of the liberty of the subject, that had prevailed for the two preceding centuries, this unfortunate prince would have reigned with high popularity. But it was his lot to mount the throne at that critical period, when the public opinion had undergone an entire revo¬ lution on those topics ; and, with many excellent endowments both of head and heart, he wanted that political prudence which should have taught him to yield to the necessity of the times. 7. Charles quarrelled with his first parliament on their refusal of adequate supplies for the war in support of his brother-in-law the elector palatine. Engaged to his allies, the king, dissolving the par¬ liament, issued warrants for borrowing money of the subject. A new parliament was found equally uncomplying, and evinced its jealousy of the king by the impeachment of his minister, Buckingham ; Charles avenging the insult by imprisoning two members of the House of Commons. A quarrel thus begun received continual addition from new causes of offence. The levying money from the subject was enforced by billeting soldiers on those who refused to lend to the crown ; and some were even imprisoned on that account. A war was un¬ dertaken against France by Buckingham’s instiga¬ tion, a sufficient cause of its unpopularity; and it ended in a fruitless attempt on Rochelle. The king again dissolved his paidiament, 1626. 8. A new parliament exhibited a spirit of deter¬ mined 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 imposed without consent of parliament, and abolished the exercise of the martial law; and Charles was obliged, with much reluctance, to give his assent to this great retrenchment of prerogatives, sanc¬ tioned by the usage of the most popular of his pre¬ decessors. 9. 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 was imprisoned on re¬ fusal to pay them. This arbitrary measure excited an outrageous ferment in that assembly, and the consequence was a new dissolution of the parlia¬ ment, 1629. 10. It was now a measure of necessity to make peace with France and Spain. The king perse¬ vered in levying the tonnage, poundage, and ship- money, and high fines were imposed for various offences, without trial, by authority of the Star- chamber. The legality of the tax of ship-money was disputed by John Hampden ; but he was con¬ demned by the Court of Exchequer, contrary, as was generally thought, to justice and the laws of the realm. TtTQTm?V LiturgyintroducedintoScotland.-Strafford .... moium. and Laud executed.—Irish rebellion. ““ 11. These discontents were increased by reli¬ gious enthusiasm. Charles, by the advice of Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, had relaxed the penal¬ ties against Catholics, and countenanced some in¬ novations in the ceremonials of church worship, preludes, as they were termed, to the popish ido¬ latries. He had likewise imprudently attempted to introduce the litui’gy of the church of England among the Scots; measures which excited in the latter country the most general discontent, and produced the most violent commotions. A bond, termed the National Covenant, containing an oath of resistance to all religious innovations, was sub¬ scribed in Scotland by all ranks and conditions ; and in a general assembly at Glasgow, the episco¬ pal hierarchy was solemnly abolished, 1638. To maintain this violent procedure, the Scots reform¬ ers took up arms ; and after seizing and fortifying the most important places of strength in the king¬ dom, boldly marched into the heart of England. 12. It was now absolutely necessary to assemble a parliament; and the king at length saw that the torrent was irresistible, and resolved, though too late, to give it way. A bill passed for abolishing the tonnage and poundage without consent of par¬ liament, and received the royal assent. Monopo¬ lies of every kind were abolished. A parliament was agreed to be summoned every third year. Unsatisfied with these concessions, the Commons impeached the earl of Strafford, the king’s first minister, of high treason, together with Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, who were charged, as the chief counsellors of the crown, with a design of subverting the laws and constitution of the realm. The fate of Strafford, whose trial by his peers would have terminated in his acquittal, was secured by a bill of attainder, to which the king was, with the greatest reluctance, forced to give his assent. The Commons seized that moment of anguish to obtain his consent to a decisive measure, a bill which rendered the parliament perpetual, by de¬ claring that it should not be dissolved or adjourned but by its own decree, 1641. Strafford and Laud were both beheaded. 13. This last measure of the Commons evinced a determined purpose to overturn the constitution. Their proceedings hitherto had the show of justice, and most of them might be vindicated on the principles of true patriotism. But from this period their conduct was treason to their country and its government. The last bill destroyed the equal balance of the constitution of England, and every subsequent measure was a step towards its entire annihilation. 14. The Irish Catholics took advantage of these disorders, and, with the purpose of assuming the entire command of that kingdom, and shaking off its dependence on England, attempted, in one day, to massacre all the Protestants in Ireland. To extinguish this horrible rebellion, Charles con¬ signed to the parliament the charge of the war, which they interpreted into a transference to them of the whole military powers of the crown. Under this authority a great force was levied, and supplied with arms from the royal magazines. 15. The bishops having complained that their lives were in danger from the populace, and pro- tested against the proceedings of the lords in their absence, were impeached of treason by the Com¬ mons, and committed to the Tower. The patience of 120 War between Charles I. and the parlia¬ ment.—Solemn league and covenant MODERN HISTORY. with the Scots.-Oliver Cromwell.-Charles I. be¬ headed. -Common wealth.-Battle of Worcester. Charles was exhausted. He caused to be impeached live of the Commons, and went in person to the house to seize them ; a breach of the privilege of parliament, for which he found it necessary to atone by a humiliating message. 1G. A new bill of the Commons, naming the commanders of all the fortified places, who should be responsible to parliament alone, was understood to be a declaration of war. The next step was to assume the whole legislative power, by declaring it a breach of privilege to dispute the law of the land declared by the Lords and Commons. But the former were merely in name, being entirely under the control of the lattei’. 17. The sword was now to decide the contest. The royal cause was supported by a great propor¬ tion of the landed interest, all the friends of the established church, and all the Catholics in the kingdom. On the side of the parliament were the city of London and most of the greater towns, with all the dissenters and sectaries. The first campaign was favourable to the royalists. They defeated the parliamentary forces at Worcester and Edge- hill, but lost the battle of Newbury. 18. The parliament now entered into a strict confederacy with the Scots, both in the articles of politics and religion ; and the Solemn League and Covenant, a new bond, more specific in its objects than the former, and more treasonable in its pur¬ pose, was framed at Edinburgh, for the purifica¬ tion of both churches, the reformation of both kingdoms, the maintenance of the privileges of king and parliament, and the bringing to justice all malignants. In consequence of this confederacy, twenty thousand Scots took the field to co-operate with the forces of the parliament. 19. Oliver Cromwell commanded at this time a regiment of horse under Fairfax, general of the parliament, but in reality directed all the measures of the army. In Scotland the royal cause was gal¬ lantly sustained by the marquess of Montrose ; but all was lost in England by the defeat at Naseby, 1645. The king’s troops being entirely dispersed, he threw himself into the hands of the Scots, who basely delivered him up to the commissioners of parliament, from whom he was taken by Crom¬ well’s orders, and conducted to the army, now the masters of the kingdom. Cromwell, entering Lon¬ don, assumed an absolute control over the parlia¬ ment, and imprisoned all who disputed his autho¬ rity. Charles, escaping from his confinement, fled to the Isle of Wight, but was there detained a pri¬ soner in Carisbrook castle. 20. The parliament, suffering under this military usurpation, were now sincerely desirous of termi¬ nating a miserable anarchy by a treaty with the king, and, after a long negotiation, all terms were finally adjusted. Charles agreed to resign to par- liament the military power, the disposal of all the offices of state, and the right of creating peers without their consent; he agreed to abolish the Episcopal hierarchy, and to establish the Presby¬ terian discipline ; and these concessions the par¬ liament accepted by a majority of suffrages, and declared to be a sufficient basis for the settlement of the kingdom. Cromwell instantly surrounded the House of Commons, and excluding all but his own partizans (about sixty in number), a second vote was passed, rescinding the former, and de¬ claring it treason in a king to levy war against his parliament. A court of justice was then appointed to try the king for this act of treason. The House of Lords having unanimously rejected this decree, were immediately voted, by this junto of indepen¬ dents, to be an useless branch of the constitution. 21. Charles was brought to trial ; and refusing to acknowledge the authority of his judges, was condemned to suffer death. He was beheaded on the 30th of January, 1G49. The arbitrary pro¬ ceedings of this monarch in the beginning of his reign, were certainly sufficient to justify that re¬ sistance on the part of the people which at length produced its effect, in confining the regal authority within its just bounds, and securing the rational liberties of the subject. But from the period that this end was attained, resistance ceased to be law¬ ful. Its farther operations were criminal in the extreme. The subsequent usurpations of the Com¬ mons can no more be justified on any constitu¬ tional principle, than the murder of the king can be defended on the score of legality, justice, or humanity. 57.—THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND. 1. The parliament of Scotland had taken no part in these latter scenes, and had formally protested against the trial of the king. On his death they proclaimed Charles II. their sovereign, but on the express condition of his signing the Covenant, and ratifying their confession of faith. Ireland recog¬ nised him without any conditions. The heroic marquess of Montrose landed in the north of Scot¬ land with a few foreign troops, and attempted to reduce the party of the Covenanters, and establish the legal authority of the king, independent of the servile restrictions with which they had fettered it; but, attacked by a much superior force, he was defeated, and betrayed into the hands of his ene¬ mies, who put him to death by the hands of the executioner, 1650 ; displaying in the circumstances of his punishment all the insolence of cruelty which distinguishes revenge in the meanest of souls. Charles betook himself to Scotland, and was obliged, however reluctantly, to acquiesce in all the terms that were imposed on him. 2. Cromwell, with sixteen thousand men, marched into Scotland against the now royalist covenanters, whom he defeated in the battle of Dunbar ; and then following the royal army, which retreated into England, he cut them to pieces in the decisive battle of Worcester, September 3, 1651. Charles fled in disguise through the western and southern counties, till he found an opportunity of escaping to France. Cromwell returned in triumph to London. 3. The republican parliament formed and exe¬ cuted great designs. A war with Holland was most ably maintained on both sides by those great naval commanders, Blake, Yan Tromp, and De Ruyter ; but the advantage was greatly in favour of the Eng¬ lish, who took above sixteen hundred of the Dutch ships. The parliament, proud of these successes, justly conceived that while the nation was thus powerful at sea, the land army was an unnecessary burden, and determined to reduce it. To prevent this measure, Cromwell framed a remonstrance of the army, demanding the election of a new parlia¬ ment ; and this meeting with no regard, he entered the House of Commons, which he had surrounded with his troops, and, declaring the parliament dis- J Cromwell dissolves the long parliament.—Ilis YfnnFT? 'V death.—Rump parliament. — Restoration MU-ULilviN solved by his authority, forcibly turned the mem¬ bers out of dooi's. The republic of England, which had subsisted four years and three months, was thus annihilated in one moment, April 20, 1653. 4. It was necessary, however, that there should be the appearance of a parliament. A few mean persons, of fanatical character, were chosen by Cromwell’s partizans, from the different counties of England, with five from Scotland, and six from Ireland, to hold their functions for fifteen months. This assembly, termed Barebone’s Parliament, from its leading member, a leather-seller, became the scorn of the public, and was dissolved by its own vote, after five months. 5. The government was now vested in the Council of Officers, who nominated Oliver Cromwell Loi’d Protector of the three kingdoms, invested him with the power of making peace, war, and alliance, and authorised a standing army of thirty thousand men to be kept up for the support of government. His administration was despotic, vigorous, and spirited. He maintained the honour of the nation in the war with the Dutch, compelling them to yield the honour of the flag, and to compensate to the India Company all its losses. He was successful likewise in his negotiations with France and Spain. But in his domestic government he was traversed by his parliaments, whom it cost him a continual struggle, and even violence, to keep in order. One parliament, properly prepared, voted him the regal title, which, by the council of his best friends, he was forced most unwillingly to refuse. In recompense of this self-denial, the parliament conffrmed his title of Protector, with a fixed revenue, and decreed his right of appointing a successor. He was king in all but the name. 6. By consent of parliament, Cromwell appointed a House of Lords ; but all the ancient peers declined the proffered honour. He was foi’ced to choose them from the Commons ; and thus he lost the ma- ! jority in the lower house. His temper soured with I disappointment, a prey to chagrin, and in continual fear of assassination, he fell at length into a mortal disease, and died in the fifty-ninth year of his age, 3rd September, 1658. 7- Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver, succeeded, by his father’s appointment, to the protectorate ; a man of weak understanding and facile temper, ut¬ terly unfit for his hazardous situation, which accordingly he maintained only for a few months, resigning his office on the 22nd April, 1659. His brother Henry, viceroy of Ireland, immediately followed his example ; and the family of the Crom¬ wells, which the talents of one man had elevated above the sovereigns of their country, returned once more to its original obscurity. 8. The remains of that nominal parliament which had put the king to death, termed, in derision, the Rump, was now dissolved by the council of officers. Of these evei’y aspiring individual had his own separate views of ambition. Intrigue, cabal, and anarchy, were universal ; and the nation, looking forward with horror to a series of calamities, began earnestly to desire the restitution of its ancient go¬ vernment. George Monk, commander of the army in Scotland, judged these symptoms favourable for restoring the exiled monarch to the throne of his ancestors. Marching his army into England, he declared his resolution to bring about the election of a free parliament, which all men knew to be of Charles II.'—Reigns of Charles II. and James II.—Titus Oates’s plot. synonymous with the restoration of the king. It was of course violently opposed by the republican party, who even attempted to excite a new civil war ; but they were forced at length to acquiesce in the measure. A free parliament was assembled ; and a message being presented from Charles, offer¬ ing a full indemnity, complete liberty of conscience, and payment to the army of all arrears, it was re¬ ceived with transports of joy, and Charles II. pro¬ claimed king, 29th May, 1660. 58.— THE REIGNS OF CHARLES II. AND JAMES II. 1. The nation, without imposing any terms on their new sovereign, trusted implicitly to his good dispositions. These were humane and complacent; but the character of Charles, indolent, luxurious, and prodigal, was neither fitted to support the national honour abroad, nor to command obedience and respect to his domestic government. The sale of Dunkirk was a measure offensive to the pride of the nation. A war with Holland, supported at a vast expense, and maintained in many desperate but indecisive engagements, was attended finally with no material benefit. By the treaty of Breda, concluded in 1667, New York was secured to the English, the Isle of Polerone to the Dutch, and Acadia in North America, to the French. 2. The sale of Dunkirk, and the unsuccessful issue of the war, attributed to the counsel of the Earl of Clarendon, procured the disgrace and banishment of that illustrious man, 1667- The peace was scarcely concluded with Holland, when England joined with her and Sweden in a triple alliance, to oppose the progress of the arms of Lewis XIY. in the low countries ; and that object being attained, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1668, the French monarch gained the English over to his interest in a new war against the Dutch, which brought their republic to the brink of de¬ struction. 3. The domestic administration of Charles was embroiled from various causes, originating in the personal chai’acter and disposition of the sovereign. He trusted to pi’ofligate and woi’thless counsellors. His arbitrary notions of government, and the par¬ tiality he showed to the catholics, gave pei-petual alarm and uneasiness to a great proportion of his subjects. Complaints resounded from evei’y quarter; and the parliament required a test oath, abjuring popery, from all persons in public employment. On refusal to take this oath, the king’s brother, James duke of York, was deprived of his office of high admiral. 4. Titus Oates, a worthless impostor 1 , pretended to have discovei’ed a plot of the catholics for assas¬ sinating the king, burning London, massacring the protestants, and placing the duke of York on the throne. Another villain, named Bedloe, joined his evidence to that of Oates; and on their perjured testimony, afterwards fully exposed, a few mise- i*able priests suffered death. A new test was im¬ posed, which excluded all papists from both houses of parliament. The treasurer Danby was impeached for advising the last peace with Fi’ance, though it was proved that he had acted by his sovereign’s orders; and a bill passed the house of commons, excluding the duke of York from the successioix to the crown. A more impoidant bill for the general liberty, the act of Habeas Corpus, was the work of . oc) Whig and Tory parties. — Death of Charles II.—Monmouth’s .’s rebellion. MODERN HISTORY. the same session of parliament. (See sect. 59, § 14) [antea, p. 81, 82, note ,and posted, 124, and note ]. 5. The distinguishing epithets of whig and tory were now first known; the former, the opposers of the crown, against the latter, its partisans; and each party, as in all factions, carried its principles to an extreme. The whigs, predominant in the next parliament, raged with fury against the ca¬ tholics, and insisted on the king’s assent to the bill for the exclusion of his brother. He had no other expedient but to dissolve them, but found their successors equally violent. After various fruitless attempts to conciliate their favour to his measures, a dissolution ensued of this parliament, the last which Charles assembled. 6. But the great cause of dissatisfaction re¬ mained. The duke of York was at the bottom of all the measures of government. A conspiracy was formed by Shaftesbury, Russel, Sidney, and the duke of Monmouth, natural son of the king, on the pretence of vindicating the national liberties. It was discovered by one of the associates, and Russel and Sidney suffered a capital punishment. The de¬ tection of this conspiracy strengthened the authority of the sovereign. The duke of York was restored to his office of high admiral, and tacitly acknow¬ ledged as the successor to the crown. Charles II. died sixth February 1685, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and twenty-fifth year of his reign. 7. The duke of York succeeded to the throne by the title of James II. His reign was short and inglorious. He was the instrument of his own mis¬ fortunes, and ran headlong to destruction. The catholics at this time were not the hundredth part of the nation, yet James was weak enough to make the desperate attempt of substituting the popish faith in room of the protestant. Discarding the nobility from his councils, he was directed solely by Romish priests; and in the very outset of his reign expressed his contempt of the authority of parliament, and a firm purpose to exercise an un¬ limited despotism. 8. The duke of Monmouth having excited a new rebellion, was defeated, made prisoner, and be¬ headed; and the most inhuman rigour was shown in the punishment of all his partisans. The par¬ liament was in general submissive to the king’s will, which for a while met with no opposition or control. A declaration was published, establishing full liberty of conscience in matters of religion; and several bishops who refused to publish it in their dioceses, were committed to prison. A catho¬ lic president was appointed to one of the colleges of Oxford. An ambassador was sent to the pope, and a papal nuncio received in London. The ca¬ tholics openly boasted that theirs would soon be the religion of the state. 9. James had three children: Mary, the wife of the Stadtliolder William prince of Orange; Anne, married to prince George of Denmark; and James, an infant. The Stadtholder had looked on his right to the crown of England as certain before the birth of this infant, and after that event, projected still to gain it by arms or intrigue; the infatuation of the king, and the general discontent of the people, giving him the most flattering invitation. James himself was informed of these views of his son-in- law, but would give them no credit, till actually apprised of his landing with an army, 15th Novem¬ ber, 1688. Abdication of James II. Essay on the British constitution. 10. The principal nobility and officers immedi¬ ately joined the standard of the Prince of Orange; and James was at once abandoned by his people, his ministers, his favourites, and his own children. Leaving London in disguise, he was discovered and brought back by the populace; but the prince of Orange wisely favouring his escape, he found means a few days after to convey himself to France. 11. The throne being declared vacant, it was proposed in a convention-parliament, that the crown should be settled on the princess Mary, and her issue, her husband govei’ning as regent; whom failing, on the princess Anne. The Stadtholder declining the office of regent, it was finally i*esolved to confer the crown on the prince and princess of Orange, the former to have the sole administration of the government. 12. To this settlement was added a declaration, fixing the rights of the subject and the royal pre¬ rogative. Of this the most important articles are the following : The king cannot suspend the laws or their execution; he cannot levy money without consent of parliament: The subjects have right to petition the crown : A standing army cannot be kept up in time of peace but by consent of parlia¬ ment : elections and parliamentary debate must be free, and parliaments must be frequently assembled, &c. Such was the final settlement of the British government at the great era of the revolution. At this period, when the constitution of the country became fixed and determined, we finish the sketch of the history of our own country. 59.— ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 1. The rudiments of the constitution of England maybe traced as far back as the Norman conquest. William distributed a great proportion of the lands among his Norman followers, subjecting these, as well as the Anglo-Saxons who retained their pro¬ perty, to the feudal tenures, and thus extinguishing at once the ancient liberties of the people. England was divided into sixty thousand two hundred and fifteen military fiefs, all held of the crown, under the obligation of the [tenant or] vassal taking arms for his sovereign whenever required. In the continental kingdoms of Europe, as in France, the feudal system arose by slow degrees, nor was there, of consequence, the same union of the fabric as in England. The feudal lords were independent of each other, ever at variance from their mutual pretensions, and often owing but a very slender allegiance to the crown. Their vassals suffered from oppression, and often struggled for their freedom ; but these efforts being partial, produced no consequence favoui’able to the liberty of the nation. In England, all were oppressed by the enormous weight of the crown ; it was a common grievance, and produced, at times, a violent effort for the general liberties of the people. 2. The forest laws imposed by the Conqueror (see sect. 15., § ii. 11) were a grievance felt by the whole nation, as rendering every man’s property precarious, and subject to the arbitrary encroach¬ ments of the crown. It was no wonder that the barons and their vassals should cordially unite to rid themselves of so intolerable a hardship. Henry I. found it necessary to conciliate his subjects, by mitigating the most rigorous of the feudal laws. A greater advance was made under Henry II. by British constitution continued.—Boroughs iunr»UT?M TTTGTnT? V reign of Henry III.—Legislative power. , OQ first send members to parliament in the IViUJJiliixiV nlolUxvi. —Parliament. the institution of the trial by jury. But John, im¬ prudently resisting this natural progress towards a rational freedom, was soon compelled into those important concessions, the Charta de Foresta and Magna Charta. From that time, whatever we may judge of the actual government, which was often most arbitrary and despotical, the constitution of England was that of a limited monarchy. 3. The next memorable era in the growth of the English constitution was the reign of Henry III., when, under that weak prince, the parliament re¬ ceived a new form, by the admission of the repre¬ sentatives of the people, the deputies of the counties and boroughs. (Sect. 22. § 2.) His successor, Edward I., acknowledged their authority in obtain¬ ing all his subsidies, and ratified a new law, which declared, that no tax should be levied without the consent of lords and commons. The Magna Charta was confirmed no less than eleven times in the course of this reign. 4. Thus the constitution continued advancing, till its progress was suspended by the civil wars of York and Lancaster. The rights of both prince and people seemed then to be entirely forgotten ; and the race of Tudor found no resistance from parliament to their vigorous but despotic sway. The talents of Elizabeth, and the high character which her government sustained with foreign powers, extinguished all domestic disquiets, while the predominant feeling was the maintenance of the power and dignity of the ci’own. 5. But under the succeeding prince, when that power and dignity were abased by his own weak¬ ness, the nation began to awake from its lethargy ; and that spirit of opposition, which in this reign eonfined itself to complaints, was in the next to break forth with alarming violence. Charles I., endowed with superior energy of character, and acting, as he conceived, on a principle of duty, which called on him to maintain the prerogative of his predecessors, and transmit it unimpaired to his posterity, was imprudent in exerting with rigour an authority which he wanted ultimate resources to support. He was compelled to sign the Petition of Rights, a grant more favourable to liberty than Magna Charta. The true patriots were satisfied with this concession, which conferred the most ample constitutional freedom. But, with the popu¬ lar leaders, patriotism was the cloak of insatiable ambition ; and, advancing in their demands with every new' compliance, the last appeal was made to the sword, and the contest ended by the destruction of the constitution. 6. The despotism which succeeded, and the fluctuation of power from the long parliament to the Protector, and finally to the leaders of a stand¬ ing army, afforded convincing demonstration how vain was the chimera of a republic, under which the demagogues had masked their designs. Weary of anarchy, the nation returned, with high satis¬ faction, to the best of all constitutions, a limited monarchy. 7. New encroachments under Charles II. pro¬ duced new limitations, and the act of Habeas Corpus gave the utmost possible security to personal liberty. The violent and frantic invasion of the constitution by James II. banished himself and his posterity from the throne, and produced a new and solemn contract between the king and people. Regarding, therefore, the revolution as the final settlement of the English constitution, we shall en¬ deavour briefly to delineate the chief features of that great political structure. 8. The constitution of Great Britain may be viewed under two distinct heads, the legislative and the executive power : the last comprehending the prerogative of the crown. The power of legislation belongs to parliament, whose constituent parts are, the king, lords, and commons. The House of Lords consists of the temporal peers of England, and the spiritual, viz., the two archbishops and twenty-four bishops. To these, since the union with Scotland and Ireland, are added sixteen delegates from the peerage of the former kingdom, and thirty-two from the latter. The House of Commons consists of the deputies of the counties, principal towns, [and boroughs] of England, and the two universities, amounting in all to five hundred and thirteen members; to whom, since the unions, are added forty-five from Scot¬ land, and one hundred from Ireland. These depu¬ ties are chosen by the freeholders who possess [and by leaseholders and occupiers of ] a property yield¬ ing a certain yearly rent *. The chancellor gene¬ rally presides in the House of Lords; the speaker is president in the House of Commons. 9. The king is the most essential component part of parliament, because he alone has the power to convoke, prorogue, and dissolve it. He has like¬ wise a negative on all its acts, which are invalid without his approbation ; and each house has a negative on the decrees of the other. It is like- * On the 7th of June, 1832, was passed an act intituled, “ An act to amend the Representation of the people in Eng¬ land and Wales,” which created new classes of voters. This act also established a mode of registration and revision of the lists of electors. At present (1844) the upper house of parliament consists of the following, viz. Princes of the blood royal. 3 Dukes. 21 Marquesses . 20 Earls . 116 Viscounts. 21 Barons . 209 Peers of Scotland. 16 Peers of Ireland, 28 ; 4 of whom are also peers of Great Britain. 28 English archbishops and bishops. 26 Irish representative archbishops and bishops ... 4 Total. 464 The people are represented in the lower house by six hun¬ dred and fifty-eight members, viz. England—C ounty members . 143 Isle of Wight. 1 Universities . 4 Cities, boroughs, and Cinque Ports. 323 -471 Wales—C ounty members . 15 Boroughs. 14 - 29 Scotland—C ounty members. 30 Cities and boroughs. 23 53 Ireland—C ounty members. 64 University . 2 Cities and boroughs. 39 -105 Total. 658 --- - -1 1£> . British constitution continued. tvta nrovr iTTQTnRV Habeas corpus.—Criminal judicature. Executive power.—Regal power. MUll Ii.lv IN nloiUrti. Liberty of the press. wise competent to the king to propose any measure to be laid before the parliament. 10. All questions regarding public affairs and national measures may originate in either house of parliament, except grants of money, which must take their rise in the house of commons, and cannot be altered, though they may be rejected, by the lords. The matter must be primarily discussed in that house in which it originates, and until there decided, cannot be received by the other, unless a conference should be demanded. A bill refused by either house, or, though passed by both, refused by the king, is utterly void. ] 1. The executive power of government is lodged in the king. (1.) The first branch of his office is the administration of justice. The judges of all courts of judicature are the king’s substitutes. He is the prosecutor of all crimes, and has the power of pardoning and suspending the execution of all sentences. (2.) He is the fountain of all honour, the giver of all titles and dignities, and the disposer of all the offices of state. (3.) He is the superin- tendant of commerce, and has the power of regu¬ lating weights and measures, and of coining money. (4.) He is the head of the church, and names the archbishops and bishops. (5.) He is commander- in-chief of all the sea and land forces, and can alone equip fleets, levy armies, and appoint all their of¬ ficers. (6.) He has the power of making war, peace, and alliance, and of sending and receiving ambassadors. (7.) He is above the reach of all courts of justice, and is not responsible to any judi¬ cature for his conduct in the administration of government. 12. These high powers of the sovereign, which at first sight would seem to render him an absolute monarch, are thus admirably controlled : the king is dependent on parliament for all subsidies, without which he can neither maintain his fleets and armies, nor pay the salaries of his officers. The parlia¬ ment, indeed, settles a revenue on the king for life, but this is merely sufficient for the maintenance of his household, and supporting a proper dignity of establishment; and as it must be renewed by par¬ liament at the beginning of every reign, it is in the power of that body to withhold it till all abuses shall be remedied. Thus the constitution may be brought back at those periods to its first principles, and all encroachment of the prerogative restrained. 13. The king can never reign without a parlia¬ ment. It must by law be assembled once in three years, on a notice of forty days before its meeting. Although the head of the church, the king cannot alter the established religion, nor frame ecclesias¬ tical regulations; these must be made by the as¬ sembly of the clergy. The king cannot interfere in the ordinary administration of justice, nor refuse his consent to the prosecution of crimes. He may pardon offences, but cannot exempt the offender from pecuniary compensation to the party injured. He cannot alter the standard of money, either in weight or alloy. He cannot raise an army without the consent of parliament; and though a moderate standing force is kept up with their consent, the funds for its payment require an annual renewal by parliament. Finally, although the sovereign himself is not amenable to any judicature, his ministers are re¬ sponsible for all the measures of government; and are impeachable by the commons at the bar of the house of lords for every species of misconduct or misdemeanor. Moreover, the freedom of parliamentary discus¬ sion is secured, as no member can be questioned for any opinions or words but in that house of par¬ liament in which they were uttered. 14. The personal security and the rights of the subjects are farther guarded by these three pecu¬ liarities of the British constitution—the [writ of] habeas corpus, trial by juries, and the liberty of the press. By the act of habeas corpus [31 Car. 2, c. 2], every prisoner [committed and charged with any crime (unless committed for treason or felony, ex¬ pressed in the warrant, or as accessory before the fact, and so expressed in the warrant ; or unless convicted or charged in execution by legal process), upon complaint and request in writing] must be brought before a judge, the cause of his detainer certified, and the judge’s authority interposed to it, [either to discharge or remand the party charged, or else to deliver him on bail]. The violation of this statute [which extends only to the case of com¬ mitments for criminal charges, and leaves all other cases of unjust imprisonment to the habeas at com¬ mon law *] is punishable by the highest penalties. The habeas corpus may be suspended in times of danger to the state, as during the existence of a conspiracy or rebellion. Although this act does not extend to Scotland, the subjects of that part of the United kingdom are equally secured by their own lawsf. 15. All crimes must be tried by a jury of twelve men in England and Ireland, and fifteen in Scot¬ land. The prisoner has a right of challenging or objecting to the jurors ; and (except in Scotland), without shewing any cause, he may challenge twenty successively in ordinary cases, and thirty-five in cases of treason. The jury are judges both of the law and the fact ; nor has the opinion of the court any weight in their decision, but such as they choose to give it. 16. The liberty of the press is in this respect a guardian of the constitution, that it is competent for any individual to convey to the public his opinion of the whole conduct of government, and the merits of its conductor's ; to canvass every counsel of state, and examine every public measure ; thus forcibly restraining all ministers and magis¬ trates within the limits of their duty. It is, farther, the guardian of injured innocence, and the redresser of all wrongs that evade the cognizance of law. Yet this most valuable right, if itself unrestrained, would be the source of the greatest mischief. If it were allowable with impunity to assail the estab¬ lished government, to convulse society, to dissemi¬ nate atheism, to injure the reputation or endanger the life and property of individuals by false accu¬ sations, there would be an end of all liberty and civil happiness. The liberty of the press consists in this, that there is no examination of writings previous to their being printed and published ; but, after publication, such writings as offend in any of * The benefits of the common law habeas corpus, which lies in all other cases where the party is imprisoned unjustly, are secured by the Stat. 56 Geo. III. c. 100, which enacts, that when any person is restrained of his liberty, any judge shall, on complaint of the party and reasonable cause shown, award a writ of habeas corpus returnable immediately be¬ fore the same or any other judge of the same court.— Ed. + Statute 1701, c. vi. Vide anlea, p. 81, 82, note. MODERN HISTORY. Public revenue.—National debt. France under Louis XI11. Cardinal Richelieu. Calvinism destroyed in France. 125 the above particulars, are, on trial of the offence by jury, punishable by law. Thus the public is properly constituted the judge and censor of all writings addressed to itself. 17. Such are briefly the outlines of the admirable fabric of the British constitution. Esto perpetua ! GO.- OF THE PUBLIC REVENUE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1. The property belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, which was anciently very great, and fully adequate to the maintenance of government, con¬ sisted of domain-lands, the first-fruits and tenths of church benefices, the rents of vacant bishoprics and abbeys, the profits of military tenures, fines imposed in courts of justice, forfeitures, &c. These are now, from alienations made by the sovereigns and retrenchments of their prerogative, become so inconsiderable, that the king may be considered as entirely dependent on the people for the support of his dignity, and the means of carrying on the busi¬ ness of the state. The public revenue, destined both for the former and latter purpose, arises now from the subsidies granted by the people. The supplies are voted by the Commons, and the means of furnishing them, by taxes proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, must receive their sanction. 2. Of these taxes, some are annual, as the land- tax and malt-tax ; and others perpetual, as the customs, excise, salt duty, post-office duty, stamps, house and window-tax, duties on servants, hackney- coaches, pensions, &c. The customs are a tax paid by the merchant on all imported and exported com¬ modities ; the excise an inland imposition, laid sometimes on the consumer, and sometimes on the retail-seller. 3. The produce of these taxes is, in the first place, destined to the paying the interest of the national debt, and afterwards to the ordinary sup¬ port of government. The national debt arose soon after the Revolution, when it was thought hazardous to impose annual taxes equal to the annual expeuse of government, and more expedient to borrow large sums for the immediate service of the state, raising annually no more than to pay the interest of that debt. The same system has been since persevered in ; so that the national debt, which a century ago was sixteen millions,is now [1803] above three hundred millions. To pay the interest of this enormous sum, the produce of the taxes (excepting the malt and land-tax) are primarily destined ; and as somewhat more is an¬ nually raised than that exigence and the mainte¬ nance of government demand, the surplus consti¬ tutes a sinking fund for paying off the principal of the debt *. 4. The produce of the taxes, originally separate funds, is now thrown into two or three capital funds, one of which is mortgaged by parliament for the maintenance of the king’s household and the civil list, viz., the salaries of officers of state, judges, ambassadors, private expenses, pensions, &c. * Since 1817, a very great reduction from the principal debt, as well as from the annual charge on its account, has been effected, chiefly by taking advantage of the fall of inte¬ rest since the peace, and by offering to pay off the holders of different storks unless they consented to accept a reduced payment. The sinking fund has been long repudiated as a \ fallacy.—E d. 5. Notwithstanding the little prospect of an ex¬ tinction of the national debt, government maintains its credit, and will always find lenders, because the terms granted are beneficial, and the security is transferable ; so that a lender can thus always ob¬ tain payment of his principal sum, and frequently make gain by the transference. The value of stock rises and falls from various occasional causes, as national prosperity, or the reverse, plenty or scarcity of money, quantity of public debt. On this varia¬ tion is founded the practice of stock-jobbing ; that is, either buying and selling actual property in the public funds, which is a lawful speculation, or gaming and wagering on the price of stock, which is an illicit though common practice. The practice of stock-jobbing, even by the transference of actual property, far more by gaming on that which is ficti¬ tious, is prejudicial to commerce and manufactures, by engrossing a great part of the national wealth, repressing industry, encouraging fraud, and often tempting to the most treacherous and dangerous devices for raising and sinking the funds. Gl. —HISTORY OF FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIII. 1. France, which under Henry IV. had risen from a state of miserable anarchy to high pros¬ perity and splendour, sunk, upon his death, into weakness, faction, and disorder. Mary of Medici, regent in the minority of her son Louis XIII., a weak woman, and of restless ambition, disgusted the nobility by her partiality for her Italian cour¬ tiers. Concini, her first minister, created marshal d’Ancre, became so universally odious, that he was openly murdered in the Louvre, and his body torn to pieces. The queen was removed from Paris, and kept for two years a prisoner at Blois, till relieved by the duke d’Epernon, to serve his own purposes of ambition. The queen’s party was at war with that of her son, and the whole kingdom in a state of anarchy. 2. The genius of Cardinal Richelieu, who was now brought into power by Mary of Medici, soon effected a wonderful change. He reconciled the mother and her son, soothed the contending fac¬ tions, and on the king’s assuming the government, directed every public measure to the complete re-establishment of the power and dignity of the monarchy. The party of the Calvinists, alienated by persecution, attempted to throw off their alle¬ giance, and establish an independent state, of which Rochelle should be the capital. Richelieu bargained with the Dutch to furnish a fleet for subduing their protestant brethren, and the Dutch now fought as keenly for the Catholic religion as they had lately done for the Protestant. The English sent a fleet to the aid of the Rochellois, who for a year main¬ tained a most obstinate siege against the French troops, commanded by the cardinal in person. They were at length forced to surrender; and Rochelle and all the other protestant cities of France were stripped of their privileges, and had their fortifications destroyed. Thus Calvinism was for ever crushed in France. 3. Louis XIII., though a weak prince, saw his advantage in entering into all the great designs of his minister. Richelieu influenced the politics of all Europe. The power of Austria was attacked in Germany, Flanders, Spain, and Italy ; and the talents of the minister were equally displayed in 10 ,, Richelieu’s politics.—Spain under Philip Tvr^TWDTVT TJTe r rnT>v Spain and Portugal.-Germany from abdication III. and Philip IV. — Constitution of iVlUUljlCiN lllol Jrti. of Charles V. to the peace of Westphalia. active war, in foreign negotiations, and in his domestic arrangements. Yet at this very time a formidable cabal was undermining him. Mary of Medici was jealous of the man she had raised, and the duke of Orleans, the king’s brother, sought to supplant him in his power. Richelieu, with as¬ tonishing intrepidity of mind, repressed this con¬ spiracy. Fortified by the king’s authority, he seized the marshal de Mariallac, one of his most dangerous enemies, at the head of his army, and tried and put him to death, by a lawless stretch of power. Orleans, apprehensive of a similar fate, fled the kingdom ; and Mary of Medici, arrested and removed from court, ended her career of am¬ bition in voluntary exile at Brussels. Orleans, supported by the duke de Montmorenci, attempted a rebellion; but their army was defeated, and Mont¬ morenci executed for treason. The queen had taken part with the enemies of the cardinal. He imprisoned her confessor, seized and examined her papers; and Anne of Austria was very near sharing the fate of Mary of Medici. 4. Amidst all this turbulence, both of foreign war and state cabal, Richelieu cultivated the pursuits of literature, encouraged the sciences, instituted the French Academy, and composed pieces for the theatre. The administration of Richelieu, though turbulent from faction and civil war, was, on the whole, extremely glorious for France, and the seeds were sown of the splendour of that monarchy in the succeeding age of Louis XIY. The death of this great minister, 1642, was soon after followed by that of his sovereign, Louis XIII., 1643. 62. — SPAIN UNDER PHILIP III. AND PHILIP IV. — CONSTITUTION OF PORTUGAL AND OF SPAIN. 1. From the death of Philip II. Spain declined in power, and, notwithstanding her great sources of wealth, the national finances were in the utmost disorder. Philip III. was forced to conclude a peace with the Dutch, and to restore to the house of Nassau its confiscated estates. With a weak and despicable policy, he expelled from his kingdom all the Moors, who were the most industrious of its inhabitants, 1610 ; and this depopulation, joined to that already produced by her American colonies, rendered Spain a lifeless and enervated mass. 2. The national weakness, and its disorders, in¬ creased under Philip IV., who, equally spiritless as his father, was implicitly ruled by his minister Olivarez, as the former had been by the duke of Lerma. His reign was one continued series of miscarriages and defeats. The Dutch seized Brazil; the French invaded Artois ; Catalonia re¬ volted to France ; and Portugal shook off its yoke, and became an independent kingdom. 3. No revolution was ever effected with such ease and celerity as that of Portugal. The people were disgusted with the rigorous and impolitic administration of Olivarez. The duke of Braganza, descended from the ancient kings of Portugal, had at this time the command of the army. Instigated by the ambition of his duchess, and seeing the spirit of the nation favourable to his views, he caused himself to be proclaimed king at Lisbon. The Spanish guards were attacked and routed, and the chief partisans of the government put to death by the populace. All the principal towns followed the example of the capital, and soon after all the foreign settlements. From that era, 1640, Portugal became an independent sovereignty, after having been for sixty years an appanage of the kingdom of Spain. 4. The government of Portugal approaches to an absolute monarchy. The consent of the states or Cortes , consisting of clergy, nobility, and commons, was formerly necessary to the imposition of taxes, and the settlement of the succession to the crown. But this assembly, never convoked but by the royal mandate, has now for a long time ceased to meet. The ordinary business of government is transacted by the king and his council of state, which is appointed by himself. The crown’s reve¬ nue arises from its domains, including the family estates of Braganza, from the duties on exports and imports, from the taxes, and from a stated propor¬ tion of the gold brought from Brazil. The state of the commerce and manufactures of Portugal is ex¬ tremely low ; and though favoured by soil and climate, the agriculture of the kingdom is much neglected. 5. The reigns of Philip III. and IV. of Spain, though an era of national humiliation, derived some small lustre from the state of literature. Dramatic composition, poetry, and romance, and even history, were cultivated with great success. But these are in some sort the amusements of in¬ dolence, and this was the predominant character of the people. This character may have arisen from two sources — the torrent of wealth poured in from America retarded, in the lower classes, do¬ mestic industry and manufactures, while it in¬ creased the pride of the gentry, and made them disdain all occupation ; and the despotism of the government is strongly repressive of all enterprise and activity in the people. 6. The constitution of Spain, of which the so¬ vereignty was in ancient times elective, is now that of an absolute monarchy. The crown is heredit¬ ary; though at different times, as in 1619 and 1713, there has been a new limitation made by the monarch of the succession. The Coi'tes , or states of the kingdom, limited in former times the power of the sovereign, but Charles V. reduced their authority to nothing, by depriving the nobility and clergy of their seat in those assemblies ; the re¬ maining members, the deputies of the towns, being entirely under the control of the monarch. The king’s council, or conseja real, is the organ of go- verment; but there is no department of the state which has any constitutional power to regulate the will of the prince. 63. - AFFAIRS OF GERMANY FROM THE ABDICATION OF CHARLES V. TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 1. To presei’ve the connexion of the affairs of Germany with those of the other kingdoms of Europe, we must look back to the period of the abdication of Charles V., when the empire was distracted both by the political factions and quar¬ rels of its independent princes, and the contending sects of the Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. Ferdinand attempted to reconcile these factions, and unite the three religions, but in vain. Maxi¬ milian II. had still less power to effect this object than his predecessor ; nor was the face of affairs at all changed during the succeeding reigns of Ro- MODERN HISTORY. France under Louis XIV. The Fronde .—Cardinal Mazarin. Conquests of Louis XIV., by Turenne and Vauban. dolphus II. and Matthias. A civil war of thirty years’ duration reduced the empire to extremity. Under Ferdinand II., a zealous Catholic, the Pro¬ testant states of Bohemia, which had suffered under the government of Matthias, conferred their crown on the elector palatine ; and the emperor, in re¬ venge, deprived him both of his crown and his electorate. 2. The Protestant cause was declining fast in Germany, and every thing seemed to indicate suc¬ cess to the schemes of Ferdinand for its entire annihilation, when it received new vigour from the intervention of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. This great prince defeated the imperial generals, and carried the Protestant banners triumphantly through Germany. The emperor was completely humbled, and the elector palatine on the eve of restoration to his dominions, when the heroic Gus¬ tavus was slain in the battle of Lutzen, 1G32. The war was successfully pi’osecuted by the Swedish generals, while cardinal Richelieu harassed the house of Austria both in Germany and Spain. 3. In the succeeding reign of Ferdinand III., the Protestants of Germany found the most active support both from the Swedes and the French ; and the emperor being forced to conclude the peace of Westphalia, 1648, these powers dictated its terms. By this celebrated treaty, all disputes were settled between the contending princes of the em¬ pire and the contending religions. The Swedes were indemnified for the charges of the war, and acquired Pomerania, Stettin, Wismar, &c., and their sovereign the dignity of prince of the empire ; the palatine family was restored to its chief pos¬ sessions ; the king of France made Landgrave of Alsace ; and an equal establishment decreed of the three religions. This salutary peace laid the foun¬ dation of the future greatness and prosperity of the German empire. 64.— FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV. 1. On the death of Louis XIII., 16G3, his son Louis XIY. succeeded to the throne in the fifth year of his age. Europe, as we have seen, was in a most turbulent state ; and France, under the administration of Richelieu, acted a conspicuous part in exciting those general commotions. The queen-mother, Anne of Austria, appointed regent by the states, chose for her minister the cardinal Mazarin, an Italian, and from that circumstance odious to the people. The Spaniards, taking ad¬ vantage of the king’s minority and the popular discontents, made an attack on Champagne ; but they were defeated in a series of engagements by the great Conde ; and the Marshal de Turenne shared with him the palm of glory. The peace of Westphalia composed these differences. 2. At this very time the commotions of the Fronde broke out in Paris. The jealousy felt by the nobility of Mazarin’s power, the unpopularity of his measures, the disorder of the finances, and the oppression of new taxes, inflamed the nation; and the intrigues of the coadjutor, afterwards car¬ dinal de Retz, blew up this flame into a civil war. The parliament of Paris took part with the rebels, who were headed by the prince of Conti, the dukes of Longueville and Bouillon, and the chief nobility. The queen and the royal family removed to St. Ger¬ main’s, and the ministerial party besieged Paris. Turenne, who at first supported them, was gained over by the rebels. The women, who have always their part in the disturbances of France, had a con¬ spicuous share in those of the Fronde. A short pacification ensued; but the imprudent violence of Mazarin soon renewed the disorders. At length the parliament of Paris assumed the right of ba¬ nishing this unpopular minister, who retired to the imperial dominions, though his influence continued still to regulate the measures of state. 3. A change ensued on the king’s coming of age, 1G52. De Retz and Orleans, the chief promoters of the rebellion, were banished, and Mazarin re¬ sumed his station as minister. Conde had joined the Spaniards in an attack on the French Nether¬ lands, but was overmatched by Turenne, who re¬ venged this insult by the taking of Dunkirk, and several fortified towns under the Spanish govern¬ ment. Dunkirk was, by convention with Cromwell, ceded to the English, and afterwards sold back to France, as we have seen, by Charles II. 4. The war with Spain was ended in 1659, by the peace of the Pyrenees. Many cessions were made on both sides, but France kept Roussillon and part of Artois. It was stipulated that Louis XIY. should marry the infanta, daughter of Philip IV., but should renounce all right that might thence open to the crown of Spain. 5. The treaty of the Pyrenees gave peace to the south of Europe; and the wars in the north between Sweden, Poland, and Denmark, which arose after the abdication of Christiana of Sweden, were ter¬ minated in the year following by the treaty of Oliva. Christiana, a singular, but not a great character, held the sceptre of Sweden for twenty-two years after the death of her father, Gustavus Adolphus; till at length, tired of the cares of government, and affecting a passion for literature and philosophy, she resigned the crown in 1654,to her cousin Charles X.; an example which was followed soon after by Casimir king of Poland, though after an honourable reign, and for a better reason, age and sickness. 6. Mazarin died in 1661, and Louis XIV. entered on a vigorous and splendid career. The finances, which from the time of Henry IV. had been in ex¬ treme disorder, were admirably regulated by Col- bert; and the commerce and manufactures of the kingdom, wisely encouraged by government, were soon in the most flourishing situation. The canal of Languedoc joined the bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean; the principal sea-ports were en¬ larged and fortified; and the internal police of the kingdom was regularly and strictly enforced. The arms of France aided at the same time England against the Dutch, Germany against the Turks, and Portugal against Spain. 7. On the death of Philip IV., Louis, on pretence that Spain had failed in payment of the dowry of his queen, besieged and took Lisle, with several other fortified towns of Flanders, and in the next campaign made himself master of Franche-Comte. The sovereign marched with his armies, but the glory of these conquests was owing to Turenne and Vauban. The triple alliance formed by England, Holland, and Sweden, checked this career, and brought about the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668, by which Louis, though he retained Flanders, re¬ stored Franche-Comte, and confirmed the peace of the Pyrenees. 8. The strength and prosperity of the kingdom MODERN HISTORY. Charles II. of Spain dies and appoints a successor.—Eugene.—Marlborough. . Revocation of the edict of Nantes. lLo Treaty of llyswiek. continued to increase under the able administration of Colbert and Louvois. The civil factions of Hol¬ land, between the St&dtholder and the party of the De Wits, tempted Louis to undertake the conquest of that country; and England, Germany, and Swe¬ den, favoured his views. He overran the provinces of Utrecht, Overyssel, and Guelderland, and ad¬ vanced almost to the gates of Amsterdam, when the Dutch inundated the country by letting in the sea, and the French were forced to retreat. <). The confederate powers now became jealous of the ascendancy of France; and the prince of Orange had sufficient influence with England, and both branches of the house of Austria, to obtain their 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. Tranche-Comte' was assured as a part of her dominions, and Spain allowed her right by conquest to a great proportion of the Netherlands. 10. Notwithstanding the peace, Louis, with the most culpable insincerity, seized Strasburg, and secretly took part with the Hungarians and Turks in their attack on the imperial dominions. Vienna must have fallen into the hands of the Turks, had it not been seasonably relieved by the victorious arms of John Sobieski, king of Poland, 1683. 11. One of the weakest and most impolitic mea¬ sures of Louis XIV. was the revocation of the edict of Nantes, granted by Henrv IV. for the toleration of the Protestants. While their worship was suppressed, their churches demolished, and their ministers banished, the Protestant laity were forbidden, under the most rigorous penalties, to quit the kingdom, 1685. France, however, by this measure lost above five hundred thousand of her most industrious and useful subjects; and the name of Louis XIV. was execrated over a great part of Europe. It was not long after this time that a simi¬ lar excess of intolerant bigotry precipitated James II. from the throne of Britain, and forced him to seek an asylum from the monarch of France. 12. William prince of Orange, the inveterate enemv of Louis, brought about the league of Augs- burg, 1686; and the war was renewed with France by Germany, Spain, England, and Holland. The French arms were still successful. Luxemburg defeated William in the battles of Steenkirk and Nerwinden; Noailles was victorious in Spain; and an army of one hundred thousand French ravaged the Palatinate, and took many of the most impor¬ tant towns on the Rhine. This was the crisis of the glorv of Louis, whose fortunes were to sustain the most mortifying reverse. 13. Those various and most extensive military enterprises, however flattering to the pride of the monarch, had been attended with enormous ex¬ pence, and no solid advantage to the nation. The finances had fallen into disorder after the death of Colbert : a peace was absolutely necessary; and by the treaty of Ryswick, concluded in 1697? Louis restored to Spain all the conquests made in the two last wars, several towns to the emperor, the duchy of Lorraine to its duke, and acknowledged the right of William to the crown of England. 14. The succession to,the kingdom of Spain, on the expected death of Charles II. without issue, was now the object of political intrigue. The em¬ peror and the king of France had the only natural right of succession ; but William 111. of England, from the dread of such an increase of power to either, proposed a treaty of partition of the Span¬ ish dominions, at home and abroad, between the elector of Bavaria, the dauphin, and the emperor’s second son. Charles II. chose rather to make his own destination, and appointed by will that the duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, should inherit Spain ; on whose death without issue, it should devolve on the archduke Charles, youngest son of the emperor. 15. On the death of Charles, the duke of Anjou succeeded to the throne of Spain, in virtue of this settlement. The emperor, the king of England, and the Dutch, proposed to separate from his crown the Spanish dominions in Italy. In this enterprize prince Eugene, son of the count de Soissons, commanded the imperial troops, an illus¬ trious renegado from France, of great prowess and military skill. 16. James II. of England died in 1701, at St. Germain’s, and Louis gave mortal offence to that government by acknowledging the title of his son. On the death of king William in the year follow¬ ing, war was declared by England, Holland, and the empire, against France and Spain. Louis XIV. was now in the decline of life. He had lost the ablest of his ministers and his greatest generals. The finances of the kingdom were exhausted. The armies of his enemies were commanded by Eugene r c and the duke of Marlborough, the ablest generals of the age, and supported by the treasures of the united powers. Savoy and Portugal joined this formidable confederacy, to overwhelm both branches of the house of Bourbon, and place the emperor's son on the throne of Spain. 17. Marlborough took Venlo, Ruremonde, and Liege, and, together with Eugene, defeated Tallard and Marsin, with the elector of Bavaria, in the signal battle of Blenheim, 1England and Holland attacked Spain by sea and land. Cata¬ lonia and Valencia were subdued in six weeks ; and Gibraltar, taken by the English, has ever since remained with them. In the battle of Rami¬ fies, Marlborough defeated Villerov, and left twentv thousand dead on the field. The contest, at first doubtful in Italy, ended alike disastrouslv for the house of Bourbon. The archduke Charles was in the meantime proclaimed king at Madrid ; and Philip V. had serious thoughts of abandoning Spain, and establishing his dominion in America. But the successes of the duke of Berwick, natural son of James II., recovered for a while his de¬ sponding spirit, and even prompted his grandfather Louis to avenge himself on England, by aiding the bold but desperate enterprize of establishing the Pretender James on the throne of Britain. 18. But France and Spain were daily losing ground. The pope had acknowledged the title of the archduke Charles; the English seized the Me¬ diterranean islands; and Louis, fallen from all his proud pretensions, humbly entreated a peace, which was refused, unless on the condition of his dethroning his grandson with his own arms. He maintained for a while this unequal contest, and was at length forced to propose terms equallv hu¬ miliating ; the cession of all his conquests in the Netherlands and on the Rhine; the acknowledg¬ ment of the archduke’s title to the crown of Spain ; and a promise to give no aid to his grandson ; but Treaty of Utrecht.—Union of England with Scotland.—Constitution of France under MODERN HISTORY. the monarchy.—Parliaments.—Limita¬ tion of regal power.—Salic law. 120 these were refused, and the inhuman condition stiil insisted on, that he should himself assist in de- ; throning his grandson. A last exertion was made | in Spain under the duke of Vendome, at the head j of a prodigious army ; and the victory’ obtained by i the French at Villa-vitiosa, restored Philip V. to the throne of Spain. His competitor, the arch¬ duke, soon after became emperor, on the death of his elder brother. 19. The intrigues of the cabinet of queen Anne, i and the coming in of a Tory ministry, changed the j politics of Europe. It was resolved to make peace with France and Spain, and the treaty was con¬ cluded at Utrecht, 1713. It was stipulated that Philip, king of Spain, should renounce all eventual right to the crown of France, as his brother should j to the crown of Spain ; the Dutch obtained an extension of frontier ; the emperor a great part of Spanish Flanders; the English gained from Spain, Gibraltar and Minorca, and from France, Acadia, Newfoundland, and Hudsons Bay; with j one term most humbling to the latter, the demoli- ' tion of the harbour of Dunkirk. In the following year a peace was concluded at Rastadt between France and the empire. 20. The conclusion of this peace, after an ho¬ nourable war, was the most memorable event in the reign of queen Anne, if w r e except the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, 1J06, which was brought about by’ the negotiation of commissioners mutually chosen, to secure the rights of either kingdom in the best manner for their j mutual benefit. It was stipulated that they should be represented by one parliament, (sect. 59, § 8) but that each kingdom should retain its own laws and its established religion, and that they should have the same privileges with respect to commerce. The succession to the crown was limited to the house of Hanover. Queen Anne died 30th July, 1714, and Louis XIY. on 1st September, 1715, in the seventy-eighth year of his age ; a prince of great vigour of mind, of good talents, though unim- : proved by education, of dignified yet amiable man¬ ners, and whose greatest fault was his inordinate ambition, to which he sacrificed the real interests of his people. It was his highest honour, that he discerned and recompensed every species of merit; and France was in his time equally illustrious by the great military talents of her generals, and by the splendour of literature and the arts and sciences. 65.— OF THE CONSTITUTION’ OF FRANCE UNDER THE MONARCHY. 1. It is necessary for understanding the history of France,that we should have some acquaintance with its former monarchical constitution; and we shall very briefly trace the progress of its government under the different races of its sovereigns. The regal prerogative was, under the Merovingian princes, extremely limited. (See sect. 2, 3.) The general assembly of the nation had the right of | electing the sovereign, and the power of legislation. Under the Carlovingian race, the authority acquired by Pepin and Charlemagne sunk to nothing in the hands of their weak posterity: and though the crown had ceased to be elective, the regal dignitv was a mere shadow. The power of the state had passed into the hands of a turbulent aristocracy, ever at variance among themselves, and uniting only to abase the crown, and oppress the people. 2. Under the third Capetian race, the crown ac¬ quired more weight, and many of the sovereigns ex¬ erted a proper spirit in restraining the power, and punishing the lawless outrages of the nobles. It was to balance the weight of the aristocracy, that Philip J the Fair introduced the third estate to the national ! assemblies, which for above four centuries had con¬ sisted only of the nobles and clergy. The chief power of the state began now to shift to the scale of the monarch. The national assembly interfered rather to ratify than to decree; and in the fifteenth century the right of legislation was understood to reside wholly in the crown. The right of taxation seemed to follow of course; and the assemblies or states-general were now rarely convened, and from the reign of Louis XIII. entirely laid aside. 3. But another power gradually arose in the state, which in some measure supplied their func¬ tion in limiting the royal prerogative. The par¬ liaments were originally nothing more than the chief courts of justice in the territory where they were established. The parliament of Paris had naturally a higher respect and dignity than those of the provinces, and acquiring a right of appeal from their decrees, was considered as the para¬ mount jurisdiction, and the depository of the laws of the kingdom. The sovereigns of France, on first assuming the powers of legislation and tax¬ ation, produced their edicts to be registered in that court, and frequently consulted with its members on momentous affairs of state, as in questions of peace, war, or alliance. Thus the nation began to regard the parliament of Paris as a body which shared the powers of government with the mo¬ narch : and in the later reigns, the parliament availed itself of that general opinion, and made a bold stand in opposing any arbitrary stretches of the king’s authority, by refusing to verify and re¬ gister his edicts. 4. But as this power of the parliament was in reality an usurpation, it was constantly a subject of dispute. The members of this court were in no sense the representatives of the people, or vested with any portion of the constitutional authority of the national assemblies. They were in the king’s nomination, removable by him at pleasure, and even subject to entire annihilation as a body at his command. Nay, without so violent a remedy, the sovereign could at any time frustrate their op¬ position to his will, by appearing personally in the hall of parliament, and commanding his edict to be registered. 5. Yet even a power thus easily defeasible had its advantages to the state, and operated as a very considerable restraint on the royal authority. Con¬ sidering itself as the guardian of the public liberty, it remonstrated against all arbitrary encroachments of the crown, and by giving alarm to the nation, furnished an opposition sufficiently powerful to ob¬ tain its ends. The provincial parliaments, although they likewise registered the royal edicts, never as¬ sumed any similar authority. They were no more than the chief courts of civil judicature. 6. The king of France was therefore to be con¬ sidered as an absolute monarch, but whose authoxnty w’as in some degree limited by the consuetudinary regulations of the state, and could not easily be¬ come entirely despotic and tyrannical. The crown I MODERN HISTORY. Invasion of Poland.—Charles XII. invades Russia.—Battle of Pultowa. Papal power in France abridged. Peter the Great.—Charles XII. was hereditary, but could not descend to a female, nor to a natural son. The royal revenue was partly fixed and partly arbitrary. The former compre¬ hended the royal domains, the duties on wines and salt, the land-tax, capitation-tax, and gift of the clergy; the latter arose from all other taxes which the monarch thought fit to impose, and from the sale of offices. Most of these duties were leased out to the farmers-general. 7. The Gallican church, though catholic, and acknowledging the spiritual authority of the pope, had greatly abridged his ancient prerogatives within the kingdom. The assembly of the church, in 1682, declared that no temporal sovereign could be deposed by the pope, or subjects absolved from their allegiance : it decreed the subjection of the pope to the councils of the church, and denied his infallibility when in opposition to the canons of those councils. The pope had no power to levy money in France without the royal licence. In short, the ecclesiastical authority was in all respects subordi¬ nate to the civil. 66.—OF PETER THE GREAT, CZAR OF MUSCOVY, AND CHARLES XII. KING OF SWEDEN. 1. Two most illustrious characters adorned the north of Europe in the latter part of the age of Louis XIV., Peter the Great of Muscovy, and Charles XII. of Sweden. Russia is said to have received the light of Chris¬ tianity in the tenth century, but its history is utterly unknown till the middle of the fifteenth. At that period John Basilowitz redeemed the empire from its subjection to the Tartars, and extended its limits. His successors maintained a considerable splendour as sovereigns; but their dominions were uncul¬ tivated, and their subjects barbarians. Alexis Michaelowitz, father of Peter the Great, was the first who published a code of laws. It was not till the end of the sixteenth century that Siberia was added to the empire, which till then was bounded by the limits of Europe. 2. Peter, the youngest son of the Emperor Alexis, became master of the empire in 1689, by setting aside a weak elder brother, and banishing a factious sister, who had seized the government. Utterly uneducated, his youth had been spent in debauchery ; but his new situation immediately dis¬ played his talents, and gave birth to the wisest plans for the improvement of a barbarous people. The army and navy demanded his first attention. He began by breaking the turbulent militia of the Strelitzes, and by degrees formed a regular army of twelve thousand men, on the strictest model of discipline. He employed some Dutchmen to build a small fleet, and made the first experiment of his arms in taking Azof from the Turks, 1696. 3. Having gained the little instruction he pos¬ sessed from foreigners, Peter resolved to travel in search of knowledge. Appointing Le Fort, an able Genevese, his ambassador, he travelled as a private person in his suite through Germany to Holland, and studied the art of ship-building, by working in the docks with his own hands. Thence he passed to England, and in a similar manner acquired the knowledge of every art fitted for the improvement of his kingdom. The relative sciences were culti¬ vated with the same ardour and success ; and in sixteen months he returned to Moscoav to reduce those important acquirements into practice. 4. Regiments were raised and trained to exercise on the German model ; the finances arranged and systemized ; the church reformed by new canons and regulations ; the patriarchate abolished ; and a much-abused civil and criminal jurisdiction taken from the clergy. It was necessary to carry this reform even to the abolition of the national dress, and the suppression of ancient usages and habits of life ; innovations reluctantly submitted to, but en¬ forced by absolute power. 5. While this great genius was thus employed in new-modelling and polishing a barbarous empire, a competitor arose to dispute with him the sovereignty of the north, and divide the admiration of Europe. Charles XII. succeeded to the throne of Sweden, 1695, at fifteen years of age ; a prince whose sin¬ gular heroism of character and extraordinary achievements have ranked him with the greatest conquerors of antiquity. The situation of his kingdom speedily brought his genius into display. Russia, Poland, and Denmark, joined in a league to seize and share his dominions. The attack was begun by the Danes on Holstein, while the king of Poland invaded Livonia, and the Czar Ingria. Charles immediately landed an army on Zealand, at the gates of Copenhagen ; and in six weeks forced the Dane to purchase the safety of his capital and kingdom, by laying down his arms, and making full indemnity to the Duke of Holstein. The Swe¬ dish monarch now hastened into Ingria, and at the battle of Narva defeated sixty thousand of the Russians, and took thirty thousand prisoners. Such was the first campaign of Charles XII., then a boy of seventeen. 6. Poland was destined to receive a yet more humiliating chastisement. Charles reduced Cour- land and Lithuania, penetrated into the heart of the kingdom, and subdued the capitals of Warsaw and Cracow. He then assembled the states, declared king Augustus deposed, and signified his pleasure that Stanislaus, his own dependent, should be elected sovereign of Poland. The factions of the kingdom aided this revolution, and the will of Charles was complied with. The deposed king re¬ tired to his electoral dominions of Saxony. 7. A negotiation begun with the Czar was ab¬ ruptly terminated by Charles, who declared he would only negotiate at Moscow ; and entering the Russian dominions with forty-five thousand men, he was in the way of making good his threat, when he was induced, by a treacherous promise of aid from the Cossacks, to march through the Ukraine in the dead of winter. His army was wasted by fatigue and famine, when he was encountered by the Czar at Pultowa ; and the fate of Russia, Sweden, and Poland hung upon that battle. Charles was en¬ tirely defeated ; nine thousand Swedes fell in the field, and fourteen thousand were taken prisoners, 1709. Augustus was restored to the throne of Po¬ land, and the Czar took possession of Finland and Livonia. 8. With the wreck of his army, reduced to eighteen hundred men, Charles retreated into the Turkish dominions, and formed a camp near Ben¬ der. He endeavoured to prevail with the Grand Seignior to arm against the Czar, and succeeded, after a long negotiation. Two hundred thousand Turks took the field ; and the Czar’s army, infinitely Death of Charles XII. and Peter the Great. Science and literature in Europe from the inferior in number, was surrounded, and, after in¬ effectual resistance, forced to capitulate to the Grand Vizier. The news of this capitulation was death to all the hopes of Charles ; and his subse¬ quent conduct seems the result of frenzy. The Grand Seignior having intimated his desire that the Swedes should quit his territories, Charles fortified his camp, and declared he would defend it to the last extremity. After every means ineffectually tried to make him alter this resolution, he was at¬ tacked by the Turkish army, and taken fighting sword in hand amidst a massacre of his troops. 9. The Czar and the king of Denmark were in the meantime tearing Sweden to pieces. Charles returned in disguise with two of his officers to his own dominions, and immediately conceived the de¬ sign of wresting Norway from Denmark. Failing in the outset of this enterprise, he was persuaded by Gortz, his prime minister, to engage in another, the dethroning of George II., seizing a part of his conti¬ nental dominions, and placing the pi'etender James on the throne of England. This project was con¬ certed between Gortz and Alberoni, prime minister of Philip V. The Czar joined in the scheme, and made peace with Sweden ; but an unforeseen event broke all their measures. In besieging the Nor- wegian fortress of Frederickshall, Charles XII. was killed by a cannon-ball, 11th December, 1718. 10. Sweden gained by the death of Charles a reformation of her government, and a salutary limitation of the arbitrary power of the sovereign. His sister Ulrica succeeded to the throne, and raised to it her husband, Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. The States made peace with all the hostile powers. The Czar was now engaged in a war with Persia, in the view of obtaining the com¬ mand and commerce of the Caspian. This object he accomplished, and gained, by cession from the Sophi, three provinces of the Persian empire. 11. Peter the Great died 28th January, 1725, and was succeeded by the Czarina Catharine, for¬ merly a Livonian captive, but who possessed merit equal to her elevated situation. His only son, Alexis Petrowitz, had been condemned to lose his life for treason ; and the mode of his death, which immediately followed his condemnation, is at this moment unknown. Russia ow r es to Peter the Great all those beneficial improvements which have raised her, within the period of a century, from barbarism and obscurity to the highestrank among the powers of Europe. 67 - -A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE IN EUROPE, FROM THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 1. We have seen how much literature and the sciences were indebted to the art of printing for their advancement and dissemination towards the end of the fifteenth century. (Sect 34, § 12.) From that period classical learning, criticism, poetry, and history, made a rapid progress in most of the king¬ doms of Europe. Philosophy did not keep pace. The dogmas of Aristotle had possession of the schools down to the seventeenth century, and had engrafted themselves even on the doctrines of theology. It required a superior genius to dissipate this mist of error, and break those fetters on all advancement in useful science ; and such was the fifteenth to the end of seventeenth cen- . tury.-Royal societyFrench academy. * *11 great Bacon, Lord Verulam, the most profound philosopher, and perhaps the most universal genius that any age has produced. We find in his works an estimate of the actual attainments in all the sciences, a catalogue of the desiderata in each department, and a detail of the methods best suited to prosecute improvement and new discoveries. In fine, we owe to Bacon the sure method of ad¬ vancing in knowledge by experiment and the observation of nature, instead of system and con¬ jecture. 2. The philosophy of Bacon produced its effect only by slow degrees. Gassendi, though he exposed the doctrines of Aristotle, was still a theorist, and attempted to revive the atomic system of Epicurus. Des Cartes followed in the same track, and reared a whimsical theory of the universe, produced, as he supposed, by the fortuitous combination of atoms, moving in vortices through the immensity of space; a theory recommended by the ingenuity with which it was supported, and its apparently solving many of the phenomena of nature. [Des Cartes, however, is the first who laid down the laws of motion; espe¬ cially that all bodies persist in their present state of rest or uniform rectilineal motion till affected by some foi’ce. The most erroneous part of his me¬ chanical philosophy is contained in some proposi¬ tions as to the collision of bodies, so palpably incompatible with obvious experience, that it seems truly wonderful he could ever have adopted them. But he was led into these paradoxes by one of the arbitrary hypotheses which always governed him. (Hallam’s Lit. Europe, chap. viii. § 41.)] Coperni¬ cus had, a century before, published his system of the planets, which, though condemned by the church, was received by Des Cartes and the best philosophers. 3. Galileo, in 16*09, constructed telescopes, (sect. 34, § 5,) and discovered the satellites of the larger planets, and their motions, for which he was re¬ warded by imprisonment, as a supporter of the Copernican heresy. Kepler investigated the laws which regulate the motions of the planets, and the analogy between their distances from the sun and periodical revolutions. The discoveries in as¬ tronomy led to improvements in navigation, and a great advancement of geometry in all its branches. Napier, in 1614, abridged calculation [the labour of which repressed the cultivation of astronomy] by the invention of logarithms. The Torricellian experiments determined the weight of the atmo¬ sphere. In 1616, Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. 4. The Royal Society, which originated from private meetings of the English philosophers, was incorporated by Charles II. in 1662, and has greatly contributed to the advancement of the sciences and useful arts. The Royal Academy of Sciences was instituted in 1666, by Louis XIV.; and similar institutions were founded in most of the countries of Europe ; among which there is a com¬ munication of science, and a laudable emulation excited by the publication of their transactions. 5. In the end of the seventeenth century arose the immortal Newton, who, by exhausting the most important discoveries of the laws of nature, has rendered it impossible for posterity to eclipse his fame. He had discovered, before the age of twenty- four, the theory of universal gravitation, a principle which solves the chief phenomena of nature, and K 2 MODERN HISTORY. Literature of Europe.—Tasso. ATnru?T?M UTCTHR V Shakspeare.—Waller.—Cowley.—Dryden. Milton.—Petrarch.—Spenser. MUUL.K1N rlloiUlil. Old English drama.—Jonson. connects and regulates the whole machine of the universe. His theory of light and colours is the foundation of the whole science of optics, and his Principia the basis and elements of all phi¬ losophy. 6. Locke, the contemporary of Newton, success¬ fully applied Lord Bacon’s mode of investigation to the study of the human mind ; and, utterly reject¬ ing the systems of the old philosophers, examined the soul by attending to its operations. From the simple fact, that all knowledge is progressive, and that an infant gains its ideas gradually, through the medium of its senses, he drew the general conclu¬ sion, that there are no innate ideas in the mind, but all are either immediate perceptions, conveyed by the senses, or acts of the mind reflecting on those perceptions ; a conclusion which has been obsti¬ nately controverted, chiefly by drawing from it false consequences, but which has never yet been shaken. 7. The progress of literature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was equally remarkable with that of science and philosophy. Trissino was the first of the moderns who composed an epic poem in the language of his country, L’ltalia libe¬ ra ta da Goti, and the first Italian who wrote a regular tragedy, Sophonisba. Of much superior merit to the epic poem of Trissino, is the Lusiad of the Portuguese Camoens, a work abounding in pas¬ sages of high poetic beauty, and displaying a sublime imagination. In the end of the sixteenth century, Spain produced the Araucana of Ercilla, an epic poem of great inequality of merit, but fre¬ quently exhibiting novelty of figures and bold conceptions. The subject is a revolt of the Peru¬ vians against the Spaniards. 8. But the principal epicp oems of this age are the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto, and the Gierusalemme Liberataof Tasso; the former a work most irregular in its plan, most unconnected and desultory in its conduct, most extravagant and absurd in the cha¬ racters of its persons, but displaying alternately every excellence of poetry in the various depart¬ ments of the descriptive, comic, satiric, moral, and sublime. The Gierasalemme of Tasso, of a regular plan and perfect polish in its structure, [and alle¬ gorical in its composition,] has been frequently brought in comparison with the equally high- finished poem of the ^Fneid ; nor does the Italian suffer much in the comparison. There is a ro¬ mantic charm both in the incidents and characters of his poem, which must ever render it a favourite with all readers of genuine taste. [The harmony of the words, together with the antique strength of thought which pervades this poem, have been trans¬ ferred to the English language by the pen of Edward Fairfax.] 9. From the time of Tasso, the genius of epic poetry lay dormant for a century, till the days of Milton ; for the Fairy Queen of Spenser is rather a romantic allegory than an epic poem. The Para¬ dise Lost, compared with the great poems of antiquity, is more irregular, and less perfect, as a whole, than the Iliad, ^Eneid, and Odyssey, but exhibits, in detached parts, more of the sublime and beautiful than them all. It has been well remarked, that the inequality of this poem arises, in a great measure, from the nature of the subject, of which | some parts are the most lofty that can enter into I the human mind, and others could only have been supported by a laborious elegance and polish, which the author’s genius could not stoop to bestow. 10. Lyric poetry was cultivated in the sixteenth century, in Italy, France, and England, but with no high success. The lesser poems of Ariosto and Tasso have no tincture of the genius displayed in their greater works. Chiabrera is perhaps the only lyric poet of this period that merits distinc¬ tion. In France, Ronsard and Bellay imitated Petrarch with all his false wit, but without his passion. Marot, however, in the naivete and easy vein of his humour, is justly accounted the master of La Fontaine. In the beginning of the seven¬ teenth century, French versification received a considerable polish from the compositions of Racan, and yet more from those of Malherbe: and towards the end of that century lyric poetry was cultivated with high success by La Fare, Chapelle [whose real name was L’Huillier] and Bachaumont, Chau- lieu, [Lainez,] and Gresset. 11. The English lyric poetry of the sixteenth century, of [Sackville], Spenser, Surrey, Harring¬ ton, Sydney, and even Shakspeare, is harsh and in¬ harmonious ; nor is much improvement discernible till the time of Cowley and Waller. The merit of Cowley as a lyric poet was too highly prized in his own age, and is underrated in ours. With all his false wit, pedantry, and obscurity, he is often both sublime and pathetic, in no moderate degree. The lyric ode in the third book of the Damdexs has few parallels in the English language. As a prose writer, Cowley shines in that age with superior ex¬ cellence. Waller is more polished and harmonious than any of the preceding or contemporary poets, but his wit is quaint, and his elevation too fre¬ quently bombast. 12. Dryden, in the end of the seventeenth cen¬ tury, carried lyric poetry to its highest perfection. His ode on St. Cecilia’s Day, surpasses all the lyric compositions both of antiquity and modern times. He shines conspicuously as a satirist, possessing the keen and caustic wit without the indelicacy of Juvenal or Horace. His versions from Chaucer and Boccaccio are easy and spirited, and display a happy talent for poetic narrative. His numerous dramatic pieces, though exhibiting both invention and poetical beauty, are deficient in true passion and in the just delineation of character. 13. It was not till the end of the sixteenth cen¬ tury that the drama in Europe began to furnish a rational entertainment. At that period Lope de Vega and Calderona in Spain, and Shakspeare in England, produced those pieces which, though irre- gular and stained with blemishes, are at this day the admiration of their countrymen. The Spanish plays of that age have been a rich mine for suc¬ ceeding dramatists,both among the French, Italians, and English. The merits of Shakspeare are fami¬ liar to every person of taste. Ignorant of the rules of his art, he is the pure child of nature, and thus exhibits often her caprices and absurdities; but these are redeemed by the most transcendent beau¬ ties. The old English drama is, with all its irre¬ gularities, incomparably superior to the modern, both in touching the passions, and in displaying just views of human character. The persons are more discriminated by various and appropriate features, and the nicer shades of nearly resembling characters are thus more distinctly marked. The Corneille.— Racine.— Moliere. — Historians. Mnnmw TiTCl'm) V Raleigh.—Clarendon.—France from the Thuanus.-Davila.-Machiavel.-Bentivoglio. MUJJrjlxlN llioiUKi. death of Louis XV. to Louis Philippe. mixture of the comic and tragic in the same plot, though condemned by modern practice, is a great source of pleasure in the pieces of Shakspeare and his contemporaries ; nor is there any thing in such a mixture but what is consonant to nature. To a person of true taste it will be found often to heighten, by contrast, the capital emotion to be excited. [Jonson, Shakspeare’s contemporary and successor, founded a style of regular English comedy, but rather of a ponderous nature ; however, it has en¬ dured long, for the principles of his comedy are derived from Plautus and Terence. His characters are varied and strongly delineated.] 14. The compositions for the French stage in the end of the seventeenth century are strictly conform¬ able to [the Ai'istotelian] dramatic rules, and many of those pieces are models of a correct and polished taste. The morality of the French drama of that age and the next is in general purer than ours; but their pieces are deficient in the nice delineation of character, and in the power of exciting the passions. Cor¬ neille and Racine brought the French tragedy to its highest elevation, as Moliere the comedy. Cor¬ neille has more grandeur and sublimity than his rival, who excels him in the tender and pathetic. The comedies of Moliere, highly amusing in the present time, were more particularly valuable in the age when they were written, and had a sensible effect in correcting its prevailing follies—the pe¬ dantry of the ladies, the ignorance and quackery of the physicians, and the pride and arrogance of the French noblesse. The last of the eminent dra¬ matists who adorned Fx-ance in the seventeenth century was the elder Crebillon, who drew many sublime and impassioned scenes from the source of terror, and who, in all his works, was as eminently the friend of virtue as his worthless son has been the pander of vice. 15. The most eminent histoi'ians of the sixteenth century are De Thou *, Davila, and Machiavel. De Thou has written the annals of his own time, from 1545 to 1607, with great judgment, and in most elegant Latin composition. The history of Davila, “ The Annals of the Civil wars of France in the time of the League,” though the work of a partisan, is composed with no common degree of candour and impartiality. Machiavel wrote, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the “ His¬ tory of Florence,” of which the style is classical and the matter well arranged, but too much inter¬ rupted by reflections and political discussions. In the seventeenth century Bentivoglio composed his “ History of the Civil Wars of Flanders,” with the most accurate knowledge of his subject, perspicuity of narrative, and eloquence of style. Among the English historians in the beginning of that period Raleigh is the most distinguished, though his “ His¬ tory of the World” is, in point of style, inferior to the judgment shown in the arrangement of the matter. In the latter part of the seventeenth cen¬ tury Clarendon’s “ History of the Rebellion ” is a work of the highest merit, whether we consider the authenticity of its facts, the deep knowledge of human nature displayed in the delineation of the characters, or the grave and manly eloquence of the style. If, in the opposition of political opinions, he has been deemed too partial in the defence of his sovereign, even his adversaries have admitted * His Latinized name is Tkuanus. —Ed. his perfect integrity, and entire conviction of the rectitude of the cause which he supports. 68.—FRANCE FROM THE DEATH OF LOUIS XV. TO THE ACCESSION OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 1. The self-reproaches of Louis XIV.,as indicated in his dying advice to his infant great-grandson Louis XV., convey the best idea of the state in which he left his kingdom to his successor. The kingdom of France was, in fact, reduced to a most deplorable state ; the national debt amounted to more than two thousand millions ; the revenue was anticipated to the year 1717 inclusive. The reign of Louis XIV., however splendid at its commencement, had been darkened towards its close by domestic calamity, three heirs to the crown having died during the years 1711 and 1712. The ambition of Louis XIV. had caused him to be surrounded by jealous neigh¬ bours, eager to recover what had been taken from them, while commerce and manufactures seemed to be more in conflict with the agricultural interest, than as increasing either the credit or resources of the nation. The public mind was distracted with vain and factitious mysteries, rendering religion subservient to arbitrary rules of faith and subtle distinctions, the opinions of controversialists being substituted for the truths of the gospel, thus af¬ fording full scope for the attacks of atheism and infidelity : the reflections of Quesnel upon the New Testament (which seem to have had for their object the reconcilement of conflicting religious opinions) had been, upon the suggestion of the confessor of Louis XIV., condemned by the bull Unigenitus; but this condemnation not being ac¬ ceded to by all the French bishops, who considered the bull as suggested by the Jesuits, a tempest of ecclesiastical discord arose, which in less than a century produced its consequences of infidelity and civil war. The social manners of France had cer¬ tainly been improved, and arts and literature had attained a refinement peculiarly distinctive of this age, and particularly demonstrated by its strict adherence to the models of antiquity 2. The treaty of Utrecht, (ante, p. 129,) although deemed defective as not having sufficiently pro¬ vided for the Spanish succession claimed by the emperor Charles VI. and Philip V., had, neverthe¬ less, tranquillized that part of Europe ; so that the duke of Orleans, who was appointed regent of France by the parliament during the minority of the young king, had ample verge allotted him for retrieving those internal embarrassments which, even during a time of peace, threatened the nation with bankruptcy and confusion. To remedy, in part, the distress in which the ambition and lavish expenditure of Louis XIV. had plunged France, the regent established a special court or chamber of justice, for the purpose of inflicting punishment upon those who had misappropriated the finances in the preceding reign ; but this measure was not very beneficial to the state, for out of one hundred and sixty millions wrung from financiers, a very small portion found its way into the public trea¬ sury. 3. The duke of Orleans, the regent, has been described as an amiable person of superior cast of mind, but given up to an irx*egular course of life. His first act was to appoint the abbe Dubois (after¬ wards cardinal), then preceptor to the infant king, 1 —~ .... Dake of Orleans regent.—Quadruple PRANfF Treaty of Vienna, 1738.—Pragmatic sanction. 1 ^ alliance.—Mississippi scheme. ^ -fcvAJML/ih. War 0 f t j ie Austrian succession. a man of infamous life, his privy councillor, or, to speak more plainly, his prime minister, so that Dubois ruled France as much and in the same way that cardinal Alberoni was said to rule Spain under Philip V. The regent’s endeavours to restore the credit of the nation and to lighten its burdens, were thwarted by the projects of the Spanish minister, cardinal Alberoni: this minister’s schemes seem to have been the recovery of Sardinia and Sicily, which had been detached from the Spanish mo¬ narchy since the treaty of Utrecht ; to overthrow the English government by means of the Pretender, and to remove the duke of Orleans from the re¬ gency ; and this last scheme he actually proceeded to carry into effect by means of a conspiracy against the regent, formed in Paris by Philip’s own ambassador. Projects such as these occasioned the quadruple alliance (Aug. 2, 1718), and war being consequently declared against Spain, the imperialists, aided by an English fleet, compelled Spain to surrender her recent conquests, while the French, under the command of marshal Berwick, made themselves masters of Fontarabia and St. Sebastian. Philip V. was therefore compelled to submit to the terms of the quadruple alliance, and a peace being concluded in January, 1720, Sicily was abandoned to the emperor, and Sardinia given in exchange to the duke of Savoy. The disgrace of cardinal Alberoni being one of the conditions of peace, he was dismissed. A natural desire on the part of the regent to re¬ store the national credit, and to relieve the people from oppressive taxes, seems to have induced him to consent to the Mississippi scheme, which was a project suggested by John Law, a Scotchman, for the reduction of the national debt, in a mode closely resembling the South Sea scheme, subsequently adopted in England in 1720; but after the infatuation had subsided, public credit was annihilated, and the nation thrown into a state of most dangerous fer¬ ment. (1716-1710.) 4. The king’s attaining majority put an end to the regency, but only in name, for the duke of Orleans still governed under the title of prime minister. He and his coadjutor, cardinal Dubois, both dying in 1723, Louis appointed the duke of Bourbon- Conde to the office of prime minister, which he oc¬ cupied but for a short period. The place (for the title of prime minister was abolished) was next oc¬ cupied by cardinal Fleury, who had been the king’s preceptor, and whose influence with his master was in many respects pernicious, as ministering to that indolence and irresolution Louis XV. always manifested, and as enabling Fleury, who was a man of narrow and confined ideas, to make some impo¬ litic reductions in the public funds, and to keep on foot those ecclesiastical and religious differences which have been already alluded to as disturbing the reign of Louis XIV. On the death of this minister in 1743, at the age of ninety, every de¬ partment of the state was in a most disorganized condition ; notwithstanding the policy of this mi¬ nister had avowedly been to repair the losses of France by a long peace. 5. This peace, which it was so expedient for France to preserve, was interrupted by the election of a king of Poland. Stanislaus Leczinski, whom Charles XII. of Sweden had placed upon the throne in 1704, and whom the czar had dethroned,was, after the decease of Augustus II.,elected anew in 1733, but Stanislaus, although supported by Louis XV., his son-in-law,was unable to retain his crown. The emperor Charles VI. interested himself successfully for the elector of Saxony son of the last king of Poland. Russia, a power almost unknown before the reign of Peter the Great, but now by its resources become an in¬ fluential state, joined with the emperor against Stanislaus. Cardinal Fleury sent an insufficient aid of not more than 1800 men, who were sacri¬ ficed, and Stanislaus himself escaped with great difficulty from Dantzick, eluding the Russians who had put a price upon his head. It was resolved by France (1733) that this af¬ front should be revenged upon the emperor and Spain, and Sardinia upon this occasion united with France. England and Holland stood neutral in this war, which lasted two years, and was carried on by the French in Italy with great success, for they drove the imperialists from Italy in 1735, the emperor scarcely preserving any thing. France, therefore, dictated the terms of a treaty con¬ cluded at Vienna in 1738. 6. Not long after these events, Charles VI., the last px*ince of the house of Austria, died. For the purpose of assuring his dominions as an entirety, in default of male issue, to his daughter Maria-The- resa, (married to Francis, duke of Lorraine, after¬ wards grand duke of Tuscany,) a sort of compact or declaration of succession, called the pragmatic sanction , had been entered into by a majority of continental powers—a doubtful measure as the event proved—for it could hardly have been sup¬ posed that the excluded parties would much regard a compact which they could argue was unjust. The consequence was, that Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, Augustus III., king of Poland, as elector of Saxony, and Philip V. of Spain (whose title was very doubtful), all laid claim to the succession, either in part or for the whole. The king of France, who claimed a title as being a descendant on the female side of the elder branch of the house of Austria, did not consider it politic to make any claim. Nothing daunted by this combination, Maria-Theresa, now queen of Hungary, did not delay to assert her rights, and put herself in pos¬ session of all her father’s dominions, before any one of the claimants to the succession thought of remov¬ ing her. The Hungarians, always impatient of the Austrian yoke, showed the strongest attachment to their queen on being assured that their liberties should be preserved. The first that struck the blow was Frederic II. of Prussia ; who had a large and well-appointed army at his command, and employed it in promptly seizing upon Silesia, which he secured by the battle of Molwitz (1741). At this signal, the powers of Europe were in commotion; cardinal Fleury, whose policy had hitherto been of the most pacific cha¬ racter, was induced to negotiate in favour of the elector of Bavaria, who France desired should be raised to the empire, and enriched with the spoils of a house that had always been her rival. The elector of Bavaria, therefore, assisted by a French army, marched to Prague, which he took, and there was crowned king of Bohemia, and assumed at Frankfort the imperial crown under the name of Charles VII. He had omitted to besiege Vienna, the capture of which would have been decisive : 1 Battle of Dettingen.—Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. FP\NPF Mistresses of Louis XV. —His recklessness ,.. r 1 Seven years’war. r IvAiM ULj. and death.—Accession of Louis XVI. this oversight inspired Maria-Theresa and her allies with hopes; George IT., as elector of Hanover, and as one of the powers guaranteeing the pragmatic sanction, assisted her with money, the French were compelled to retreat from Prague in December, 1742, and an army headed by George II., composed of English, Hanoverians, and Hessians, defeated the French at Dettingen, June 27, 1743. The emperor Charles VII., who had sheltered himself at Frank- fort, was by this stroke deprived of almost all resources, and became without hope; while, on the other hand, the queen of Hungary had acquired new allies, and had made terms, by the cession of Silesia, with her most serious enemy, the king of Prussia. In the midst of these vicissitudes, the emperor died in 1745, overwhelmed with the mis¬ fortunes which attended his self-aggrandizement. The queen of Hungary obtained the empire for her husband, and, after all her dangers and troubles, became the foundress of the house of Austria- Lorraine. 7. After the death of cardinal Fleury, who died in 1743, Louis XV. governed by his own direction, and put himself at the head of his army, being present at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745; but he quickly relapsed into his former state of indolence, and suffered his favourite mistress to assume the functions of prime minister. At this period, France was singularly unfortunate at sea, her commerce was destroyed, and after the naval battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747, her navy was reduced to one ship of the line. These disasters were in some measure re¬ compensed by some temporary advantages obtained over the English in the East Indies. 8. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) failed in one of its objects, and some ambiguity of expression caused hostilities between France and England, in North America, in which the French were success¬ ful on land, and the English victorious at sea. (1755.) Some military advantages were also gained by France, at the commencement of the seven years’ war in 1758: but these successes were of short dura¬ tion ; the English recovered Hanover,which had been taken from them; and after numerous engagements in Germany, wherein the loss of human life and the devastation of the country were excessive, the French were checked at Minden in 1758, and ul¬ timately, by the destruction of Cherbourg, and the capture of Belle-Isle in 1761, added to the enor¬ mous losses sustained in their colonial possessions by the victories of the English, under the ministry of the earl of Chatham, defeated: her only resource, in order to protect herself against the power of England, being a confederation of the Bourbon princes, called The Family Compact. (1761.) In consequence of this confederacy, Spain attacked Portugal, an ancient ally of England, which these powers regarded but as a rich province of England; the English interfered, and saved the independence of Portugal, and took from Spain, Havannali, Cuba, and the Phillippine isles, with immense prizes. This gave the final stroke to the marine and com¬ merce of France, which was now completely ruined. These victories also paved the way for the treaty of Paris. (1763.) By this treaty, France ceded Louisburgli and Cape Breton, Canada, and all her territories on the left side of the Mississippi, except New Orleans; Spain added thereto Florida, and Minorca was ex¬ changed with the English against Belle-Isle. A treaty was at the same period entered into between the German powers, which placed matters upon the same footing as they were before this war, which has been usually styled “ The seven years’ war.” 9. France was, and for some time had been, the prey of internal commotions, arising from the causes already alluded to (ante, p. 133, col. 2). The refusal of the last offices of religion to those who were suspected of Jansenism, or rather to those who had not pro¬ vided themselves with certificates of conformity (billets de confession ) from their parish priest, con¬ tinued a species of schismatic war, which, taken up as a matter of state, resolved itself into a con¬ flict between the magistracy and the clergy, and reanimated a species of seditious fanaticism, nearly expiring for want of support. The attack upon the king by Damiens, in 1757, has been therefore attributed to the religious excitement of the time, and the intrigues of the Jesuits, whose order was shortly afterwards dissolved. (1764.) 10. The duke de Choiseul being supported by the influence of madame de Pompadour, had for some time directed the French ministry, whose counsel seems to have been the fomenting disputes between the English and the Americans, and the protection of Poland from the aggressions of Russia. But on madame de Pompadour’s decease, the duke de Choi¬ seul disdained to receive his instructions from madame du Barry ; the last act of his ministry was the negotiation of the marriage of the young dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI., with Marie Antoi¬ nette, the daughter of the empress Theresa, in 1770. The dismissal of the duke de Choiseul from office caused the re-modelling of the magistracy of the kingdom upon an entirely novel principle : this measure, with the increased taxation of the people by the abbe Terai, the minister of finance, as a means of covering the extreme profusion of the king and his mistresses, heightened the general dis¬ content. The king had long given up attention to public business, “ the monarchy, though old, would ” (as he said) “last his time;” and the joint effects of his recklessness and the long prevailing financial disorder, were rapidly bringing the nation to utter confusion, wdien Louis XV. died of the small-pox, May 10, 1774. 11. The accession of Louis XVI. took place when he was scai’cely twenty years old, and under circum¬ stances very much resembling those which ushered in the reign of his predecessor. Louis XVI. seems to have felt at first the difficulties with which he had to contend, for the first act of his reign was the recall of the count Maurepas, who had been exiled from the court in 1749 for some caustic verses against madame de Pompadour. Indeed, the new administration was evidently formed under a con¬ viction that the abuses of the preceding reign could no longer be tolerated ; but the privileged classes of the state, the nobility and clergy, who, for the first time, it was proposed should bear their propor¬ tion of the burdens of the state, obtained the support of the parliament, and thereby the inten¬ tions of the king, who certainly desired to see his people relieved from a most unequal and op¬ pressive taxation, were rendered abortive ; indeed, the proposed measure of an equalized taxation was met in the most determined manner by the privi¬ leged classes, they terming this intended reform a Discontents on accession of Louis XVI.— Necker minister of finance.—Assembly dangerous innovation. The icing, who in the year 1776 had by his minister of finance, Turgot, ten¬ dered the parliament edicts, abolishing an odious feudal tax called the Corvee *, together with certain monopolies, and had compelled the registration of those edicts by an act of royal authority, was ulti¬ mately compelled to dismiss Turgot, whose succes¬ sor immediately re-established the corvee. The king had thus made the privileged classes his enemies, whilst the public mind was in a state of agitation upon a corn-law question ; indeed, a sedi¬ tion, occasioned by famine, had actually broken out in Paris. Some reform in the department of finance thus became imperiously requisite, and Necker, a man of commercial wealth and intelli¬ gence, was appointed director-general of the finances ; but his scheme of finance simply con¬ sisted in borrowing loans upon the credit of an intended diminution of expense, and the presumed increase of revenue. In all likelihood this was the only scheme that was left him, for in reality there were no means of enforcing economy against a noblesse and clergy vehemently opposed to the slightest retrenchment in respect of their exclusive privileges and exemptions. 12. While the public mind was occupied upon these causes of increased discontent, the interference of France between England and her North American colonies caused a declaration of war between the two kingdoms. Hostilities were commenced by the naval engagement near Ushant, July 27th, 1776, and were terminated by the defeat of the French by Admiral Rodney, April 12th, 1782. The inde¬ pendence of the United States of America being acknowledged by England, peace was restored. Pending this war, in which France and Spain engaged for the sole purpose of humbling Great Britain, Maurepas died, and Necker had been dis¬ missed (1781). The successors of Necker adopted his system of finance ; and the national debt at the close of the American war was nine hundred and thirty-eight millions. 13. In 1783 preliminaries of peace between Eng¬ land, France, and Spain were concluded, and England at the same time entered into a treaty of peace with Spain, Holland, and the United States of America. A commercial treaty was also entered into between France and England in 1786, which gave great dissatisfaction to the French. These and other discontents, arising from the ruined state of public credit, the inequality of taxation, the scandalous misappropriation of the public money, which still prevailed, but, above all, the political notions en¬ gendered by the American war, which had been indiscreetly introduced by the French themselves, as allies of the United States against England, urged on the revolution. At this crisis of affairs, Calonne, who occupied the place of Necker, pre¬ vailed upon Louis to convoke the assembly of the notables. Calonne, whose policy seems to have been of a temporizing nature, hoped by this measure to allay discontents, or at least to withdraw the attention of the people, by proposing to this assembly a variety of schemes of great public * Known amongst feudal writers as Averagium, day’s- work, bind-days; in fact, the right of the lord to the labour of his tenants in harvest time, or a composition in money in lieu of rural services : this was also known to the English as reap-silver. of the notables.—Convocation of the states- general.—Necker recalled.—National assembly. interest. This assembly had not been convened since 1026, and although great alterations had taken place since that time, there seemed no other course left to pursue in this national exigency : the opening therefore of the assembly took place at Versailles on the 22nd February, 1787, and it con¬ sisted of the most distinguished members of the nobility, the clergy, the magistracy, and munici¬ palities. Some plans of financial reform were proposed, but the privileged orders still struggled for their ex¬ emptions : these circumstances suggested the con¬ vocation of the states-general ; a measure that had not been called into operation since 1614. How¬ ever, a new loan was obtained, and Louis, who seems to have been all along sensible of his critical position, did his utmost to correct the profusion that had brought affairs to this pass. But desul¬ tory acts of reform could not pacify an enraged nation. A species of agitation or party movement, headed by the duke of Orleans, styled “ The Ame¬ rican Party,” as affecting the notions of American independence, created great disturbances, and the assembly of notables was dissolved 1788. 14. Shortly after the dissolution of the assembly of notables, the states-general were convoked for the month of May in the following year, 1789. As a means of restoring confidence to the public credit, Necker had been recalled, and the pinch of the question evidently was, how were the commons, or tiers etat, to be conciliated, and made sufficiently influential for the purpose of equalizing the bur¬ dens of the state, in other words, powerful enough to annul the exemption of the nobility and clergy from direct taxation ? To attain this object an arret, or edict of the council, decreed that the tiers etat should be composed of a number of deputies, or members equal in number to the clergy and nobility. On the 5th May, 1789, this convocation, consisting of the nobility, clergy, and tiers etat , took place at Versailles. The tiers etat, who amounted to six hundred in number, and were in fact the chief actors in this convocation, at first held their sittings apart from the nobility and clergy, who themselves occupied different halls. The com¬ mencement of business was disturbed by an inju¬ dicious dispute as to the state or title assumed by the tiers etat, or commons ; and this producing an open rupture, the tiers etat summoned the two other states of the nobility and clergy to join them as one deliberative assembly. This procedure brought over the clergy, but the nobility still re¬ maining recusant, the tiers etat resolved itself into “ The National Assembly,” or “ Constituent As¬ sembly ” (17th June, 1789). This measure was as successful as it was bold : Louis attempted to re¬ strain the tiers etat from thus acting in a political capacity, but in vain ; the tiers etat were immova¬ ble, and Louis was, after an ineffectual struggle of four days, compelled to order the noblesse to join the national assembly; whereupon the three orders or states on 27th June resumed their sitting, and sate in one hall ; but the popular distrust created by the opposition of Louis to the independence of the tiers etat was productive of most disastrous consequences. Versailles became the rendezvous of foi’eign troops in the French service ; this gave rise to a rumour that the national assembly had been dissolved. Necker, whom the court looked upon as the unfortunate author of these alarming FRANCE. Taking of the Bastille.—Constitutional code. Flight and return of Louis XVI. results, took his departure. On the next day (Sun¬ day, 12 July, 1789), an affray took place near the Place Vendome between the populace and a Ger¬ man regiment. The tocsin sounded, and arms and cannon were obtained from the Hotel de Ville and the Hotel des Irtvalides. The national assembly added to the jealous fury of the mob by expressing their regret on the departure of Necker. Paris presented the appearance of a besieged town where all the inhabitants were under arms. At first a green cockade was worn as a mark of distinction, but this was immediately altered to a tri-color; the bastille was taken (14 July), and the heads of the governor and another victim to the fury of the mob were paraded through the streets on pikes; on the next day the marquis de la Fayette was ap¬ pointed commander-in-chief of the national guard of Paris. 15. At this period the national assembly was occu¬ pied in the preparation of a constitutional code, and Louis, deserted by his brother and other noblemen who fled to avoid the outrages that threatened them, concurred in every proposition submitted to him. He even went to the Hotel de Ville, and received from the hands of Bailly, the newly-appointed mayor of Paris, the tri-coloured or national cockade. These acts of concession for a time diverted the popular fury from his person ; but a most bitter feeling yet prevailed against royalty and exclusive privileges of every denomination : fresh murders every day took place, and the heads of the victims were exhibited on pikes. However, in the midst of this tumult, the organization of a new constitu¬ tion took place, by which every subject matter of complaint was at one stroke, nay—at one sitting, viz., on the night of the 4th and 5th August, 1789, abolished; feudal, ecclesiastical, and corporate rights were at one stroke swept away; for from thenceforth all persons were to be placed upon an equal footing. Notwithstanding these legislative declarations in favour of the multitude, the most frantic disorders every day took place ; and as the national assembly were unable to repress them, it became impossible to reconcile the people to monarchy under any limitation, and every pretext was seized by the de¬ magogues of the day to heighten the rancour, ha¬ tred, and distrust that had been entertained of the unfortunate Louis and his advisers. The national assembly had bestowed upon Louis, at the important sitting of the night of the 4th and 5th of August, 1789, the title of “ Restorer of French Liberty but this did not tranquillize the popular apprehen¬ sions. A scarcity of the necessaries of life became the pretext for committing the most tumultuous and murderous acts ; and the frantic joy with which every concession of Louis made to popular power was hailed, augured a disastrous termination of his reign. Louis, with his family, attempted to fly from France, but he was brought back, 25th June, 1791, with every circumstance of indignity, to Paris, whither the national assembly adjourned its sittings. The national assembly proceeded in its labours, the chief fruits of which were the confiscation of all ecclesiastical property, the division of France into departments, and the suppression of titular honours. France became totally changed; the ancient modes of judicature by the parliaments were no more; corporate distinctions existed no longer; tithes and other services or dues from Jacobinical clubs.—Conspiracy to murder . the king.—Louis XVI. imprisoned. '*>7 land were gone; France became converted into an armed country, where nothing but military domi¬ nation prevailed, and civil authority was despised. Yet for all this the word “ liberty ” was in every man’s mouth : France, in the language of the time, was regenerated. 1C. In the mean while Paris was convulsed between the various political clubs or factions engendered by the universal disorder that obtained; the most prominent, and ultimately the most powerful of these were those members of the national assembly who were styled “ patriots,” and are better known as u Jacobins,” from the circumstance of their meeting in the convent of the Jacobins at Paris. 17. The national assembly was dissolved on 30tli September, 1791, and was superseded by The Legis¬ lative Assembly,which, on the following day, assumed the functions of its predecessor. The legislative assembly, as was its predecessor, became agitated by opposite parties. One of the first acts of this new legislature was to sequester the property of the royal family, and to condemn to death all emi¬ grants who should not return before 1st Jan., 1792; and another of its decrees denounced banishment against all ecclesiastics who had not sworn to main¬ tain the constitution. Louis refused to sanction these decrees. Upon this assertion by Louis of the small remnant of his authority, outrageous tumults en¬ sued ; Louis himself, surrounded in the Thuileries by a mob composed of the dregs of the people, while he received petitions at their hands, calmly persevered in his veto. (June 1792.) The result was, that a conspiracy was formed to murder him together with his family in his palace ; but he avoided this last outrage by appearing before the legislative assembly at two o’clock in the morning of the 9-10th Aug. The Swiss guards were savagely butchered, and a multitude of persons perished. The constitutional party, apprehending the same fate, absented themselves from the assembly, thus leaving the field clear for the anti-constitutional party, or Jacobins, who forthwith declared that a national convention should be formed, and that the chief of the executive power (meaning the king) should be provisionally suspended from his func¬ tions “ until ” (to use the language of the occasion) “ the convention had adopted measures to confirm the sovereignty of the people, and the reign of liberty and equality.” On the 13th Aug., 1792, Louis and his family were imprisoned in the Tem¬ ple. The Jacobins being now triumphant, impri¬ soned all whom they deemed objects of “suspicion,” and wreaked their savage vengeance upon all those whom they deemed likely to oppose their measures. The guillotine, an instrument of death which the legislative assembly had first adopted in the spirit of humanity on 20th March, ] 792, was now made the means of quickly dispatching those who were ob¬ noxious to the Jacobins. At this period of political disorganization the prisons were full, and the ap¬ prehensions excited by the approach of the com¬ bined forces of Austria and Prussia, caused the Jacobins to propagate a rumour that the royalists (of whom a great number remained in Paris) were about to break open the prisons and release their friends. This caused the hasty formation of a tri¬ bunal, styled “ The Judges of the people,” who, seated at the entry of the prisons round a table spread with papers, bottles, and eatables, con¬ demned upwards of five thousand prisoners, chiefly FRANCE. • oo Louis XVI. beheaded.—Christianity FF4TVFF Royalists defeated. — Executive directory, abjured.—Reign of terror. x xvAINUHj. Consulate government. priests and persons of family, to death. The sen¬ tence hastily pronounced to the prisoner in an am¬ biguous form of speech, was immediately executed by the pike, sabre, or musquet. These massacres commenced in the afternoon of the 2nd Sept., 1792, and continued to the 6th inclusive; and similar massacres took place elsewhere, especially at Ver¬ sailles, where a similar scene of carnage was ex¬ hibited on the 8tli Sept. * History shudders in recording such crimes, scarcely paralleled in the proscriptions of Sylla and Mai’ius, and in the pre¬ sent instance, the forerunners of still more horrible and diabolical atrocities. 18. The formality of a process upon which the king should be adjudged to die, occupied the national convention during the month of Dec. 1792, and Louis XVI. was on 17th Jan., 1793, beheaded. The state of France during the year 1793 was most dreadful. The excesses of the Jacobins (of whom Robespierre became the head), whose capri¬ cious and gloomy cruelty had struck terror into all classes, did not terminate by the extinction of regal power in France, they imprisoned and destroyed most mercilessly all those who by birth, or even by natural and accidental circumstances, might be deemed suspected of not favouring the new regime f. The queen, the princess Elizabeth, general Custine, and even the duke of Orleans, were among the first victims. Their frantic excesses did not stop here; Christianity was abjured, and the “Worship of Reason ” substituted, the Gregorian kalendar abolished, and a new era, dating from the com¬ mencement of the new republic, instituted. 19. The revolut ionists had been successful in resist¬ ing the Austrian and Prussian forces in 1791, and those departments in the west and south of France which had remained faithful to the kins: were, after an obstinate contest, conquered by the troops of the convention, who abused their victory by the slaughter of the inhabitants. Lyons and La Vendee in particular, became the scenes of the most hor¬ rible carnage and devastation. (Sept. 1793.) The campaigns of 1794, 1795, had been highly success¬ ful ; the system pursued by the revolutionists in regard to their conquests, was to erect subordinate republics, and the subdued and plundered king¬ doms were, in the language of that day, “ frater¬ nized.” The states first fraternized were the Aus¬ trian Netherlands (now Belgium) and the United Provinces. In June, 1795, the son of Louis is said to have died in the Temple in the eleventh year of his age. His sister (afterwards duchess of Angou- leme) was subsequently released in exchange for certain members of the convention, who had fallen into the hands of the Austrians. 20. The reign of terror ceased with the execution of Robespierre in July, 1794, and by the condenma- * The persons who assisted in these massacres were fully paid for their services, and were jocosely termed Septem- brizers. t Upwards of sixty persons perished each day by the guillotine in Paris alone, during the reign of terror. The murders in Paris by the convention, whose power became swallowed up in “TheCommittee of Public Safety,” however wholesale, were committed under the form or warrant of law ; but the pro-consuls of the departments observed no form at all. The destruction of human life at Bordeaux, Marseilles, Arras, Nantes, La Vendee, and Lyons, surpasses belief. The loss of human life during the revolution, by sword and slaughter, has been estimated at a million souls, an amount equal to the population of London at that period. tion of Fouquier Tainville, who was executed in 1795. 20. In the national convention there had always existed a moderate party in opposition to the Jaco¬ bins, who were commanded by Robespierre, and on his execution the moderate party gained the ascen¬ dancy, and, notwithstanding the royalist party in Paris made some head against the revolutionists, a new and more regular constitution, in the form of a republic, was ultimately formed. The royalist party were defeated with dreadful slaughter in the stx-eets of Paris, under Buonaparte (Oct. 5, 1795), who, having already shown great military talents as one of the generals of the revolutionary forces in the recapture of Toulon in 1793, was commencing the foundation of his military dynasty as a general of The Executive Directory , which now became the style of the French government. 21. The executive directory, which lasted no longer than from 1796 to 1799, was, in fact, little else than the continuation of the convention, its principles and rule of action being the same ; terrorism was still maintained, and the reign of the directory ex¬ hibited great incapacity, corruption, and dissolute¬ ness in its members. However, the most serious difficulty—financial embarrassment—was provided for by the issue of a paper currency ( assignats), and the directory were eminently successful in their projects of invasion, conducted by their generals, Jourdain, Pichegru, and Buonaparte. Buonaparte, who had the sole conduct of the Italian campaign of 1796-9, gained a series of victories in Italy, which not only added to the lustre of the French arms, but enabled the revolutionists to satisfy that love of plunder and spoil with which they seem to have been always tainted. France was also enabled to revolutionize and overturn the existing order of things in Italy, the popedom, Venetian states, and, lastly, Switzerland, where subordinate republics were created. Unhappily, the members of the directory had a strong tendency to Jacobinism, and the recurrence of another reign of terror was apprehended. Their disorganization displeased Buonaparte, who, having been successful on land, in respect of his operations in Egypt, had, after his failure in Syria, to complain of the neglect of the directory on his return. Another constitutional scheme upon a republican foi'm, and designed in imitation of the Roman consular government, was established 13th December, 1799, Buonaparte, Cambaceres, and Le Brun, being appointed con¬ suls. Buonaparte, as head of this government, pur¬ sued his military advantages, and was enabled to dictate terms of peace to Austria, by which means France became mistress of all Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Adige. A confederacy had been formed in 1798 between Austria, Naples, and Russia, Britain furnishing the funds, for the pur¬ pose of commencing war with the republic; this confederacy was broken up by the death of Paul, the emperor of Russia ; and Britain being desirous of peace, the treaty of Amiens was concluded be¬ tween England and the French republic, March 27 th, 1802. 22. The consulate, while it confirmed republican¬ ism, yet may be said to have terminated revolution¬ ary power. France became re-organized, and the be¬ nefits of a settled form of government soon became apparent. The successes of Buonaparte had raised France to a pitch of aggrandizement to which she FRANCE. Peninsular wars.—Russian campaign. Buonaparte sent to Elba. 139 Buonaparte’s military campaigns. Treaty of Tilsit.—Invasion of Spain. had been long a stranger. However, it was a necessary result of the military genius of the French, that they should be led by Buonaparte, who was about asserting his supremacy over conti¬ nental Europe. The year 1803 witnessed the re¬ commencement of war; for the treaty of Amiens, like most treaties, had left unsettled several points, on which future disagreements had arisen, and Buona¬ parte’s policy had never been of a pacific character. Britain, although uniformly successful at sea, yet had suffered several reverses on land. Buonaparte desired to contest the sovereignty of the sea with Britain, but the French and Spanish fleets were de¬ feated off Cape Trafalgar, October 25th, 1805. The scheme for invading England, and crushing her maritime power, was so grateful to France, that Buonaparte was created emperor in 1804, as if to anticipate the consequences which must have at¬ tended the success of these projects, the first of which was abandoned, and the latter signally de¬ feated. A coalition of European powers, consisting of Russia, Sweden, Austria, and Naples, had been formed in 1805, Buonaparte’s ally being Spain, who had towards the end of 1804 formally declared war against Britain. But nothing could be interposed to his success ; the battle of Austerlitz, (December 2nd, 1805,) completed the subjugation of Austria, and rendered Buonaparte dictator of continental Europe. The reduction of Prussia, the effect of the battles of Jena and Averstadt, (October 14th, 1806,) emboldened the publication of the Berlin de¬ crees, which Buonaparte issued in the plenitude of his arrogance, by which he declared Great Britain in a state of blockade, and shut the ports of Europe against her commerce. The king of Prussia took refuge at the court of the emperor of Russia, who next received an overthrow at Friedland, June 14th, 1807- The consequence of this defeat of Russia was the treaty of Tilsit, by which Buona¬ parte obtained the alliance of Russia as a means of encountering Great Britain, the only European power he had not subdued or disarmed. The mili¬ tary triumphs of France had certainly been without precedent in history ; and had induced Buonaparte to entertain the fatal idea of universal empire; not considering that his plans of universal domination had provoked a spirit of patriotic indignation and the fiercest enmity in the countries he had pros¬ trated as well as in England, where an inextin¬ guishable hatred prevailed against his politics and his person, as being the common enemy of man¬ kind. The treaty of Tilsit had scarcely been con¬ cluded, before Buonaparte conceived the project of subverting the Spanish monarchy,—a scheme he concerted by the basest intrigues, and consummated by proclaiming his brother Joseph Buonaparte king of Spain and the Indies : this man at that time was king of Naples, and to that vacant throne Murat, one of Buonaparte’s generals and his brother-in- law, was appointed. This act of aggression caused a general movement. Spain, under the name of Ferdinand VII., declared war against France, and implored the succour of her late enemy Great Britain, which was conceded. Joseph Buonaparte was compelled to fly from Madrid, but his brother speedily replaced him on his throne, and Spain and Portugal became the seat of a four years’ war, whereby the liberation of Spain was secured under the generalship of Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards created duke of Wellington for his eminent services. In the Peninsular campaigns, 1808,1811, the British army suffered great hardships and losses. 23. The northern states of Eui’ope almost despair¬ ed of curbing the overweening power of Buonaparte. However, Austria brought half a million of men into the field ; but Buonaparte defeated the Aus¬ trians in a series of engagements, and made himself master of Vienna. The battle of Wagram pros¬ trated Austria once more, and the emperor of Austria sued for a peace, in which Buonaparte consulted his own personal aggrandizement by his marriage with Maria Louisa, the emperor’s daughter, (a divorce from Josephine being obtained upon the suggestion that she was past childbearing,) April 1st, 1810. 24. During the first Peninsular campaign, England dispatched an expedition having for its object the destruction of the French fleet in the Scheldt; which in some measure accomplished that object, but the issue was most tragical. The climate of Walcheren proved fatal to the greater part of the army, which consisted of one hundred thousand men. (November and December, 1809.) Buonaparte had at this period arrived at the summit of his successes, but Wellington had con¬ vinced Europe that he was not invincible. The victories of Talavera, Salamanca, and Vittoria, had done much to slacken the ardour of the French, who themselves seemed to be sensible that the desire of conquest had been carried farther than the assertion of their own independence or revolu¬ tionary principles warranted. Alexander, the em¬ peror of Russia, now ventured to provoke Buona¬ parte to a renewal of the war, a challenge he was not slow to accept. The Russian campaign com¬ menced in June, 1812 ; on the 28th Buonaparte entered Wilna, and continued his march towards Moscow, passing the Niemen on the 23d, 24th, and 25th of July, and obtaining several victories over the Russians. Moscow at last was possessed by the French troops in September ; but the Russians, in deserting their ancient city, reduced it to ashes. After remaining thirty-five days in the ruins, re¬ treat became necessary : hunger, cold, and the sword attended the fugitives, who presented but the skeleton of an army. The direst inclemency of a Russian winter had taken off the French by thousands ; and Buonaparte returned almost alone to Paris, which he reached on the 10th of Decem¬ ber. Thus ended the Russian campaign in the total wreck of Buonaparte’s army. However, not dispirited, another army was raised ; but this force was levied by conscription, there was no replacing the veterans who had perished amidst the snows of Russia ; and Buonaparte, early in 1813, opened the campaign in Northern Germany, where the em¬ peror of Russia, the king of Prussia, and other minor powers, were prepared to oppose his pro¬ gress. After various successes on either side, a cessation of hostilities was agi’eed to on the 1st of June; and an offer of peace was made to Buonaparte, on condition of his restoring the conquests he had made since 1805. This offer was refused, and in Au¬ gust the emperor of Austria joined the allied powers, who, by regular advances, drove back the French upon the barriers of Paris, and this city capitu¬ lated. (March 31,1814.) Buonaparte hastened from Fontainebleau, but on hearing of the capitulation he ! returned : a negotiation ensued, which terminated in his abdication, and ^wasi-banishment to Elba, 140 Restoration of Louis XVIII.—Battle of Waterloo.—Buonaparte banished. FRANCE. Holy alliance.—Charles X. Louis Philippe. with the title of “ ex-emperor ” and a pension of six million francs. (28 April.) By the treaty of Vienna, France was stripped of all her conquests made since the republic, and the Bourbon family were restored, Louis XVIII., the brother of Louis XVI., taking possession of his kingdom, with every prospect of a tranquil reign. But the expectations and the peace of Europe were interrupted by Buonaparte, who on the night of the 25th of February, 1815, left Elba with about eleven hundred men, landed in Pro¬ vence, marched to Grenoble, entered Lyons, and on the 20th of March entei'ed Paris, which city Louis XVIII. had that very morning deserted. 25. Buonaparte’s temporary and short-lived resto¬ ration demonstrates the extraordinary influence he had acquired over the French ; and as he confirmed the charter Louis XVIII. had upon his restoration granted to the French *, it became a mere matter of personal choice with them whom they had for their ruler. The allies at the congress of Vienna thought differently, and denounced Buonaparte as the com¬ mon enemy of Europe, and excluded him from the pale of society, so that all hope of procuring the acquiescence of the allies was lost; and as Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia had engaged to maintain an army of one hundred and fifty thou¬ sand men until they incapacitated him from dis¬ turbing the peace of Europe, Buonaparte got ready an army of five hundred and fifty-nine thousand effective men, of whom two hundred and seventeen thousand were on the ] st of June, 1815, ready to take the field. But Buonaparte may at this period be said to be overpowered by the number of his enemies : in order to provide against this disadvantage he crossed the frontier on the 14th of June, resolved to combat the English under the duke of Wellington and the Prussians under Blucher separately; and this policy was, in so far as it was acted up to by his marshals, successful : but on the 18th of June he brought his whole force to bear upon the British army on the road to Brussels, near a village called Waterloo. The British lines sustained a succession of attacks with the greatest firmness till the evening, when at a most critical period the Prussians, under Blucher, came up ; and Buonaparte’s army, fatigued and spent, retreated before the Prussian cavalry, who pursued them with immense slaughter for several miles. Buonaparte fled to Paris, and there he was made plainly to understand that his military dy¬ nasty was at last at an end. His abdication in favour of his son, who at his birth had been digni¬ fied with the title of king of Rome, was equivocally received, and he lingered so long in the hope of a favourable turn, that his projected escape was ren¬ dered impi'acticable. He surrendered himself on the 15th of July to captain Maitland, on board the Bellerophon, then lying at Rochefort, and was forth¬ with sent, with a small train of attendants, divested of all his titles, save that of “ general,” to St. Helena, a rocky island in the Atlantic ocean, where he spent the remainder of his days, dying in 1821 f. * By this charter Louis for himself and his successors granted a constitution similar to that of Great Britain. It was the violation of this charter that caused the revolution of 1830, which cost Charles X. his throne. f The remains of Buonaparte were, by permission of the British government, transferred to Paris in 1840; and this caused a nephew of Buonaparte, in the hope of a reaction, to make an attempt against Louis Philippe’s government, which proved utterly abortive, Cth August, 1840. 26. Louis XVIII. was now permanently restored; the only act of severity was the exclusion of a few of Buonaparte’s most strenuous supporters from the act of amnesty that was passed ; and the members of the congress of Vienna concluded their apportionment of what they seemed to consider un¬ appropriated kingdoms and states in a manner which demonstrated that they considered their own views of aggrandizement as sovereigns superior to the independence or wishes of nations. The an¬ cient republics of Venice and Genoa were abolished, Venice being allotted to the emperor of Austria, and Genoa to the king of Sardinia. Poland was annexed to Russia, and the Prussian dominions were enlarged at the expense of Saxony. The three sovereigns who had thus encroached upon the rights of nations, on September 26th, 1815, next entered into a pei'sonal compact, or league, for ensuring mutual assistance to each other against popular commotions. This treaty has been gene¬ rally known by the name of The Holy Alliance , from the circumstance that the contracting parties professed to be guided solely by the dictates of revealed religion. For the honour of Great Britain it was not acceded to, although supposed to be ap¬ proved of, by the prince regent. It has been generally stigmatized as a hypocritical grimace, intended to cover the despotic designs of the framers of this compact. 27. France enjoyed tranquillity under Louis XVIII., and but for the arbitrary measures of Charles X., his successor and brother, the Bourbons might have transmitted France to their descend¬ ants; but the subversion of the constitutional privi¬ leges granted by the charter of Louis XVIII. caused the expulsion of Charles from Fi’ance, and the election of the duke of Orleans (son of the Phi¬ lippe VEgalite of the revolution,) under the style of Louis Philippe I. king of the French, July, 1830. His reign has been somewdiat disturbed by the pro¬ jects of the exiled family, and by several attempts at assassination from the republican party. How¬ ever, as the republican spirit is on the decline, and as there exists no sympathy between the French and the exiled family, there is every prospect of the present monarchy descending in the course of succession already presented. 69.— ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. TO THE ACCESSION OF VICTORIA. 1. Upon the decease of queen Anne, George I., who had been previously elector of Hanover, Bruns¬ wick, and Lunenburgh, ascended the throne. His title was acquired in right of his mother Sophia, as the grand-daughter of James I., and as being the nearest protestant heir. His accession elevated the whig party, and discouraged the tory party, the heads of whom were, in the spirit of the times, un¬ duly persecuted by doubtful political charges. The disgust of the tories, who comprehended the most influential portion of society, alienated that party, and caused them to lament the exclusion of the son of James II. from the throne. The ‘ Pretender,’ as he was called, received some assistance from Louis XIV., but the death of that monarch operated as a death-blow to hope from France, whilst the government having been apprized of the scheme, took effectual measures for frustrating the design. The participators in this enterprise had gone ENGLAND. Walpole administration.—Scotch rebellion of 1745.—Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Scotch rebellion of 1715.—South Sea bubble. Accession of George II. too far to recede, and the earl of Mar in Scotland, the earl of Derwentwater, and a Mr. Foster, of Northumberland, appeared in arms, but after some conflicts with the forces of government, the enter- prize was abandoned, and the earls of Derwent¬ water, Nithsdale, Carnwath,and Wintoun, the lords Widdrington, Nairn, and Ivenmure, were impeached for their concern in this rebellion ; the first and last of these noblemen were beheaded, whilst two- and-twenty of the inferior leaders were executed as traitors. Such was the termination of the Scotch rebellion of 1715. In 1722 , another attempt was formed against the reigning government, and Dr. Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, was deprived of his see and banished, for his participation in this conspiracy. A barrister, of the name of Layer, was hanged for attempting to enlist men in the Pretender’s service, but no one else suffered death. The duke of Norfolk, the earl of Orkney, the lords North and Grey, with many others of inferior rank, were strongly suspected, but beyond a temporai'y confinement in the Tower, they suffered no incon¬ venience. 2. The pressure of the national debt had been felt, and the king had recommended to the commons the consideration of the means of reducing it. (1720.) This circumstance occasioned the introduction of the South Sea scheme, projected by Sir John Blunt, a director of the South Sea Company, whose profession as a scrivener, and knowledge of monetary affairs, seem to have qualified him for the undertaking, which, though subsequently judged of according to the event, yet promised great advantages, as tending to reduce the various funded debts into one stock, and accordingly met with the preference of parliament, over the plans submitted by the directors of the bank of England, for the same purpose. The amaz¬ ing rise of the South Sea Company’s stock infected the nation with the spirit of stock-jobbing, the stock which had risen to one thousand pounds for a share of one hundred, suddenly declined to one hundred and fifty. The depreciation of this stock, and the consequent annihilation of various schemes formed as companies, and termed bubbles , caused a shock to national as well as private credit. Parliament in¬ terfered to punish a scheme it ought never to have sanctioned, by confiscating the property of those who had realized the greatest gain from their speculations, and distributing it amongst the suf¬ ferers. Similar consequences had already arisen in France from the Mississippi Company (ante,p. 134); but the warning evidently had lost its effect upon the English. Hostilities took place between Eng¬ land and Spain, which by bad management termi¬ nated unfortunately for the English ; for Admiral Hosier being restricted in his orders, had the mor¬ tification of seeing his officers and men swept off by an unhealthy climate. A great clamour was raised against this expedition, as there existed a na¬ tional hatred against Spain, and more especially as the Whigs seemed incompetent for office. George I., who did not conceal the interest he took in the welfare of his German dominions, embai’ked for Holland, in 1727, and from thence proceeding to Germany, died from the effects of paralysis at Osnaburgh, in the G8tli year of his age. 3. George II., the son and successor of George I., continued the same line of policy his father had pursued, under the administration of Sir Robert Walpole,which has been stigmatized as very corrupt. Sir Robert Walpole’s ministry ultimately became un¬ popular: his Excise Scheme, which proved abortive, his opposition to the motion for repealing the Sep¬ tennial Act, which enlarged the time of continuance of parliament for seven instead of three years * ; his unwillingness to gratify the national hatred against Spain, and the unsuccessful issue of the ex¬ peditions against Spanish America, occasioned great discontents, and caused the dissolution of his mi¬ nistry, when he was created Earl of Orford. (1741.) 4. The nation became involved in the war which was kindled in Europe upon the death of the Emperor Charles VI. (1741.) George II., in his character of Elector of Hanover, had guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction (ante, p. 134), and took the management of the campaign into his own hands. (a.d. 1743.) He gained the battle of Dettingen, but derived very little advantage from his success. At Fontenoy, the Duke of Cumberland was defeated by Louis XV. in person (1745), and the French made great pi’ogress in inducing the Nethei’lands. But the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, was concluded upoix the principle of a mutual restitu¬ tion of conquests. 5. Discontent appears to have existed under the Whig administrations, which the failure of their measures or indecisive effects of their armaments considei’ably increased. The success of the Fi'ench at Fontenoy induced the gi’andson of James II., commonly called the Young Pi’etendei’, to make an effort for the restoration of the Stxxai'ts. His eai*ly movements wei’e successful, but he did not pui’sue his advantages, and he was not sufficiently sup¬ ported. The Duke of Cumbei’land crushed this last attempt of the Jacobites at the battle of Culloden, (1746), where the Highlandex-s were defeated with great slaughter. The Yoxxng Pi’etender himself only escaped by the heroism of his adhei’ents; fora pi’ice of j£30,000 was set upon his head, and more than fifty persons had been entrusted with his seci’et. The government wasted the country of the disaf¬ fected clans with fire and sword, and numbers of the leaders in this rebellion were executed. Their fate seems to have excited but little commisera¬ tion in England ; indeed the people had, in a great measure, become reconciled to the Hanoverian succession. (1746.) 6. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had in effect done no more than leave matters in pi'ecisely the same condition in which they had stood before hostilities had commenced. It left unsettled the conflicting claims of Spain and Britain to the trade of the Ame¬ rican seas; and all that England seems to have gained was the abandonment by Fi'ance of the Pretender’s interests, whose cause had been considered hope¬ less since the battle of Culloden. Indeed tliisti’eaty opei’ated no further than as a tempoi’ai’y cessation of hostilities, for the colonial questions betweeix England and France wei’e left wholly undecided. Fi’ance commenced a series of encroachments on the British territories in North America, and a naval war was commenced in 1755. Whether f rom incapacity in those who had the supreme dii’ection of affairs, or from the effects of faction, the wax* was not at first vei'y successfully cari'ied on, and Admiral Byng was shot for that negligence or dis- * This was a measure of the Whigs in 1716, and has been deemed inconsistent with that zeal for liberty which the Whigs have always professed. North American war.—Accession of •p'lvr’T AND American war of independence.—Consequences George III.—Bute administration. ii.lN fjEAlN U. 0 f tliis war.—The Armed Neutrality. obedience of orders, which it was alleged caused the loss of Minorca. However, at sea as on land the British arms were ultimately successful. In 1758 the duke of Marlborough burned several French ships near St. Malo. Cherbourg was taken, with Senegal and Goree, on the African coast. In North America, cape Breton was taken, and forts Frontenac and Du Quesne were compelled to sur¬ render. In 1759, admirals Boscawen and Hawke obtained great advantages over the French fleets, and in the same year the British forces, in con¬ junction with the allies, triumphed over a great superiority of force at Minden. The taking of Quebec, under general Wolfe, an expedition re¬ quiring great courage and perseverance, closes the list of victories acquired by the British in this reign, which was brought to a close by the king’s sudden death, October 25, 1760. 7 . George II. was succeeded by his grandson*, George III., then in the twenty-third year of his age. His reign was long, and comprised a series of the greatest events in modern history, and Great Britain experienced during that period alternate elevation and depression. The earliest act of the youthful king was, by marriage, to secure the de¬ scent of his throne, and he accordingly espoused, in September, 1761, the princess Charlotte of Mech- lenburg Strelitz, by whom he had a large family. The policy of the Pitt ministry had not been pacific, but the discovery of a private league between France and Spain against Britain induced peace¬ ful measures; Pitt retired with a pension, and a peerage to his wife, before the Bute administra¬ tion, the origin of that Tory ascendancy, which has existed from 1761 with but little interruption to the present time. The Bute administration, how¬ ever, became unpopular, and the conclusion of a peace in 1763, (after important victories obtained over the Spanish, whereby they lost Havannah, Manilla, and the Philippine isles,) raised against him the virulence of the newspaper press (which at this period first obtained notice), and the party violence of Wilkes, the editor of the North Briton. The Bute ministry had indeeed acted with great good sense, in relinquishing the glory of a war which had added sixty millions to the national debt, for the more solid advantages of the peace; for although the terms of the treaty of 1763 were, that Great Britain should restore a portion of her conquests in exchange for others which had been wrested from her, yet she was a gainer to an im¬ mense amount. She acquired from the French, Canada, that part of Louisiana east of the Missis¬ sippi, Cape Breton, Senegal, the Islands of Gre¬ nada,Dominica, St.Vincents,and Tobago, with all the acquisitions they had made upon the Coromandel coast in the East Indies, since 1749 f. From Spain she regained Minorca, and East and West Florida. * Frederick, prince of Wales, died after a short illness, 20th March, 1751. t The French had formed settlements in India, the chief of which was Pondicherry, on the Coromandel coast. Their stations and those of the English were often engaged in petty hostilities, either in consequence of war in Europe, or by reason of their giving assistance to native princes at war with one another. The intrigues of Dupleix, governor of Pondicherry, occasioned a series of wars, which ended in the ruin of the French settlements, and the acquisition of a large territory to the presidency of Madras. The successes of Clive, originally one of the clerks of the The Bute ministry was succeeded by the Gren¬ ville administration, April, 1763, and the first me¬ morable act of that ministry was the passing of the American Stamp Act in March, 1765 ; the reason of this attempt to tax the American colonies (for it amounted to no more, being indignantly repelled by the Americans), was to defray the expences of a war which had been undertaken by the parent state for the defence of her North American colo¬ nies ; this distinction had no weight with the Ame¬ ricans, who considered the impost a precedent of tax¬ ation upon those who had no representation either in the parent state or English House of Commons. The Act was speedily repealed (22d Feb. 1766), but this was accompanied by a vote declaratory of the right of Great Britain to tax America in all cases ; the adherence to this resolution, and the imposition of some other taxes, caused open hos¬ tilities on the part of the Americans (June, 1774), and led to the declaration of American indepen¬ dence (11th June, 1776). 8. The war between Great Britain and her pro¬ vinces in North America, separated her for ever from colonies settled between the years 1608 and 1688, extending along the eastern shore of North America, between the St. Laurence and the Mis¬ sissippi, viz. New England, a province including Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecti¬ cut, and Rhode Island ; Vermont (then claimed by New York) : Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. The English carried on this war, into which they plunged with but few troops, and not much money at their disposal, with greater success than was at first experienced, but in the end they were forced to abandon a warfare which added a hundred millions to their debt, and had subjected their army to surrenders on two oc¬ casions. This war of independence terminated in 1782, and produced remarkable results, for it ope¬ rated powerfully in bringing on the French Revo¬ lution, a consequence by no means apprehended by France, when she with Spain and Holland had made war upon her ancient enemy, and had bound herself by a particular treaty to fight with the Americans against England. 9. England, in the year 1780, was in a critical po¬ sition ; Russia had put herself at the head of what was termed the Armed Neutrality, including Swe¬ den and Denmark ; in fact, a negotiation for pro¬ tecting the commerce of neutral states, the object of which was so decidedly hostile to Great Britain, that it was in order to prevent the accession of the Dutch to that neutrality, that England declared war against them ; indeed, for the purposes of mere protection against the tremendous force arrayed against Great Britain, twenty millions were annu¬ ally required, and she had not a single ally on the continent. The spirit of party at home had for some years past run very high, and produced great internal disorders. In 1778, in consequence of the repeal of certain penal statutes against the Roman East India Company, against the French, took place towards the close of George the Second’s reign. His policy was to interfere with the native states, so as to prevent their attack¬ ing the British ; he consequently, after the battle of Plassey, placed a dependant prince on the throne of Bengal, and enriched himself and his officers with the spoils of the country. Riots of 1780.—North administration. —Treaty of Versailles. ENGLAND. Coalition ministry.—Pitt ministry. War with the revolutionists. 143 Catholics, serious riots took place in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other cities, and in June, 1730, Lon¬ don was for five days in the uncontrolled possession of a most formidable mob, who set fire to the prisons and other public buildings, and committed the greatest disorders. Frequent changes also took place in public measures. Mr. Grenville was suc¬ ceeded by Lord North as prime minister, George III. being, in fact, the chief and personal director of affair’s, and he, with all his faults and obstinacy, exhibited a conscientious firmness in adhering to certain moral principles, that procured him a con¬ fidence sufficiently great to put down the factious opposition that had been generated by Wilkes and other discontented spirits. England, however mortified at the result of the American war of Independence (which severely injured those who had allied themselves in its favour), had, after all, reason to triumph in her maritime successes. Gibraltar, besieged four years by France and Spain (1779-1783), was bravely defended by General El¬ liot,, and twice relieved, first by admiral Rodney (1780), and afterwards by Lord Howe (1782); and the floating batteries of the French were destroyed by red-hot bullets. Rodney, who had vanquished the Spanish fleet in 1780, obtained a decisive vic¬ tory over the Comte de Grasse, between the islands of Dominica and Saintes, taking five ships of the line, including the admiral, whom he took to Lon¬ don. Sir Eyre Coote, in the East Indies, also recovered the Carnatic. (1781.) 10. The ministry of Lord North was succeeded by that of the marquis of Rockingham in 1732, but he dying in 1783, was succeeded by the earl of Shel¬ burne. Mr. Fox, who had been secretary of state under the Rockingham administration, accepted office with lord North, who both became joint se¬ cretaries of state: from this circumstance this ad¬ ministration has been termed the coalition ministry. This ministry attempted to negotiate a particular peace, either with the Americans or with the Dutch ; but this course not being practicable, they adopted the alternative of recognizing the inde¬ pendence of America ; and they entered into a negotiation with France, which terminated in the treaty of peace signed at Versailles (September, 1783), between Great Britain, France, Spain, and the thirteen United States of America. France, for a very short time, maintaining the balance of maritime power against England, who recovered her superiority during the French revolution, and has never since lost it. By this treaty, the bounda¬ ries of the French and English possessions in North America were regulated : a continent of more than seventy thousand square German miles was assigned to the United States, who had con¬ firmed to them, by this treaty, the right of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland, and in other places where they had claimed the right. England had restored to her Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent. St. Christopher, Nevis, and Montserrat. In the East Indies all the French settlements, such as Chandernagore, Pondicherry, and Main, were restored. The Dutch, by a treaty concluded May 20tli, 1784, ceded Negapatam, and granted to the British a free trade in the Indian seas, where the Dutch had theretofore maintained an exclusive commerce. The coalition ministry was one that had been inconsiderately formed. Lord North and Mr. Fox had previously been most bitterly opposed to each other : the present association was there¬ fore distrusted, and the introduction of the India bill by Mr. Fox, who thereby proposed to make the entire patronage of India dependant on the House of Commons, as electors of seven directors who were to regulate the East India Company, demon¬ strated a craving after power in the House of Commons tending to subvert the constitution, for the influence thus created would have been ulti¬ mately efficient to set the crown and the House of Lords at defiance. The measure was defeated, and William Pitt was made prime minister and chancel¬ lor of the exchequer of a new cabinet, consisting of the king’s nomination. The commencement of Pitt’s cai’eer was arduous, for the commons refused the supplies, and denounced the continuance of the new ministry as unconstitutional : but public opinion did not sanction these notions, parliament was dissolved, and on the election one hundred and sixty new members were returned. Popular fa¬ vour and the feeling of the new House of Commons inclined to the king and his young minister, and the public service was continued. Pitt, who pro¬ fessed liberal principles, endeavoured a reform in parliament, but the motion was negatived, 1785. In 1786, his scheme for redeeming the national debt, by means of a sinking fund *, was set on foot. The public attention was next occupied by the protracted trial of Warren Hastings for misconduct in India ; and the debates on the re¬ gency bill, upon the illness of the king, which had produced a temporary aberration of intellect, till 1789, when the recovery of the king put an end to the discussion. The French revolution com¬ menced in this year, and roused public attention, as being said to be based upon principles of rational liberty and freedom ; but the violences and enormi¬ ties which immediately followed, caused its almost universal condemnation in England. However, it produced associations of a political character, in which the questions of reform in parliament, and more enlarged disquisitions on political grievances were agitated. 11. Public opinion was also disturbed and excited by the numerous events which the revolution brought forth; but England did not interfere with France till the judicial murder of Louis XVI., in 1793, had been perpetrated by the French convention : it was then that hostilities of an un¬ compromising nature were declared against France, who being extraordinarily successful in her military plans, was at war with every other state and power in Europe but Spain. The successes of the British were partial and confined to naval victories, in which the French fleets were defeated by Howe in 1794, and by Nelson in 1798 ; Jervis vanquished a Spanish squadron off Cape St. Vincent, and the Dutch navy was annihilated by Duncan at Camper- down, in 1797* The Cape of Good Hope was taken from Holland, and Trinidad from Spain. Against these successes are to be reckoned the disgraceful expulsion of the British army from the Netherlands by the army of the revolutionists, the loss of 10,000 men in an unsuccessful descent upon the west coast of France, and of some considerable losses in their shipping. Added to this, an increase of annual expenditure, varying from eighteen to • This scheme was, in 1813, proved to he fallacious, by Professor Hamilton. Vide ante, p. 125 and note. 144 Buonaparte in Egypt.—English losses in Holland.—Treaty of Amiens. ENGLAND. Berlin decrees.—Castlereagh ministry. Accession of George IV. forty millions, demanded heavy taxation tor mili¬ tary projects, that were far from successful in their execution, and caused great discontents. The pub¬ lic funds became extraordinarily depreciated, a rise in the prices of all goods took place, and cash pay¬ ments at the Bank were suspended ; but these dis¬ tresses were endured by the English in the dread of a French invasion, and the intense hatred that prevailed against French doctrines and revolu¬ tionary republicanism. 12. The French had in 1796 invaded Italy by their military genius Buonaparte, and in 1798 had added Switzerland to their newly-formed republics; the French directory now sent Buonaparte on an ex¬ pedition to Egypt, either as a means of counteract¬ ing his ambition and influence, or to ensui-e a point of colonization, from whence they might thereafter direct hostilities against British India. Nelson de¬ stroyed the French fleet at Aboukir, but the French retained their position. A new confederacy, of which Great Britain was the head, formed by Austria, Naples, and Russia, was so far successful as to re¬ deem great part of Italy from the French republic ; but the Russians were destroyed in Switzerland, the English were unable to expel the enemy fi*om Holland, and left eight thousand prisoners behind them. The attempts hitherto made of extirpating this republic, hateful to all royal potentates as an example of rebellion, and condemned by the British as a subversion of religion and morality, had only called forth the energies of France, and exhi¬ bited the martial genius of that nation in the strongest light. The successes of Buonaparte, who regained the greater part of Italy in 1800, and had terrified the northern states into a neutrality with Great Britain, led to the peace of Amiens (1802), leaving France aggrandized, Europe convulsed, and Britain weakened, although her triumphs at sea had been great. The Irish rebellion of 1798 also led to the legislative union of the two kingdoms, which dates from the 1st of January, 1800. 13. The treaty of Amiens presented, as almost all treaties had done, undecided and reserved points, and the war was recommenced in 1803 ; an inva¬ sion of England was once more threatened by the French, but its execution was never attempted. Mr. Pitt, who had retired from office, was again placed at the head of a new administration, which terminated unhappily by his death in January, 1806. The ministry that followed (the Grenville administration) was displaced in the spring of 1807, and succeeded by another, in which Mr. Spencer Perceval acted as Chancellor of the Exchequer. This ministry has been condemned as inefficient, but the gloomy state of politics, and the contrariety of opinions generated by the late events, would have presented serious difficulties to the most talented administration. The political history of Great Britain, till the close of the contest with Buonaparte, is connected with that of France and the details of the peninsu¬ lar wars (ante, pp. 139,140). The powers of Europe may be said to have been arrayed against Britain, but she rose superior to all disadvantages and combinations. Her protection of Spain from the unprincipled invasion of Buonaparte may be de¬ scribed as the commencement of those operations which, at the close of the war, entitled her to be styled the liberatrix of Europe. 14. Domestic affairs in England exhibited great depression in 1810 and 1811. The distress in the latter year was unparalleled ; the Berlin decrees (ante, p. 139), and the retaliatory measures pur¬ sued by Britain, inflicted great injuries upon her commerce. The public attention had scarcely been withdrawn from the sensual excesses of the prince of Wales and the duke of York, when the mental malady of George III. rendered it necessary that a regency should be appointed, and that duty was performed by the prince of Wales till the decease of his parent in January, 1820. 15. Beyond the melancholy death of the prin¬ cess Charlotte, only daughter to the prince regent, and the bombardment of Algiers, few circumstances of historical importance occurred. The regency, however, was not a tranquil government in its domestic relations. The extreme severity of the policy of lord Castlereagli’s administration against those who advocated parliamentary reform by pub¬ lic meetings, together with the insufficiency of that ministry, nearly goaded the people into a state of rebellion ; in truth, the fall of prices since the war, while the taxes remained at the same helgut, together with the bad harvest of 1816, again occa¬ sioned severe distress ; several riots and tumultu¬ ary meetings took place; but a meeting at Man¬ chester in August 1819, conducted in a peaceable and orderly manner, professedly held to petition for parliamentary reform, was dispersed by some yeomanry cavalry in a most cruel and unlawful manner. Unfortunately, every petition to estab¬ lish a principle since recognized and confirmed by parliament, was at that period deemed little short of actual rebellion, and very arbitrary enact¬ ments were passed in order to repress the voice of those who petitioned against known grievances and abuses. These enactments, better known as “ The Six Acts,” have been long since repealed. 16. The regency terminated on 20th Jan., 1820, by the decease of George III., and the regent, under the style of George IV. ascended the throne, which he had in effect possessed since 1811, and of course his policy remained unchanged. A conspii’acy to murder the ministers, which had been detected by a spy, was the first act in his reign that exemplified the uselessness of the severity and mean policy of the Castlereagh administration. Public opinion was next agitated upon the trial of the queen consort, for criminal conversation with one count Bergami during her residence in Italy, but the notorious debaucheries and loose morality of the king, ren dered the queen (whose behaviour abroad had cer¬ tainly been distinguished by unbecoming levity) an object of false sympathy, and the prosecution un¬ der the form of a bill of pains and penalties was abandoned, the majorities upon the second and third reading being too weak to justify a proceeding deemed by the nation scandalous and unequal. The next year (1821) lord Londonderry (late lord Cas¬ tlereagh) put an end to his own life, an act induced by the perplexity of his having adopted the conti¬ nental policy of arbitrary measures. In private life he is described as being a benevolent and humane man, but his political measures procured him a most unenviable reputation with his countrymen. The period of his death may be deemed the dividing line between the adoption of continental despot¬ ism,' and the more liberal policy which has been adopted by Mr. Canning and subsequent admi¬ nistrations. Joint-stock companies ami commercial panic, 1825.—William IV.—Victoria I. BRITISH INDIA. 17. The years 1825 and 1828 were distinguished by great commercial disasters, arising from the depressed state of trade in 1821 and 1822, leading to a diminished importation and production of goods, and to an advance of prices in 1823. The active demand consequent upon this state of things was kept up longer than necessary by paper cur¬ rency ; and the torpor produced by the re-action of supply caused a difficulty in answering pecuniary obligations. The distress consequent upon the failure of fifty-nine country banks reached all classes of society ; a mania for joint-stock com¬ panies had been generated during the temporary prosperity, and the failure of the projects contem¬ plated, by the insolvency of these associations, diminished credit to an extent almost unknown before. 18. The question of the policy of removing the civil disabilities of Roman Catholics had been, since 1805, a constant theme of parliamentary as well as public discussion. Of late years this sub¬ ject had been associated with the question of Ire¬ land, which was in a very disturbed state. The duke of Wellington, who (upon the decease of Mr. Canning in August 1827, and the resignation of lord Goderich in 1828) had undertaken the pre¬ miership, saw the necessity for introducing Catholic Emancipation as a means of quieting the agitation that prevailed in Ireland. This may be said to be the last important Act of George the fourth’s reign, which terminated 26th June, 1830. 19. William IV. succeeded his brother, and im¬ mediately obtained great popularity. He had been educated in the navy, a favourite branch of service with the English, and his political predilections were in favour of the Whigs, who for the two pre¬ ceding reigns had been kept out of office. The ex¬ pulsion of Charles X. from France, by the French revolution of 1830, produced a corresponding excite¬ ment in England, and this seems to have hastened the consideration of parliamentary reform, which has been termed (not very correctly) a “ remodel¬ ling of the constitution.” After some popular ex¬ citement the measure of parliamentary reform passed into a law (7th June, 1832). The measures of this reign were confined to domestic affairs, among which the reform of municipal corporations, the depriving the East India Company of its com¬ mercial privileges, the abolition of West India slavery, and the alteration of the poor laws, are the most prominent. 20. The duke of Wellington was prime minister on this king’s accession, but his declaration in the first parliament, that he would resist any change in the representative system of the country, created great discontent; and shortly after the coming up of the bill to the House of Lords he resigned, when a commission was imposed upon him by the king of forming a new ministry, a duty he has had since more than once to perform, and has as promptly executed. Although the public mind was agitated by the measure of parliamentary reform, and occasionally by the disturbances on the continent, the reign of this monarch may be said to have been tranquil. He died on June 20,1837, and was succeeded by his niece, Queen Victoria, who, in 1840, married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe Gotha, by whom she has issue. 21. In the preceding reign, upon the Whigs coming into office, the political terms Liberal and Chartism.—Corruption of East India go- , . r vermnent.—Hyder Ali and Tippoo. 145 Conservative were substituted for the “ Whig” and “ Tory ” of former administrations. The administra¬ tion of the Whigs or Liberals, with some slight in¬ terruptions, lasted during the reign of William IV., and at the commencement of the rei AIN-U I UltiUuAL. Joseph Buonaparte king of Spain. the Confederation of the Rhine, of which Buonaparte declared himself protector (1806), and Francis II. j ceased to be emperor of Germany. Being heredi¬ tary emperor of Austria, he was styled Francis I. of that empire. The Austrian government was in 1809 induced to oppose itself to the power of Buo¬ naparte, which had declined, in consequence of the general movement his aggressions on Spain had called forth ; but the balance of success again turned in Napoleon’s favour after the battle of Wagram. Another peace was made between Aus¬ tria and France, which Buonaparte hoped to cement by his marriage with the emperor’s daughter Maria Louisa ;*but the losses sustained by the French in Russia, again induced Fi'ancis to secede from this coerced alliance, and he joined the confedei'ated allies against his son-in-law. The battle of Leipsic, and the subsequent defeats of the French under Buonaparte in 1813, became the means of dissolv¬ ing the Confederation of the Rhine. 4. On the settlement of the affairs of Europe in 1815, the Congress of Vienna formed the German states, including portions of the dominions of Austria, Prussia and the Netherlands, together with the free cities, into a new federal compact called the Germanic Confederation, for the purposes of mutual defence and the prevention of internal war ; and of this body the emperor of Austria was declared the hereditary head. Francis I., who died in 1835, was succeeded by Ferdinand I. 73.— SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 1. Charles II. of Spain died at the commencement of the eighteenth century without issue, having be- ! queathed his crown to Philip of Anjou, a grandson i of Louis XIV. The emperor of Austria demanded ■ Spain for his son Charles, as a maternal descendant of Philip III.; England and Holland supported this claim, for the purpose of counteracting the power of j France, and the wars by these allies under prince ; Eugene and Marlboi’ough were the fruit of this interference. The rival claimant (for Philip of Anjou had been proclaimed as rightful heir as j Philip V. by the Spaniards) had been defeated at : Almanza, 1707, but the successes of England at Oudenarde and Malplaquet, humbled France, and j deprived Spain of Gibraltar, an acquisition Eng¬ land has ever since retained. The treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt (1713-14) terminated hostili- ! ties, and Philip V. became firmly seated on his j throne. 2. Spain was actively engaged in the continental wars of the last century, alternately against Austria, and as an ally of France against Engand, although ; she preserved a neutrality after the treaty of Aix- la-Chapelle (1748), up to signing the treaty, called the Family compact, in 1761, when she was induced ; to aid France in the seven years’ war, which ter- minated, so far as Spain was concerned, by the ; cession of the Floridas to England 1763, {ante, p. 106.) The commencement of the French Revolution, which was nearly contemporaneous with the accession of Charles IV., involved Spain in the disturbances of that great convulsion. The Spaniards, offended with the violence offered to j France by the revolutionists, had commenced hos- ; tilities by the capture of Bellegarde ; reprisals took ! place, and the French secured the Spanish port of St. Domingo in 1798. In 1796, an alliance was entered into by Spain with the French against Eng¬ land, an alliance pi’oductive of great evil to Spain, for her fleets were destroyed and her commerce impeded; indeed her connexion with France occa¬ sioned the loss of some of her treasure ships coming from South America (1804), and at Trafalgar her fleet was completely destroyed by Lord Nelson, 21st October, 1805. Spain was intimidated by the growing power of France under Buonaparte, and the weakness of Charles IV. induced him, by means of Godoy, the friend of his licentious queen, to enter into a scheme conjointly with Buonaparte to dis¬ member Portugal. In furtherance of this view, Buo¬ naparte sent an army through Spain, commanded by Junot, who entered Lisbon 30th November, 1807- Charles IV., when too late, saw his danger, and would have fled to South America had he been able; and to relieve himself from his perplexities, he abdicated the throne in favour of his son Ferdinand (1808). The king’s abdication did not suit the views of Buonaparte, who had wished that the nominal authority should remain with Charles until his own schemes had been fully matured. He therefore induced Charles to resume his authority, and inveigled his son into his power, whom he detained as a prisoner at Fontainebleau; and in the meantime Murat, in command of the French army, acted as governor of the kingdom in the name of Charles. Murat’s arbitrary conduct excited a tumult at Madrid, which he punished by a brutal massacre, after the manner of the revolutionists, and Charles and Ferdinand, on 20th May, 1808, abdicated the Spanish crown in favour of Joseph Buonaparte, who entered Madrid on 20th July. Joseph, however, was compelled to retire from Madrid, which was then occupied by his brother Napoleon, who issued his orders from that city as if he had been complete and undisputed master of Spain. In the mean time the regent of Portugal, with the royal family, had quitted Lisbon a few days before Junot’s entry, and this circumstance w r as favour¬ able for Spain, as the Portuguese army was avail¬ able for the protection of Spain in conjunction with that of the British, which had been sent in the most prompt and effectual manner, to resent an aggres¬ sion which demonstrated that Buonaparte grasped at nothing short of universal domination. The spirit of resistance on behalf of the Spanish and Portuguese, however strongly manifested, was totally incompetent to have resisted the well- appointed armies of the French, which at the outset of the first peninsular campaign, compelled Sir John Moore to retreat into Galiicia. The second and subsequent peninsular campaigns (rendered famous in history by the exploits of the Duke of Wellington) were also distinguished by a variety of features, for the numerical superiority of the French force often compelled a retreat, and the distractions of these two countries rendered the exertions of the Spanish incompetent to repel their invaders. However, this contest, which was watched by Europe with great anxiety, was brought to a close. Lord Wellington, having been reinforced, compelled the French to abandon the defence of the Douro, and brought them to action at Vittoria, where they were utterly discomfited. The reduc¬ tion of Saint Sebastian and Pampeluna next fol¬ lowed ; the Bidassoa, the brook that parts Spanish from Gallic ground, was soon afterwards crossed, Wars of the succession in Spain and Portugal. NORTHERN EUROPE. and France was entered by the British, Spanish, and Portuguese troops, who on the 31st of March, 1814, entered Paris. 3. Before the allies had reached Paris, Ferdi¬ nand had been released by Buonaparte, but the Spanish king’s return to his dominions produced nothing else than disorder and tumult. A revolu¬ tion in March, 1820, caused the restoration of the Cortes, and the free constitution of 1812 was recog¬ nized by the king. Charles IV. had died at Rome in 181,9. 4. The constitution forced upon Ferdinand VII. was almost republican, and the ministers he was compelled to acknowledge, committed many errors. The consequence was, a large party consisting chiefly of the lower orders, calling themselves “ the Army of the Faith,” enlisted themselves against this revived constitution. The king of France interposed with a military force, and re¬ stored Ferdinand to absolute power. Ferdinand died on 20th September, 1833, when his daughter, Isabella, was proclaimed at Madrid ; but the suc¬ cession was disputed by his brother, Don Carlos, who, after several vain attempts to assert his claims, was driven from Spain into Portugal. He also came to London, which place he secretly quitted, in order to put himself at the head of his Biscayan partisans, by whose assistance he harassed the legitimate government so much, as to compel a solicitation to Great Britain for assistance, who did not do more than permit Colonel Evans to raise an auxiliary legion of ten thousand men in the United Kingdom, for the relief of Spain. This aid turned out to be insufficient, and the very pay of these mercenaries became so much a weight upon the Spanish finances, that after two years the Spanish legion was disbanded. The partisans of Don Carlos, wearied with an un¬ profitable contest, returned to their allegiance, and Don Carlos again became an exile. The queen regent, wearied by the disorganized state of Spain, endeavoured to reconcile the contending factions, but was herself, in 1840, compelled to abandon her regency and to seek refuge in France. By the conduct of Espartero, duke of Victoria, Don Carlos had been repulsed in his pertinacious claims, and Espartero was next appointed regent; but party feeling and faction have driven him away from his regency, and a series of contests are tak¬ ing place, the issue of which no one can tell, as this country still remains in a very distracted state. 5. Portugal has also been visited with a similar infliction of civil war. On the death of John VI. in 1826, the crown devolved upon his eldest son Don Pedro, who reigned as emperor over the old Portu¬ guese colonies in Brazil. Pedro preferred his em¬ pire to Portugal, but he sent over to Portugal a constitutional charter and a formal resignation of his crown in favour of his daughter Donna Maria da Gloria. Pedro’s brother Don Miguel, being ap¬ pointed regent, aspired to the throne, and in 1829, succeeded in getting himself proclaimed by the cortes king of Portugal. Don Pedro sought assist¬ ance from Great Britain, and a sanguinary war between the two brothers was waged for upwards of two years. Don Miguel ultimately abandoned pretensions he discovered were utterly untenable, and a contest in which France, Spain, and Eng¬ land were opposed to him ; the young queen was i therefore settled on the throne, her father Don Pedro Russia, from Peter the Great to , . ; Catharine II. *49 being declared regent: on his shortly afterwards declining that office, the cortes declared Donna Maria of age, and intrusted her with the functions j of government (1834); but at this time the kingdom is far from being in a tranquil state. 74.— NORTHERN EUROPE. 1. Russia. —Peter the Great was succeeded by his wife Catharine I. in 1725 ; she survived him but 1 two years. Her death excited some suspicions against the prince Menzikoff, who it seems enter¬ tained ambitious projects on his own behalf by pro¬ posing to raise a son of the unfortunate prince Alexis to the throne, upon the condition of marry¬ ing his daughter: whatever his schemes were, he was banished by Peter II. to Siberia, with his family. Peter II. died in Jan. 1730 of the small pox, and was succeeded by Anne Iwanowna, duchess of Courland, in exclusion of her eldest sister, the duchess of Mechlenburg ; they were both the daughters of Iwan, the eldest brother of Peter. Anne espoused the interests of Augustus III. elector of Saxony, whom she desired to place on the throne of Poland in opposition to Stanislaus Leczinski (father-in-law of Louis XV. of France) who was besieged by the Russian army under field marshal Munich, and compelled to fly from Dantzic (ante, p. 134). After the termination of this war, she sent 10,000 auxiliaries, who joined the imperial army on the Rhine, commanded by prince Eugene, in the spring of 1735, the first time the Russian army had appeared in Germany. In the same year she ordered an expedition against the Turks, and shortly afterwards Azoph and Oczakoff were regained from the Ottoman Porte. Moldavia was also conquered, but these conquests were surrendered by treaty, and a per¬ petual peace declared between Russia and the Porte. From this period the politics of Russia had a direct influence on the courts of France and Austria. Anne died in 1740, having bequeathed her kingdom to her sister’s grandson Iwan, and appointed her favourite, count Biren, regent. This man was hated by the Russians, and deservedly so, and he was dispossessed of his regency. Anne, mother of Iwan, and niece of the empress, was appointed regent in his stead ; but her conduct also created disgust, and Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, was proclaimed empress, the life of the infant Iwan being for that time spared (1741). The dispute respecting the Austrian suc¬ cession became the means of kindling a war be¬ tween Russia and Sweden, in which the latter suf¬ fered considerable losses, but obtained restitution of part upon the conclusion of a treaty between Sweden and Russia in 1743. Elizabeth died in Jan. 1762, and was succeeded by Peter III. her nephew, then grand duke of Holstein : he made a treaty of alliance with the king of Prussia (May 5th, 1762), and agreed to assist him against Silesia, the king of Prussia espousing Peter’s quarrel against Denmark. But a revolution, or rather a conspiracy, effected by his wife in conjunction with the chief nobles, dethroned Peter III., and he was put to death after a reign of six months, July 9th, 1762. His wife Catharine II. succeeded him, and confirmed her power by putting Iwan to death, by making a treaty of alliance with Denmark, and by provisionally ceding some territories claimed t Russia continued.—Catharine II. Mnnmnr'nM xr , TTT?rkr>T? Denmark.—Bombardments of Copenhagen. 150 Paul I. Alexander I. NURlHEKN IhUKUI ih. Sweden from Charles XII. by the house of Holstein, the cession to be abso- I lutely ratified by the grand duke Paul when he attained majority. 2. Russia had been much aggrandized since the time of Peter the Great, and Catharine steadily pursued a course of policy which, not being re¬ strained by justice or humanity, tended much to raise Russia to the highest political eminence in the northern states of Europe: she dictated the succession of Sweden, and caused the dis¬ memberment of Poland in 1772 ; and, in this first partition, Catharine secured a large share. Her advantages over the Turks tended to the restoration of the Greek empire ; and the libera¬ tion of Gi’eece might have been obtained, had the Russian commanders, entrusted with the naval expedition fitted out for that purpose in 1770? followed the advice of the Scotch admiral, Elpliin- stone, who commanded one of the divisions of the fleet. Catharine’s reign, of thirty-four years, was terminated by her death in 1796. She was suc¬ ceeded by her son, Paul I., a capricious and narrow-minded character, who, becoming incapable of discharging the imperial functions, entailed upon himself the hatred of both the nobility and the people. He was murdered in his own palace by a conspiracy of the nobles, who placed his son, Alexander I., upon the throne, March, 1801. 3. Alexander I. commenced his reign by various judicious measures; he repudiated the armed neutrality, of which his father had been the head, and thereby averted impending hostilities with Great Britain. His policy had been averse to any alliance with Buonaparte ; but after the battle of Austerlitz, when the foi-ces of both Austria and Russia were defeated, and owing to the subsequent losses of his own troops at Friedland, he sought a reconciliation with him, and eventually joined the “ continental system,” by the treaty of Tilsit, July 7th, 1807. His war with the Turks, with whom the Russians were on terms of hereditary enmity, was concluded in 1810, when a peace was mediated at Bucharest by the intervention of Great Britain. The continental system, as it was termed, became very injurious to the commerce of Russia, and the aggressions of Buonaparte furnished a reason for a renunciation of his alliance, and commencing hos¬ tilities against him, which were conducted by the Russians in conjunction with the Austrian forces, and were never terminated till they, with the army of the allied powers, after the battle of Leipsic in 1813, took possession of Paris on the 31st of March, 1814, a triumph which repaid the Russians for all the indignities they had suffered by the invasion of the French in 1812. 4. In 1809 Sweden was compelled to cede Fin¬ land, East Bothnia, and Adland ; and since the general pacification, Russia has enlarged her terri¬ tory upon the frontiers of Georgia and Armenia. A concession of territory was also obtained from the sultan in 1828, as a means of averting a war with enemies the Turks found they could no longer repress. Alexander, dying in 1825, was succeeded by Nicholas the present emperor, Constantine, his eldest brother, having renounced his hereditary right. 5. Denmark. —This kingdom has exercised but little influence upon the political state of Europe: her policy has been generally dictated by her more powerful neighbours, especially Russia, with whom she nearly became embroiled during the short reign of Peter III. ; and probably escaped annihilation as a kingdom by his death. The state of this kingdom, in the reign of Christian VII., a weak and fatuous prince (who in 1768 married the princess Matilda of England, sister to George III.), attracted some notice in 1774 and 1775? by a circumstance which to this dav seems involved in mystery. Count Struensee, who had been a physi¬ cian, but had afterwards risen to the highest offices in the state, excited great hatred, by the reforms he projected in every department of government, and was accused of intriguing with the young queen. Whether this accusation can be deemed proved, is very questionable ; certain it is, that the queen dowager, and her son, prince Frederic, aided by his enemies, brought him, with his friend Brandt, to the scaffold : the queen herself was spared, upon the interposition of the British minister, and ended her days at Zell, in a state of ignominious seclusion, May 10th, 1773? in her twenty-fourth year. During the remainder of Christian’s reign, the queen dowager and the prince Frederic, as co¬ regents, governed the kingdom till the accession of the prince, as Frederic VI., in 1808. 6. During the wars to which the French revo¬ lution gave rise, Denmark endeavoured to remain strictly neuter; but in 1801, this course of policy was departed from,by Denmark being joined with Sweden and Russia in an armed neutrality; this neutrality was broken up by the bombardment of Copenhagen by Nelson, 1801 ; and, in 1807, after a similar attack upon her capital, all her ships of war were surrendered to the British, under admiral Gam- bier and lord Cathcart, in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy,—a severe penalty for having been dragged into the wars of Buonaparte : to add to her losses, in 1804 she was compelled to cede Norway to Sweden, in exchange for Swedish Pomerania ; and, by the treaty of Vienna, that inadequate compensation was taken from her, for that district was assigned to Prussia, who gave, in return, the duchy of Lunenburg, a possession of inferior value and importance. 7. Sweden. —Upon the death of Charles XII., at the siege of Fredericksliall, in 1718, (ante, p. 131,) his sister Ulrica Eleanora was raised to the throne, but under conditions that very much curtailed the regal authority, especially by abolishing the right of hereditary succession. Her husband, whom she married in 1720 , was entrusted with the direction of government, under the title of Frederick I. The seeds of disunion, however, had been sown in the liberal constitution adopted, and two factions ap¬ peared upon the meeting of the Diet in 1738, known as the Hats and Caps. The latter was the moderate party, under the influence of Russian politics ; and the former, discontented with the then order of things, and under the influence of France, was desirous to involve Sweden in hos¬ tilities with Russia, so that the queen of Hun¬ gary should receive the less assistance from that quarter in the war of the Pragmatic Sanc¬ tion. The result of this was, that Sweden hastily declared war against Russia in 1741 ; but the campaigns of that, and the succeeding year, were so unsuccessful, that an accommodation had to be made with Russia, who offered to restore to the Swedes a great part of their conquests, on condition NORTHERN EUROPE. Partitions of Poland.—Prussia, from the time of Frederick the Great. 151 Sweden continued.—Bernadotte Crown- prince.—Poland from 1709. of bestowing the kingdom on prince Adolphus Frederick, of Lubec, which was acceded to July 3rd, 1743, and peace was accordingly concluded between Sweden and Russia. In the mean while the country was agitated with the internal factions of the Hats and Caps, until Adolphus Frederick, having died in 1771, his son and successor, Gusta- vus III., endeavoured to reconcile these parties ; but not succeeding, he formed a new constitution, which, though quietly brought about, was far from settling all disputes, for notwithstanding his naval successes against Russia in 1790? a conspiracy was formed against him by his own nobility, and he was shot at a masked ball in 1792. 8. Gustavus IV., son of Gustavus III., succeeded ; but he, being considered of unsound mind, was de¬ posed, and his uncle, Charles XIII., raised to the throne in 1809; but this king having no heir (prince Christian dying suddenly,) Bernadotte, one of Napo¬ leon’s generals, was elected crown prince, and his title recognized by the allied powers in 1818, as Charles John XIV., king of the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway *. This ally of Great Britain closed his reign 11th March, 1844, leaving Oscar I. his son and successor. 9. Poland. —This country having been an elective monarchy, has always been the subject of cabal and internal commotions, upon the recurrence of a vacancy, and was thus subjected, on the same oc¬ casions, to the interference of the neighbouring powers. The reign of Augustus II., elector of Saxony, was far from tranquil : he had been deposed in 1704, and compelled, by treaty, to abdicate his throne in favour of Stanislaus Leczinski (1707) ; but being restored, by the assistance of Russia, after the battle of Pultowa in 1709, he died in possession of this kingdom, in 1733. 10. By the interference of Germany and Russia, his son Augustus III., also elector of Saxony, was elected king of Poland, in exclusion of Stanislaus, who was supported by the French interest. Au¬ gustus III. dying in 1763, Catharine II. of Russia, caused Stanislaus Poniatowski, a Polish nobleman, to be proclaimed king of Poland under the title of Stanislaus Augustus. Poland had been agitated by discords between the dissidents, or Protestants, and the Roman Catholics ; and the latter being the stronger party, persecuted the dissidents, who availed themselves of the influence of Russia, which was readily exerted by Catharine II. in their behalf. By her assistance, the dissi¬ dents were reinstated in their religious liberty, but the majority of the Poles formed themselves into a religious kind of confederacy, wearing embroidered crosses on their garments, and bearing on their standards representations of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. This party, although attacked by the Russians, stirred up the Turks against them; but both Turks and confederates were defeated by the Russians. These civil disorders afforded a pretext to the kings of Russia, Austria, and Prussia to interfere, and upon the mediation of a peace between Turkey and Russia, the courts of Bei’lin, Vienna, and Petersburg, settled the dis- * Bernadotte joined the allies in 1813, and soon afterwards was at war against his former commander ; for this service he received Norway, which had been taken from Denmark; Finland being, at the same time, ceded to Russia. memberment of Poland, and the districts which were to fall to the share of the three powers, in spite of the protests of the king of Poland and his ministers, who claimed the assistance and protec¬ tion of these very powers, who had guaranteed each other in the partition of the regal booty thus obtained. The courts of London and Paris per¬ mitted this act of arbitrary power and spoliation to pass unnoticed (1772). A small part was reserved to Poland ; but a second dismemberment of Poland took place in 1793, when the three allied powers divided the remaining provinces between them ; and what remained of Poland was finally divided amongst the royal spoliators in 1795, who were at that very period protesting against the doctrines of the French revolutionists. The champion of the Poles, on this last partition, was general Kosciusko, who, heading a small body of patriots, made a stand for the liberties of his ill-fated country ; but he was defeated, wounded, and taken prisoner by the Russians. Praga, the great suburb of Warsaw, was stormed by the Russian general Suwarrow, and all the inhabitants put to the sword ; Warsaw itself capitulated; and nothing was left for the Poles but absolute submission. The king of Poland, de¬ prived of his title, subsisted at Petersburg upon a pension. 11. The name of Poland had been transferred, or rather rested with the 85,000 square miles allotted to Russia; and that, with the portion which had been allotted to Russia by the congress of Vienna in 1813, formed a separate dependency or govern¬ ment, which Nicholas, emperor of Russia, trans¬ ferred to his brother, the grand-duke Constantine. In 1830 these Poles rose against the Russian go¬ vernment, but were defeated, and the event has only confirmed the Russian power over this ill- fated country. 12. Prussia. —This kingdom possessed little influ¬ ence among European powers until the accession of Frederick II., surnamed the Great, in 1740, when an opportunity shortly offered itself for dis¬ playing his ambition and talents for war, which were first brought into action against Maria- Theresa, in the contest respecting the Austrian succession, or war of the Pragmatic Sanction {ante, p. 134). By this war he obtained the important province of Silesia, and, by joining in the first par¬ tition of Poland, a great accession of territory. He was for the greatest part of his reign at war with Austria and Russia ; and the power of the latter preponderating, the death of the empress Eliza¬ beth, in 1762, relieved him from great embarrass¬ ment; more especially as her successor, Peter III., formed a close alliance with him, which was sub¬ sequently confirmed by Catharine II. He was thus enabled by a long reign, not only to repair the injuries sustained by his kingdom in expen¬ sive wars, but to leave it at his death, in 1786, nearly doubled in extent, and in a most prosperous condition. He was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William, who became involved in the political uproar of the French revolution, and sent an expedition against the revolutionary republicans, under the duke of Brunswick, in which he suffered defeat. He made peace with the French republic, and dying in 1797? was succeeded by his son Fre¬ derick William III. This prince kept aloof from the wars of the French republic, although he joined the armed neutrality in 1800, and caused Hamburgh NORTHERN EUROPE. , _ 0 Prussia continued.-Berlin occupied by the French.—Treaty of Tilsit. to be shut against the English, and also occupied the states of Hanover, 1801, the government of which he ultimately accepted from Buonaparte, ceding in return to the French the duchy of Cleves, and some other districts. But when Buonaparte was about to restore the independence of Hanover, Frederick hastily declared war against him; and his army, under the duke of Brunswick, was routed, and the duke slain. After the disastrous battles of Jena and Auerstadt (1800), where the Prussians were again defeated by Buonaparte with great loss, Berlin was occupied by the conqueror, and Blucher’s division of the Prussians was forced to capitulate. By the treaty of Tilsit he lost nearly half his kingdom (1807). Westphalia was given to Jerome Buonaparte ; Warsaw, erected into a grand duchy, was placed under the protection of the king of Saxony ; Dant- zic was declared a free town ; and, what was more oppressive in its consequences, the Berlin de¬ crees closed the remaining ports against the com¬ merce of Great Britain. Smarting under every species of political insult and degradation, and being obliged to receive French garrisons into his principal fortresses, he was, in 1812, called upon by Buonaparte to furnish an auxiliary force against Russia ; but he evaded the performance of that en¬ gagement, and concluded a treaty of neutrality with Russia, after the retreat of the French from Mos¬ cow. The Prussians had been treated with such arrogance and oppression by the French, that they were almost reduced to despair; at last the king, in 1813, consented to act in confederacy with the allies, being constantly with his army until they entered Paris, March 31st, 1814 ; and at the battle of Waterloo, the Prussian troops, under the command of Blucher, although repulsed at Liguy on June 16th, 1815, came up towards the close of the day, attacked the French on the right flank, and decided the fate of Europe. 13. By the treaty of Vienna, Prussia obtained a restitution of what had been taken away from her by the treaty of Tilsit ; and in exchange for some part of what had once been Poland, received half of Saxony, and some territories in the west of Germany. 14. Holland and the Netherlands. —For thirty years after the treaty of Utrecht, which secured to theUnited States the cession of several strong towns, forming a barrier of frontier fortresses, Holland enjoyed profound peace ; but, in 1740, the Dutch were allied with the English in the defence of the empress Maria Theresa, they having, in 1720, guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction. The allied powers of England and Holland defeated the French at Dettingen, 1743 ; but the Dutch were exposed to the inroads of the French after the repulse at Fontenoy. At this period they felt the want of an efficient military governor, and consequently Wil¬ liam IV., prince of Orange, a son-in-law of George II., was nominated hereditary Stadtholder *, 1747- Tlie war of the Austrian succession was termi¬ nated by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, and the Dutch remained neutral during the seven years’ war. William V., son of William IV., who had succeeded his father in 1751, did not assume the * This dignity, as well as that of captain and admiral- general of the republic, had remained vacant since the death of William III. This dignity had also been elective, and to make it hereditary was unprecedented. Holland and the Netherlands. The French invade Holland. reins of government, by reason of minority, till 1766’ Two years afterwards he married the niece of Fre¬ derick the Great, and sister to the king of Prussia : and shortly afterwards various intestine disturb¬ ances agitated the united provinces. An animosity, formed by a republican party against the Stadtholder, was revived, on account of the war in America be¬ tween France and England ; and war was ultimately declared by Holland, in 1781, against her former ally, England. The Dutch suffered severely in their commerce ; and a popular insurrection, which happened at the Hague 1785, furnished the states with a pretext for removing the Stadtholder from the command of that place, which was entrusted to a council; while his consort, who had interfered between the hostile parties, was captured in 1787, and treated as a prisoner. The king of Prussia, upon this, sent his army into Holland, under the duke of Brunswick, who, in less than a month, made himself master of the whole counti’y, and obliged the city of Amsterdam to capitulate. The Stadtholder was thus reinstated by the powers of England and Pnissia, who, by treaty, in 1788, se¬ cured to the house of Orange the hereditary Stadt- holdership. 15. The alliance of Holland with the Prussians and the English was so distasteful to the French repub¬ licans, that they declared war against the Dutch in 1793. In 1794, Pichegru, the republican general, favoured by the rigour of a very severe winter *, and perhaps somewhat assisted by the intrigues of the anti-Orange party, drove out the duke of York, who commanded the English army, and gained possession of the whole country, where the patriots had established the ancient constitution, such as it had been before 1768, for the prince of Orange, who had been for the second time deprived of all his functions, had fled to England. France entered into a treaty with this republic at the Hague (May 16th, 1795), where the independence of the latter was formally acknowledged. Holland became next associated to France as a subordinate state, under the name of the Batavian republic, and surrendered to France, without hesitation, those fortresses which extended as well as protected her frontiers. The French abused this confidence, by exacting heavy contributions and conscriptions: the English, on the other hand, treating the Dutch as enemies, took from them many of their foreign settlements, and particularly the Cape of Good Hope and the island of Ceylon. 16. In 1806 the Batavian republic was erected into a sovereignty, Louis Buonaparte being ap¬ pointed king by his brother, who displaced him in 1810, when Holland was annexed to the French empire; but immediately after the battle of Leip- sic, the Hollanders expelled the French. A pro¬ visional government being formed, William Frede¬ rick, prince of Orange, the former Stadtholder, was in 1813 restored as king of Holland ; and at the congress of Vienna it was settled by the allied powers, that the ten provinces, called the Austrian Netherlands, now forming the kingdom of Belgium, should be united with Holland, under the sove- * In all former wars, when driven to extremity, the Dutch opened their sluices or canals communicating with the sea, whereby the whole country could be laid under water. The plan of Pichegru, who led his army across the ice (Dec. 1794, Jan. 1795), deprived them of this resource. Treaty of Leoben and Campo Formio.—Cis¬ alpine and Ligurian republics formed. SOUTHERN EUROPE. Roman republic.—Pius VI. prisoner in France.—Battle of Marengo. 153 reignty of the king of Holland, who then assumed the title of king of the Netherlands. This union of Holland with the Netherlands continued till 1830 ; in which year, by a popular movement, (the result of a settled dislike between the Dutch and the Belgians,) Belgium was declared independent by the allied powers. 17- The Austrian Netherlands, in 1780, had revolted from the Austrian government, and de¬ clared their independence, under the title of the Belgic States, a circumstance originating from a dislike to the innovations of Joseph II. of Austria. These differences, however, were speedily terminated by Leopold II. (who succeeded Joseph) annulling those acts of his brother which had caused the dis¬ contents. Leopold II. dying in 1792, Francis his son and successor went to war with the French revolutionists, who being aided by the disaffected Belgians, invaded the Netherlands, and shortly afterwards annexed them to France, under the name of a separate department. {Ante, p. 57, note.) According to the terms of the treaty of Vienna, the Netherlands became united to Holland, from which they were disunited by the revolution of 1830, when Leopold, prince of Saxe Coburg, was called upon to assume the sovereignty of Belgium, by the title of Leopold I. 75.— SOUTHERN EUROPE. 1. Italy. —The Italian states, at the time of the bursting forth of the French revolution, consisted of Savoy, Piedmont and Sardinia, Tuscany, the two Sicilies, the Venetian republic, the states of the -Church, and the kingdom of Naples. Upper Italy; containing Piedmont and Genoa, the duchies of Parma, Milan, Modena, and the ancient republic of Venice : Lower Italy; containing the grand duchy of Tuscany, the Roman empire, and the kingdom of Naples. The politics of Italy had little or no influence upon the northern states during the eighteenth century ; but in the violent and cruel wars of the French revolution they became the theatre of remarkable events, in common with the rest of Europe. The French Legislative assembly declared war against the king of Sardinia, in September 1792. General Montesquieu took possession of Savoy, and Anselm made himself master of Nice; and shortly afterwards the Convention declared these provinces annexed to France : but the subsequent invasions of the French do not appear to have been attended with any important results, till Buo¬ naparte’s campaign in Italy in 1796, where he gained a series of victories ; and, by his defeat of the Austrians at the bridge of Lodi, gained posses¬ sion of Milan and Lombardy. The terror of the French arms at that period was so great, that the king of Naples and the pope purchased neutrality upon hard terms; and although the war had ceased in Tuscany, the grand-duke having been reconciled to France in February, 1795, yet the port of Leghorn was occupied by French troops, for the purpose of seizing all British merchandize found therein. The two Austrian armies were insuffi¬ cient to preserve Mantua, and they were defeated at Arcole and Rivoli, November, 1795. Treaties had been concluded the previous month with the king of the two Sicilies, the duke of Parma, and the Genoese republic. 2. The Austrians made a fourth attempt to save Mantua in 1797, but this city was surrendered upon the capitulation of the Austrian general Wurmser (February 2). Buonaparte had pre¬ viously invaded the states of the popedom, and a truce had been proclaimed between himself and the pope ; but he had broken the truce, upon some frivolous pretext, and repeated his invasion. The Austrians so far kept his army in check, as to cause him to offer a peace, which was signed at Leoben, April 18th, 1797 ; by which, although Austria ceded great part of her Italian possessions, yet she regained Mantua. Immediately after this treaty of Leoben, Buonaparte overturned the Vene¬ tian republic, and occupied Venice (May) : he created a new state, formed out of the ceded pro¬ vinces of Austria, under the name of the Cisalpine Republic; and compelled the Genoese to constitute themselves anew, under the style of the Ligurian Republic (June, 1797)- The peace of Leoben was not concluded upon definitive conditions until Octo¬ ber 1797, at Campo Formio, when Austria and France divided between them the whole territory of the republic of Venice : there were numerous secret articles in this treaty which applied to the states of Germany, and these seem to have been unsatisfactory to the French Directory, whose ag¬ gressions were as unjust, as their pretensions were ridiculous. A pretext was seized for the invasion of the states of the popedom ; a Roman republic was proclaimed in February 7th, 1798 ; and Pius VI. carried captive to France, where he died, August 29th, 1799. 3. Pius VI. had been dead scarcely a month, when Rome was occupied by the British as deliverers, whose fleet, under the command of Admiral Trow¬ bridge, had blocked up the port of Civita Vecchia. Pius VII., the successor of Pius VI., temporised with Buonaparte ; and, for the sake of re-establish¬ ing the Roman Catholic religion in France, he con¬ cluded a concordat with the republic, which was fraught with many concessions, canonical institu¬ tion being almost the only privilege reserved to him. He also officiated at the coronation of Buo¬ naparte as emperor in 1804, but had the spirit to refuse officiating when Buonaparte proclaimed himself king of Italy ? in 1805. This refusal caused his being conveyed as a prisoner into the French dominions, not regaining his liberty till 1814, or his papal dominions till the congress of Vienna had awarded them to him, on which occa¬ sion the inquisition was restored, and the order of the Jesuits revived. 4. Upon the renewal of war in 1799, the French lost all their posts in Italy ; but the battle of Marengo (June 14) discouraged the Austrians, and led to the cession of the whole of Lombardv, and put Buonaparte in possession of the cities of Alex¬ andria, Tortona, Turin, Placentia, and Genoa, &c. After the defeat of the archduke John of Austria, at Hohenlinden, in Germany, the French generals Bruce and Macdonald secured the recovery of Tuscany and all the forts that had been lost, Verona, Legnago, Fermo, and Ancona. 5. General Murat, who commanded the French in Italy, had shown a disposition to carry the war into the kingdom of Naples; and Ferdinand IV. accordingly concluded a treaty of peace at Flo¬ rence, February 18th, 1801 ; he permitting, for a SOUTHERN EUROPE. republic.—The Ottoman empire.— Turkish wars with Austria and Russia. . _ . Joseph Buonaparte and Murat kings of *54 Naples. — Murat shot. — Helvetic while, the occupation of Otranto and the Abruzzi by French troops, from which places he was unable to dislodge them. 6. At the peace of Amiens, (1802,) France was possessed of Savoy, Nice, and Piedmont, the Cisal¬ pine states, including the Milanois, a considerable part of the Venetian territories, the duchies of Mantua, Modena, and Parma, and the greater part of the Papal states, Tuscany, and the Ligurian republic ; in fact, all Italy, with the exception of part of the Venetian territory, had yielded to the j dominion of the revolutionists. 7. After the battle of Austerlitz, (1805,) the Rus¬ sians and English abandoned Italy, and the king of Naples, who had permitted the temporary occu¬ pation of Otranto and the Abruzzi by French troops, found himself without defence to another army of the French who were approaching his capital. He accordingly provided for his safety by a flight to Sicily, at the time that the French entered Naples (January, 1806). Buonaparte having declared, in the usual arrogant form of his decrees, “that the Bourbons had ceased to reign at Naples,” appointed his brother, Joseph Buonaparte, king of Naples and the Two Sicilies, who was succeeded by Joachim Murat, upon the occasion of Joseph’s being nominated king of Portugal {ante, p. 148). Buonaparte’s dominion in Italy was now supreme, and to all appearances firmly established ; in his federative system of the French empire, the whole peninsula of Italy was declai’ed to form part of the grand empire of France, of which he was the supreme head, and, to crown all, fifteen duchies, created in the Vene¬ tian provinces, were parcelled out as hereditary fiefs, and disposed of to his generals and partisans (1806). 8. With regard to Tuscany, the government of that state was erected into a dignity of the empire, and conferred on Buonaparte’s relative, Eliza Bacciochi, princess of Lucca and Piombino (March, 1809). Rome was disposed of, by the papal states being annexed to the French empire, and by imprisoning the pope, (Pius VII.,) who had ventured to publish a bull of excommunication against Buonaparte and his adherents. After the downfall of this grand usurper, the congress of Vienna (1815) made a new division of Italy ; the preponderance of Austria was re-established ; northern Italy was divided into six governments, the apportionment whereof was made in accordance with the titles of their lawful sovereigns ; and the papal states restored to the pope. The fate of Joachim Murat, king of Naples, was involved in that of Buonaparte : no sooner had he heard of Buonaparte’s landing in France from Elba, than he followed his brother-in- law’s example, and landing at Pizzo, in Calabria, with no more than thirty men, was made a prisoner, and, after a summary trial by a court-martial, shot. Such was the end of the “ bravest of the brave.” (October 10th, 1815.) Ferdinand IV,, a prince of the house of the Spanish Bourbons, resumed the government of Naples, after the first peace of Paris in 1814. 9. Switzerland. —This country was placed under the revolutionary dominion of the French republic, with the title of the Helvetic republic, 1798, and in I 1802 was made a province of France. After the ! pacification of Europe, a new federal compact was J f ormed, and the number of its cantons or provinces increased by the addition of Geneva, Neufchatel, and Valois. 10. Turkey. —Although the power of the Otto¬ man empire may be said to have declined from the period of the battle of Lepanto (1570), when the Turkish fleet was destroyed by the combined arma¬ ments of Spain and Venice, yet the Turks in the seventeenth century again became very formidable to their Christian neighbours. Under sultan Ibra¬ him (1645) and his successor Mustaplia IV., a most protracted and sanguinary war was carried on by the Turks against the Venetians, who were compelled to surrender Candia to their adversaries (1669). But the Turks were unable to withstand the league that had been formed against them by Poland, Hungary, Germany, Austria, and the Ve¬ netians ; for after the victory the imperial army, commanded by prince Eugene, obtained over the Turks (1697)> they were compelled to cede all their possessions in Hungary except Temeswar and Bel¬ grade, and the Venetians obtained the Morea, which they retained till 1715) and from this period the decline of the Ottoman power became more apparent. Another war which the imperialists commenced against the Turks in Hungary caused them the temporary loss of their stronghold, Bel¬ grade. The Turks had next to defend themselves against the power of Russia, with whom there had been a cessation of hostilities since 1711, when Azof had been taken from Peter the Great, but the Russians obtained no substantial advantages from this Avar ; in fact, the Turks Avere enabled, by means of some advantages obtained by count Bon- neval, to recover Belgrade (1739), and obtain a peace with Russia till 1768, Avhen the grand seignior in his turn declared war against Russia. The event of this Avar was disastrous for the Turks, who Avere compelled to relinquish all their possessions on the northern coast of the Black Sea, and to acknoAv- ledge the right of Russia to pi’otect the Christian princes of Moldavia and Wallacliia. 11. The truces and conventions which rapidly succeeded each other Avere hollow and transitory ; Austria assisted the Russians in their attacks on the Ottoman poAver, Avhich Avere terminated by the capture of Belgrade by the Austrians, Oct. 8th, 1789. The victories subsequently obtained by Suwarrow, the Russian general, over the Turks, especially at the siege of Ismail, Avere sanguinary and decisive, but the jealousy of the British minis¬ try being excited by the increase of the Russian power, the king of Prussia, an ally of Great Britain, was engaged to make an alliance with the Porte, and to agree to declare war against Austria and Russia : this diversion was favourable to the Turks, for they were thus enabled to make up a peace with the Russians, by the terms of which they obtained the restoration of Belgrade, Aug. 4,1791. 12. These repeated wars, in which the balance preponderated against Turkey, caused Selim III. to stand aloof from the wars of the French revolution ; indeed, he had to contend with the rebellious spirit of his own pachas, or gover¬ nors of the states dependant upon the Ottoman empire, for Ali-Bey in Egypt, Ali-Paclia of Yanina, and other pachas claimed to enjoy independent monarchies in their separate pachaliks or govern¬ ments, and other parts of the Turkish dependen¬ cies were in a state of hostile occupation. 13. Buonaparte in 1798 had subdued the greater Sir John Duckworth’s retreat from the Dar¬ danelles.—Accession of Mahmoud II. SOUTHERN EUROPE. Struggles of Greece for freedom.— Greece an independent monarchy. part of Egypt, but had been unsuccessful in his attack upon Syria : after sustaining great loss at the siege of Acre (May 1799), he returned to Egypt and almost annihilated the Turkish troops at the fort of Aboukir. After Buonaparte’s hasty departure from Egypt, the Turks, aided by the English, assailed the French on all sides, and com¬ pelled the French generals at Cairo and Alexan¬ dria to capitulate, by which means Egypt was re¬ stored to the Turkish dominion (1801). 14. The term of the English alliance with Turkey approaching its expiration, the Turks were induced to make an alliance with Buonaparte, and the divan refusing to break off this alliance, an English fleet under vice-admiral Duckworth forced the passage of the Dardanelles for the purpose of neutralizing the effects of such alliance, but he was compelled to retreat, and the English who had taken posses¬ sion of Alexandria were, after an occupation of six months, obliged to surrender that city to the go¬ vernor of Egypt. The Turks were not so success¬ ful at the battle of Lemnos, where the Russian fleet defeated the Capitan-pacha, who had sailed from the Dardanelles after the retreat of vice- admiral Duckworth, 180G-7. Selim III. had ren¬ dered himself odious to the Turks by the introduc¬ tion of the European discipline and dress, he was consequently deposed by the janissaries, who for two centuries had displayed the character of the pretorian band, and had constantly interfered with the succession (May 29th, 1807)* Mustapha IV. Selim’s cousin, was placed on the throne, but Mustapha Bairactar or the standard-bearer, pacha of Rudschuk, marched with an immense force to Constantinople for the purpose of restoring Selim (July 1808), whereupon Selim was put to death by Mustapha IV., who in his turn suffered death at the hands of Bairactar, whose endeavours to re¬ store Selim were not only annulled, but him¬ self rendered an object of hatred to the janissaries from his known partiality to Selim’s plans and go¬ vernment, and he being pursued by the janissaries to his fortress, blew himself and his persecutors into the air. Mahmoud II., the younger brother of Selim, was proclaimed, but he also desired to re¬ tain the European discipline, which caused another outbreak of the janissaries, whose privileges he for that time confirmed (1808). 15. Mahmoud during his reign was enabled to adopt the habits and practices of Europeans in civil as well as military affairs, and entirely to suppress the janissaries, whose turbulence had frequently occasioned great and bloody revolutions (1826). The reign of Mahmoud, indeed, was full of import¬ ant events ; the Greeks in 1821 revolted from the Tui'kish tyranny, and in 1828 a war took place with Russia, in which the Turks were uniformly defeated, and the Russians were only prevented from advancing to Constantinople by great conces¬ sions on the part of the Turks, and the mediation of the allied powers of Europe. Mahmoud died in 1839. 16. Greece. —The independence of the Morea was secured after a ten years’ struggle with the Turks (1820—1829); and in this battle for freedom, the interposition of the allied powers procured for the Greeks a permanent emancipation from the most cruel thraldom that could be imagined. The war for liberty was waged by both parties with the most savage and uncompromising cruelty and fury. The government of Gi*eece was at first a republic, under the presidency of count Capo d’Istrias, (who was assassinated 1831,) and afterwards established as a monarchy with a free constitution under prince Otho of Bavaria, under the title of Otho I., king of Greece (1833). 76.— A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE IN EUROPE, FROM THE COM¬ MENCEMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT TIME. 1. The reign of queen Anne has been frequently termed the Augustan age of British literature ; but literature was very far from the state it afterwards attained during the reign of her successors, George I. and George II. ; although during these latter reigns literature was scarcely deemed worthy the notice of royalty or government, and the class of readers was by no means numerous. However, towards the close of George the Second’s reign a great number of writers presented themselves in every walk of inquiry or imagination. Fictitious narrative, the most pleasing vehicle for illustrating men and manners, may be said to have attained great perfection, by the performances of De Foe, Fielding, Richardson, Smollett, Goldsmith, and Sterne. Those essays embodied in the Spectator , which had a tendency to polish and improve taste, Avei’e continued in various forms of periodical lite¬ rature ; among which The Essays of Goldsmith ; The Rambler and The Idler , by Dr. Johnson, stand pi’e-eminent, whose Dictionary also of the English language l’emains a monument of his ap¬ titude of expression and ponderous erudition. History, biography, and ci’iticism, had then also their votaries, in Dr. Bentley, Dr. Hook, Hume, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Middleton, Smollett, Goldsmith, and Di\ Robei'tson ; whilst in the latter part of this century, the attainments of Gibbon, Lord Lyt¬ telton, and Loi’d Karnes, assisted much in impi'ov- ing the national taste and judgment. In poetry, after Swift, Addison, Rowe, Prior, Pope, and Gay, succeeded Thomson, Hammond, Young, Collins, Gray, Shenstone, Akenside, and Goldsmith, and at the close of the eighteenth century, Cowper and the Scotch poet Buras. 2. In the fine or polite arts of sculptui’e and painting, the same progress had not been made. However, the deficiency of British talent has of late years been amply compensated by the forms and modelling of Bacon, Banks, Nollekens, Flax- man, Westmacott, and Chantrey. The national taste had deferi’ed too much to the w orks of the foreign masters of painting to affoi’d much en- coui'agement to native artists. Sir James Thorn¬ hill, who embellished Gi’eenwich Hospital and Hampton court, and Hogarth, certainly soared above the talent of mere portrait painting ; but few English artists cared to be esteemed otherwise than as goodporti’ait paintei’s till the reign of George III., whose admii’ation of the arts pi’ompted him, in 1768, to institute a Royal Academy, of which he appointed Sir Joshua Reynolds the first president. Sir Joshua Reynolds, West, Gainsborough, Barry, Wilson, and Opie, may be said to have been the most prominent of British artists from that period , to the close of the last centui’y. The reign of j George III. was indeed prolific in literary and | scientific men; and in astronomy, medicine, che- i 1 _ „ French philosophy. — Encyclope- cr^T vMr'TT' a "wn T TTPP ITTTTH? Historical research. Literature of Great 156 dists.—German Literature. SCIENCE AND L1IEKAI UKE. Britain.—Decline of the drama. mistry, botany, great discoveries were made. The subsidiary inquiries of geology and mineralogy have been prosecuted very fervently and with great success: and in this reign it was that the spirit of inquiry and precise system of instruction, for which the present age is so distinguished, may be said to have had its origin. 3. The eighteenth century in France, which opened under the ambition and intolerance of Louis XV., and closed with the anarchy of the revolution, exhibited various phases of literature- The early part of this century, to use the language of that nation, may be termed the age of “ phi¬ losophy,” or rather of their philosophy, consisting in a cold and selfish species of reasoning, which, while it affected to attack ignorance and encourage learning, yet designedly ridiculed religion and moral restraint. In the polite arts of painting, sculptui’e, and ai’chitecture, the French much ex¬ ceeded the English ; as they took for imitation the classical models of antiquity ; and the learning which seems to have been most encouraged was that which united the study of antiquities with a free inquiry into the philosophy of the ancients. This freedom of opinion, under the garb of learn¬ ing, but guided by too great self-assurance, be¬ came the author of all those injurious and impious notions which illustrated the principles of the French revolution. But it has been justly ob¬ served, the French revolution was not long a war of principles, but soon became a conflict of passions and private interests ; and its termination in¬ fluenced in a corresponding degree the course of the national literature ; for since that period a great number of eminent authors have appeared, of a character totally distinct from those that pre¬ ceded it. Voltaire, Rousseau, and the editors of the Encyclopaedia, Diderot and D’Alembert (1751), may be said to have been the personifications of that era; while the beauties of imaginative writing, with the vivid delineation of the past, seems at this present time to be the chief characteristic of French literature. Le Sage, whose amusing tale of Gil Bias has been translated into every Euro¬ pean language; and Marmontel, who in his Belisarius appears to have adopted the style of Fendlon, preceded the era of the “Encyclope¬ dists,’’ and the maturity of the “philosophy” of that period, and shine the chief novelists of this century. There was indeed but little poetry in France during the eighteenth century, metaphy¬ sics, antiquities, and natural history occupying the place of literary talent. 4. In Germany appeared some most extraordi¬ nary men in all departments of science ; but, in imaginative writing, at the close of the eighteenth, and at the commencement of the present century, we notice Schlegel, Klopstock, Gesner, Zimmer¬ man, Wieland, Schiller, and last of all Goethe, who may be said to be the founder of modern German literature. The Germans have always been famous for works exhibiting intense research and most profound learning ; and in that class, during the last century, the names of Fabricius, Struve, Mos- heim, Schlozer, Gesner, and Ernesti, stand most prominent. The metaphysics of Kant, wlic died in 1804, have also produced a great sensation in Europe. In the present century the accession to every department of literature has been every where so great that it becomes very far beyond the scope of the present work, to notice them otherwise than in the most transient form. Historical re¬ searches have been conducted with an accuracy, extent of information, and intensity of research, hitherto unknown, as exemplified in the works of Niebuhr, Ranke, Muller, &c. The observations of modern travellers have also illustrated the his¬ tory and geography of the ancients. 5. With regard to the literature of Great Britain in the present century, its chief feature is the splendour of its genius in imaginative and descrip¬ tive poetry and fiction. In this department of lite¬ rature, the principal names are those of Moore, Crabbe, Campbell, Rogers, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Keats, Byron, and Shelley. The novels rather than the poetry of Scott have earned for him a lasting reputation, as containing masterly delinea¬ tions of character, combined with striking incidents and stirring narrative. His example and success called forth a numerous host of followers, some of whom, male as well as female, have developed talents equal to their prototype ; indeed, the En¬ glish works of fiction during the last thirty years claim notice, not so much for the versatility of talent displayed, as for the strength and originality of thought which distinguishes a great number of these compositions. 6. In historical literature, so numerous are the works that arrest the attention of the student, that a bare mention of the names of some of the most dis¬ tinguished authors will in this place suffice ; viz., Southey, Hallam, Milman, Alison, Lord Mahon, Mackintosh, Lingard, Sharon Turner, Arnold, and Mill; to this list indeed may be added others, who, though not named, are nearly equal in reputation and learning with those already enu¬ merated. 7. A new and refined species of literature may be said to have originated in the Edinburgh Review, founded at the commencement of the present cen¬ tury, as taking the place and rank of the more elaborate essays of the corresponding portion of the previous age. The Reviews and Magazines thus called into existence, have been mainly conducted by the contributions of almost every person cele¬ brated in the present age as excelling in general literature, politics, or science. 8. The literature of philosophy and science is intimately connected with the progress of invention and discovery, and must be sought for in those well-arranged and digested periodical works which record its advancement. In various departments of science, especially in chemistry and natural phi¬ losophy, most important discoveries have been made, and inventions promoted. The assistance given to mechanic powers by the action of steam, in the propelling of vessels against wind and tide, and by railway locomotion, have promoted internal and foreign communication in an eminent degree, while the application of electricity to the arts forms a new era in philosophy. 9. The literature of Divinity takes so wide a range as to be quite beyond the scope of the present work. 10. The Drama in the present century has not kept pace with, or more properly speaking has not maintained its hold upon the public, it being super¬ seded by a growing taste for music ; and perhaps is not quite in accordance with the altered manners and habits of the wealthier portions of society. A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. EXPLANATION OF THE TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY. The plan of the following Chronological Table, though extremely simple, requires, as being a new one, a short explanation. In order to give a distinct view of the succession of princes in the chief empires or kingdoms, without employing for that purpose different columns, which distracts too much the attention, and occupies unnecessarily a great deal of space, the series of the sovereigns of dffferent nations is dis¬ tinguished in this table by their being printed in different typographical characters. Thus, the series of the kings and emperors of Rome is printed in Roman capitals, as— 14. TIBERIUS, emperor of Rome. The series of the popes is distinguishable by this character V, prefixed to each name, as— 1518. Pope Leo X. That of the sultans of the Ottoman empire by a ^ prefixed to the name. The names of the emperors of Germany are printed in Roman small capitals, as— 887. Arnold, emperor of Germany. The kings of England are marked by the black Saxon type, as— 1066. (flffiHUtattt (the Conqueror), king of England. The kings of Scotland by Italic capitals, as— 1390. ROBERT III., king of Scotland And the kings of France are distinguished by the Italic type, as— 1498. Louis XII., Icing of France. By this method the succession of the sovereigns in the different kingdoms is immediately distinguish¬ able to the eye, as well as the duration of their reigns, while the intervening space is filled by the remarkable events that occurred in that period all over the world ; and thus the connexion of general history is preserved unbroken. A marginal column is added of illustrious persons, which, being appro¬ priated chiefly to men of learning and genius, presents to the reader a view of the progress of science, and affords an easy means of forming an estimate of the literary character of any particular age in the history of mankind. B.C. 4004. The creation of the w r orld, according to the Hebrew text of the Scriptures. -according to the version of the Septuagint, 5872. -according to the Samaritan version, 4700. 2348. The universal deluge. 2247. The building of Babel. The dispersion of mankind, and the confusion of languages. 2227. Ninus, king of Assyria, began to reign. 2217. Nimrod supposed to have built Babylon, and founded the Babylonish monarchy, and Assur to have built Nineveh, and founded the monarchy of Assyria. 2188. Menes (in Scripture, Misraim) founds the monarchy of Egypt. 2084. The shepherd kings conquer Egypt. 2075. Semiramis queen of Assyria. 2040. Moeris king of Thebes and Memphis in Egypt. 1996. The birth of Abraham. 1912. Chedorlaomer subdues several of the kings in Judea. 1897. Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by fire from heaven. 1895. Isaac born. 1856. Inachus founds the kingdom of Argos in Greece. 1836. Jacob and Esau bom. 1825. The shepherd kings abandon Egypt. 1823. Death of Abraham. 1796. The deluge of Ogyges in Attica. 1722. Sesostris, or Rameses, king of Egypt. 1635. Joseph dies in Egypt. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 158 B.C. 1582. The chronology of the Arundelian marbles begins with this year. 1571. Moses born in Egypt. 1556. Cecrops founds the kingdom of Athens. 1546. Scamander founds the kingdom of Troy. 1532. Judgment of the Areopagus between Mars and Neptune, two princes of Thessaly. 1529. The deluge of Deucalion in Thessaly. 1522. The council of the Amphictyons instituted. 1520. Corinth built. 1519. Cadmus builds Thebes, and introduces letters into Greece. 1513. The supposed era of the history of Job. 1511. Danaus came from Egypt into Greece. 1506. Erechtheus, or Erecthonius, institutes the Panathensean games. 1491. Moses brings the Israelites out of Egypt. 1453. The first Olympic games celebrated in Greece. 1452. The Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, written. 1451. The Israelites led into the land of Canaan by Joshua. 1438. Pandion king of Athens. 1415. The book of Joshua supposed to be written by Phineas the high priest. 1406. Minos reigns in Crete, and gives laws to the Cretans. 1376. Sethos reigns in Egypt. 1322. Belus reigns in Babylon. 1267. Ninus reigns in Assyria. 1266. CEdipus marries bis mother Jocasta, and reigns in Thebes. 1263. The Argonautic expedition. (According to the Newtonian chronology 937.) 1257. Theseus unites the cities of Attica. 1255. The Israelites delivered by Deborah and Barak. 1252. Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia, built by the Sidonians. 1239. Latinus begins to reign in Italy. 1225. Siege of Thebes. War between Eteocles and Polynices. Eurysthenes and Procles kings of Lacedaemon. 1215. Second war of Thebes, or war of the Epigonoi. 1207. Gideon judge of Israel for forty years. 1202. Teucer built Salamis. 1193. The Trojan war begins. 1184. Troy taken and burnt by the Greeks. (According to the Arundelian mar¬ bles, 1209.) 1182. TEneas lands in Italy. 1161. Jephthah judge of Israel. 1155. Samson born. 1104. Return of the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus. 1099. Samuel delivers Israel. 1079. Saul king of Israel. 1070. Medon first archon of Athens. 1069. Codrus, king of Athens, devotes himself for his country. 1055. David king of Israel. 1004. Dedication of Solomon’s temple. 980. Rehoboam king of Israel. 971. Seshac, or Sesostris, king of Egypt. 923. Ahab and Jezebel reign over Israel. 914. Omri king of Israel. 889. Athaliah, wife of Jehoram, usurps the throne of Judah. 886. Homer’s poems brought from Asia into Greece. 884. Lycurgus reforms the republic of Lacedaemon. 869. The city of Carthage built by Dido. 825. Jeroboam restores the glory of Israel in a reign of forty-one years. 820. Nineveh taken by Arbaces and Belesis, which finishes that kingdom. 806. Jonah preaches repentance to Nineveh. 776. The first olympiad begins in this year. 769. Syracuse built by Archius of Corinth. 767. Sardanapalus king of Assyria. 760. The Eph'ori, popular magistrates, instituted at Lacedaemon. 757. Halyattes king of Lydia. 754. Decennial arehons elected at Athens. 752. The foundation of Rome by Romulus. 758. Rape of the Sabines. 747. The era of Nabonassar made use of by Ptolemy. The tenth Olympiad. 738. Candaules king of Lydia. 724. Hezekiah tenth king of Judah. 721. Salmanazar takes Samaria, and carries the ten tribes into captivity, which puts an end to the Israelitish kingdom. 718. Gyges king of Lydia. 715. NUMA POMPILIUS, second king of Rome. 711. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invades Judaja. 710. Dejoces king of Media. 708. Habakkuk prophesied. 1588 Atlas, astron. 1459 Hermes Triso, /. Horus Apollo, f 1430 Bacchus, d. 1284 Orpheus, Linus, f Jason, Hercules, f 1253 Musseus, poet,f 1213 Nestor, f Menelaus, Ulysses,/! Hector, Achilles,/! 1180 Dares Phrygius, hist, f Dictys Cret./! 1040 Sanclioniathon,/! 907 Homer, Hesiod,/! 896 Elijah, prophet, f. 873 Lycurgus, d. Elisha, prophet, d. 768 Isaiah, prophet. Joel, prophet. Amos, prophet. Micah, prophet. Obadiah, prophet. 736 Eumelus,j»oe2. Agathon, poet,f. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. b c. 703. Corcyra founded by the Corinthians. 700. The twentieth Olympiad. 696. Manasseh sixteenth king of Judah. 688. Judith kills Holofernes, the Assyrian general. 684. Annual archons elected at Athens. 681. Esarhaddon unites the kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria. 672. TULLUS HOSTILIUS, third king of Rome. 670. Psammeticus king of Egypt. 667. The combat between the Horatii and Curiatii. 660. The thirtieth Olympiad. 658. Byzantium founded by Pausanias, king of Sparta. Phraortes king of Media. 640. ANGUS MARTIUS, fourth king of Rome. 637. The forty years of Ezekiel began. 636. Periander tyrant of Corinth. Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, begins to reign at Babylon. 624. Draco, archon and legislator of Athens. 620. The fortieth Olympiad. 616. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS, fifth king of Rome. 606. Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, and carries the Jew’s into captivity. 601. Battle between the Medes and Lydians, who are separated by a great eclipse of the sun, predicted by Thales. (Newton Chron. 585.) End of the Assyrian empire.—Nineveh taken by Nebuchadnezzar. 600. Jeremiah prophesied. 599. Birth of Cyrus the Great. 594. Solon, archon and legislator of Athens. 580. The fiftieth Olympiad. 578. SERYIUS TULLIUS, sixth king of Rome. 572. Nebuchadnezzar subdues Egypt. 571. Phalaris tyrant of Agrigentum. 562. Comedies first exhibited at Athens by Thespis. Croesus reigns in Lydia. 551. Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, horn. 550. Pisistratus tyrant of Athens. 548. The ancient temple of Delphos burnt by the Pisistratidae. 540. The sixtieth Olympiad. 538. Babylon taken by Cyrus.'—End of the Babylonian empire. 536. Cyrus ascends the throne of Persia.—He puts an end to the Jewish captivity, which had lasted seventy years. 534. TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, seventh king of Rome. Daniel prophesied. 529. Death of Cyrus the Great.—Cambyses king of Persia. Death of Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens. 522. Darius, son of Hystaspes, king of Persia. 520. The Jews begin to build the second temple, which is finished in four years. 510. The Pisistratidae expelled from Athens, and the Democracy restored. 500. The seventieth Olympiad. 488. Statues erected at Athens to Harmodins and Aristogiton. 509. The Tarquinii expelled from Rome, and the regal government abolished. 508. The first alliance between the Romans and Carthaginians. 504. Sardis taken and burnt by the Athenians. 498. The first Dictator created at Rome (Lartius). 497. Institution of the Saturnalia at Rome. 493. The port of Piraeus built by the Athenians. 490. The battle of Marathon, in which Miltiades defeats the Persians. The first tribunes of the people created at Rome. 486. Miltiades dies in prison. Xerxes succeeds his father Darius in the kingdom of Persia. 485. Coriolanus banished from Rome. 483. Quaestors instituted at Rome. Aristides banished from Athens by the Ostracism. 480. The Spartans, under Leonidas, cut to pieces at Thermopylae. Naval victory gained by the Greeks over the Persians at Salamis. 479. Attica laid waste, and Athens burnt, by Mardonius. Victories over the Persians at Plataea and Mycale. Xerxes leaves Greece. 477. Three hundred Fabii killed by the Veientes. 476. Themistocles rebuilds Athens. Valerius triumphs over the Veientes and Sabines. The Roman citizens numbered at 103,000. A great eruption of iEtna. Hiero king of Syracuse. 471. Volero, the Roman tribune, obtains a law for the election of magistrates in the comitia.held by tribes. 470. Cimon, son of Miltiades, defeats the Persian army and fleet in one day, at the mouth of the river Eurymedon. 469. Capua founded by the Tuscans. 159 Archilochus, poet. Tyrtaeus, poet. Terpander,/! Aleman,/! Stesichorus,/! Arion, musician, f. 612 Pittacus of Mitylene. — Bias of Pirene. Alcaeus, poet,f. Sappho, poetess,/. 590 Mimnermus, poet,/ Jeremiah, prophet , d. .ZBsop ,/ah. 562 Cadmus of Miletus/ris./! — Pherecydes of Scyros, phil.,/. 558. Solon, d. 556. Chilo of Lacedaemon. 554. Anacharsis of Scythia. 552. Ibycus, poet,/. 548. Thales, phil., d. — Theognis, poet,/. — Stesichorus, poet,/. 547. Anaximander, d. — Phocylides, poet,/. ■— Susarion,/a6.,/! 546. Orpheus,/! 544. Bion, poet,/ Thespis, com.,/. Anacreon, poet. / Scylax, geog. Diogenes, phil., horn. 519. Zoroaster,/! — Haggai, prophet. 516. Onomacritus, poet,/. Heraclitus, phil.,/ Ocellus Lucarius,/! Georgiaf, soph.,/. Epicharmus, poet , f Anaximenes, phil., d. Pythagoras, d. Theano, phil.,/ Simonides, poet,/. Corinna, poet,/ Confucius, Chinese pldl., d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 160 B.C. 464. Artaxerxes (Longimanus) king of Persia. Cimon banished by the Ostracism. 463. Egypt revolts from the Persians. 462. The Terentian law proposed at Rome. 460. The eightieth Olympiad. 456. Cincinnatus dictator at Rome. The Ludi Sseculares first instituted at Rome. 455. Commencement of the seventy prophetical weeks of Daniel. 453. The number of the tribunes of the people at Rome increased from five to ten. 452. The two books of Chronicles supposed to have been written at this time by Ezra. ' 451. Creation of the Decemviri at Rome, and compilation of the laws of the twelve tables. 449. Peace between the Greeks and Persians concluded by Cimon, glorious for Greece. x/ Death of Virginia, and abolition of the Decemvirate. 445. The law of Canuleius for the intermarriage of the patricians and plebeians at Rome. Military tribunes created. 437. The censorship first instituted at Rome. 436. Pericles in high power at Athens. 432. Meton’s nineteen years’ cycle of the moon. 431. The Peloponnesian war begins, which lasted twenty-seven years. 430. The history of the Old Testament ends about this time. Great plague at Athens eloquently described by Thucydides. Malachi the last of the prophets. 428. Death of Per'icles. 423. Darius Nothus king of Persia. 420. The ninetieth Olympiad. 418. Disturbances at Rome on account of the Agrarian law 414. The Athenians defeated before Syracuse. 413. Alcibiades accused at Athens, flies to the Lacedaemonians. 412. A council of four hundred governs Athens. 405. Lysander defeats the Athenians at iEgos Potamos. 404. Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon) king of Persia. End of the Peloponnesian war. 403. Lysander takes Athens.—Government of the thirty tyrants. 401. The younger Cyrus, son of Darius Nothus, defeated by his brother Arta¬ xerxes, and killed. Retreat of the ten thousand Greeks. Persecution and death of Socrates. Thrasybulus drives out the thirty tyrants, and delivers Athens. 399. A lectisternium celebrated at Rome for the first time. 397. The lake of Alba drained by the Romans. 396. Syracuse unsuccessfully besieged by the Carthaginians. 391. Marcus Furius Camillus dictator at Rome.—Veii taken. 387. Dishonourable peaee of Antalcidas between the Spartans and Persians. 385. Rome taken by the Gauls under Brennus. 382. Pha;bidas, the Spartan, seizes the citadel of Thebes. 380. Pelopidas and Epaminondas deliver Thebes from the Laeedssmonians. The hundredth olympiad. 371. Battle of Leuctra in which the Lacedaemonians are defeated by the Thebans under Epaminondas. 364. Pelopidas defeats the tyrant of Pheraea, but is killed in battle. 363. Battle of Mantinea, in which Epaminondas is killed. 362. Curtius leaps into a gulph in the forum at Rome. 361. Darius Ochus (or Artaxerxes III.) king of Persia. (According to Blair, 358.) 358. War of the allies against Athens. Philip of Macedon takes Amphipolis, Pydna, and Potidea. 357. Dion overcomes the party of Dionysius at Syracuse. 356. Alexander the Great born at Pella, in Macedonia. The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, burnt by Erostratus. The Phocian, or sacred war, begins in Greece. Philip conquers the Thracians, Pseonians, and Illyrians. 350. Darius Ochus subdues Egypt. 348. Philip of Macedon takes Olynthus. End of the sacred war. 347. Dionysius restored at Syracuse, after an exile of ten years. 346. Philip admitted a member of the Amphictyonic Council. 343. Syracuse taken by Timoleon, and Dionysius the tyrant finally banished. The war between the Romans and Samnites, which led to the conquest of all Italy. 340. The hundred and tenth olympiad. The Carthaginians defeated near Agrigentum. P. Decius devotes himself to his country. 338. Battle of Cheronaea gained by Philip over the Athenians and Thebans. 337. Philip chosen generalissimo of the Greeks. Zeno, the elder, phil.,/. Esdras, prophet. iEschylus, poet , d. Democritus, phil.,/. Aristarchus, crit.,/. Leucippus, phil.,/. Cratinus, com.,/. Bachylides, poet,/ 444. Herodotus, hist.,/ Emped'oeles, phil.,/. — Parmenides, phil.,/. 435. Pindar, d. 432. Phidias, sculp., d. Eupolis, com.,/. Aristippus, phil.,/. Antisthenes, phil.,/. Agathon, poet , f. Anaxagoras, phil., d. 415. Meton, math.,/. 407. Euripides, d. 406. Sophocles, d. Cebes,/! Euclid, phil. Euclid, Meg., phil./. 397. Zeuxis, painter,/. Socrates, d. Thucydides, hist., d. Philoxenus, poet,/. 398. Aristophanes, d. Ctesias, hist ., d. 378. Lysias, orator, d. Timceus, phil.,/. Antiphanes, com.,/. Pelopidas, d. Democritus, oh., d. 361. Hippocrates, d. 359. Xenophon, hist., d. Theopompus, hist.,/. Plato, d. Isocrates, orator , d. B.C. 336. 335. 334. 333. 332. 331. 330. 328. 325. 324. 321. 320. 317. 312. 311. 304. 303. 301. 301. 300. 298. 294. 286. 285. 284. 283. 281. 280. 277. 275. 274. 272. 266. 265. 264. 260. 255. 253. 251. 250. 241. 240. 235. 228. 225. 220 . 219. 218. 217. 216. 212 . 211 . 210 . 206. 203. 201 . 197. 196. Philip murdered by Pausanius. Alexander the Great king of Macedon. Alexander the Great destroys Thebes. Darius III. (Codomanus) king of Persia. Alexander chosen generalissimo by the States of Greece. Alexander defeats the Persians on the banks of the Granicus. The Persians defeated by Alexander at Issus. Alexander eonquers Egypt, and takes Tyre. Darius defeated by Alexander at Arbela. Darius Codomanus killed. End of the Persian empire. Alexander takes possession of Susa, and sets fire to the palace of Persepolis. Alexander passes into India, defeats Porus, founds several cities, penetrates to the Ganges. The voyage of Nearchus from the Indus to the Euphrates. Papirius Cursor, dictator at Rome, triumphs over the Samnites. Alexander the Great dies at Babylon, at the age of thirty-three. The Samnites make the Roman army pass under the yoke at Caudium. Ptolemy carries one hundred thousand Jews captives into Egypt. Agathoclcs tyrant of Syracuse. Era of the Seleucidse. Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy, conclude a peace with Antigonus. Demetrius besieges Rhodes. Demetrius restores the Greek cities to their liberty. Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which Antigonus is defeated and slain. Fabius Maximus and Valerius Corvus Dictators. Seleucus founds Antioch, Edessa, and Laodicea. The hundred and twentieth Olympiad. Athens taken by Demetrius Poliorcetes. Seleucus resigns his wife Stratonice to his son Antiochus. Law of Hortensius, by which the decrees of the people were allowed the same force as those of the senate. The astronomical era of Dionysius of Alexandria. Ptolemy Philadelphus king of Egypt. The library of Alexandria founded. Commencement of the Achaean league. Pyrrhus invades Italy. Antiochus Soter king of Syria. The translation of the Septuagint made by the order of Ptolemy Phila¬ delphus.—(Playfair, 285.) Antigonus Gonatas reigned in Macedon thirty-six years. Pyrrhus unsuccessful against the Carthaginians in Sicily. Pyrrhus totally defeated by the Romans near Beneventum, evacuates Italy. The Samnites finally subdued by the Romans. Silver money is coined at Rome for the first time. The citizens of Rome numbered at 292,224. The first Punic war begins.^—The chronicle of Paros composed. Provincial Quaestors instituted at Rome. The hundred and thirtieth Olympiad. First naval victory obtained by the Romans, under the consul Duilius. Regulus defeated and taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, under Xantippus. Manasseh chosen high priest of the Jews. Great victory of Metellus over Asdrubal. The Romans besiege Lilybaeum,—are defeated by Hamilcar. End of the first Punic war. Attalus, king of Pergamus, succeeds Eumenes. Comedies are first acted at Rome. The temple of Janus shut for the first time since the reign of Numa. Hamilcar killed in Spain. Great victory of the Romans over the Gauls. The hundred and fortieth Olympiad. Hannibal takes Saguntum. The second Punic war begins. Hannibal defeats the Romans under Flaminius. Fabius Maximus dictator. Battle of Cannae, in which the Romans are totally defeated by Hannibal. Philip II. of Macedon defeats the iEtolians. Marcellus takes Syracuse, after a siege of two years. Capua surrenders to the Romans. Antiochus the Great conquers Judea. Asdrubal vanquished in Spain by the Scipios. Publius Scipio sent into Spain, takes New Carthage. Philopoemen praetor of the Achaeans. The Carthaginians recal Hannibal to Africa. Sophonisba poisoned by Massinissa. Syplnax led in triumph to Rome by P. Scipio. Philip defeated bj the Romans at Cynocephale. The battle of Zama, and end of the second Punic war. M Parrhasius, •paint. f Aristides, paint, f Timanthes, paint, f. Apelles, paint, f 326 Lysippus, sc. f. iEscliines, orator, f. Onesicrates, hist./'. Eudemas, math./'. Diogenes, phil. d. 322 Demosthenes, orator , d. — Aristotle, d. Menander, com.f. Philemon, com. f. 314 Xenocrates, phil.f. Pyrrho, phil. d. 300 Diphilus, com. f. ■— Posidippus, com.f. Arcesilas, math. f. Euclid, math. f. 293. Menander, poet , d. 288. Praxiteles, sc. d. post. Theophrastus, f. 284. Demetrius Phal. d. Callimachus, poet, f. 282. Theocritus, poet, f. Megasthenes, hist. f. Lycophron, poet, f. Aratus, poet, f. 272. Polemo, phil. d. 270. Epicurus, phil. d. 268. Berosus, hist. f. Zeno the younger, phil. d. Cleanthes, Sto. phil. f. 261. Manetho, hist, f 259. Zoi’lus, crit. f. Conon, astron. f. Aratus of Sicyon, f. 247. Jesus son of Sirach. 244. Callimachus, po. f. Liv. Andronicus, po. f. Apollonius, math. f. Fabius Pictor, hist. f. 226. Eratosthenes, geo. f. 225. Chrysippus, phil. f. Archimedes, math. d. 203. Naevius, poet. d. 194. Apollonius Rhod. po.f CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 162 n.c. 190. The Romans enter Asia, and defeat Antigonus a-t Magnesia. 183. The elder Cato censor at Rome. 180. The hundred and fiftieth Olympiad. 173. War between the Romans and Perseus, king of Macedon. 172. Antiochus defeats the Generals of Ptolemy in Egypt. 170. Antiochus Epiphanes takes and plunders Jerusalem. 169. Terence’s comedies performed at Rome. 167. Perseus defeated by Paulus TEmilius, and brought prisoner to Rome. End of the kingdom of Macedon. 166. Judas Maccabeus drives the Syrians out of Judea. 164. The Roman citizens numbered at 327,032. 149. The third Punic war begins. 147. Metellus defeats the Achseans. 146. Corinth taken by the consul Mummius. — Carthage taken and destroyed by the Romans. 140. The hundred and sixtieth Olympiad. 137. The Romans shamefully defeated by the Numantines. 135. The history of the Apocrypha ends. — Antiochus besieges Jerusalem. 133. Tiberius Gracchus put to death. — Numantia taken. Pergamus becomes a Roman province. 121. Caius Gracchus killed. 113. Carbo the consul drives the Cimbri and Teutones out of Italy. 111. The Jugurthine war begins. 108. Marius defeats Jugurtha. 103. Jugurtha starved to death at Rome. 102. Marius defeats the Teutones and Cimbri. 100. The hundred and seventieth Olympiad, i 91. The war of the allies against the Romans. 90. Sylla defeats the Marsi, Peligni, Samnites, &c. I 89. The Mithridatic war begins. 88. Civil war between Marius and Sylla. Sylla takes possession of Rome. 86. Mithridates, king of Pontus, defeated by Sylla. 83. Sylla defeats Norbanus.—The capitol burned. 82. Sylla perpetual dictator.—His horrible proscription. 80. Julius Caesar makes his first campaign. 79. Cicero’s first oration for Roscius. 78. Sylla resigns all power, and dies. 77. The war of Sertorius. 72. Lucullus repeatedly defeats Mithridates, and reduces Pontus to a Roman province. 70. Crassus and Pompey chosen consuls at Rome. 63. Victories of Pompey. He takes Jerusalem, and restores Hyrcanus to the government of Judea. 62. Catiline’s conspiracy quelled at Rome by Cicero. 61. Pompey enters Rome in triumph. 60. The hundred and eightieth Olympiad. 59. The first triumvirate : Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar. — Caesar proposes anew Agrarian law. 58. Clodius, the Tribune, procures the banishment of Cicero. 57. Caesar defeats Ariovistus in Gaul. — Cicero brought back from exile with high honour. 55. Caesar lands in Britain for a short campaign. 54.-invades Britain a second time, and conquers a part of the country. 53. Crassus killed in Mesopotamia. 52. Milo defended by Cicero for the slaughter of Clodius. 49. Caesar passes the Rubicon, and marches to Rome. 49. Commencement of the era of Antioch, October, A.c. 49. 48. Battle of Pharsalia, in which Pompey is defeated. — Pompey slain in Egypt. — The Alexandrian library of 400,000 volumes burnt. 46. Cato, besieged in Utica, kills himself. 45. The Kalendar reformed by Julius Caesar, by introducing the solar year instead of the lunar. The first Julian year began 1st January, 45 A.c. 44. Julius Caesar killed in the senate-house. — Octavius, grandnephew and heir of Julius Caesar, comes to Rome, and is opposed at first by Antony. 43. Second Triumvirate : Octavius, Mark Antony, and Lepidus. 42. Battle of Philippi, in which Brutus and Cassius are defeated. 40. Herod marries Mariamne, daughter of Hyrcanus, and obtains from the Romans the government of Judea. 34. Antony divides Armenia among the children of Cleopatra. 33. Mauritania reduced into a Roman province. 32. War declared by the Senate against Antony and Cleopatra. 31. Battle of Actium, and end of the Roman Commonwealth. — OCTAVIUS emperor of Rome. 30. Death of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Alexandria taken by Octavius. 185. Philopoemen, d. 184. Plautus, poet, d. 180. Bion, poet , f —Moschus, poet , f 169. Ennius, poet , d. Csecilius, poet , d. 159. Terence, poet. d. 156. Aristarchus, gr. d. • —Hipparchus, phil. f 157. M. Portius Cato, orat. and hist. 157. Philo Byzant./i 140. Critolaus, phil. d. 139. Accius, tr. p. d. 131. Pacuvius, tr. p. d. —C. Piso, hist. f. 128. Carneades, phil. d. 124. Polybius, hist. d. 115. Apollodorus, gr. d. Lucilius, poet, d. 101. Sext. Turpilius,co7ft. d. —L. Afranius, com.f Alexander Polyb. f 84. Cinna, d. 79. L. C. Sisenna, liist.f. 73. Sertorius, d. Terentius Varro,/] Hortensius, orator ,/I T. Pomp. Atticus,/ - . Asinius Pollio,/! 60. C. Dec. Laberius, mim.f. Lucretius, poet, d. 51. Posidonius, d. post. 49. Trogus Pompeius,/! 46. Alex. Polyhistor,/i 44. Julius Caesar, d,. Diodorus Siculus, hist./.'. M. T. Cicero, d. A. Hirtius, hist./. 40. Catullus, poet,f. M. Junius Brutus, f. 35. Sallustius, hist. d. Pub. Syrus, poet,f. Manilius, poet,f. 33. Dioscorides, phys. d. Corn. Gallus, poet"f. Messala Corvinus, hist.f 26. Terentius Varro, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 163 EC. 27. Octavius receives the title of Augustus. 23. Death of Marcellus. Agrippa in Spain. 20. The hundred and ninetieth Olympiad. — Porus, king of India, sends an embassy to Augustus. 17. Augustus revives the secular games. 15. The Rhaeti and Yindelici defeated by Drusus. 10. The temple of Janus shut by Augustus for a short time. 8. Augustus corrects an error of the Roman Kalendar. — Death of Mecaenas. 5. Augustus ordains a census of all the people in the Roman empire. 4. JESUS CHRIST is born four years before the commencement of the vulgar era. A.C. 9. The Roman legions, under Varus, cut to pieces in Germany. — Ovid, the poet, banished to Tomos. 14. TIBERIUS emperor of Rome. 19. Germanicus dies at Antioch. — Tiberius banishes the Jews from Rome. 21. The two hundredth Olympiad. 25. The two hundred and first Olympiad. 25. Here the Olympiads end. 26. John the Baptist preaches in Judaea the coming of the Messiah. 27. Tiberius retires to the island of Capreae. — Pilate made governor of Judaea. 31. Sejanus disgraced, and put to death by Tiberius. 33. St. Peter first Pope. — JESUS CHRIST is crucified. 35. The conversion of St. Paul. 37. CALIGULA emperor of Rome. 39. St. Matthew writes his gospel. 40. The name of Christians first given to the disciples of Christ at Antioch. 41. CLAUDIUS emperor of Rome. •— Herod persecutes the Christians, and imprisons Peter. 42. Sergius Paulus, proconsul, converted by St. Paul. 43. Expedition of Claudius into Britain. 44. St. Mark writes his gospel. 45. Vespasian in Britain. 47. The Ludi Saeculares performed at Rome. 48. Messalina put to death by Claudius, who marries Agrippina, the motherof Nero. 50. St. Paul preaches in the Areopagus at Athens. 51. Caractacus, the British king, is carried prisoner to Rome. 54. NERO emperor of Rome. 55. Britannicus poisoned by Nero. 59. Nero puts to death his mother Agrippina. 60. Suetonius Paulinus defeats the Britons. 61. The Britons under Queen Boadicea, defeat the Romans. 64. The first persecution of the Christians raised by Nero. — Rome set on fire by Nero. 66. Bareas Soranus and Thracea Psetus put to death by Nero. •— Pope Linus. 67. Massacre of the Jew’s by Florus, at Caesarea, Ptolemais, and Alexandria. — St. Peter and St. Paul put to death. — Josephus, the Jewish historian, governor of Galilee. — Pope St. Clement. 68. GALBA emperor of Rome. 69. OTHO emperor of Rome. — VITELLIUS emperor of Rome. 70. VESPASIAN emperor of Rome. •— Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus. 77. - U Pope St. Cletus. 78. A great pestilence at Rome, 10,000 dying in one day. 79. TITUS emperor of Rome. — Herculaneum and Pompeii destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius. 80. Conquests of Agricola in Britain. 81. DOMITIAN emperor of Rome. 83. Pope Anacletus. 89. Apollonius, of Tyanea, defends himself before Domitian against an accusation of treason. 95. Dreadful persecution of the Christians at Rome and in the provinces. .— St. John writes his Apocalypse. — -writes his Gospel. 96. NERV A emperor of Rome. — Pope Evaristus. 98. TRAJAN emperor of Rome. — Trajan forbids the Christian assemblies. M 2 Propertius, poet, / 25. Corn. Nepos, hist. d. 19. Virgilius Maro, d. M. Vitruvius Pollio, arcli.f 12. M. V. Agrippa, d. Grat. Faliscus, poet,f. Horatius Flaccus, d. M. Scsevola Jctus,f 4. Verrius Flaccus, gr.f N. Damascenus,/! Labeo, Capito Jcti,f Hyginus, math./ Annaeus Seneca, orator f 4. Phaedrus, jt>oe£,/! 5. Dionysius Hal. hist./. Titus Livius, hist. d. 17. Ovidius, poet , d. Tibullus, poet , d. 17. Celsus, med.f. 23. Valerius Max. f. 25. Strabo, geo. d. Velleius Paterculus, d. 32. John the Baptist, d. — Columella,/! 36. Fenestella, hist./. 37. Isiodorus, geo.f. Philo Judaeus, f. 42. Asinius Pollio,/! 45. Pomp. Mela, geo.f. 50. Aretaeus Capp. d. 56. Cornutus, phxl.f Apollonius Tyanensis, f. Quint. Curtius, hist./. 60. Portius Latro,/! 62. Persius, sat. d. 64. Asc. Pedianus, / 65. Luc. An. Seneca, phil.d. — An. Lucanus, poet , d. 66. Petronius, arh. d. Dioscorides, med.f. 74. Silius Italicus, poet, d. Clemens Roman us,/! C. Plinius Secundus, vat. hist. d. Florus, hist./. 84. Valerius Flaccus, poet,/. 90. Martialis, poet, d. — Dio Chrysostom, d. 93. Josephus, hist. d. 95. Quinctilian, gr. d. 96. Statius, poet, d. Sulpitia, poet,/. 99. Corn. Tacitus, hist. d. — Julius Frontinus, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 164 A.C 103. 107. 108. 115. 117. 118. 120 . 127 l3ll 132. 135. 137. 138. 139. 142. 150. 154. 161. 162. 167. 169. 171. 177. 180. 185. 189. 193. /_ 194. 195. 196. 202 . 203. 208. 209. v 211. 212. v 217. 218. v 222. 226. 230. 235. 236. 237. 238. 242. 244. 248. 249. 250. 251. 252. The Dacians subdued by Trajan. Trajan’s victories in Asia. St. Ignatius devoured by wild beasts at Rome. *U Pope Alexander I. The Jews in Cyrene murder 200,000 Greeks and Romans. TI Pope Sixtus I. ADRIAN emperor of Rome. Persecution of the Christians renewed by Adrian, but afterwards suspended. Adrian’s wall built across the island of Britain. Tf Pope Telesphorus. Adrian visits Egypt and Syria. - publishes his perpetual edict or code of the laws. The Romans destroyed 580,000 Jews in Judea. Adrian rebuilds Jerusalem, by the name of iElia Capitolina. *H Pope Hyginus. ANTONINUS PIUS emperor of Rome. Lollius Urbicus, Roman governor of Britain, pushes his conquests to the Murray Frith. The wall of Antoninus built between Forth and Clyde. ^f Pope Pius I. U Pope Anicetus. Justin Martyr publishes his apology for the Christians. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS and LUCIUS VERUS emperors of Rome. IT Pope Soter. Polycarp and Pionices suffered martyrdom in Asia. War with the Marcomanni. Death of Verus. Marcus Aurelius sole emperor. IT Pope Eleutherius. Persecution of the Christians at Lyons. COMMODUS emperor of Rome. TT Pope Victor I. The Saracens defeat the Romans. This people for the first time mentioned in history. PERT1NAX emperor of Rome. DIDIUS JULTANUS purchases the empire. PESCENNIUS NIGER declared emperor in the East. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS emperor of Rome. Niger defeated by Severus, and put to death. Byzantium besieged, surrenders to Severus. ALBINUS proclaimed emperor in Britain. -defeated by Severus, he kills himself. IT Pope Zephyrinus. The fifth persecution against the Christians, principally in Egypt. The Scots converted to Christianity by the preaching of Marcus and Dionysius. Severus, with his sons Caracalla and Geta, in Britain. The Caledonians repulsed, and a wall built between the rivers Forth and Clyde. CARACALLA and GETA emperors of Rome. Caracalla murders Geta. Caracalla put to death. M ACRES US emperor of Rome. ^f Pope Calixtus I. HELIOGABA'LUS emperor of Rome. ALEXANDER SEVERUS emperor of Rome. A tribute paid by the Romans to the Goths. IT Pope Urban I. The Persians totally defeated by Alexander Severus. Pope Pontianus. If Pope Anterus. MAXIMINUS assassinates Alexander Severus, and is proclaimed emperor of Rome. The sixth persecution of the Christians. IT Pope Fabianus. Maximus defeats the Dacians and Sarmatians. MAXIMUS and BALBINUS emperors of Rome. GORDIAN emperor of Rome. Gordian defeats the Persians under Sapor. PHILIP the ARABIAN emperor of Rome. The secular games celebrated at Rome.—Pompey’s theatre burned. St. Cyprian elected bishop of Carthage. DECIUS emperor of Rome. The seventh persecution of the Christians under Decius. “ff Pope St. Cornelius. VIBIUS VOLUSIANUS emperor of Rome. GALLUS emperor of Rome. “IT Pope Lucius I. 103. Pliny Junior, f. 114. Apicius Coelus,/! 115. L. An. Florus, hist.f 119. Plutarch, d. C. Suetonius, hist.f 128. Juvenal, poet, d. 130. Aul. Gellius, d. 7E1. Adrianus,/! Arrian, hist, and phil.f. Terentianus Maurus,/! Justin Martyr,/! 140. iElian, hist. d. L. Apuleius, f. Ptolemy, geog.f. 148. Appian, hist. d. M. Antoninus, phil. f. Epictetus, phil. d. Herodes Atticus,^/! 155. Athenaeus,/! 163. Pausanias, hist. d. 165. Polvcarp, Irish, d. 167. Justin, hist.f. 170. Demetrius Phaler. d. Diophantes, math, f Lucian, d. 180. Agathareides, phil. f. 186. Julius Pollux, d. Herodianus, hist.f. Jamblichus, poet, f. Galen, phys. d. Sextus Empiricus,/! Maximus Tyrius, phil.f. Plotinus, phil.f. Julius Solinus,/! 196. Athenaeus, d. Tertullian, d. 202. Irenseus, d. Hegesippus, hist.f. Dionysius Cato ,poet,f. Philostratus, f. 206. Clemens Alex./! 207. Minucius Felix,/! Papinianus, d. 213. Oppian, poet , d. 220. Julius Africanus, hist.f. Diogenes Laertius, d. TElianus, hist.f. 229. Dion Cassius,/! U1 pi anus, f. Julius Paulus, f. L. Pomponius, f. Censorinus, f. Moaestinus, Jctus, f. 243. Ammonius, phil.f 247. Herodian, hist. f. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.c. 253. The Goths, Burgundians, &c. make an irruption into Mcesia and Pannonia. 254. VALERIANUS emperor of Rome. — Pope Stephen T. 257. The eighth persecution of the Christians. — Pope Sixtus II. 259. The Persians ravage Syria. — f Pope Dionysius. 260. GALLIENUS emperor of Rome. — The temple of Diana at Ephesus burned. 261. Sapor, the Persian, takes Antioch, Tarsus, and Caesarea. 267. The Heruli invade and ravage Greece. 268. CLAUDIUS II. emperor of Rome. 269. The Goths and Heruli, to the number of 320,000, defeated by Claudius. U Pope Felix I. 270. AURELIAN emperor of Rome. 271. The Alemanni and Marcomanni ravage the empire. 272. The ninth persecution of the Christians. 273. Zenobia queen of Palmyra, defeated by Aurelian at Edessa. 274. Pope Eutychianus. 275. TACITUS emperor of Rome. 276. FLORIANUS emperor of Rome. 277. PROBUS emperor of Rome. 282. CARUS emperor of Rome defeats the Quadi and Sarmatians. — CARINUS—NUMERIANUS, emperors of Rome. 283. *[1 Pope Caius. — Fingal, king of Morven, died. 284. DIOCLETIAN emperor of Rome. 286. The empire attacked by the northern nations; — Carausius usurps the government of Britain, and reigns seven years, v 290. The Gregorian and Hermogenian codes published. v'292. Partition of the empire by Diocletian between two emperors and two Caesars. 295. Pope Marcellinus. — Alexandria in Egypt taken by Diocletian. 302. The tenth persecution of the Christians. 304. H Pope Marcellus. — Resignation of Diocletian and Maximian. — GALERIUS and CONSTANTIUS emperors of Rome. 305. MAXIMINUS emperor of Rome. 306. CONSTANTINE the GREAT, emperor of Rome, stops the persecution of the Christians. 310. Pope Eusebius. — Pope Melchiades. 313. Edict of Milan published by Constantine—Christianity tolerated through the empire. 314. U Pope Sylvester. '325. Constantine abolishes the combats of Gladiators. — Constantine assembles the first General Council at Nice, where the doctrines of Arius are condemned. 326. St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, introduces Monachism in the Roman empire. 329. Constantine removes the seat of empire to Constantinople. 336. If Pope Marcus. 337. it Pope Julius I. — Death of Constantine.—The empire divided among his three sons. — CONSTANTINE II., CONSTANS, and CONSTANTIUS, emperors of Rome. 350. Constans murdered,—Magnentius assumes the purple. 352. Pope Liberius. 356. it Pope Felix I. 357. The Germans defeated by Julian, at Strasburgh. 358. U Pope Felix II. 359. Council of Rimini held. 361. JULIAN emperor of Rome—abjures Christianity, and is elected Pontifex Maximus. — -attempts fruitlessly to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. 363. JOVIAN emperor of Rome. 364. VALENTINIAN emperor of the West.—VALENS emperor of the East. 366. Pope Damasus. 367. GRATIAN emperor of the West. 375. VALENTINIAN II. emperor of the West. 376. Valens allows the Goths to settle in Thrace. 378. The Goths advance to the gates of Constantinople.'—Death of Valens. 379. THEODOSIUS THE GREAT emperor of the East. 381. Second General Council held at Constantinople. 383. The Huns over-run Mesopotamia—are defeated by the Goths. 384. Symmachus pleads the cause of Paganism against St. Ambrose in the Senate. 385. II Pope Syrieius. 165 Origcn, d. 258. Cyprian, d. Novatianus,/. Anatolius, math, f 270. Plotinus, phil. d. Longinus, d. Achilles Tatius, ast. f Paulus Samosatenus, f. 276. Modestus, /. 280. Manes, phil. d. Nemesianus, poet , f 285. Arnobius, f 289. Gregory Hermogenes,/! 291. JElius Spartianus, hist./. Julius Capitolinus, hist./. Vul. Gallicanus, hist./. Trebellius Pollio, hist./. iElius Lampridius, hist./. Hi erodes, poet, /. 303. FI. Vopiscus, hist. /. Steph. Byzantinus, hist. /. Alciphron, rhet. /. 311. Lactantius, /. 336. Arius, presb. d. Stobseus, philol. / Eusebius, hist. /. Donatus, /. Eutropius, hist. /. Libanius, soph. / Julian, phil. /. Hilary, bp. of Poicticrs, / Jamblichus, phil. d. Aurel. Victor, /. Vegetius, hist. /. 371. St. Athanasius, d. 372. Eunapius, /. R. Festus Avienus,/! Pappus, math./. 379. St. Basil, d. 380. Ammian. Marcel, d. Prudent! us, poet,/. 389. Gregory Naz. d. A.C. 392. THEODOSIUS emperor of the West and East. 395. ARCADIUS emperor of the East, and HONORIUS emperor of the West. The Huns invade the eastern provinces. 397. St. Chrysostom chosen Patriarch of Constantinople. 399. Pope Anastasius. — Gainas the Goth obtains honours from Arcadius. — Alaric the Goth ravages Italy. 401. Pope Innocent I. 403. Stilicho, General of Honorius, defeats Alaric near Pollentia. 404. FERGUS /., king of Scotland, supposed to have begun his reign. 406. The Vandals, Alans, &c., invade France and Spain. 408. THEODOSIUS II. emperor of the East. 410. Rome sacked and burned by Alaric.—Death of Alaric. 411. The Vandals settled in Spain. 416. The secular games celebrated at Rome. — The Pelagian heresy condemned by the Bishops of Africa. 417. IT Pope Zozimus. 418. i Pope Boniface 1. 420. Pharamond first king of the Franks supposed to have begun his reign. 422. T| Pope Cselestinus. 424. VALENTINIAN III. emperor of the West. 426. The Romans withdraw finally from Britain. 428. Aetius, the Roman General, defeats the Franks and Goths. 431. The third General Council held at Ephesus. 432. TT Pope Sixtus III. 435. The Theodosian Code published. 439. Genseric the Vandal invades and plunders Italy. — Eudosia the Empress, wife of Theodosius, retires to Jerusalem. — Carthage taken by the Vandals.—Kingdom of the Vandals in Africa. 440. Pope Leo the Great. 442. Theodosius forced to make a disgraceful peace with Attila the Hun. — Attila causes his brother Bleda to be murdered. 445. The Britons in vain solicit theRomans to assist themagainst thePicts and Scots. Attila the Hun over-runs Illyrium, Thrace, Dacia, Mcesia, and Scythia. 448. The Romans engage to pay a heavy tribute of gold to Attila. 449. Merovceus (Merovee) king of the Franks. 450. MARCIAN emperor of the East. •— Attila ravages Germany and France. 451. Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, killed in battle. — The Huns defeated by Aetius. — The Saxons arrive in Britain under Hengist and Horsa. — The fourth General Council held at Chalcedon. 452. Foundation of the city of Venice. 455. PETRONIUS MAXIMUS emperor of the West. — AVITUS emperor of the West. — Rome taken and plundered by Genseric the Vandal. 456. Childeric king of the Franks. 457. LEO THE GREAT emperor of the East. — MAJORIANUS emperor of the West. 461. SEVERUS emperor of the West, raised by Ricimer. — If Pope Hilarius. 467. ANATHEMIUS emperor of the West. 468. Euric, king of the Visigoths, drives the Romans out of Spain. — 1 Pope Simplicius. 470. iElla the Saxon takes possession of the kingdom of Sussex. 471. iElla defeats all the British princes. 472. Great eruption of Mount Vesuvius, seen from Constantinople. — OLYBIUS emperor of the West. 473. GLYCERIUS emperor of the West, degraded and stripped by 474. JULIUS NEPOS emperor of the West. — ZENO emperor of the East. 475. AUGUSTULUS ROMULUS emperor of the West, raised by his father Orestes, General to Nepos. 476. Orestes put to death by Odoacer, king of the Heruli. — Rome taken by Odoacer, now king of Italy. — Extinction of the Western Empire of the Romans, 507 years from the battle of Actium, and 1224 from the building of Rome. 481. Clovis king of the Franks. — Zeno makes Theodoric the Ostrogoth his general, and creates him Consul. 483. IT Pope Felix III. 485. Battle of Soissons gained by Clovis. 488. Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, entirely defeats Odoacer, and is acknowledged king of Italy by the Emperor Zeno. 490. The Burgundians, under Gondebald, ravage Italy. — Ireland, called the Isle of Saints, famous for its schools. 491. ANASTASIUS emperor of the East. 493. Odoacer put to death by Theodoric. 392 Ausonius, poet , d. 397. St. Ambrose, d. 399. Hesychius,/! Claudian, poet, f Heliodorus, hist.f. Longus, f. 407. St- Chrysostom, d. Servius, com. f Orosius, hist.f 410. Cl. Rut. Numantinus,/! 416. t Macrobius, phil. d. Servius Honoratus, gr.f. 420. St. Jerome, d. Sulpicius Severus, d. 426. Zozimus, hist.f. 430. St. Augustine, d. Olympiodorus, hist.f. Pelagius, phil. d. Coelius Sedulius Scotus,/! Taliranus Epis. Mas. f. 444. St. Cyril, d. Eutyches,/’. 450. Sozomen. hist., d. Agathias, hist.f. 463. Victorius of Aquit./. 466. Prosper, d. 476. Hierocles, f Q. Calaber, poet,f. 482. Sidonius Apollinaris, d. Simplicius, phil. f. 491. St. Patrick, d. 492. Gennadius, d. A.C. 496. f Pope Anastasius II. 497. Clovis and the Franks converted to Christianity. 498. TI Pope Symmachus. 499. Alliance between Clovis and Theodoric the Great. 500. Gondebald, the Burgundian, becomes tributary to Clovis. v .501. The Burgundian laws published by Gondebald. 502. Cabades, king of Persia, ravages part of the Eastern Empire. 504. The Eastern Empire makes peace with Cabades. 507. Clovis defeats Alaric the Visigoth, and receives a congratulatory embassy, with a diadem, from Anastasius. 508. Theodoric the Great defeats Clovis in the battle of Arles, and then makes peace with him. — Arthur chosen Pendragon, or sovereign of the Cumbrian British kingdom. 510. Clovis makes Paris the capital of the kingdom of the Franks. 511. Death of Clovis.—Division of his kingdom among his four sons. — Childebert, Thierry , Clotaire, and Clodomir, kings of the Fra?iks. 512. The Heruli allowed by Anastasius to settle in Thrace. 514. Pope Hormisdas. 515. Arthur, king of the Britons, supposed to have begun his reign. 516. The computation of time by the Christian era introduced by Dionysius the Monk. 517. The Getse ravage Illyrium,Macedonia, and Epirus. 518. JUSTIN I., emperor of the East, raised from obscurity. 519. Justin restores the Orthodox Bishops, and condemns the Eutychiaus. — Cabades, king of Persia, proposes that Justin should adopt his son Cosroes, and makes war on a refusal. 523. U Pope John I. 525. The Arian Bishops deposed by Justin—highly resented by Theodoric. — Antioch and many other cities almost destroyed by an earthquake, but re¬ built by Justin.—He adopts his nephew Justinian. 526. Theodoric puts to death Boethius and Symmachus. — Pope Felix IV. V 527. JUSTINIAN I. emperor of the East. 529. Belisarius, general of Justinian, defeats the Persians. — The books of the civil law published by Justinian. 530. *11 Pope Boniface II. 532. Justinian congratulates Cosroes on succeeding to the throne of Persia, and concludes a perpetual peace with him. — Great insurrection at Constantinople quelled with prodigious slaughter by Belisai’ius. 533. Athalaric, king of the Ostrogoths, dying, is succeeded by his mother, Amalasonta. — Pope John II. 534. Theodobert king of Metz. — Belisarius defeats Gelimer and the Vandals in Africa. 535. U Pope A gapetus. 536. Pope Sylvester. 537. Belisarius subdues the Ostrogoths in Italy, and takes Rome. 538. Pope Vigilius. 540. Belisarius refuses to accept the crown of Italy. 542. Ai’thur, kiixg of the Cumbrian Britons, killed in the battle of Camlan. 543. Totila, the Goth, recovers Italy from the Romans. 547. -takes and plunders Rome. — Idai the Saxon, lands at Flamborough, subdues the country from the Hum¬ ber to the Forth, and founds the Northumbrian kingdom. 548. Theodebald king of Metz. 549. Rome re-taken by Belisarius. 550. Commencement of the kingdom of Poland under Lechus. — Rome recovered by Totila. 551. The manufacture of silk introduced into Europe. 553. Totila defeated by Narses, and put to death. 555. *[T Pope Pelagius I. 558. The Iluns breaking into Thrace, are defeated by Belisarius. 559. Belisarius degraded, and ungratefully used by Justinian. — Clotaire sole king of France. 560. Pope John III. — Belisarius restored to his honours and command. 562. Caribert, Gontran, Sigebert , and Chilperic , kings of France. 565. JUSTIN II. emperor of the East. — The Piets converted to Christianity by St. Columba. 566. Narses, recalled from Italy, invites tlie Lombards to take possession of the country. 568. Italy conquered by the Lombards. 571. Birth of Mahomet the false prophet. 574. Pope Benedict I. 578. TIBERIUS II. emperor of the East. — Pope Pelagius II. Malchus, soph, f 501. Zozimus, hist. d. Steph. Byzantinus, f. Proclus, phil.,f. Priscian, f. Hesychius, hist. f. Festus Pompeixxs, gram.f. Nonius Marcellus, gram. f. 521. Aleimus Avitus, poet,f. Manl. Severus Boethius, phil. d. 529. Fulgentius, d. Tribonianus,/] Achilles Tatius, hist.f. Procopius, hist, f Marcellinus, hist.f. Jo. Philoponus,/! Simplicius, phil. f. Stobsexxs, f. 552. Jornandes, hist. d. 562. Cassiodorus, hist. d. 565. Belisarius, d. Agathias, hist. f. 570. Gildas, hist. d. Jo. Malala, hist.f. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 10H A.C. 580. The Latin tongue ceases to be spoken in Italy about this time. 582. MAURICE emperor of the East. 584. Clotaire II. king of Soissons. 590. Antioch again destroyed, with 30,000 inhabitants, by an earthquake. — "TT Pope Gregory the Great. 596. Thierry II. and Tlieodobert II. kings of Paris and Austrasia. — Augustine the Monk converts the Saxons to Christianity. 602. PHOCAS, emperor of the East, acknowledges the supremacy of the Popes. 604. Pope Sabinianus. 607. Pope Boniface III — The Pantheon at Rome dedicated to God, the Virgin, and all the Saints. 608. fj Pope Boniface IV. 609. The Jews of Antioch massacre the Christians. 611. IIERACLIUS emperor of the East. 613. The French Maires du Palais first introduced by Clotaire as Regents. 614. Clotaire II. sole king of France. — Queen Brunechilda, accused of numberless crimes, is put to death by Clotaire II. 615. IT Pope Deus-dedit. 616. Jerusalem taken by the Persians under Cosroes II. 618. H Pope Boniface V. 622. iEra of the Hegyra, or flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina. 625. Pope Honorius I. — The Persians under Cosroes II. with the Huns, Abari, and Sclavonians, besiege Constantinople. 628. Dagobert and Charibert kings of France. 632. Abubeker succeeds Mahomet as Caliph of the Saracens. 633. Abubeker dies, and is succeeded by Omar in the Caliphate. 636. Jerusalem taken by Omar and the Saracens, who kept possession of it 463 years. 638. Sigebert II. and Clovis II. kings of France. 640. IT Pope Severinus. — *TT Pope John IV. — The library of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Philadelplius, is burnt by the Saracens. 641. CONSTANTINE emperor of the East for a few months, poisoned by his step-mother. — HERACLIONAS and TIBERIUS III. emperors of the East. 642. CONSTANS, son of Constantine, emperor of the East. •—• Tj Pope Theodoras. 645. Otman succeeds Omar in the Caliphate. 648. Cyprus taken by the Saracens under Mawia. 649. TJ Pope Martin I. 653. The Saracens take Rhodes, and destroy the Colossus. 654. Childeric II. king of Austrasia. — ^T Pope Eugeni us I. 655. Ali Caliph of Arabia.'—Mawia Caliph of Egypt. 657. IT Pope Vitalianus. 658. The Saracens obtain peace of the Emperor Constans, and agree to pay a yearly tribute. 668. CONSTANTIUS V. (Pogonatus) emperor of the East. 669. Sicily ravaged by the Saracens. 672. IT Pope Adeodatus. — The Saracens ineffectually besiege Constantinople.—Their fleet destroyed by the Greek fire used by Callinicus. 675. The Saracens attempt to land in Spain, but are repulsed by Wamba king of the Visigoths. 676. *TT Pope Donus. 679. Thierry IV. king of all France. — IT Pope Agatho. 680. The sixth General or (Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. 682. IT Pope Leo II. 684. ^T Pope Benedict II. 685. ^T Pope John V. — JUSTINIAN II. emperor of the East. — The Britons, totally subdued by the Saxons, retreat into Wales and Cornwall. — Egfrid the Saxon penetrates northward to Angus, but is slain by Bredei the Pictish king. 686. IT Pope Conon. — Ceadwalla, king of Wessex, subdues Sussex and Kent. 687. ^T Pope Sergius. 690. Pepin Heristel, Maire du Palais , defeats Thierry, and acquires the chief power in France. 692. Clovis III. king of France. 694. Justinian II. dethroned, mutilated, and banished by Leontius. Evagrias, hist. f. 595. Gregory of Tours, hist.d. Venant. Fortunatus, poet and hist. f. 605. Augustine, monk, d. Secundus, hist, f ♦ Mahomet, prophet, d. 636. Isidorus Hisp. d. 641. George Pisides, d. Ildefonsus, hist, f Paulus /Egincta, med.f Callinicus, math.f. Adamnanus Scotus, hist, f CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1 Hi!) A.C 695. Childebe.rt III. king of France. — LEONTIUS emperor of the East,—dethroned and mutilated by 697. APSIMAR or TIBERIUS emperor of the East. 699. The Saracens defeated by John the Patrician. — The Saracens again defeated with great slaughter by Hcraclius, brother of ' Tiberius. 701. Pope John YI. 704. Justinian II. escapes from prison, defeats Tiberius, and is restored to the throne. 707. Justinian II. defeated by the Bulgarians. 708. U Pope Sisinnius. — Pope Constantine. 711. PHILIPPICUS BARDANES emperor of the East. — Dagobert III. king of France. 713. ANASTASIUS II. emperor of the East. — Spain conquered by the Saracens under Muca, the General of the Caliph Walid. 714. Pope Gregory II. — THEODOSIUS III. emperor of the East. — Charles Martel, Maire du Palais , governs all France for twenty-six years. 716. Cldlderic II. king of France . — LEO (the Isaurian) emperor of the East. 720. Omar II. besieges Constantinople without success. — Thierry IV. king of France. 726. Leo forbids the worship of images, which occasions a great rebellion of his subjects, the Pope defending the practice. 728. Leo orders Pope Gregory to be seized, and sent to Constantinople ; but the order is frustrated, and Leo confiscates the imperial domains of Sicily and Calabria. 729. The Saracens ravage Gallia Narbonnensis. 731. Pope Gregory III. 732. Charles Martel defeats the Saracens between Tours and Poictiers. 736. Leo persecutes the Monks. 737. Death of Pelagius, who preserved the Christian monarchy in Asturia. ' 740. The duchy of Spoleto seized by the Normans.—Recovered by the Pope. 741. Pope Zachary. 742. Childeric III. king of France. .— CONSTANTINE (Copronymus) emperor of the East.—Enemy to images and saint worship. 743. ----defeats and puts to death Artabazdus, who had seized Constantinople. 745.-destroys the fleet of the Saracens. 749. The race of the Abassidse become Caliphs of the Saracens. 751. Pepin (le Bref) king of France, founder of the second or Carlovingian race 752. Pope Stephen III. 753. Astolphus, king of the Lombards, erects the Dukedom of Ravenna, and claims from the Pope the Dukedom of Rome. 754. Pope Stephen requests the assistance of Pepin against the Lombards. _ Pepin invades Italy, and strips Astolphus of his new possessions, conferring them on the Pope as a temporal sovereignty. _ Almanzor Caliph of the Saracens, a great encourager of learning. 756. Desiderius, or Didier, proclaimed King of the Lombards, with the Pope’s consent. _ Abdalraliman I. takes the title of King of Cordova, and is the founder of the splendid dominion of the Moors in Spain. 757. Pope Paul I. renews the alliance with Desiderius. 759. *[[ Pope Stephen III. quarrels with Desiderius. 762. Almanzor builds Bagdat, and makes it the seat of the empire of the Caliphs. 767. The Turks ravage Asia Minor. 768. Charles (the Ckreat) and Carloman kings of France. — H Pope Stephen IV. 770. Constantine dissolves the Monasteries in the East. 772. Charlemagne sole Monarch of France. - makes war against the Saxons. — *fl Pope Adrian I. 774. Charlemagne defeats Desiderius, and puts an ends to the kingdom of the Lombards, which had subsisted 206 years. 775. LEO IV. emperor of the East. 778. Battle of Roncezvalles between the Christians and Moors in Spain, where Rolando is killed. 779. Charlemagne conquers Navarre and Sardinia. 781. CONSTANTINE (Porphyrogenitus) emperor of the East. __ Irene, empress, Regent in her son’s minority, keeps him in entire subjection. --she re-establishes the worship of images. Achab Saracen, com.d. Muca the Saracen, d. 735. Bede, hist. d. Fredegaire, hist, f 760. Jo. Damasccnus, d. J CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 170 A.C. 785. Charlemagne subdues the Saxons. — Haroun Alraschid Caliph of the Saracens. --invades and ravages a part of the Empire. 786. Constantine assumes the government of the empire, and imprisons his mother. 787. The Danes under their pirate chiefs, or Vikings, for the first time land in England. — The seventh General Council, or second of Nice, is held. 788. Irene puts to death her son Constantine, and is proclaimed sole Empress. 793. - proposes to marry Charlemagne, which being disapproved of by her subjects, she is dethroned, and confined to a monastery. — NICEPHORUS emperor of the East.—Here begins the lower or Greek empire. 794. Charlemagne defeats and utterly extirpates the Huns. 795. Pope Leo III. 797. The Saracens ravage Cappadocia, Cyprus, Rhodes, &c. — Nicephorus associates his son Saturacius in the Empire. 800. New Empire of the West—C harlemagne crowned Emperor at Rome. 807. Haroun Alraschid courts the alliance of Charlemagne. 811. MICHAEL (Curopalates) emperor of the East. 813. LEO (the Armenian) emperor of the East. — Almamon, Caliph of the Saracens, a great encourager of learning. 814. Louis (le Debonnaire) emperor and king of France. 816. The Eastern Empire ravaged by earthquakes, famine, conflagrations, &c. — U Pope Stephen V. 817. IT Pope Pascal I. — Louis (le Debonnaire) divides the empire among his sons. 821. MICHAEL (Balbus, or the Stammerer) emperor of the East. 824. IT Pope Eugene II. 827. lEgbCt't unites the kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy..—Beginning of the kingdom of England. — «(T Pope Valentine. 828. TT Pope Gregory IV. 829. THEOPHILUS emperor of the East. 838. 3£tDeUH0lf king of England. — The Scots under Kenneth entirely subdue the Piets. 840. Lotharius emperor of Germany. .—• Charles (the Bald) king of France. 841. Lothaire defeated by his two brothers in the battle of Fontenai, and de¬ posed. 842. Louis (of Bavaria) emperor of Germany. — MICHAEL III. emperor of the East. 843. The Normans plunder the city of Rouen. .— Kenneth M‘Alpin, king of Scots, subdues the Pictish kingdom, and unites it to the Scottish. 844. ®TT Pope Sergius III. 845. The Normans plunder Hamburgh, and penetrate into Germany. 847. IT Pope Leo IV. 848. The Venetian fleet destroyed by the Saracens. 851. TT Pope Joan, supposed to have filled the Papal Chair for two years. — BASILIUS associated emperor of the East. 855. Lewis II. emperor of Germany. 857. istfjclballr and IStljClheit kings of England. 858. IT Pope Nicholas I. 866. iStfRltJtVtl king of England. 867. The Danes ravage England. — BASILIUS sole emperor of the East. — TT Pope Adrian II. — Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople, excommunicates Pope Adrian. 872. gUft’Hj (the Great) king of England. — t Pope John VIII. 875. Charles (the Bald) emperor of Germany. .— Harold Harfager unites the provinces of Norway, conquers Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, and appoints Earls to govern them. 877. Louis (the Stammerer) emperor of Germany and king of France. 879. Louis III. and Carloman kings of France. — The kingdom of Arles begins. 880. Charles (the Gross) emperor of Germany and king of France. — Ravages of the Normans in France. 882. ^T Pope Marinus. 884. IT Pope Adrian III. 886. LEO (the Philosopher) emperor of the East. — The University of Oxford founded by Alfred. 887. Arnold emperor of Germany. — The Normans besiege Paris, which is gallantly defended by Bishop Goselin and Count Eudes. 888. Eudes , or Odo , king of France. Geo. Syncellus, f. 801. Paul Diaconus, d. Mesue, Arab, med.f 804. Alcuin, hist. d. 814. Charlemagne, d. Albumazar, astron. f. Eginhart, hist. d. Achmet, astron. f. 857. Photius Patr. d. 858. Nennius, hist. f. 870. Godescalcus, d. 874. Ado, hist. d. 878. Ilubba, Dane, d. 882. Hincomarus, d. 883. Scotus Erigena, d. Nicetas, hist. f. Alfred,/! Ahbo, poet, f. _J CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 171 A.C. 880. Alfred the Great composes his Code of Laws, and divides England into Counties, Hundreds, and Tythings. 891. U Pope Formosus. 896. it Pope Stephen YU. 897. Pope John IX. 898. Charles III. (the Simple ) king of France. 900. it Pope Benedict 1Y. —. Lewis IY. emperor of Germany. 901. IStliDflt’U (the elder) succeeds Alfred as king of England. 904. Pope Leo V. 905. it Pope Sergius III. 911. Conrad I. emperor of Germany. — CONSTANTINE IX. emperor of the East. 912. The Normans are established in Normandy under Rollo. 913. H Pope Anastasius. 914. It Pope Landon. 915. CONSTANTINE and ROMANUS emperors of the East. — Tt Pope John X. — The University of Cambridge founded by Edward the Elder. 920. Henry - (the Fowler) emperor of Germany. 923. Rodolphking of Franee. 928. gjtfiflstan king of England. — it Pope Leo VI. 929. it Pope Stephen VIII. 931. It Pope John XI. — Rise of the Republic of Pisa. — City of Geneva overrun by the Saracens. 936. Otho (the Great) emperor of Gennany. •— It Pope Leo VII. — Louis IV (d'Outremer) king of France. 939. ^t Pope Stephen IX. 940. Howel-Dha king of Wales, an eminent law-giver. 941. iEtrmuntr E. king of England. 943. ^1 Pope Marinus XIII. 946. it Pope Agrapet. 948. 35tH’eu king of England. 954. Lothaire king of France. 955. 350tog king of England. 956. t Pope John XII. 959. ROMANUS II. emperor of the East. lEOCjar king of England. 963. It Pope Leo VIII. — NICEPHORUS PHOCAS emperor of the East. 964. Otho the Great conquers Italy. 965. It Pope John XIII. 967. Antioch recovered from the Saracens by Nicephorus. 969. JOHN ZEMISSES emperor of the East. 972. H Pope Benedict VI. 973. Otho II. emperor of Germany. 974. *[t Pope Boniface VII. 975. Kenneth III. annexes the Britons of Strathcluyd to the Scottish kingdom. — *[t Pope Benedict VII. — BASILIUS and CONSTANTINE X. emperors of the East. 976. iSUtoarU EE. king of England. 978. iStfjf lt’Etl EE. king of England. 983. Otho III. emperor of Germany. 984. It Pope John XIV. 986. f Pope John XV. — Lewis V. (le Faineant) king of France. 987. Hugh Capet king of France , founder of the third race of the French kings. 991. The Arabic numeral cyphers first introduced into Europe. 996. Robert (the Wise) king of France. — Pope Gregory V. 999. it Pope Sylvester II. 1002. Henry II. emperor of Germany. — Great massacre of the Danes by Ethelred king of England. 1003. 1 Pope John XVI — It Pope John XVII. 1004. 1 Pope John XVIII. 1005. Churches first built in the Gothic style. 1009. It Pope Sergius IV. 1012. it Pope Benedict VIII. 1013. The Danes, under Sueno, get possession of England. 1015. The Manichean doctrines prevalent in France and Italy. 1016. 35trmun(r EE. (Ironside) king of England. 1012. Six battles fought with the Danes under Canute in England. 1017. CflllUte the Dane (the Great) king of England. Azophi, artist & astron. f. 942. Eudcs de Cluni, d. Alfarabius, artist & astron. f. 970. Luitprand, hist. d. 1004. Abboof Flcary, the. d. 1008. Almoin, hist. d. 1010. Rhazes, ar. & phil. d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 172 A.C. 1018. 1024. 1025. 1028. 1031. 1033. 1034. 1036. 1039. 1039. 1041. 1042. 1043. 1045. 1046. 1048. 1049. 1054. 1055. 1056. 1057. 1058. 1059. 1060. 1061. 1068. 1070. 1071. 1073. 1076. 1078. 1079. 1081. 1084. 1086. 1087. 1093. 1095. 1097. 1098. 1099. 1100. 1102. 1104. 1106. 1107. 1108. 1118. 1119. 1124. The Normans invade Italy. 1 Pope John XIX. or XX. Conrad II. (the Salic) emperor of Germany. Musical characters invented by Guido Aretino. ROMANUS ARGYRUS emperor of the East. Henry I. king of France. Pope Benedict IX. MICHAEL IY. emperor of the East. Pjat’ORj (Harefoot) king of England. Henry III. emperor of Germany. Canute II. or p^artricanute, king of England. Macbeth usurps the throne of Scotland, by the murder of Duncan. III. (the Confessor), king of England, restores the Saxon line. MICHAEL ( Calaphales) emperor of the East. CONSTANTINE (Monomaclius) emperor of the East. The Turks, under Tangrolipix, subdue Persia. U Pope Gregory VI. Pope Clement II. TI Pope Damasus II. Pope Leo IX. the first pope who maintained a regular army. THEODORA empress of the East. Pope Leo IX. taken prisoner by the Normans. Pope Victor II. The Turks take Bagdat, and overturn the empire of the Caliphs. Henry IV. emperor of Germany. MALCOLM III. (Canmore) king of Scotland. ISAAC (Comnenus) emperor of the East. Pope Stephen X. Pope Nicholas II. The Saracens driven out of Sicily by Robert Guiscard the Norman. CONSTANTINE XII. (Ducas) emperor of the East. Philip I. king of France. Rise of the faction of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Henry IV. of Germany on his knees asks pardon of the Pope. Pope Alexander II. The Turks take Jerusalem from the Saracens. P)aroIll II. king of England, reigned nine months. Miltlltam (the Conqueror) king of England. ROMANUS DIOGENES emperor of the East. Edgar Atheling seeks refuge in Scotland. Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, married to Malcolm king of Scotland. The feudal law introduced into England. MICHAEL DUCAS emperor of the East. Pope Gregory VII. The Emperor Henry IV. excommunicated and deposed by the Pope. NICEPHORUS (Boton) emperor of the East. Doomsday-book begun by William the Conqueror. ALEXIUS I. (Comnenus) emperor of the East. Henry IV., emperor, besieges Rome. - re-crowned emperor of Germany. Pope Victor III. Pope Urban II. ffiSLitlUant II. (Rufus ) king of England. St. Margaret queen of Scotland died. DONALDBANE king of Scotland. DUNCANII. king of Scotland. Institution of the order of the Knights of Jerusalem. The first crusade to the Holy Land.—Peter the Hermit. Newcastle on Tyne built by Malcolm Canmore. Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway, reduces Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, to complete subjection to his crown. The Crusaders take Antioch. EDGAR king of Scotland. Jerusalem taken by Godfrey of Boulogne.—The Knights of St. John instituted. U Pope Paschal II. P)£1U'P I. (Beauclerc) king of England. Guiscard of Normandy takes the title of King of Naples. Baldwin king of Jerusalem takes Ptolemais. Henry V. emperor of Germany. ALEXANDER I. king of Scotland. Louis VI. (le Gros) king of France. H Pope Gelasius II. The order of Knights Templars instituted. JOHN (Comnenus) emperor of the East. Pope Calixtus II. DA V1D I. king of Scotland. Guido Aretino, monk , f. Avicenna, Arab. med. d. Guido of Amiens, poet , f. Suidas,/! Const. Afer, med.f. Will, of Spires, math.f. Will, of Apulia, poet,f 1088. Berenger, poet of Provence , d. 1089. A bp. Lanfranc, d. Gualfredo of Sienna, poet^f. Rodrigo the Cid, d. 1105. Raymond Count de Thoulouse, poet , d. 1110. Alhazen, math.f 1113. Sigebert, hist. d. Anna Comnena, hist. f. Laurenzio of Verona, pact,/’. Gunther Germ. poet,f. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. AC. 1124. Pope Honorius II. 1125. Lotharius II. emperor of Germany. 1130. Pope Innocent II. 1135. king of England. 1137. Louis VII. (le Jeune) Icing of France, married to Eleanor of Guienne. — The Pandects of the Roman law discovered at Amalphi. 1138. Conrad III. emperor of Germany. — The Scots, under David I., defeated by the English in the battle of the Standard. 1139. Alphonso I. king of Portugal, rescues that kingdom from the Saracens. 1140. The Canon law first introduced into England. 1141. Stephen king of England taken prisoner in the battle of Lincoln, by the troops of Matilda. 1143. - recovers his kingdom. — Pope Celestinus II. — MANUEL (Comnenus) emperor of the East. 1144. Pope Lucias 11. 1145. Pope Eugene III. ; 1147. The second Crusade excited by St. Bernard. I 1150. The study of the Civil Law revived at Bologna. 1151. The Canon Law is collected by Gratian, a Monk of Bologna. 1152. Frederick I. (Barbarossa) emperor of Germany. 1153. MALCOLM IV. king of Scotland. — Pope Anastasius IV. — Treaty of Winchester.—Compromise between King Stephen and Prince Henry. 1154. ^cni'U II. (Plantagenet) king of England. — 'll Pope Adrian IV. — The parties of the Guelphs and Ghibcllines disturb Italy. 1157. The Bank of Venice instituted. 1158. Interview between Henry II. and Malcolm IV. at Carlisle. 1159. H Pope Alexander III. 1160. The Albigenses maintain heretical doctrines. 1164. Institution of the order of Teutonic Knights in Germany — T. Becket condemned by the Council of Clarendon. 1165. WILLIAM (the Lion) king of Scotland. 1171. T. Becket murdered at Canterbury. 1172. Conquest of Ireland by Henry II. 1180. Philip Augustus king of France. — ALEXIUS II. (Comnenus) emperor of the East. 1181. Pope Lucius III. 1183. ANDRONICUS (Comnenus) emperor of the East. 1185. m Pope Urban III. — ISAAC ANGEL US emperor of the East. 1187. H Pope Gregory VIII. — The city of Jerusalem taken by Saladin. 1188. t Pope Clement III. 1189. HlCtjartT I- (Coeur de Lion) king of England — I’he third crusade under Richard I. and Philip Augustus. 1190. Henry VI. emperor of Germany. 1191. H Pope Celestinus III. 1192. Richard I. defeats Saladin in the battle of Ascalon. — Guy of Lusignan king of Jerusalem. 1195. ALEXIUS ANGELUS (the Tyrant) emperor of the East. 1198. Philip emperor of Germany. — H Innocent III. 1199. jjjol) It king of England. 1202. The fourth crusade sets out from Venice. — Constantinople taken by the French and Venetians. 1203. ALEXIUS and MURBZUPHLUS emperors of the East. 1204. BALWIN I. emperor of Constantinople, and THEODORE I. (Lascaris) emperor of Nicsea. — The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent III. 1206. HENRY emperor of Constantinople. 1208. Otho emperor of Germany. — London incorporated, obtains a charter for electing its mayor and magistrates. 1210. Crusade against the Albigenses, under Simon de Montfort. 1212. Frederick II. emperor of Germany. 1214. ALEXANDER II. king of Scotland. 1215. Magna Charta signed by king John. 1216. pjnn’j) III. king of England. — PETER and JOHN DUCAS emperors of the East. 1219. ROBERT emperor of the East. — Damietta taken by the crusaders. 1223. Lewis VIII. king of France. 1226. Institution of the orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis. — If Pope Honorius III. 178 Will, of Malmsbury, ldst.f 1143. Peter Abelard, d. Geoff, of Monmouth,/! Ben Edris of Nubia, gcog.f. Eustathius, Com. on Ilom.f Sylvester Gerald, ldst.f 1163. ’Eloisa, d. Peter Lombard, d. Aben Ezra, Theol.f. Hen. of Huntingdon, f. 1166. Aelred, hist. d. Ran. de Glanville,/! Joseph of Exeter,/! Walter de Mapes,/! John of Salisbury, d. Brito Armoricus, poet,f. Giraldus Cambrensis,/.’ Will, of Newburgh,/! Rich, of Hoveden, ldst.f Peter of Blois, hist. d. Gerv. of Canterbury,/! Saxo Grammaticus,/! 1206. Averrlioes, med. d. Ph. Gaultier de Chatillon, poet,f 1224. Raymond Count of Thoulouse, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 174 A C. 1226. 1227. 1228. 1234. 1237. 1241. 1243. 1248. 1249. 1251. 1254. 1255. 1258. 1259. 1260. 1261. 1263. 1264. 1265. 1270. 1271. 1272. 1273. 1276. 1277. 1281. 1282. 1283. 1285. 1286. 1288. 1290. 1291. 1292. 1293. 1294. 1295. 1296. 1298. 1299. 1301. 1302. 1304. 1305. 1306. 1307. 1308. 1310. 1311. 1312. 1314. St. Louis IX. King of France. Pope Gregory IX. Gengiskan and the Tartars overrun the empire of the Saracens. BALDWIN II. French emperor of Constantinople. The Inquisition committed to the Dominican Monks. Russia brought under subjection by the Tartars. •(I Pope Celestinus IV. U Pope Innocent IY. The fifth crusade under St. Louis. ALEXANDER III. king of Scotland. Conrad IV. emperor of Germany. •[1 Pope Alexander IY. Interregnum in the empire of Germany, from the death of Conrad IV. in 1254, to the election of Rodolph in 1273. THEODORE II. (Lascaris) emperor of Nicsea. Bagdat taken by the Tartars.—End of the empire of the Saracens. JOHN (Lascaris) emperor of Nicsea. MICHAEL (Palseologus) emperor of Nicsea. The Flagellants preach baptism with blood. Pope Urban IV. The Greek emperors recover Constantinople from the French. The Norwegians invade Scotland, and are defeated by Alexander III. in the battle of Largs. •fi Pope Clement IV. The deputies of boroughs first summoned to parliament in England. Henry III. of England taken prisoner in the battle of Lewes. Charles Count of Anjou king of Sicily. Philip III. (the Bold) king of France. Pope Gregory X. (SRlIliavtf I- (Longshanks) king of England. Rodolph (of Hapsburg) emperor of Germany, first of the Austrian family. *fl Pope Innocent V. Pope Adrian V. Pope John XXI. Pope Nicholas III. TT Pope Martin IV. The Sicilian Vespers, when 8000 French were massacred in one night. ANDRON1CUS I. (Palseologus) emperor of the East. The conquest of Wales by Edward I. Pope Honorius IV. Philip IV. (the Fair) king of France. MARGARET (of Norway) queen of Scotland. Pope Nicholas IV. Interregnum in Scotland for two years.—Competition between Bruce and Baliol for the crown, decided by Edward I. Ptolemais taken by the Turks.—End of the crusades. JOHN BALIOL king of Scotland. Adolphus (of Nassau) emperor of Germany. U Pope Celestinus V. Jubilee first celebrated at Rome, From this year there is a regular succession of English parliaments. ^1 Pope Boniface VIII. MICHAEL ANDRONICUS emperor of the East. Interregnum in Scotland for eight years.—Sir William Wallace nobly sup¬ ports the liberty of his country, defeats the English at Stirling, and drives them out of the kingdom. Wallace chosen regent of Scotland; defeated at Falkirk. Albert I. (of Austria) emperor of Germany. The present Turkish empire begins under Ottoman in Bithynia. ^ Ottoman or Othoman first Sultan and founder of the Turkish empire. Quarrel between Philip the Fair and Pope Boniface VIII. Comyn and Frazer defeat the English thrice in one day. The mariner’s compass said to be discovered at Naples. Wallace betrayed, delivered up, and put to death by Edward I. U Pope Clement V. ROBERT I. (Bruce) king of Scotland. The establishment of the Swiss republics. II. king of England. Henry VII. emperor of Germany. Donati killed at Florence. The seat of the popes transferred to A vignon for seventy years. Rhodes taken by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Pierce Gaveston, favourite of Edward II. put to death. The Knights Templars suppressed by Philip the Fair. The Scots under Robert Bruce defeat the English under Edward II. at Bannockburn. Lewis V. (of Bavaria) emperor of Germany. Gengiskan, d. 1229. Accursius Ictus, f. William of Brittany, poet,f. Nicolas of Bray, poet,f. 1250. Abulfaragi, hist. f. 1259. Mat. Paris, hist. d. 1274. St. T. Aquinas, d. 1280. Albertus Mag. phil. d. Joannes a Janna, gr.f 1284. Roger Bacon, phil. d. 1286. Abulfaragi, hist. d. 1295. Brunetto Latini, rhet. d. Cimabue, painter , d. 1303. Abram Ben Casa, astron. d. Joh. Duns Scotus, d. 1308. Jo. Fordun, hist. d. i_ CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 175 A.C. 1314. Louis X. (IJutin) king of France. 1315. John king of France. 1316. f Pope John XXII. — Philip V. (the Long) king of France. 1320. ANDRONICUS II. (Paiseologus) emperor of the East. 1321. Charles IV. (the Fair) king of'France. 1327. 3StllMrU III. king of England. 1328. Philip VI. ( of Valois) king of France. •— 'ss' Orchanes, or Urchan, emperor of the Turks. 1329. DA VID II. king of Scotland.—Randolph earl Murray regent. 1331. The Teutonic Knights settle in Prussia. 1332. Edward Baliol, assisted by Edward III., is crowned at Scone king of Scots, hut is soon driven out of the kingdom. 1333. Casimir III. (the Great) king of Poland. — The Scots defeated by Edward III. at Halidoun hill, July 19th. 1334. Pope Benedict XII. 1340. Gunpowder invented by Swartz, a monk of Cologne. — Oil painting said to be invented by John Van Eyk. 1341. JOHN Y. (Paiseologus) emperor of the East. — John Cantacuzenus, his tutor, usurps the throne. 1342. Pope Clement VI. 1346. Battle of Crecy, won by Edward III. and the Black Prince over the French. — Battle of Durham, in which David II. of Scotland is taken prisoner. 1347. Charles IY. emperor of Germany. — Nicola Rienzi assumes the government of Rome. 1350. The Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III. — Peter (the Cruel) king of Castile. 1351. John II. king of France. 1352. Pope Innocent VI. — The Turks first enter Europe. 1356. The battle of Poictiers, in which John II. king of France is taken prisoner, and afterwards brought to London. 1359. Amurath I. emperor of the Turks. 1362. Pope Urban Y. •— The law pleadings in England changed from French to English. 1364. Charles V. king of France. 1370. "fj Pope Gregory XI. — ROBERT II. king of Scotland. 1377. The pope’s return from Avignon to Rome. — yiU’lJ II. king of England. — Wickliffe’s doctrines propagated in England. 1378. The schism of the double popes at Rome and Avignon begins, and continues thirty-eight years. — Pope Urban VI. Rome. — Pope Clement VII. Avignon. — Wenceslaus, emperor of Germany, deposed in 1400. 1380. Charles VI. King of France. — Tamerlane invades and subdues Chorassan. 1381. Wat Tyler’s and Jack Straw’s insurrection in England. — Peace between Venice and Genoa. — Bills of exchange first used in England. 1383. Cannon first used by the English in the defence of Calais. 1384. Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, succeeds to the earldom of Flanders. 1386. Tamerlane subdues Georgia. 1388. Battle of Otterburn between Percy (Hotspur) and Douglas. 1389. Pope Boniface IX. 1390. RO BERT III. king of Scotland. — Bajazet I. emperor of the Turks. 1391. MANUEL II. (Paiseologus) emperor of the East. 1392. The Cape of Good Hope discovered by the Portuguese. 1394. The Jews banished from France by Charles VI. — H Pope Benedict XIII. 1395. Sigismund, king of Hungary, defeated by Bajazet I. 1398. Tamerlane subdues part of Hindostan, and takes Delhy. 1399. IV. king of England. 1402. Bajazet is taken prisoner by Tamerlane in the battle of Angoria. — ^ Solyman I. emperor of the Turks. — Battle of Homildon Hill, in which the Scots are defeated. 1403. Battle of Shrewsbury, in which Hotspur is killed. 1404. Pope Innocent VII. 1405. Death of Tamerlane. 1406. JAMES I. king of Scotland. — Pope Gregory XII. 1409. Council of Pisa, where Pope Gregory is deposed. — Musa emperor of the Turks. — Tl Pope Alexander V. 1315. Guy earl of Warwick, d. Raym. Lulli, phil. d. 1318. Joinville, hist. d. Dante Alighieri, poet , d. Castruc. Castracani, d. 1330. Mortimer earl of March, d. 1345. Abulfeda, hist. d. Richard of Bury, d. 1350. Jo. and Math. Vil- lani, hist. f. 1360. Ph. Villani, histf. 1363. Edward Baliol, d. 1374. F. Petrarch, poet, d. 1376. G. Boccaccio, poet , d. — Ed. Black Prince, d. 1377. Ralph Higden, hist. d. Mat. of Westm. hist. d. Bertram du Guesclin, d. 1385. Wickliff, d. 1395. Hem’y Knyghton, hist, d. Froissart, hist. d. Sir John Gower, poet, d. 1400. Geoff. Chaucer, poet, d. 1408. Owen Glendour, d. 1409. Nich. Flamel, alch. d. 170 A.C. 1410. 1411. 1413. 1414. 1415. 1416. 1417. 1420. 1421. 1422. 1425. 1428. 1431. 1436. 1437. 1438. 1439. 1440. ! 1444. 1445. 1446. 1447. 1450. 1453. 1455. 1458. 1459. 1460. 1461. 1468. 1470. 1471. 1474. 1475. 1478. 1479. 1481. 1483. 1484. 1485. 1488. 1491. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. Josse (Marquis of Brandenburgh) emperor of German)'. H Pope John XXIII. Sigismund emperor of Germany. The University of St. Andrew’s, in Scotland, founded. V. king of England. Council of Constance, in which two popes were deposed, and the popedom remained vacant near three years. *=* Mahomet I. emperor of the Turks. Henry Y. defeats the French at Agincourt. John Huss condemned by the Council of Constance for heresy, and burnt. Jerome of Prague condemned by the same Council, and burnt. 1 Pope Martin Y. Paper first made from linen rags. The island of Madeira discovered by the Portuguese. JOHN VI. (Paheologus) emperor of the East. Amurath besieges Constantinople. *=* Amurath II. emperor of the Turks. p£>nU J) VI. king of England. C/carles VII. king of France. James I. king of Scots liberated from captivity by the English. The Court of Session in Scotland instituted by James I. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, compels the English to raise the siege of that town. Pope Eugene IV. Rise of the Medici family at Florence. Paris recovered by the French from the English. James II. king of Scotland. Albert II. emperor of Germany. Re-union of the Greek and Latin churches. The Pragmatic Sanction established in France. Frederick III. emperor of Germany. Invention of the art of printing by John Guttenberg at Strasburg. Ladislaus, king of Hungary, killed in battle with the Turks. CONSTANTINE (Palseologus) emperor of the East. Great inundation of the sea in Holland. U Pope Nicholas V. Rise of the Sforza family at Milan. ^ Mahomet II. emperor of the Turks. Constantinople taken by the Turks.— Extinction of the eastern em¬ pire of the Romans. End of the English government in France. Pope Calixtus III. Battle of St. Albans, where Henry VI. is taken prisoner by the Duke of York. TI Pope Pius II. iEneas Sylvius. The art of engraving on copper invented. JAMES III. king of Scotland. Battle of Wakefield, where the Duke of York is killed. 35tl\MVU king of England. Lewis XI. king of France. Battle of Touton, in which the party of Lancaster is defeated. The Orkney and Shetland Islands given to James III. of Scotland, as the dowry of Christiern of Denmark’s daughter. Henry VI. restored to the throne of England. Battle of Barnet, where Warwick is killed.—Battle of Tewkesbury, where the Lancasterians are totally defeated. Edward IV. restored.—Prince Edward of Lancaster basely murdered by Clarence and Gloucester.—Death of Henry VI. IT Pope Sixtus IV. The Cape de Verd islands discovered by the Portuguese. Edward IV. invades France.—Peace of Pacquigni purchased by the French. The conspiracy of the Pazzi against the Medici at Florence suppressed. The authority of Lorenzo de Medici established. Ferdinand and Isabella unite the kingdoms of Arragon and Castile. Russia freed from subjection to tbe Tartars by John. ^ Bajazet II. emperor of the Turks. Charles VIII. king of France. 25tfi»arb V. king of England.—Richard Duke of Gloucester protector. Edward V. and his brother murdered. 2£lff)ai'tJ III. king of England. TT Pope Innocent VIII. Battle of Bosworth, in which Richard III. is killed. VII. king of England, first of the house of Tudor.—Union of the houses of York and Lancaster. JAMES IV. king of Scotland. Granada taken by Ferdinand and Isabella,—End of the kingdom of the Moors in Spain. 1415. Em. Chrysoloras, d. 1419. P. A illy, iheol. d. Alain Chartier, poet, d. 1422. T. Walsingham, hist.d. 1424. Earl of Buchan, const. of France , d. Monstrelet, hist.f. Joan d’Arc, d. Scanderbeg, f. Thomas Walsingham, hist.f 1443. L. A re tin, d. 1447. Humphrey duke of Gloucester, d. 1459. Poggio of Florence, d. John Fust, f. Fini guer ra ( Baldi n i), engr. f. 1464. Cosmo de Medici, d. 1465. Laur. Valla, d. — 2En. Sylvius, d. 1470. Regiomontanus, cl. 1471. Th. a Kempis, d. 1478. Theod. Gaza, d. 1481. Philelphus, d. B. Platina, hist. d. Picus Mirandola, f. Pomponius Lsetus, hist.f. Alex, ab Alexandro, hist, f 1490. Boiardo, poet, d. Chalcondyles, hist.f. 1491. Annio di Viterbo, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1// A.C. 1492. Pope Alexander VI. (Borgia.) — Hispaniola and Cuba discovered by Christopher Columbus. 1493. Maximilian I. emperor of Germany. 1494. Expedition of Charles VIII. into Naples. — Algebra first known in Europe. — America discovered by Columbus. 1497. The Portuguese, under Vasco de Gama, double the Cape of Good Hope, , and sail to the East Indies. 1498. Louis XII. king of France. — Savonarola burnt by Pope Alexander VI. for preaching against the vices of the clergy. 1499. Louis XII. takes possession of the Milanese. — Sebastian Cabot lands in North America. — Brazil discovered by the Portuguese. — Maximilian divides Germany into six circles, and adds four more in 1512. 1503. t Pope Pius III. — f Pope Julius II. — Battle of Cerizoles, in which the French lose Naples. 1504. Philip I. king of Spain.—1506. Jane his queen. 1507. Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese. 1508. League of Cambray against the Venetians. 1509. pf'jSiU J) VIII. king of England. — Battle of Agnadello, May 14. 1511. Cuba conquered by the Spaniards. — & Selim I. emperor of the Turks. 1512. The French defeat the Venetians in the battle of Ravenna. 1513. Battle of Flodden, fatal to the Scots, September 11. —• The English defeat the French in the battle of the Spurs. — JAMES V. king of Scotland. — *11 Pope Leo X. 1515. Francis I. king of France. — Battle of Marignan, in which the French defeat the Swiss. 1516. Charles I. (Emperor Charles V.) king of Spain. — Barbarossa seizes the kingdom of Algiers. 1517. The Reformation in Germany begun by Luther. — The Turks put an end to the reign of the Mamalukes in Egypt, 1518. Leo X. condemns Luther’s doctrine. 1519; Charles V. emperor of Germany. — Magellan explores the South Seas. 1520. & Solyman II. (the Magnificent) emperor of the Turks^ — Sweden and Denmark united. — Massacre of Stockholm by Christiern II. and Archbishop Trollo. 1521. 1 Pope Adrian VI. — Gustavus Vasa king of Sweden. — Cortez completes the conquest of Mexico. 1522. The first voyage round the world performed by a ship of Magellan’s squadron. — Rhodes taken by the Turks. 1523. Solyman the Magnificent takes Belgrade. — Pope Clement VII. 1524. Sweden and Denmark embrace the Protestant faith. 1525. Battle of Pavia, in which Francis I. is taken prisoner by Charles V. 1526. Treaty of Madrid between Charles V. and Francis I., when the latter is set at liberty. 1527. Rome taken and plundered by Charles V. — Pizarro and Dalmagro invade the empire of Peru. 1528. Revolution of Genoa by Andrea Doria. — Gustavus Ericson crowned king of Sweden. 1529. Diet of Spires against the Huguenots, then first termed Protestants. — Peace of Cambray, August 5. 1530. The league of Smalcald between the Protestants. 1531. Michael Servetus burnt for heresy at Geneva. 1532. The treaty of Nuremberg, August 2. — The Court of Session in Scotland new modelled by James V. 1534. The Reformation takes place in England. — Pope Paul III. — Barbarossa seizes the kingdom of Tunis. — Jack of Leyden heads the Anabaptists at Munster. 1535. The society of the Jesuits instituted by Ignatius Loyola. — Expedition of Charles V. against Tunis. 1538. Treaty of Nice between Charles V. and Francis I. — The Bible in English appointed to be read in the churches of England. 1540. Dissolution of the monasteries in England by Henry VIII. 1542. Defeat of the Scots at Solway moss. — MARY queen of Scotland. 1544. The French defeat the troops of Charles V. in the battle of Cerizoles. The treaty of Crepi. N 1492. W. Caxton , printer, cL Lorenzo de Medici, d. Politian, d. 1499. Marsilius Ficinus, d. 1502. Peter Martyr, d. 1503. Jov. Pontani, d. 1504. P. Beroaldi, hist. d. 1507. Caesar Borgia, d. 1509. Phil, de Comines, hist. d. 1512. Gaston de Foix, d. Rob. Fabian, hist. d. 1513. Aldus Manutius, d. Fabian, hist.f Ccel. Rhodigin, gram. f. 1516. Bap. Mantuanus, poet , d. Card. Ximenes, d. Card. Adrian, d. 1520. Raphael Urb. paint, d. — H. Boece, hist. d. —. Hen. Stephens, sen. pr. d. — Leon, da Vinci, paint, d. 1522. Gawin Douglas, poet ft. 1523. Alex, ab Alex. d. — P. Melancthon, d. 1524. T. Linacre, vied. d. 1525. Jo. Pistor, theol. f. 1527. Con. de Bourb. d. — J. Froben, pr. d 1528. A. Durer, painter , d. 1529. Machiavel, hist.f. 1530. B. Donati, critic , d.' —. A. Alciat, poet , d. — Sannazario, poet , d. 1531. Zuingle, cl. — GScolampadius, d. 1533. Lud. Ariosto, poet,d. 1534. Corn. Agrippa, d. 1535. Sir Thos. More, d. M. Accursius, phil.f. 1536. Erasmus, d. 1540. Budseus, Jctus,d. — iEobanus Hessus,/>oe/, d. —• Guicciardini, hist. d. Jo. Major, hist. d. Jo. Bale, hiog.f. 1541. Paracelsus, phys. 1542. Alb. Pighi, math. d. 1543. Copernicus,/>M. d. 178 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.C. 1545. The Council of Trent begins, ■which continued eighteen years. — The Scots defeat the English at Ancram Muir. 1546. Cardinal Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrew’s, assassinated. 1547. Fiesco’s conspiracy at Genoa. — The battle of Mulberg, in which the Protestants are defeated, and the elector of Saxony taken prisoner. — 3£tllMr& VI. king of England. —. Henry II. king of France. — Battle of Pinkey, in Scotland, where the Scots are defeated by the English, December 10. 1548. The Interim granted by Charles V. to the Protestants. 1550. U Pope Julius III. 1552. The treaty of Passau between Charles V. and the Elector of Saxony, for the establishment of Lutheranism. 1553. /rHavj) queen of England. — Lady Jane Grey beheaded. 1555. Pope Marceilus II. — Pope Paul IV. — Many bishops burnt in England by Mary. 1556. Ferdinand I. emperor of Germany. — Philip II. king of Spain. 1557. Philip II. defeats the French at St. Qnintin. 1558. Calais taken by the French from the English. — 3Eltiahft1) queen of England. — The French defeated in the battle of Gravelines. — Mary queen of Scots married to the dauphin. 1559. U Pope Pius IV. — Francis II. king of France. — Treaty of Catteau Cambresis. 1560. Charles IX. king of France. — Conspiracy of Amboise, formed by the party of Conde against that of Guise. —Beginning of the civil wars in France. — The Reformation completed in Scotland by John Knox. — The papal authority abolished by parliament in Scotland. 1561. Mary queen of Scots arrives in Scotland from France. 1562. Battle of Dreux.—Victory of the Guises over Conde. 1564. Maximilian II. emperor of Germany — Siege of Malta by the Turks, who are defeated. 1566. *f[ Pope Pius VI. —i Revolt of the Netherlands from Philip II. — Murder of David Rizzio in Scotland. — Selim II. emperor of the Turks. 1567. The duke of Alva sent by Philip to the Netherlands. — King Henry Darnley murdered, Feb. 9th. —• JAMES VI. king of Scotland. 1568. Mary queen of Scots flies into England for protection. •—• Philip II. exterminates the Moors from Spain. — Puts to death his son Don Carlos. 1569. The earl of Murray, regent of Scotland, assassinated by Hamilton. — The battles of Jarnac and Moncontour in France, in which the Protestants are defeated. 1571. Naval victory at Lepanto, where the Turks are defeated by Don John of Austria. 1572. Pope Gregory XIII. — The massacre of St. Bartholomew, August 24th. 1573. Haerlem taken by the Spaniards. 1574. Henry III. king of France. — Socinus propagates his opinions. — Don Sebastian king of Portugal invades Africa. — Memorable siege of Leyden, raised by the prince of Orange and the admiral Boissot. 1575. ^ Amurath III. emperor of the Turks. 1576. Rodolphus II. emperor of Germany. — The league in France formed against the Protestants. 1578. The Spaniards under Don John of Austria defeated in the battle of Rimenant. 1579. Commencement of the republic of Holland by the union of Utrecht.— Maestricht taken by the Spaniards. — Battle of Alcagar, the Portuguese under Don Sebastian defeated by Muley Moluck. 1580. Philip II. takes possession of Portugal. — The world circumnavigated by Sir Francis Drake. 1582. The Raid of Ruth veil in Scotland : James VI. seized by the earl of Gowrie. — The New Style introduced into Italy by Pope Gregory XIII., the 5th of October being counted the 15th. 1584. William I. prince of Orange murdered at Delft. — Virginia discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh. — Embassy from four kings of Japan to Philip II. 1544. L. Bai'f, poet, d. — Cl. Marot, poet, d. — Ol. Magnus, hist. d. 1545. Bellai, poet, d. 1546. P. Jovius, hist. d. — Ed. Hall, hist. d. — Mart. Luther, d. 1547. Lud. Yives, d. — Card. Bembo, d. — Peutinger, geog. d. — Yatablus, gram. d. — Card. Sadoletus, d. 1550. Trissino, poet, d. — Sleidan, hist. d. 1551. J. Leland, ant. d. Mart. Bucer, d. 1553 Fr. Rabelais, d. — J. Dubravius, hist. d. — Fracastorius, poet, d. 1555. Polyd. Vergil, d. — Agricola, med. d. 1556. Ign. Loyola, d. — Pet. Aretin, d. 1557. Sir Jo. Cheke, d. 1558. J. P. Valerian us, poet, d. — J. C. Scaliger, d. ■— Aldrovandus, d. 1559. R. Stephens, print, d. 1560. Mich, de l’Hopital, chan. f. 1563. Seb. Castalio, d. — Roger Ascliam, d. 1564. Jo. Calvin, theol. d. — Michael Angelo, paint, d. 1565. Con. Gesner, phil. d. — Adrian Turnebus, d. 1566. Hier. Vida, poet, d. — Han. Caro, poet, d. — Castlevetro, crit. d. 1567. Anne de Montmorency, Const, of France, d. 1569. Bern. Tasso, poet. 1572. John Knox, d. — Adm. Coligni, d. — H. Cardan, d. — Peter Ramus, d. 1574. Paul Manutius, d. 1576. Titian Vecelli, painter, d. P. And. Matthidlus, med. f. 1579. Camoens, poet, d. 1580. Palladio, arch. f. 1581. Ja. Crichton, adm. d. •— Osorius, d. 1582. G. Buchanan, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.C. 1585. Pope Sixtus V. — Schah Abbas the Great king of Persia. 1587. Mary queen of Scots beheaded at Fotheringay. 1588. Destruction of the Spanish Armada by the English. 1589. Henry III. of France murdered by Jacques Clement. — Henry IV. (the Great) king of France. 1590. The battle of Ivry, which ruins the league in France. — *fl Pope Urban VII. — U Pope Gregory XIV. 1591. The university of Dublin erected. — *(1 Pope Innocent IX. 1592. Presbyterian church government established in Scotland. — 11 Pope Clement VIII. — W Mahomet III. emperor of the Turks. 1596. Cadiz taken by the English. 1598. Edict of Nantes, tolerating the Protestants in France. — Peace of Vervins concluded between France and Spain. — Philip III. king of Spain. — Tyrone’s rebellion in Ireland. 1600. Gowrie’s conspiracy in Scotland. — The earl of Essex beheaded. — The English East-India Company established. 1602. Decimal arithmetic invented at Bruges. 1603. jft&Ul&S L (VI. of Scotland) king of Great Britain. — Union of the crowns of England and Scotland. — Achmet I. emperor of the Turks. 1605. The gunpowder-plot discovered. —< If Pope Paul V. 1608. Galileo discovers the satellites of Jupiter. — Arminius propagates his opinions. 1610. Henry IV. of France murdered by Ravaillac. — Louis XIII. king of France. — The Moors expelled from Spain by Philip III. — Hudson’s Bay discovered. 1611. Baronets first created in England by James I. 1612. Matthias emperor of Germany. 1614. Logarithms invented by Napier of Merchiston. 1616. Settlement of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh. 1617. ^ Mustapha emperor of the Turks. 1618. The Synod of Dort in Holland. 1619. Discovery of the circulation of the blood by Dr. Harvey. .— Ferdinand II. emperor of Germany. — Vanini burnt at Thoulouse for atheism. 1620. The battle of Prague, by which the elector palatine loses his electorate. ■—. The English make a settlement at Madras. —. Navarre united to France. — ^ Othman II. emperor of the Turks. 1621. Philip IV. king of Spain. — Batavia built and settled by the Dutch. — Ti Pope Gregory XV. 1622. ^ Amurath IV. emperor of the Turks. 1623. Pope Urban VIII. — Institution of the Knights of Nova Scotia by James I. 1625. (JTfjfuTcS I. king of Great Britain. —. The island of Barbadoes planted;—the first English settlement in the West Indies. — Knights Baronets first created in Scotland. 1626. League of the Protestant princes against the emperor. 1632. Gustavus Adolphus killed in the battle of Lutzen. — Christina queen of Sweden. 1635. The French Academy instituted. 1637. Ferdinand III. emperor of Germany. 1638. Bagdat taken by the Turks. — The Solemn League and Covenant established in Scotland. 1640. John duke of Braganza recovers the kingdom of Portugal. 1641. The Irish Rebellion, and massacre of the Protestants, October 23rd. — ^ Ibrahim emperor of the Turks. — The earl of Strafford beheaded. 1642. Beginning of the civil war in England.—The battle of Edgehill, Oct. 23rd. 1643. Louis XIV. king of France. — Anne of Austria regent of France. — Archbishop Laud impeached by the Commons, tried and beheaded. 1644. TJ Pope Innocent X. — Revolution in China by the Tartars. 1645. Charles I. defeated in the battle of Naseby. 1646. Sir Robert Spottiswoode, president of the session, beheaded, 20th January. 1648. The peace of Westphalia.—The civil war of the Frond at Paris. 1585. Bodinus, d. — Car. Sigonius, d. — Ronsard, poet, d. 1586. Sir Ph. Sydney, d. 1588 Paul Veronese, paint, d. M. Frobisher, nav. f. 1590. J. Cujas, Sotus, d. — Du Bartas, poet, d. 1591. Pancirollus, d. B. Brissonius, Jctus, d. 1592. M. Montaigne, d. 1595. Acidalius, crit. d. — Torq. Tasso, poet, d. 1596. Ala. Manutius, jun. d. Sir Hen. Drake, d. 1597. Jan. Dousa, jun. d. 1598. Hen. Stephens, jun. d. — E. Spenser, poet, d. R. Hooker, D.D. d. 1601. Tycho Brahe, phil. d. 1604. Janus Dousa, sen. d . Kepler, phil. f. Masemus, po. f. John Stow, ant. d . Galileo, phil. f. Theodore Beza, d. 1606. Justus Lipsius, d. 1607. Card. Baronius, d. 1609. Jos. Scaliger, d. — An. Caracci, paint, d. 1610. Boccalini, /. 1614. Is. Casaubon, d . 1615. Et. Pasquier, d. 1616. W. Shakspeare, d. 1617. Napier of Merchiston, d. — De Thou, hist. d. —• Aquillon, math. d. 1618. Card. Perron, d. — Sir Walter Raleigh, d. Mig. Cervantes, d. Vossius, crit. f. Meursius, crit. f. 1621. Card. Bellarmine, d. 1623. Will. Camden, hist. d. — Paul Sarpi, d. 1624. Mariana, hist. d. 1627. Jan. Gruterus, d. 1628. Malherbe, poet, d. Gui. Rheni, paint, f. Rubens, paint, f. Bacon Ld. Verulam, d. Fam. Strada, hist. f. 1630. Kepler, d. 1631. H. C. Davila, hist. d. 1632. T. Allan, math. d. 1635. Lope de Vega, poet, d. Alex. Tassoni, poet, d. 1638. Ben Jonson, d. 1640. Achelini, poet, d. — Ph Massinger, poet, d. 1641. Max. Duke of Sully, d. — A. Vandyke, d. — H. Spelman, d. 1642. Galileo, phil. d. — Card. Richelieu, d. 1643. Jo. Hampden, d. 1644. Bentivoglio, hist. d. Rob. Baker, hist. d. 180 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. AC. 1649. Charles I. of England beheaded. — The Commonwealth of England begins. — Mahomet IV. emperor of the Turks. 1650. The marquis of Monti’ose put to death. — Battle of Dunbar.—Covenanters defeated by Cromwell. 1651. The battle of Worcester won by Cromwell. 1652. The first war between the English and Dutch. — Dark or Mirk Monday, 30th March. 1653. The Dutch fleet defeated by Monk, thirty ships taken, and Van Trump killed, July 30th. 1654. End of the Commonwealth of England.—Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector. _ The English, under admiral Penn, take possession of Jamaica. — Christian queen of Sweden resigns the crown to Charles X. 1655. U Pope Alexander VII. 1658. Dunkirk delivered to the English. — Leopold I. emperor of Germany. — Richard Cromwell Lord Protector of England. 1659. The peace of the Pyrenees between France and Spain. 1660. (JTfjaiifS II. king of Great Britain.—Restoration of monarchy. — The peace of Oliva between Sweden, Denmark, and Poland. 1661. The marquis of Argyle beheaded for treason, 27th May. 1662. The Royal Society instituted in England. — Dunkirk sold back to the French. 1663. Carolina planted. — The French Academy of Inscriptions instituted. 1664. The second Dutch war begins. 1665. Charles II. king of Spain. — Great plague in London. 1666. Great fire of London. — The Academy of Sciences instituted in France. — Sabatei Levi, in Turkey, pretends to be the Messiah. — The Scots covenanters defeated on Pentland hills. 1667. The peace of Breda, which confirms to the English? Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. — *11 Pope Clement IX. — The Spanish Netherlands invaded by Louis XIV. 1668. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 1669. The island of Candia taken by the Turks. 1670. U Pope Clement X. 1672. Lewis XIV. conquers great part of Holland. — The De Witts put to death in Holland. 1674. John Sobieski king of Poland. 1676. H Pope Innocent XI. — Carolina planted by the English. 1678. The peace of Nimeguen, July 31st. — The Habeas Corpus Act passed in England. 1679. The long parliament of Charles II. dissolved. — The Scots covenanters defeated at Bothwell Bridge by the duke of Mon¬ mouth, June 22nd. 1682. Peter the Great czar of Muscovy. 1683. Execution of lord Russel, July 21st. — Execution of Algernon Sydney, December 7th. ■— The siege of Vienna by the Turks, raised by John Sobieski. 1685. IL king of Great Britain. — Revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. — Duke of Monmouth beheaded. 1686. The Newtonian philosophy first published in England. — The league of Augsburgh against France. 1687. Soliman III. emperor of the Turks. 1688. Revolution in Britain.—King James abdicates the throne, December 23rd. 1689. and I'FlaLD king and queen of Great Britain. — Episcopacy abolished in Scotland by king William. — Battle of Gillicrankie.—the king’s troops defeated.—The viscount of Dundee slain, July 16th, O. S. — H Pope Alexander VIII. 1690. Battle of the Boyne, July 1st. 1691. Pope Innocent XII. — Achmet II. emperor of the Turks. 1692. Battle of La Hogue, May 19th. — The massacre of Glencoe in Scotland, Jan. 31st, O. S. .— Battle of Steenkirk.—King William defeated by Luxemburg!], July 24th. — Hanover made the ninth electorate of the empire. 1694. The Bank of England incorporated. 1695. Namur taken by king William, June 25th. — Mustapha II. emperor of the Turks. 1697. Peace of Ryswiek concluded, September 11th. — Peter the Great gains a signal victory over the Turks, and takes Azoph. 1646. Chillingworth, d. — Van Helmont, d. 1645. H. Grotius, d. 1647. Quevedo, poet, d. 1648. Voiture, d. 1649. W. Drummond, poet and hist, d. 1649. F. Strada, d. 1650. Jo. Ger. Vossius, d. Des Cartes, phil. d. Inigo Jones, arch. d. 1652. Petavius (Petau), hist. d. 1653. Salmasius, d. 1654. Balzac, d. John Selden, ant. d. 1655. Gassendi, phil. d. — Archbp. Usher, d. — Dan. Heinsius, poet, d. 1656. Nic. Poussin, paint, d. 1657. W. Harvey, d. — Adm. Blake, d. 1658. Casp. Barthius, d. ■Scarron, poet, d. Spinosa, phil. f. Pascal, d. 1660. H. Hammond, d. 1661. Card. Mazarin, d. — Don L. de Haro, d. Fermat, math. f. 1667. Ah. Cowley, poet, d. Sam. Bochart, d. 1669. Sir John Denham, poet, d. 1671. Mot. le Vayer, d. — Gronovius, ant. d. — Moliere, poet,- d. 1672. Chanc. Segnier, d. 1674 John Milton, d. — Labbadie, d. Ed. E. of Clarendon, d. 1675. Turenne, d. 1676. De Ruyter, d. — Sir Mat. Hale, d. 1678. Spinosa, d. 1679. Th. Hobbes, d. — D. de Rochefoucault, d. — Card, de Retz, d. — Mezeray, hist. d. 1680. T. Bartolin, d. — Sam. Butler, d. — T. Otway, poet, d. — Mad. Bourignon, d. — Athan. Kircher, d. 1680. Montecuculi, general, d. Sir J. Marsham, chron. d, 1682. Sir T. Brown, phys. d. 1683. J. B. Colbert, d. 1684. Pet. Corneille, d. 1686 Maimbourgh, hist. d. Otho Gueric, math. d. 1687. Ed. Waller, poet, d. — Rapin, poet, d. 16S8. Du Cange, d. — R. Cudworth, d. — D. of Ormond, d. C. le Brun, paint, d. G. Menage, d. 1691. R. Boyle, phil. d. — Sir G. Mackenzie, d. — Nic. Heinsius, d. 1694. S. Puffendorf, d. Huigens, phil. d. 1695. La Fontaine, d. — Dr. Busby, d. 1696. La Bruyere, d. Racine, d. A.C 1697. 1699. 1700. 1701. 1702. 1703. 1704. 1705. 1706. 1707. 1708. 1709. 1711. 1713. 1714. 1715. 17*16. 1718. 1720. 1721. 1724. 1725. 1726. 1727. 1728. 1729. 1730. 1731. 1733. 1734. 1735. 1736. 1737. 1738. 1739. 1740. 1741. 1742. 1743. Charles XII. king of Sweden. Peace of Carlovitz concluded January 26th. The Scots attempt a colony at Darien. Charles XII. begins his first campaign, takes Copenhagen. Philip V. king of Spain. H Pope Clement XI. Death of James II. at St. Germain’s. iHUTlf queen of Great Britain.—War against France and Spain. The English and Dutch destroy the French fleet at Vigo. The French send colonies to the Mississippi. Gibraltar taken by Admiral Rooke, July 24th. *=* Achmet III. emperor of the Turks. Battle of Blenheim.—The French defeated by Marlborough and prince Eugene, August 2nd. Peter the Great founds St. Petersburgh. The English take Barcelona. Joseph I. emperor of Germany. Battle of Ramilies.—The French defeated by the duke of Marlborough, May 12th. The treaty of union between England and Scotland, signed July 22nd. The battle of Almanza. The French and Spaniards under the duke of Berwick, defeat the allies, April 14tli. Battle of Oudenard.—The French defeated by Marlborough and Eugene, June 30th. Minorca taken by general Stanhope, September 18th. Battle of Pultowa.—Charles XII. defeated by czar Peter, June 30th. Battle of Malplaquet.—The French defeated by Marlborough and Eugene, September 11th. Charles VI. emperor of Germany. The peace of Utrecht, signed March 30th. ©COVgC I. elector of Hanover, king of Great Britain. Louis XV. king of France . The rebellion in Scotland.—Battle of Sheriff-muir, November 13th. Prince Eugene defeats the Turks at Peterwaradin. Charles XII. of Sweden killed at the siege of Frederickshall. The Mississippi scheme in France projected by John Law, breaks up May 23rd. In the same year the South Sea Scheme breaks up in England, September. Tf Pope Innocent XIII. Pope Benedict XIII. Death of Peter the Great czar of Muscovy.—Catherine empress. Great earthquake at Palermo, August 21st. II. king of Great Britain. Treaty of Copenhagen between Great Britain and Denmark. The Spaniards besiege Gibraltar, May 20th. Treaty between Great Britain and Holland, May 27th. The congress of Soissons, June 14th. Treaty of Seville between Great Britain, France, and Spain, November 9th. H Pope Clement XII. Christian VI. king of Denmark. The Persians under Kouli-Khan defeat the Turks. *=* Mahomet V. emperor of the Turks. Treaty between Great Britain, the emperor, and king of Spain, July 22nd. The Jesuits expelled from Paraguay, January. Frederick III. king of Poland. Commercial treaty between Great Britain and Russia, December 2nd. The French defeat the imperialists in Italy. Peace between Spain and Austria. Kouli-Khan (Nadir-Schah) proclaimed king of Persia, September 29th. War declared between the emperor and the Turks, July 2nd. The Russians invade the Crimea. Nadir-Schah conquers the greatest part of the Mogul empire. Treaty between Great Britain and Denmark. Peace between the emperor and the Turks, August 21st. Peace between Russia and the Turks, November. Portobello taken by admiral Vernon, November 21st. Frederick III. (the Great) king of Prussia. H Pope Benedict XIV. War between Poland and Hungary. War between Russia and Sweden. Carthagena taken by Admiral Vernon, June 19th. The Prussians masters of Silesia, October 20th. Peace between Austria and Prussia, June 11th. Defensive .alliance between Great Britain and Prussia, November 18th. Charles VII. (of Bavaria) emperor of Germany. Defensive alliance between Great Britain and Russia, February. War in Germany between the British, Hungarians, French and Austrians. 1699. Bp. Stillingfleet, d. Sir Will. Temple, d. 1701. John Dryden, d. E. of Sunderland, d. 1703. J. G. Graevius, d. St. Evremond, poet, d. Dr. J. Wallis, d. 1704. John Locke, d. 1705. Jo. Ray, nat. d. 1706. Bossuet, bp. d. — John Evelyn, d. — P. Bayle, d. — Ch. E. of Dorset, d. 1707. M. Vauban, d. Geo. Farquhar, poet, d. 1711. N. Boileau, d. 1712. Cassini, phil. d. Ashley Cooper Earl of Shaft¬ esbury, d. 1715. Fenelon, abp. d. — Bp. Burnet, d. — Malbranche, phil. d. Leibnitz, phil. d. 1718. Mad. Dacier, d. 1719. M. Maintenon, d. — Jos. Addison, d. — Flamstead, d. 1720. Heinsius, grand pension¬ ary, d. 1721. Mat. Prior, d. — Huet, d. 1722. Dacier, d. — C. Fleury, hist. d. 1723. Sir Chr. Wren, d. — H. Prideaux, d. — Basnage, hist. d. 1724. W. Wollaston, d. 1725. Kneller, d. Sir Isaac Newton, d. 1729. Dr. Sa. Clarke, d. — Sir Rich. Steele, d. — W. Congreve, poet, d. — John Law, Mississippi, d. 1730. L. Ecliard, hist. d. 1731. Dr. Atterbury, bp. of Ro¬ chester, d. 1731. Dan. Defoe, d. 1732. Jo. Gay, poet, d. 1733. Corelli, mus. d. 1734. Dr. J. Arbuthnot, d. — Duke of Berwick, d. 1735. Dr. Will. Derham, d. — Bp. Tanner, ant. d. — Vertot, hist. d. 1736. J. Le Clerc, d. — Lord Lansdown, poet, d. 1737. Eliz. Rowe, d. — Ld. Chancellor Talbot, d. 1738. Dr. Boerhaave, d. 1739. Dr. N.Sanderson, math. d. 1740. Eph. Chambers, d. — T. Tickell, poet, d. 1741. Pet. Burmann, d. — B. Montfaucon, ant. d. — Ch. Rollin, hist. d. — R. Sanderson, ant. d. — Card Polignac, d. 1742. Dr. Edm. Halley, math.d. — Dr. Rich, Bentley, d. — Dr. Boulter, archbishop of Armagh, d. — L. Theobald, d. A.C. 1743. 1744. 1745. 1746. 1747. 1748. 1749. 1750. 1751. 1752. 1753. 1754. 1755. 1756. 1757. 1758. 1759. 1760. 1761. 1762. 1763. The French defeated by the allies at Dettingen, June 6th. War declared by Great Britain against France, March 31st. The king of Prussia takes Prague. Commodore Anson completes his voyage round the world. Francis I. (of Lorraine) emperor of Germany. Quadruple alliance between Britain, Austria, Holland, and Poland, Jan. 8th. The allied army defeated by the French at Fontenoy, April 30th. Louisburgh and Cape Breton taken by the British troops, June 6th. The Rebellion breaks out in Scotland, July. Defeat of the king’s forces by the rebels at Prestonpans, September 21st. Treaty of Dresden between Prussia, Poland, Austria, and Saxony, Decem¬ ber 25th. Defeat of the king’s forces by the rebels at Falkirk, January 17th. Ferdinand VI. king of Spain. Frederick V. king of Denmark. Count Saxe takes Brussels and Antwerp. Victory of Culloden, which puts an end to the rebellion in Scotland, April 16th. Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock beheaded, August 18th. Count Saxe defeats the allies at Raucoux, October 11th. Dreadful earthquake at Lima, October 17th. Lord Lovat beheaded, April 9th. The French defeat the allied army at Lafeldt, July 2nd. Bergen-op-zoom taken by the French, September 5th. The French fleet defeated by admiral Hawke, October 14th. Kouli-Khan murdered.—Revolution in Persia. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle between Great Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Sardinia, and Holland, October 7th. League between the Pope, Venetians, &c. against the Algerines, &c. Joseph king of Portugal. Academy of Sciences founded at Stockholm. Commercial treaty between Great Britain and Spain, October 5th. Adolphus of Holstein, king of Sweden. Peace between Spain and Portugal. New Style introduced in Britain, September 2nd reckoned 14th. The British Museum established in Montague house. Great eruption of iEtna. Great earthquake at Constantinople and Cairo, September 2nd. < 5 =? Othman III. emperor of the Turks. Defeat of general Braddock near Fort du Quesne, July 9th. Lisbon destroyed by an earthquake, November 1st. War declared between Great Britain and France, May 18th. Surrender of Minorca by Blakeney, June 28th. Damiens attempts to assassinate Lewis XV. King of Prussia defeats the Austrians at Reichenberg and Prague. Count Dauhn repulses the king of Prussia at Kolin, June 18th. Verden and Bremen taken by the French, August. Convention of Closterseven, September 8th. The Prussians defeat the French and Austrians at Rosbach, November 5th. The king of Prussia master of Silesia, December 21st. *5=* Mustapha III. emperor of the Turks. % Pope Clement XIII. Senegal taken by the English, May 1st. Cape Breton taken by the English, June 17th. The English repulsed at Ticonderago, July 8th. The British troops take Louisburg, July 27th. Count Dauhn defeats the king of Prussia at Hochkirken, October 14th. The British troops take Fort du Quesne, November 25th. Goree taken by Keppel, December 29th. Guadaloupe surrendered to the English, May 1st. The French defeated by the allied army at Minden, August 1st. French fleet defeated by Boscawen off Gibraltar, August 18th. Charles III. king of Spain. The Jesuits expelled from Portugal, September 3rd. General Wolfe takes Quebec, September 17th. French fleet defeated by Hawke off Belleisle, November 20th. Montreal and Canada taken by the British troops, September 8th. (ErCOl’gC III. king of Great Britain, October 25th. The king of Prussia defeats the Austrians at Torgau, November 3rd. Pondicherry taken by the English, January 15th. Martinico surrendered to the English, February 4th. Peter III. emperor of Russia. The Jesuits banished from France, August. Havannah taken by the English, August 12th. Peace between Great Britain and France at Fontainebleau, November 3rd. Peace between Great Britain, France, and Spain, at Paris, February 10th. Catharine II. empress of Russia. 1743. Jo. Ozell, d. — Fr. Peck, ant. d. — Card, de Fleury, d. — J. G. Keysler, ant. — Hya. Rigaud, paint, d. 1744. Alex. Pope, poet, d. —■ Roger Gale, ant. d. 1745. Dr. Jon. Swift, d. 1746. Col. Maclaurin, math. d. — Barratier, phil. d. — T. Southern, poet, d. 1747. Barbeyrac, pol. phil. d. — Th. Chubbe, d. — Dr. J. J. Dillenius, hot. d. — M. Maittaire, d. — Abp. Potter, d. — E. Holdsworth, crit. d. — President Forbes, d. 1748. Ja. Thomson, poet, d. — Dr. Is. Watts, d. — Dr. Fr. Hutcheson, d. — Dr. Geo. Cheyne, d. — Rev. C. Pitt, poet, d. 1749. T. Odell, dram. d. •— N. Freret, chron. d. 1750. Dr. Cony. Middleton, d — And. Baxter, d. Aaron Hill, poet, d. Apost. Zeno, dram. d. 1751. H. Lord Bolingbroke, d. — Dr. Alex. Monro, sen. d — Dr. Doddridge, d. 1752. Will. Cheselden, anat. d. — Will. Whiston, math. d. ■— Card. Alberoni, d. 1753. Berkeley, bp. ofCloyne,d. — Sir Hans Sloane, d. 1754. Dr. Rich. Mead, d. — Henry Fielding, d. — De Moivre, math. d. — H. Pelham, d. — J. Gibbs, arch. d. 1755. M. de Montesquieu, d. — Dr. R. Rawlinson, d. 1756. Gilbert West, d. 1757. Colley Cibber, com. d. — Dom. Calmet, benedict, d. — W. Maitland, hist. d. — M. de Fontenelle, poet, d. — Dr. Herring, abp. of Can¬ terbury, d. 1758. Rev. J. Harvey, d. — L. Heister, anat. d. — B. Hoadly, dram. d. 1759. G. Fr. Handel, mus. d. 1760. Count Zinzendorf, d. 1761. Dr. T. Sherlock, d. — Bishop Hoadly, d. — Sam. Richardson, nov. d. — Dr. J. Leland, d. — Stephen Hales, d. 1762. Dr. Ja. Bradley, astr. d. — Geminiani, mus. d — Lady M. Wortley Monta¬ gue, d. 1763. N. Hooke, hist. d. — W. Shenstone, poet, d. 1764. R. Dodsley, poet, d. — Ja Anderson, hist. d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 183 A.C. 1764. 1765. 1766. 1767. 1768. 1769. 1770. 1771. 1772. 1773. 1774. 1775. 1776. 1777. 1778. 1779. 1780 1781. 1782. 1783. 1784. 1785. 1786. 1787. 1788. 1789. 1790. 1791. Stanislaus II. king of Poland. Sujah Dovvla defeated by Munro at Buxar, October 23rd. Byron’s discoveries in the South Seas. Joseph II. emperor of Germany. American stamp act repealed, March 18th. The Jesuits expelled from Bohemia and Denmark. Christian VII. king of Denmark. The Jesuits expelled from Spain, Genoa, and Venice. Wallis and Carteret’s discoveries in the South Seas. Royal academy of arts established at London. The Jesuits expelled from Naples, Malta, and Parma. Bougainville’s discoveries in the South Seas, t Pope Clement IV. Cook’s first discoveries in the South Seas. Corsica taken by the French, June 13th. Earthquake at St. Domingo. Gustavus III. king of Sweden. Revolution in Sweden, August 19th. Poland dismembered by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Cook’s second voyage and discoveries. The society of the Jesuits suppressed by the Pope's bull, August 25th. Louis XVI. king of France. ^ Abdhul-Achmet emperor of the Turks. American war commenced, November 15th. Battle of Bunker’s-hill, in America, June 7th. U Pope Pius VI. The Americans declare their independence, July 4th. Mary queen of Portugal. Philadelphia taken by the British troops, October 3rd. Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, October 7th. League between the French and Americans, October 30th. Peace between the Imperialists and Prussians, May 13th. Great eruption of Vesuvius, August 8th. Siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards, July. Captain Cook killed at Owbyhee. Sir G. Rodney defeats the Spanish fleet near Cape Vincent, January 16th. Charlestown surrenders to the British, May 12. Riots in London on account of the Popish bill, June 2nd. Lord Cornwallis defeats the Americans at Cambden, August 16th. War declared between Great Britain and Holland, December 20th. The Americans defeated at Guildford by Lord Cornwallis. Surrender of the British troops to the Americans and French at York town, October 18th. Sir G. Rodney defeats the French fleet off Dominica, April 12. Sir Edw. Hughes defeats the French fleet under Suffrein in the East Indies February 17. Peace between Great Britain, France, and Spain, and the independence of America declared, January 20th. Peace between Great Britain and Holland, May 24th. Treaty of alliance between Austria, France, and Holland, November 9th. Frederick IV. king of Prussia. Commercial treaty between England and France, September 26th. The assembly of the notables convened at Paris, February 22nd. Mr. Hastings impeached for misdemeanours in the government of India, May 21st. Prince Charles Edward died at Rome, January 31st. The Parliament of Paris remonstrates against the use of lettres de cachet, March 16. Defensive alliance between England and Holland, April 25th. The Regency-bill debated by the House of Commons, December 10th. The abolition of the slave-trade proposed in parliament. ^ Selim III. emperor of the Turks, April. The Assembly of the States-General opened at Paris, May 5th.—Beginning of the French revolution. They form themselves into the National Assembly, June 16th. The Bastile taken, and the governor massacred, July 14th. The princes of the blood and chief noblesse leave France, July. The king of France brought to Paris, accepts the declaration of the Rights of Man, October 6th. Decree for dividing France into eighty-three departments, October 30th. Monastic establishments suppressed in France, February 13th. Titles of nobility suppressed in France, February 24th. War commenced in India with Tippoo Sultan, May 1st. General confederation at Paris in the Champs de Mars, July 14. Leopold II. emperor of Germany. The king of France, with his family, escape from Paris, but are intercepted at Varennes, June 22nd. 1764. Ch. Churchill, poet, d. 1765. Dr. Ed. Young, poet, d. — Dr. Stukeley, ant. d. * — R. Simson, math. d. — Da. Mallet, poet, d. 1766. Dr. T. Birch, hist. d. — Dr. Sam. Chandler, d. — Dr. Ro. Whytt, phys. d. 1768. Laur. Sterne, d. — Dr. T. Seeker, abp. of Canterbury, d. — Ja. Short, opt. d. — Abbe Winkelman, d. 1769. R. Smith, math. d. 1770. Abbe Nollet, phil. d. — W. Guthrie, hist. d. — T. Chatterton, poet, d. — Dr. J. Jortin, d. — Dr. Mark Akenside, d. — Dr. Tobias Smollet, d. 1771. Th. Gray , poet, d. 1773. Ph. earl of Chesterfield, d. — G. Ld. Lyttelton, d. 1774. M. de laCondamine, d. — Ol. Goldsmith, poet, d. — Zach. Pearce, bishop of Rochester, d. — Hen. Baker, nat. phil. d. 1775. Dr. J. Hawkesworth, d. — Dr. Jo. Campbell, hist. d. 1776. Da. Hume, hist. d. — Ja. Fergusson, math. d. 1777. S. Foote, com. d. — W. Bowyer, prin. d. — Haller, phys. d. 1778. Jo. Gregory, M.D. d. 1778. Voltaire, d. — Dr. Linnaeus, nat. d. — J. J. Rousseau, d. 1779. D. Garrick, com. d. — Earl of Chatham, d. •— W. Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, d. — Dr. J. Armstrong, poet, d. 1780. Sir W. Blackstone, d. — Dr. Gaubius, d. — Sir J. Steuart, d. 1782. T. Newton, bishop of Bristol, d. — Metastasio, poet, d. — H. Home, Lord Kames, d. — Dr. William Hunter, d. 1783. D’Alembert, phil. d. — Euler, math. d. 1784. Dr. S. Johnson, d. — W. Whitehead, poet lau- reat, d. 1785. R. Burn, LL.D. d. — Rich. Glover, poet, d. 1786. Jonas Hanway, d. 1787. Bishop Lowth, d. — Soame Jenyns, d. — Dr. Edm. Law, ftp. of Car¬ lisle, d. — F. Sydenham, d. — D. Jo. Rotheram, d. — Dr. Abel, mus. d. — Ld. Pres. Dundas, d. — Ja. Stuart, F.R.S. d. — T. Gainsborough, paint, d. — T. Sheridan, d. — M. Savary, voy. d. — Count de Button, d. 1789. W. J. Mickle, poet. d. — Rev. Jo. Logan, poet, d. — J. Ledyard, trav. d. — Sir Jo. Hawkins, d. — Marq. de Mirabeau, d. — Vernet, paint, d. — Ld. Pres. Miller, d. 1790. Dr. Will. Cullen, phys. d. — Dr. Adam Smith, d. — Dr. Benj. Franklin, d. — John Howard, d. — Rev. T. Warton, poet laur eat, d. — General Roy, d. — Dr. W. Henry, hist. d. 1791. Rev. R. Price, LL.D. d. 184 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. a.c. 1791. Riots at Birmingham, July 14th. —- The king of France accepts the constitution, September 14th. 1792. Francis II. emperor of Germany. — Gustavus III., king of Sweden, assassinated by Ankerstroom, March 29th. — Gustavus IV. king of Sweden.—Duke of Sudermania Regent in his minority. — An armed mob forces the Thuilleries, and insults the king of France, June 20th. _ The Duke of Brunswick, with the combined armies of Austria and Prussia, arrives at Coblentz, July 3rd. _ The National Assembly decrees the country in danger, July 11th. _ Petion and the community of Paris demand the king’s deposition, August 3rd. _ The Thuilleries again attacked.—The king and queen of France take refuge in the National Assembly.—The Swiss guards massacred by the populace, August 10. — The royal authority suspended by the National Assembly, August 10. — The royal family imprisoned in the Temple, August 14th. — A dreadful massacre of the state prisoners at Paris, September 2nd and 3rd. — The National Convention is constituted, the king deposed, and France declared a republic, September 21st. — The republic decrees fraternity and assistance to all nations in the recovery of their liberty, November 19th. — Savoy incorporated with the French republic, November 27th. .— The Convention decrees the trial of Louis XVL, December 16th. — Louis XVI. brought to trial, answers each article of accusation, December 14th. 1793. Louis XVI, condemned to death by a majority of five voices, January 17th. — Louis XVL beheaded, January 21st. — The Alien Bill passed in the British House of Commons, January 24th. — Russia declares war against France, January 31st. — The French Convention declares war against England and Holland, February 1st. — Lyons declares for Louis XVII., February 28th. — Decree for the French people rising in a mass, August 20th. — Surrender of Toulon to Lord Hood’s fleet, August 28th. — Marie Antoinette, queen of France, condemned to death by the Convention, and beheaded the same day, October 15th. •— Brissot and the chiefs of the Girondist party guillotined. — Robespierre triumphant, November. — The English evacuate Toulon, December 19th. 1794. The Princess Elizabeth of France beheaded, May 12th. — The Habeas Corpus act suspended, May. — Lord Howe defeats the French fleet off Ushant, June 1st. — Robespierre, with his chief partizans, guillotined, July 28th. — Battle of Warsaw.—The Polish liberties destroyed, October 12th. — The Jacobin Club suppressed, October 18th. — Trials of Hardy, Tooke, Thelwall, &c. for treason, November. 1795. The Stadtholder takes refuge in England.—Holland over-run by the French, January. — Mr. Hastings’ trial ended, by his acquittal, April 22nd. — Lyons bombarded, laid in ruins, and all its loyal inhabitants massacred, May. — Louis XVII. died in prison at Paris, June 8th. — The Cape of Good Hope taken by the British forces under Sir J. H. Craig, Gen. Clarke, and Sir G. K. Elphinstone, September 16th. — Belgium incorporated with the French republic, September 30th. — Great disorders in Ireland, October, November, December. — Stanislaus II. resigns the crown of Poland.—The kingdom divided between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, November 25th. Ceylon taken by the British under General J. Stewart and Com. Ranier, February 15. 1796. The Count d’Artois, with his suite, take up their residence at Edinburgh, January 6th. — The East India Company votes an indemnification and recompense to Mr. Hastings, January. — The French over-run and plunder Italy. — Lord Malmesbury negotiates for peace at Paris, October 28th. — Death of Catharine II.—Paul emperor of Russia, November 17th. — Lord Malmesbury quits Paris, December 20th. 1797. A mutiny of the British fleet at Portsmouth and the Nore suppressed, May, June. — The Scots Militia Bill passed, July. — Negotiations at Lisle for a peace broken off. — The Dutch fleet beaten and captured by Lord Duncan, October 11th. 1798. The papal government suppressed by the French.—The pope quits Rome, February 26th. 1791. Dr. T. Blacklock, poet, d. — Rev. Jo. Wesley, d. — Fr. Grose, ant. d. — Cat. Macaulay, hist. d. — Prof. Michaelis, d. 1792. Dr. Born, miner, d. — Sir J. Reynolds, paint, d. — Will. Tytler, d. — Dr. Horne, bp, of Nor¬ wich, d. — Ro. Adam, arch. d. — John E. of Bute, d. — Sir Rich. Arkwright, d. — Sir Rob. Strange, engrav. d. — Lord Hales, d. •— John Smeaton, eng. d. 1793. Dr.W. Robertson, hist. d. — Mrs. Griffiths, nov. d. — Will. Earl of Mansfield, d. — Dr. T. Mudge, optic, d. — Will. Hudson, F.R.S. d. — Ld. Gardenstone, d. — Dr. J. Thomas, bp. of Ro¬ chester, d. — D. Serres.. paint, d. — Baron de Tott, i, — Rich. Tickell, d. — Lord Romney, F.R.S. d. — John Hunter, M.D. 1794. Edw. Gibbon, hist. d. — Earl of Camden, d. — Dr. Woodward, bishop of Cloyne, d. — Dr. Jo. Roebuck, d. — Charles Pigott, d. — Earl Bathurst, d. 1794. Geo. Colman, dram. d. — Card, de Bernis, d. — James Bruce, trav. d. 1795. Sir Will. Jones, d. — Rev. Dr. Al. Gerard, d. — James Boswell, d. — Will. Smellie, d. 1796. Rob. Burns, poet, d. — Jo. Anderson, F.R.S. d. I — Rev. Dr. G. Campbell, d. j — Rev. Dr. Ja. Fordyce, d. — Dr. Th. Reid, d. — Henry Flood, M.P. d. — Ja. Macpherson, d. 1797. Edm. Burke, d. — Wal. Minto, math. d. — Rev. Will. Mason, poet, d. — Dr. James Hutton, d. — Hor. Walpole, earl of Or- ford, d. — Dr. Tissot, d. — Jos. Wright, paint, d. — Dr. Rich. Farmer, d . — Dr. Enfield, d. ■ — C. Macklin, com. d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 185 A.C. 1798. 1799. 1800. 1801. 1802. 1803. 1804. 1805. Ireland in open rebellion, May, June, &c. Lord Nelson totally defeats the French fleet in the battle of the Nile, August 1st. The Swiss finally defeated, and theirindependence abolished, September 19th. The French fleet defeated, by Sir J. B. Warren, October 12th. A union with Ireland proposed in the British Parliament, January 22nd. The motion rejected by the Commons of Ireland, January 24th. Seringapatam taken bv General Harris and Sir David Baird, and Tippoo Sultan killed, May 4th. The French under Buonaparte defeated by Sir Sydney Smith, at Acre, May 21st. Expedition of the British troops against Holland, August. Death of Pope Pius VI., August 29th. The British troops evacuate Holland, November. A revolution at Paris.—Buonaparte declared First Consul, December 25th. U Pius VII. Pope. Vote of the Irish House of Commons agreeing to the union with Ireland, February 5th.—Similar vote of the House of Lords, 17th. Buonaparte defeats the Austrians in the battle of Marengo, in Italy, June 14th. Armistice between the French and Austrians in Germany, July 15th. The new Pope restored to'his government by the emperor, July 25th. Malta taken by the British forces, September 5th. First meeting of the imperial parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, January. Mr. Pitt resigns, after being minister eighteen years, February 9th.—Mr. Addington chancellor of the exchequer. Battle of Alexandria.—The French defeated and Sir Ralph Abercrombie killed, March 21st. The emperor Paul dethroned and put to death.—Alexander I. emperor of Russia, March 23rd. Battle of Copenhagen.—The Danish fleet taken and destroyed by Lord Nelson, April 3rd. Taking of Cairo by the British troops, May lltli. Alexandria surrendered to the British troops, August 27th. Preliminaries of Peace signed between Great Britain and France, Oct. 1st. Savoy made a department of France, Nov. 19th. Mutiny in admiral Mitchell’s fleet in Bantry Bay, January 15th. The Catholic religion re-established in France, March. The definitive treaty with France signed at Amiens, March 27th. Buonaparte elected chief consul for ten years, May. The parliament dissolved, June 20th. The king of Sardinia resigns his crown to his brother, July. Piedmont annexed to France, July. Buonaparte declared chief consul for life, July. The prince of Orange renounces the office of stadtholder, August. Paswan Oglow submits to the Porte, November. A new parliament meets.—Mr. Abbot elected speaker of the Commons, November 16th. Switzerland finally subdued by the French. Execution of colonel Despard for high treason, February. The militia of the United Kingdom called out and embodied, March. The emperor of Germany ratifies the new organization of Germany, April. Dissolution of the peace with France. — Lord Whitworth, ambassador, quits Paris, May. The French seize Hanover, June 4th. Insurrection in Dublin.—Habeas Corpus suspended, and martial law pro¬ claimed, July. Treaty between Great Britain and Sweden, August. Defeat of Row Scindia and Berar Rajah at Ajunty pass, by general Wellesley. The British troops enter Delhi, and the great mogul puts himself under the protection of general Lake, September. Murder of the duke d’Enghien by order of Buonaparte, March 15th. Mr. Pitt resumes his situation as prime minister May 20th. Napoleon Buonaparte proclaimed emperor of the French, May 20th. Dessalines in St. Domingo declares himself emperor of Hayti, October. The pope arrives at Fontainebleau, and has an interview with Buonaparte, November. The Spaniards declare war against Great Britain, January. Union of the Genoese or Ligurian republic with France declared, February. Buonaparte assumes the title of king of Italy, March. Impeachment of Lord Melville, which terminated in his complete acquittal. Defeat of the Spanish fleet by Sir Robert Calder, July. Lord Nelson defeats the fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar.—Takes twenty sail, and is killed in the engagement, October 2ist. Sir R. Strachan takes four French ships of the line off Cape Ortegal, Nov. 4th. 1798. Duke de Ninervois, d. — Dan. Webb, d. — Dr. Edw. Waring, d. — J. Z. Holwell, d. — P. F. Suhm, d. — W. Wale, F.R.S., d. — J. Reinh. Foster, d. — J. H. Artzenius, d. — J. P. Pancton, d. — Rev. C. M. Cracherode.d. — L. Galvani, d. — Will. Seward, F.R.S. d. — C. Borda, d. — Rev. Jos. Tucker, d. 1799. Will. Melmoth, d. — Lord Monboddo, d. — Dr. Ch. Morton, F.R.S. d. — Jo. Strange, LL.D. d. — Jos. Towers, LL.D. d. — Dr. Joseph Black, d. 800. Bryan Edwards, d. — Hon. Daines Barring¬ ton, d. — Will. Cruickshank, anat. dm — J. B. le Roy, d. — C. Girtanner, d. — W. Cowper, poet , d. •— J. S. Montucla, d. — Rev. Jos.Warton,poef, d. — Dr. D. Lysons, d. — P. A. Guys, d. — Rev. Will. Tasker, d. — Dr. W. Brownrigg, d. — M. Mallet du Pan, d. — Rev. W. Thomas, d. — J. Bapt. Munos, d. — Rev. Dr. H. Blair, d. — M. de Guignes, d. — Rev. Jas. Macknight, d. 1801. Sir Geo. Staunton, d. — Ro. Orme, hist. d. — C. Lavater, d. — T. Malton, math. d. — Dr. W. Heberden, d. — Rev. W. Drake, d. — Prof. Jo. Millar, d. — Gilb. Wakefield, d. 1802. Arth. O’Leary, d. — Earl of Clare, d. — Welbore Ellis, d. — Lord C. J. Kenyon, d. — M. de Calonne, d. — Erasmus Darwin,M.D.rf. — John Moore, M.D. d. 1803. Earl of Bristol, bp. of Derby, d. — Dr. James Beattie, d. — Dr. John Erskine, D.D.d. — Joseph Priestley,LL.D.d. 1804. Admiral Lord Duncan, d. — Rev. Rob. Potter, d. 1805. Earl of Roslyn, (Lord Chancellor,) d. — Prof. John Robison, LL.D. d. — Arthur Murphy, poet, d. — Will. Paley, D.D. d. — Jas. Currie, M.D. d. — Patrick Russel, M.D. d. — John Clark, M.D. d. — Prof. J. F. Gmelin, d. — M. Julien, sculp, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 186 AC. 1805. The French defeat the Austro-Russian army at Austerlitz, December 2nd. 1806. Death of William Pitt, January 23rd.—His debts discharged, and a statue decreed to his memory at the public expence. — Admiral Duckworth captures and destroys five Frenjh ships of the line, February 6th. — Louis Buonaparte proclaimed king of Holland, June 5th. — The House of Lords concurs with the Commons in the resolutions for abolishing the slave trade, June. — Sir John Stuart defeats the French under Regnier at Maida in Calabria, J uly. — Surrender of Buenos Ayres to general Beresford and Sir Home Popham, July. — French squadron of five frigates defeated and captured by Sir Samuel Hood, September. — Death of Charles James Fox, September 13th. — Rupture of the negotiation for peace with France, and return of earl Lauderdale, October. — Parliament dissolved and a new one called, October 24th. — The French defeat the Prussians in the great battle of Jena, which annihi¬ lates the Prussian power, October 14th. — Hamburgh occupied by the French under Mortier, November. — Buonaparte declares the British Isles in a state of blockade, November. — Recapture of Buenos Ayres by the Spaniards. —■ The slave trade abolished by act of parliament, February. 1807. The king changes the ministry.—Mr. Perceval Chancellor of the Ex¬ chequer, March. — Parliament dissolved after a session of only four months, April. — Dantzic taken by the French, May. — Revolution at Constantinople, sultan Selim deposed, and sultan Mustapha proclaimed, May. — Battle of Friedland.—Russians defeated by the French, June 14th. — Peace signed at Tilsit between France, Russia, and Prussia, June. — The Turkish fleet defeated in the Archipelago by the Russian, July. •— Copenhagen bombarded, and all the Danish fleet surrendered to the British, September 7th, under lord Cathcart and admiral Gambier. — The British evacuate South America, September. — The British troops evacuate Egypt, October. — The prince regent and royal family of Portugal embark for Brazil, Novem¬ ber 29th. •— The island of Madeira surrenders to Great Britain in trust for Portugal, December. 1808. The French prohibit all commerce with Great Britain, January. — A new French nobility created by Buonaparte, January. — The French troops enter Rome, and seize the pope’s dominions, February. — Frederick VI. king of Denmark, March. — Charles IY. abdicates the crown of Spain in favour of his son Ferdinand VII., March 19th. — The French under Murat enter Madrid, March 23rd. — British goods prohibited to be imported into Russia, April. — Ferdinand VII. is compelled to renounce the throne of Spain, and is sent with the royal family to Paris.—Murat declared lieutenant-general of Spain.—The Junta of Seville declares war against France, May. — Joseph Buonaparte proclaimed king of Spain, June 16th. — The Portuguese arm against the French.—The Spanish patriots solicit aid from Great Britain, June. — ^ The grand signior Mustapha deposed.—Mahomet VI. Turkish emperor, July 28th. — Battle of Vimiera in Portugal.—The French under Junot defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley, August 21st. — Convention at Cintra, August 30th. —• Conference held at Erfurth between the Russian emperor Alexander and Buonaparte, September 27th. — The ports of Holland shut against Britain, November 27th. 1809. Battle of Corunna.—The French defeated.—Sir John Moore killed.—The British army re-embark for England, January 16th. —. The duke of York accused before the commons of malversation in office as commander-in-chief.—Acquitted, March 17th. —i Gustavus king of Sweden deposed, March 13th. — The French fleet in Basque Roads destroyed by lord Cochrane, April 12th. —. The Austrians defeated by the French in the battles of Ratisbon and Eckmuhl, April 20th, 23rd. — Senegal surrendered to the British, July 20th. — The battle of Talavera, in which the French are defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley, July 27th. — The island of Walcheren taken by the British, July 31st.—Evacuated, November 24th. — The fiftieth anniversary of the king’s reign celebrated as a jubilee, Oct. 25th. 1806. E. Edwards, d. — Prof. And. Dalzel, d. 1807- N. Des Enfans, d. — Geo. Atwood, d. — John Lockman, D.D. d. 1808. Bp. Rich. Hurd, d. — Alex. Dalrymple, geog. d. — Rev. John Brand, d. —. Dr. Alex. Hunter, M.D. d. 1809. J. Von Muller, hist. d. — Alex. Adam, LL.D. d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 187 A.C. 1809. The French fleet in the Mediterranean defeated by lord Collingwood, Oct. 1810. Buonaparte divorces the empress Josephine, January 16th. — Amboyna surrenders to a British squadron, January 17th. — A French decree was issued, uniting Rome to France, February 17th. — Guadaloupe, the last of the French West India islands, surrenders to the British, March 5th. — Marriage of Buonaparte with princess Maria Louisa of Austria, April 1st. — Sir Francis Burdett committed to the Tower for a libel on the House of Commons, April 5th. —. An attempt made to assassinate the duke of Cumberland. Sellis, the duke’s valet, found with his throat cut, May 31st. — Louis Buonaparte abdicates the throne of Holland, July 1st. — The isle of Bourbon taken by the British, July 8th. — Holland united to the French empire, July 9th. — Bernadotte chosen crown prince of Sweden, August 21st. — Murat’s army in Sicily defeated by General J. Campbell, September 18th. — Battle of Busaco.—The French defeated by lord Wellington, Sept. 27th. — The first meeting of the Cortes in Spain since the usurpation of Buonaparte, September 28th. —. All British merchandize burnt in France, October 19th. — His majesty afflicted with a similar indisposition to that with which he was confined in 1788; and the same announced to both Houses of Parliament, November 1st. — The deposed Gustavus of Sweden arrived in England, November 14th. — Isle of France captured by general Abercromby and admiral Bertie, December 3rd. — Lucien Buonaparte and his family arrived in this country from Malta, December 13th. 1811. A deputation from the Lords and Commons waited on the prince of Wales, with an address, praying his royal highness to accept of the regency, under certain limitations and restrictions, January 10th. — Parliament opened by commission under the great seal, January 15th. — Dreadful massacre in Cairo, in which about 1600 Mamelukes lost their lives, March 1st. — Battle of Barrosa.—The French defeated by general Graham, March 5th. —. The empress of France, Maria Louisa, delivered of a son, who is styled king of Rome, March 20th. — Island of Anholt attacked by a Danish force of nearly 4000 men ; but are repulsed by a British force of 150 men, under captain Maurice, leaving behind them 500 prisoners, March 27th. — Battle of Albuera.—The French under Soult defeated by general Beresford, with the loss of 9000 men, May 16th. — Eruption of a volcano in the sea, off the Island of St. Michael, June. From the excessive heat in July, conflagrations took place in the forests of the Tyrol, by which sixty-four villages with 10,000 head of cattle were destroyed, and about 24,000 persons deprived of habitations. — The Indo-French island of Java capitulated to the British arms, Aug. 8th. — Feudal rights abolished in Spain, August 19th. — A comet appeared in England, September 1st. —. A fire at Emanuel College, Cambridge; loss estimated at 20,000/., October 14th. — Serious riots at Nottingham; journeymen weavers destroying articles of machinery which diminished the demand for labour, Nov. 16th. — Dreadful murders of two families (Marr and Williamson) near Ratcliffe Highway, December 8th and 20th. 1812. Ciudad Rodrigo taken by storm, January 19th, by Lord Wellington, who is thereupon created duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. — Mr. Walsh, a stock-broker and M.P. for Wotton-Basset, having embezzled about 15,000/., the property of Sir Thomas Plomer, was expelled the House of Commons, March 5th. — Destructive earthquake at Caraccas, &c., March 26th. — Badajoz taken by storm, April 6th. — Dreadful eruption of a Volcano at St. Vincent’s, April 30th. — The Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of Great Britain, was assassinated in the House of Commons by John Bellingham, May 11th. •— Battle of Salamanca, July 22nd ; on the receipt of the intelligence of which there were general illuminations in London three successive nights. — Madrid captured by the British, August 12th. — Smolensko entered by the French, August 18th. — The siege of Cadiz raised by the French, August 25tb. — Seville captured by the British, August 27th. — Battle of Moskwa, September 7th. — The French entered Moscow (three quarters of which, however, the Rus¬ sians had previously destroyed by fire), September 14tb. _ The new Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened October 10th. — General Brock defeated the American army in Canada, with the loss of his own life, October 13th. 1810. W. Windham, d. •—. Admiral lord Colling¬ wood, d. — Bishop of Elphin, d. — Queen of Prussia, d. — Princess Amelia, d. — The Countess de Lille, (wife of Louis X VIII.) d. — Richard Porson, d. 1811. Marquisof Romana,c/. — Duke of Albuquerque, d. — Richard Cumberland, dramatic and miscell. writer, d. — Lord Melville, d. — Dr. Percy, bishop of Dromore. — Prince George of Brunswick, d. — Rev. James Grahame, poet , d. — John Leyden, M.D. d. — Albanis Beaumont, trav. d. — Admiral Sir Peter Parker, d. ■— Matth. Raine, D.D. d. — P. S. Pallas, M.D. d. II. R. Reynolds, M.D. d. Dr..Alex. Anderson, d. C. B. Trye, F.R.S. d. Field Marshal Count Wal- mode Gimborn, d. 1812. General Sir J. H. Craig, K.B. d. — Edward Hasted, hist. d. — Theoph. Jones, hist. d. — Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, d. — M. Garthshore, M.D., d. — John Horne Tooke, d. — P. J. de Loutherburg, d. — Robert Willan, M.D. d. — Right Hon. Spencer Perceval. —. Dr. Dampier, Bp. of Ely, d. — Edmond Malone, d. — Rev. Lewis Dutens, d. — C. S. Sonnini, d. — Admiral de Winter, d. — Rd. Kirwan, F.R.S. d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 188 AC. 1812. The passage of the Berezyna cost the French 20,000 men, November 28th. — The prince regent opened the session of parliament in person, Nov. 30th. —. A 29th bulletin of the French army, presenting a dreadful picture of their sufferings in the retreat from Russia, is dated Molodetchno, Dec. 3rd. — Buonaparte arrives in Paris at midnight, December 18th, having quitted his defeated and ruined army in Russia, and travelled incog. 1813. A declaration issued by the British government respecting the causes and origin of the war with America, January 9th. — A concordat was signed at Fontainbleau, between Buonaparte and the pope, Pius VII., January 25th. — The Count de Lille (Louis XVIII.) published an address to the people of France, February 1st. — The Russian troops entered Hamburgh, March 18th. — A treaty of alliance is formed between Russia and Prussia, March. — Buonaparte again left Paris for the seat of war, April 15th. — A decree of the Spanish Cortes for abolishing the Inquisition in Spain, was carried into effect, April. — Battle of Lutzen, May 2. — An official statement bv the Russian Government estimates the loss of the French and their allies, in their invasion of Russia, as follows :—killed, twenty-four generals, 2000 staff and other officers, 204,400 rank and file; prisoners, forty-three generals, 3441 staff and other officers, 233,222 rank and file; taken 1131 pieces of cannon, sixty-three pairs of colours and standards, one marshal’s staff, about 100,000 muskets, and about 27,000 ammunition waggons. The horrible sufferings of the French army in its disastrous retreat from Russia, by the effects of the frost, may be inferred from the statement, that in the three governments of Moscow, Witepsk, and Mohilo'W, 253,000 dead bodies, and in the city of Wilna and its environs 53,000 had been burned so early as the 27th of March. — The regency of Spain issued a manifesto against the pope’s nuncio in Spain (Peter Gravina, archbishop of Nicea), who, by secret letters to the bishops and chapters, had endeavoured to excite them to refuse publishing in their respective dioceses the law abolishing the Inquisition, April 23rd. — Occupation of Hamburgh by the French, May. — Battle of Vittoria in Spain; in which the marquis of "Wellington totally defeated the French army under Joseph Buonaparte and marshal Jourdan, with immense loss. — The prince of Orange arrived with despatches from lord Wellington, an¬ nouncing the total defeat of marshal Soult in Spain, with the loss of 15,000 men, and his retreat into France, August 16th. — St. Sebastian taken by storm, August 31st. — Great battles fought at Dresden; in which general Moreau was mortally wounded, September 4th and 5th. — Despatches from lord Wellington detailing his entrance into France, Oct. 18th. — Leipsic taken, October 19th. Buonaparte, who commanded in person, lost upwards of 80,000 men and 180 pieces of cannon. —. Fall of Pampeluna, October 31st. — Intelligence received of a counter-revolution in Holland, November 21st. — News arrived of the surrender of Dresden by marshal St. Cyr, with 25,000 men, November 25th. 1814. A fair on the Thames, the surface being frozen over above the bridges, February 4th. — The allied sovereigns entered Paris, March 31st. — The immediate return of the house of Bourbon invited, April 5th. — Louis XVIII. king of France . —. Buonaparte embarked at Frejus for Elba, April 28th. — The king of France made his entry into Paris, May 3rd. — Peace between England and France signed at Paris, May 30th. — The allied Sovereigns entertained at London, June 8th. — The restoration of the Inquisition proclaimed at Cadiz, in the name of Fer¬ dinand VII., July 18th. — A grand jubilee festival and fair in Hyde Park, which continued twelve days, August 1st. — Pope Pius VII. issued a bull for re-establishing the order of the Jesuits, August 7th. — The princess of Wales embarked for the Continent, August 9th. — Union of Norway to Sweden, August 14th. •— Federal compact of the Swiss Cantons concluded and accepted, Aug. 16th. — Peace proclaimed between France and Spain, August 20th. —. The city of Washington taken, and'the public buildings destroyed, by the British army under general Ross, August 24th. •—< The duke of Wellington presented to Louis XVIII. as ambassador from Great Britain, August 24th. — Arrival of different sovereigns at Vienna, to form a congress, Sept. 26th. — Great disturbances in Spain ; general Mina, at the head of four of his bat¬ talions, attempted to take Pampeluna, but was unsuccessful, and fled to France, September 26th. 1812. 1813. 1814. Dr. C. L. Willdenouw, hot. d. Christopher Gotlieb Heyne, d. Gen. Vallancey, d. Edw. Jerningham, d. Prince Kaunitz, d. Earl of Tyrconnel, d. Baron G. A. Nolken,<7. A. F. Tytler, lord Woodhouselee, d. Count Zinzendorf, d. Duchess of Brunswick, d. N. Schiavonetti, engr. d. General Fitzpatrick, d. Vice-admiral Ben- tinck, d. Prince of Smolensko, (General Kutusoff,) d. April 28th. Iffland, the German actor and dramatist, d. W. Hutchinson, topog. d. Dr. Charles Burney, hist, of rmisic, d. Dr. J. White, Heb. and Arab. prof. d. Prince de Ligne, d. Tho.Thornton, trav. d. Cha. Dibdin, d. Sir Busick Harwood, d. Arch. Maclaurin, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 189 A.c. 1814. Charles XIII. king of Sweden, proclaimed king of Norway by the diet at Christiania, November 4th. — The first meeting of the assembly of the kingdom of Hanover was opened by the duke of Cambridge, December 15th. — Treaty of peace between England and America signed at Ghent, December 24t*h. 1815. The prince regent conferred the Order of the Bath (divided into three classes, differing in degrees of rank, viz., Knights Grand Crosses, Knights Commanders, and Knights Companions) on the officers who had served in the Peninsula, January 2nd. —• Buonaparte sailed from Elba, February 26th, and landed with 1000 men at Cannes, between Frejus and Antibes, March 1st. — Buonaparte took possession of Paris, March 21st. — Riots in London, occasioned by the Corn Bill, March 6th. — The prince of Orange proclaimed king of the Netherlands, March. — Marshal Ney formed a junction with Buonaparte, March 22nd. — The Abercrombie, East Indiaman, wrecked off Portland: crew lost, March 26th. — Buonaparte made an overture of peace to this country, April 4th. —. The emperor of Austria proclaimed himself king of Lombardy and Venice, April 15th. — Buonaparte left Paris to meet the forces of the allies, May 2nd. — The three legations restored to the pope, May 29th. — Memorable Battle of Waterloo, June 17th, 18th. — The king of Sicily re-entered Naples (Joachim Murat having fled) after an absence of nine years, June 18th. — Paris capitulated with the allied powers, July 3rd. — Louis XVIII. re-entered Paris, July 8th. —. Buonaparte went on board the Bellerophon, and gave himself up to captain Maitland, July 16th, and the next day sailed for England. —. The Bellerophon arrived in Torbay, July 24th. — Gazette account of the dethronement of the king of Candy, and the entire submission of Ceylon to the British, August 1st. —. Buonaparte removed from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland, com¬ manded by Sir George Cockburn (who sailed the next day bound to St. Helena), August 7th. — The allied sovereigns entertained by Louis XVIII., September 13th. — Joachim Murat (late king of Naples) shot at Pizzo, October 13th. —. Buonaparte landed at St. Helena, October 13th. — Treaties of generkl peace signed at Paris, November 20th. — Frederick William I. king of Wirtemberg died. 1816. St. John’s, Newfoundland, destroyed by fire, February 10th. — The property tax expired, April 5th. —. Princess Charlotte of Wales married to prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg, at Carlton House, May 2nd. — Massacre of the Christians at Bona by 2000 Turks and Moors, May 23rd. — Princess Mary married to the duke of Gloucester, July 22nd. — Eruption of Mount Vesuvius preceded by an earthquake, August 7th. — Lord Exmouth’s victory at Algiers, by which he abolished Christian slavery, August 27th. — Riots in London, December 2nd. 1817. The prince regent went in state to open the session : great tumult in St. James’s Park, January 28th. — New silver coinage issued by government, February 13th. — James Munroe, Esq., president of the United States of America, March 4tli. — Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, March 7th—{repealed* Jan. 31st, 1818). —. Fortress of Hattrass, in the East Indies, captured, March. — Province of Pernambuco, in South America, declared itself independent of the crown of Brazil, April 5th. — The Portuguese sovereignty re-established in Pernambuco, May 18th. — Conspiracy at Lisbon, headed by general Gomez Freire de Andrade, May. — The Waterloo Bridge opened by the prince regent and the dukes of York and Wellington, June 18th. — Watson, senior, Thistlewood, Preston, and Hooper, tried for high treason, and acquitted, June 9th. At Gloucester the thermometer stood at noon, in the shade, at 103°, June 21st. — A proclamation issued, ordering the new gold coin called a sovereign, to pass current at 20s. July 5th. — The dey of Algiers assassinated, September. — Dreadful hurricane in the West Indies, October 21st. — The princess Charlotte of Wales and of Saxe-Coburg died in child-birth, having been delivered of a still-born child, November 6th. — Defeat of the Peishwah, at the head of 10,000 troops, by the British forces in India, November. — The Rajah of Nagpore entirely defeated by the British.—Termination of the war in India, December 17th. 1815. Sam.Whitbread, M.P. d. — Duke of St. Albans, d. — Duke of Norfolk, d. — Wm. Nicholson, en¬ gineer , d. — J. C. Lettsom, M.D. philanth. d. — Rev. Claudius Bu¬ chanan, D.D. d. — Smithson Tennant, chemist , c(.. — F. Abington, actress, d. ■—• J. P. Malcolm, antiq. d. — J ames W are, oculist , d. — W. Harrison, discov. of longitude, d. — Rev. Dr. William Vin¬ cent, geographer and classic , d. 1816. Rich. Brinsley Sheri¬ dan, d. — Mr. Tomkins, the cele¬ brated penman , d. — Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, d. — Earl Stanhope, philos. chemist , <| c. d. — AdamFerguson,LL.D. moral philos. d. — Dr. Watson, bishop of Llandaff, d. — Paesiello,mws. comp.*/. — Eliz. Hamilton, d. — Cha. Taylor, M.D. d. 1817. The duke of Marl¬ borough, d. — William Thomson, LL.D. d. — Charles Combe, M.D. F.R.S. and F.S.A.rf. — Marshal Massena, prince of Essling, d. — Cardinal Maury, d. — Werner, mineral, d. — George Ponsonby, d. — The duke of North¬ umberland, d. — Mad. de Stael Hol¬ stein, d, — Admiral Sir J. T. Duckworth, d. — J. P. Curran, d. — Kosciusko, the hero of Poland, d. —■ J. A. de Luc, F.R.S. physician and philo¬ sopher , d. — R. L. Edgeworth, d. — Dr. Charles Burney, classic , d. — Geo. Anderson, botan¬ ist, d. — Rev. W. Beloe, trans. d. — J. Carter, F.S.A. archit. d. — Sir G. Earle, F.R.S. d. — Alex. Monro, M.D. d. — Pere Elysee, surgeon , A.C. 3 818. 1819. 1820. 1821 . The king of Spain prohibits the slave-trade north of the line in Africa, January 4th. An extraordinary meteor at Toulouse, which discharged atmospheric stones, January 27th. Charles XIII. king of Sweden died, February 20th. A very destructive hurricane in London, throughout England, and in various parts of Europe, continuing from eight in the evening till after midnight, March 4th. Princess Elizabeth married to Philip Aug. Frederick, hereditary prince of Hesse Horn berg, April 7th. Treaty between Great Britain and the Netherlands for abolishing the slave- trade, May 4th. Imprisonment for debt abolished in the State of New York, June 12th. The duke of Clarence married to the princess of Saxe-Meiningen, July 13th. The duke of Kent married to a princess of Saxe-Coburg, July 13th. The son of Napoleon created duke of Reichstadt by the emperor of Austria, July 22nd. The thermometer at 121° in the sun, at three o’clock, p.m. July 23rd., and 2° above fever heat July 25th. A greater degree of heat than had been experienced for the last four years, August. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle signed for the evacuation of France by the allied armies, October 9th. The Dorothea and Trent arrive in the river from their unsuccessful expedi¬ tion towards the North Pole, October 24th. Her majesty queen Charlotte died at Kew palace, November 17th. The Isabella and Alexander discovery ships arrive at Deptford, after an unsuccessful attempt to explore a north-west passage, November 20th. The queen of Spain died suddenly, December 2oth. Maria Theresa of Parma, queen of Charles 1Y. of Spain, died at Rome, January 4th. Charles IV. of Spain died, January 26th. Kotzebue, the dramatist, assassinated at Manheim, by a student at Wirtz- burg, named Sandt, April 2nd. Wager of battle abolished, June 5th. A dreadful earthquake near Poonah, in the East Indies, which swallowed up a considerable district, and more than 2000 persons, June 16th. Numerous meetings held about this time for parliamentary reform, annual parliaments, and universal suffrage, June 23rd. A steam vessel arrived from America, July 15th. The heat of the w r eather so great at Vienna, Bagdad, and other places, that several persons dropped down dead in the streets, July 31st. Congress on the affairs of Europe at Carlsbad, August 1st. Great meeting of radical reformers at Manchester dispersed by yeomanry cavalry, whereby five or six persons lost their lives, and more than one hundred were wounded, August 16th. Great distress from the extreme severity of the weather, December 31st. Commencement of a revolution in Spain. January 1st.—Proclamation of the Cortes of 1812. The thermometer fell to 9° of Fahrenheit in London, to 4° at Elt.ham, to 1° at Tottenham, and was at Blackheath below zero, January 15th. The duke of Kent, son of Geo. III. (father of QueenVictoria) died, Jan. 23rd. (GJfOl'tJC IV., king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, January 29th. Duke de Berri assassinated, February 13th. The Cato-street plot, February 23rd. Inquisition suppressed in Spain.—Massacre by the military, March 10th. The king of Spain swears to the constitution of 1812, March 25. Commencement of the revolution at Naples (Carbonari), May 15th. Bill of Pains and Penalties against Caroline, the queen consort of George IV., brought in July. Cortes opened by Ferdinand VII., July 9th. Great eclipse of the sun, September 7th. Constitutional junta in Portugal, October 1st. Treaty ratified, whereby Florida is ceded to the United States of North America. A fire at Canton, in China, which destroyed 15,000 houses and 500 people, March 3rd. Caraccas taken by the independents, May 13th. Great disturbances in Ireland, May and June A revolution in Brazil, January 1st. Austrian army occupies Naples, January. Insurrection in Moldavia and Wallachia, which is joined by the Greeks, March. Disturbances in Piedmont. The Greek patriarch put to death at Constantinople, April. The Bank resumed cash payments, May 8th. 1818. Prince of Conde, d. — Platoff, hetman of Cos¬ sacks, d. — Hon. Warren Hast¬ ings, d. — Sir Sam. Romilly, d. —. Lord Ellenborough, d. — Sir Philip Francis, poli¬ tic. d. — Wm. Marshall, agri¬ cult. d. — Burckhardt, African trav. d. — H. Repton, landsc. gard. d. — Dr. Robert Beatson, histor. d. — JohnGifford, politic, d. —. Sir Herbert Croft, d. .— Sir Thomas Bernard, philanth. d. — Rev. John Hayter, antiq. d. — M. G. Lewis, novelist , d. — Dr. T. Cogan, trav. d. — Pat. Brydone, trav. d. 1819. Malcolm Laing, hist.d. — Dr. Wolcot (Peter Pindar), poet, d. — Sydenham Edwards, hot. d. — Dr. John Playfair, math. d. — Sam.Lysons, F.R. and A.SS. antiq. d. — James Forbes, F.R.S. oriental mem. d. — Prince Blucher, d. — Sir Walter Farquhar, phys. d. — Dr. Pugh, miscel. d. —. John Bowles, politic.d. — Dr Cyril Jackson, d. — M. Brunton,wrreZ. d. — Dr. O. Schwartz, hot.d. — F. H. Jacobi, German phil. d. —. Sir A. Piggott, d. | — Edw. Bird, paint, d. 1 1820. J. Stackhouse, F.L.S. hot. d. — B. West, pres. R. A. d. — Dr. Isaac Milner, d. — Dr. T. Brown, d. — Sir Joseph Banks, pres. R. S. d. — Hen. Andrews, astron. d. — R. Miles, numism. d. — Rev. Rogers Ruding, numism. d. — J. Bell, surgeon , d. —. Rev. W. Tooke, biog. d. — W. Hayley, poet, d. — Rev. T. Scott, d. — Dr. Trusler, miscel. d. — P. Dollond, opt. d. — Rev. Dr. Haweis, d. — Prof. Von Feinagle, d. — Dr. John Murray, cliem. d. .—i Sir Home Popham, d. — Tallien, revol. d. 1821. Mrs. Piozzi, d. — Mr. Bonnycastle, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 191 AC. 1821. Napoleon Buonaparte died at St. Helena, May 5th. — The king of Portugal returned to Lisbon, July 4th. — Caroline the queen consort of George IY. died, August 7th. — Austrian troops occupy Sardinia, July. — The Spanish part of St. Domingo declares its independence, December 1st. 1822. The Greeks declare themselves free. — Constantine, the gi’and duke of Russia, renounces his right of succession, Jan. 26th. — The prince royal of Brazil sends back the Portuguese troops, and institutes a representative government, February. — Sitting of the ordinary Cortes at Madrid, March 1st. — The United States of North America acknowledge the independence of the South Americans, March. — Don Augustin Iturbide made emperor of Mexico, May 21st. — Massacres in Madrid, July 2nd. — Victories by the Greeks at Larissa, Thermopylae, and Salonica, July. — Army of the Faith in Spain, August 14th. — The king of Portugal swears to the new constitution, October 1st. — Independence of Brazil; the prince regent proclaimed emperor, October. —. Congress at Verona. Great distress in Ireland, with great disturbances. — Death of lord Londonderry (late Castlereagh), August 12th. — Canning appointed secretary of state, September 17th. 1823. The Spanish Cortes reject the mediation of foreign powers. — Removal of the king of Spain to Seville, thence to Cadiz, March. — French army enter Spain, April 7th, and Madrid, May 23rd. — Iturbide, emperor of Mexico, dethroned, May 21st. — The king of Portugal suppresses the constitution, June 5th. — The French invest Cadiz. — Guatemala declares herself independent of Spain and Mexico, which inde¬ pendence is acknowledged by Mexico, July 20th. — Battle of the Trocadero before Cadiz, August 31st, — Riego put to death at Madrid. — The Spanish revolution terminates in favour of the king of Spain, who abolishes all the proceedings of the Cortes since 1820, Sept, and Oct. — Proclamation of the Mexican constitution by the president Vittoria, and alliance made between Columbia and Mexico: Great Britain sends consuls to the new states, whose independence was subsequently acknow¬ ledged by treaties of commerce. — Insurrection act in force in Limerick, Kerry, and Cork. — Captain Parry returned from the Arctic Seas, October 23rd. — Leo XII. pope. 1824. English troops defeated by the Ashantees, January 21st. — Congress of Peru appoint Bolivar dictator, February 10th. — War declared against the Burmese by the governor-general of India, Mar. 5. — Outbreaks in Lisbon ; don Miguel departs April 30th, May 9th. — The English take Rangoon, May 5th. — Commercial treaty between Great Britain and Denmark, June 16th. — Iturbide, ex-emperor of Mexico, having effected a landiag near Soto la Marina, is captured and shot, July 19th. — Ashantees driven from Cape Coast castle. — Charles X. king of France. — Sea fight between Turks and Greeks, near Mitylene and Scio, in which the former were worsted, October 6th. — Provisional government in Greece. — Hurricane on coasts of England, Holland, and northern coasts, Nov. 19th. — The Turks evacuate Moldavia.—Anarchy in Greece, November. 1825. Ferdinand IV., king of Naples, died; succeeded by his son Francis I., Jan. — Mr. Adams elected president for four years of the United States, March 4. — Domingo decreed independent by the king of France, April 17th. — The Greeks defeated by the Egyptians, near Forgi, April 19tli. — The Greeks, being hard pressed by Ibrahim Pasha, seek the protection of England, July 24th. — The Greek fleet foi’ces the Ottoman squadi'on to quit the latitude of Misso- longhi, August 4th. — The provinces of Upper Peru declare their independence, and take the name of the Bolivian Republic, August 29th. — Nicholas emperor of Russia, November 1st. — The Burmese defeated near Prome by general Campbell. — Great commercial distress and panic. —Numerous failures of bankers, Dec. 1826. War between Brazil and Buenos Ayres. — Bhurtpore stormed by the English troops under lord Combermere, Jan. 3rd. — Peru evacuated by the Spaniards, who had also left Mexico in the preceding November, January. _ Treaty of navigation concluded between Great Britain and France, Jan. 26. _ The Greeks dispersed the Ottoman fleet.—Missolonghi re-victualled, January 28th. 1821. Rev. Vicesimus Knox, d. — Mrs. Inchbald, d. — Francis Hargrave, lawyer and ant. d. — J. Rennie, eng. d. 1822. Dr. E. 1). Clarke, d. — Canova, sculp, d. — Dr. Middleton, bishop of Calcutta, d. — Rev. Dr. Whitaker, antiq. d. — C. J. Rich (ancient Babylon ), d. —. Sir W. Herschel, as- tron. d. — P. B. Shelley, poet, d. — Count Berthollet, chem. d. — J. P. Smith, lawyer , d. — Sir W. D. Evans, lawyer, d. — Rev. Dr. Kipling, d. — J. Emery, coined, d. — Mad. Buonaparte, d. — General Cosby, d. 1823. J. Nollekens, R.A. statuary , d. — J. Aikin, M.D. d. — E. Jenner, M.D. d. — R. Woodeson, lawyer, d. — Dr. Hutton, math. d. — J. P. Kemble, actor , d. — Earl St. Vincent, d. — Lord Glenbervie. — W. Playfair, pamph¬ leteer, d. ■— Gen. Dumourier, d. — Mrs. Radcliffe, nov. d. — W. Coombe, miscel. d. —• M. de Lalande, trav. d. — M. Baillie, M.D. d. 1824. T. E. Bowdich, Afri¬ can traveller , d. ■— Lord Byron, d. — Baron Maseres,?K«^.(7. — Lacretelle, math. d. —• Marco Botzari, Greek patriot , d. — G. Mills, medallist , d. — J. Davy, mus. com. d. — L, M. Langles, Orien¬ talist, d. — G. Belzoni, trav. d. — Rev. T. Maurice, In¬ dian antiq. d. — Sophia Lee, novelist, d. — R. Payne Knight, antiq. d. .— — Oxberry, coined, d. — T. Keith, math. d. — Rev. J. J. Conybeare, arclueol. d. — Major Cartwright, re- farmpr fl 1825. Mrs. Barbauld, d. — Dr. Parr, d. — Rev. R. C. Maturin, novelist , d. — Dr. Tilloch, d. — Baron Denon, antiq. Egypt, d. — Rev. Prof. Martyn, hot. d. — Dr. A. Rees, cyclop, d. — G. Chalmers, biog. d. A.C. 1826. 1827. 1828. Peace between the English and Burmese, who paid a million sterling, and ceded a great extent of territory. Death of John VI., titular emperor of the Brazils and king of Portugal.— Pedro IV. succeeded, and gave a charter to Portugal, and appointed a regency on April 26th ; on the 2nd of May he abdicated in favour of his daughter Donna Maria da Gloria. The Greeks driven from Missolonghi by Ibrahim Pasha, April 23rd; and elsewhere dispersed, May. Landing of the Greeks near Salonica, and battle with Omer Pasha, June 1. Insurrection of the Janissaries at Constantinople, and fresh organization of the Ottoman army.—The Janissaries defeated, and 2000 killed; and Janissaries abolished, June 15th, I6th. Convocation of a general or national congress in Chili to frame a constitu¬ tion, which on July 11th is declared » confederative state. Popular tumults against the charter in Portugal, July 9th. The king of Persia at war with Russia. Ashantees defeated, August 7th. Ibrahim Pasha defeated by the Mainotes. The Greeks convene a national assembly in the island of Paros, August 14th.—Athens taken by the Serasquier Reschid Pasha, August 15th.— An attempt to relieve the Greek garrison in the Acropolis failed, August 20 th. Bolivar declared president for life by the congress at Lima, August 19th ; he was appointed dictator, November 23rd. An English fleet arrives in the Tagus, August 28th. The infant don Miguel swears to observe the Portuguese constitution, at Vienna, October 4th. Insurrection against the Portuguese constitution by the marquis of Chaves, October 6th. Lotteries cease in England, October 18th. Don Miguel betrothed to the infanta Donna Maria da Gloria, queen of Portugal, by proxy, at Vienna, October 29th. The Spanish government declare to the allied powers, that they will not encourage the Portuguese rebel's, and that they will prevent an invasion of Portugal.—Portugal entreats the assistance of Great Britain on behalf of the government and regent against the rebels, and auxiliary troops are consequently sent to Lisbon, November 25th. The duke of York died January 22nd; on his decease the duke of Wel¬ lington appointed commander-in-chief. Mr. Canning appointed first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, April 10th and 30th. The Hecla sailed on the northern expedition of discovery, March 25th. The duke of Wellington and six other members of the cabinet resign, April 12th. Duke of Clarence lord high admiral of the United Kingdom, April 17th. Sir John Copley created lord Lyndhurst and lord chancellor. The king of France disbands the national guard, April. The basis of new ministry explained, May 1st. Marquis of Lansdowne, secretary for the home department, July 16th. Mr. Canning died Aug. 8th.—Lord Goderich appointed premier, Aug. 11th. Duke of Portland president of the council, and duke of Wellington again accepts command of the army, August 17th : Mr. Huskisson, secretary for the colonial department, and Mr. Herries chancellor of the exchequer, September 3rd. Captain Parry returns from his unsuccessful expedition to the North Pole, Sept. 29th. Admiral de Rigny arrives off the port of Navarino, September 22nd.—Action of Navarino, October 20th. Hammersmith suspension bridge opened, October 6th. The French chambers are dissolved, and seventy-six new peers are created by an ordonnance, November 5th. The bank of Lisbon suspends its payments, December 7th. Don Miguel arrives in London, December 30th. The session of the Portuguese cortes opened by the infanta regent, Jan. 2nd. The ministry of Messrs, de Villele and Peyronnet in the French cabinet dissolved, January 4th. The sultan expels 132 French, 120 English, and 85 Russians settled in the Turkish empire; and all Armenians of the Catholic religion banished.—• The consulates of France and England at Smyrna cease, January. Violent hurricane at Plymouth, January 12th and 13th. The count Capo d’lstria arrives in Greece in a British ship of war, and assumes the office of president of the republic, January 18th. The duke of Wellington appointed first lord of the treasury, and formed a ministry, Mr. Goulburn being chancellor of the exchequer, lord Lynd¬ hurst chancellor, Mr. Peel secretary of state for the home department, January 25—28th. Piratical vessels taken and sunk at Carabrisa by the British and French : 1826. Carl Maria von Weber, mus. d. — Adams and Jefferson, ex-presidents of the United States, d. — Piazzi, aslron. d. — Talma, actor, d. — Marquis of Hastings, gov.-gen. of India, d. — Sir Stamford Raffles, d. — J. HeinrickVost, Ger¬ man poet, d. — Dr. Heber, bishop of Calcutta, d. — Charles Mills, d. — William Gifford, d. — John Flaxman, sculp, d. — S. Parkes, chemist, d. — J. S. Serres, marine painter, d. — C.Incledon, vocalist,d. 1827. Dr. Tomline, bishop of Winchester, d. — Sir Humphry Davy, chem. Sf nat. phil. d. — Malte Brun, geog. d. — Wm. Mitford, hist. d. — Pestalozzi, d. — Fellenberg, d. — Eliz. Benger, biog. d. — Dr. J. Jones, philol. d. — H. Clapperton, Afric. trav. d. — T. Holloway, engr. d. — Ugo Foscolo, d. — H. Cline, surg. d. — Prof. Bode, astron. d. — J. Flaxman, sculpt, d. — J. M. Good, M.D. d. — Dr. Kitchener, miscel. d. 1828. Sir J. E. Smith, M.D. F.R.S. pres. Lih- nean Society, d. — Hon. Mrs. Darner, sculptor , d. — Rev. W. Coxe, travels in Switzerland, <^c. d. — Lieut.-col.Dixon Den¬ ham, traveller , d. — — Woodhouse, F.R.S. math. d. — Prof. Dugald Stewart, d. — Vincenzo Monti, Ital. poet, d. — Earl of Liverpool, d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. A.C. 1828. 1829. the places evacuated by the pirates, delivered to president Capo d’Istrias, January 31st. Panhellenion, or grand council for the government of Greece, established, February 2nd. Don Miguel left London for Lisbon, February 9th, whither he arrived on the 22nd, and received by the infanta regent, he was greeted by the people as Miguel the absolute king. On the 25th he took the oaths as regent of Portugal. Peace concluded between Russia and Persia. Marquis of Anglesey appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, February 27th. He was recalled, December 30th. Fall of the New Brunswick theatre near Wellclose Square, February 28th. The Greek commanders submit to the new government, March. Abdication of Portugal by Don Pedro emperor of the Brazils in favour of his daughter Donna Maria da Gloria. The decree charged Don Miguel with the execution thereof, March 3rd. The court of Aldermen of London rescind an order made in 1785, that bap¬ tized Jews should not he admitted to the freedom of that city, March 4th. Don Miguel changed the commanders of the provinces and regiments for others of his own appointment. The Greek besiegers of the Turkish garrison at Scio quitted their position, Scio being relieved. The inhabitants who quitted the island received on board French vessels. The Portuguese chamber of deputies dissolved by the regent Don Miguel, who altered the mode of election. The British armament (save two regiments and one ship of the line in the Tagus) quitted Portugal. Insurrections and conspiracies in the Peruvian states. Declaration of War by Russia against Turkey, April 26th. Fatal epidemic fever at Gibraltar. The military council of Oporto name a junta for protection of the legitimate authority of Don Pedro, May. War between Don Miguel and the constitutional army, June. Don Miguel accepts the title of king of Portugal, July 4th. Madeira taken by Don Miguel, August. Daniel O’Connell elected M.P. for Clare in opposition to Mr. Yesey Fitz¬ gerald, July 5th. The young queen of Portugal, Donna Maria da Gloria, arrived in London, October 8th ; she was received at Windsor Castle December 22nd. The Egyptian armament evacuated the Morea, pursuant to a convention concluded by Sir Edward Codrington, October 4th. The Turks evacuate the Morea to the French, October 30th. Destructive fire at George Town, Demerara, December 29th. The Bosphorus declared in a state of blockade by the Russian admiral, December 31st. Duke of Northumberland nominated lord lieutenant of Ireland, Jan. 22nd. York Minster set on fire by Jonathan Martin, a lunatic, February 2nd. Leo XII. died February 10th. Andrew Jackson, president of the United States, February 16th. A squadron fitted out by Don Miguel for the reduction of Terceira. Failures at Glasgow in the cotton trade. General Diebitsch takes the command of the Russian army against the Turks, February 27th. Treaty of peace between republics of Colombia and Peru, which the con¬ gress of Peru refused to ratify, consequently hostilities re-commenced May 7th, but treaty of peace ratified Nov. 1. Decree passed by the senate of Mexico for the expulsion of Spaniards, March 8th. Victories obtained by the Russians over the Turks. Earthquake in Murcia in Spain; 6000 lives lost. Pius VIII. pope (cardinal Castiglione). Inundation of Dantzic, 10,000 head of cattle, 4000 houses, and numerous lives lost, April 9th. Catholic Relief Act passed. Disturbances in manufacturing districts, Rochdale, Macclesfield, Stockport, &c.; machinery destroyed, April 29th. Spitalfields weavers in great distress, which ended in the workmen cutting silk in loom, May. Lepanto taken by the Greeks, May 9th. Missolonghi also surrendered to the Greeks, May 17th. Captain Ross departed in a steam-vessel to discover the N. W. passage, May 23rd. Civil wars at Buenos Ayres terminated by compact between the rival fac¬ tions, June 25th. Treaty of London between Russia, France, and Great Britain, for the settle¬ ment of the affairs of Greece, July 6th. Spanish expedition against Mexico sailed from the Havannah, July 5th. O 193 1828. Eliz. S. Tomlins, nov. d. — Helen M. Williams, miscel. d. — Rev. J. Berington, controvers. d. — Rev. Dan. Moore, antiq. d. — Sir Wm. Drummond, arcluBol. d. — Dr. Gall, phrenol. d. — Dr. O’Conor, Irish antiq. d. 1829. —Shield, mus. d. — Barras, chief of Direc¬ tory in the French Revolution, d. — Lord Colchester, Sp. H. Commons 1802—— 17, d. — Queen consort of Spain, d. — Sir Humphry Davy, d. — H. Johnstone, actor,d. — J. Harrison, archit. d. — Dr. John Scott, Ori¬ entalist, d. — Dr. Wollaston, surg. d. — T. Young, M.D. F.R.S. d. — •— Terry, corned, d. — John Reeves, laivyer and antiq. d. — ■— Dumont, French jurist, d. — Count Daru, hist. Venice, d. — J. Mawe, mineral, d. — Eug. Roche, miscel. d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 194 Tampico in Mexico taken, August 4th, but Spaniards surrendered at dis¬ cretion at Tampico, September 11th. 1829. First legislative council for the colony of New South Wales appointed by proclamation at Sydney, July 13th. — Change in the French ministry; prince de Polignac, M. de Bourmont, and M. de la Bourdonnaye appointed to the principal offices, August 4th. — Portuguese expedition against Terceira repulsed, August 11th. — Adrianople entered by the Russian army, August 20th ; and peace between Turkey and Russia, September 14th. — Revolution in Mexico. The president Guerrero deposed by the party headed by the vice-president Bustamante, November 23rd. 1830. A very severe frost, with heavy fall of snow in England; similar weather but more severe in south of Europe, January. ,— Bolivar tenders resignation of presidency of Colombia, which he is per¬ suaded to resume, January 20th ; but he peremptorily resigned, Feb. 11th. — English Opera House (Lyceum) destroyed by fire, January 16th. — Peace concluded between Austria and Morocco. — Suspension of trade with Chinese at Canton in consequence of a dispute with the local authorities. — Treaty between Turkey and the United States. American vessels allowed to pass to and from the Black Sea, May 7th. .— Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg declines sovereignty of Greece offered him by the allied powers. — 3123jlltatn IV. king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. — Algiers taken by the French, July 5th. — Paris in a state of commotion by reason of certain ordinances suppressing the newspaper press, and re-constructing the chamber of deputies, upon the suggestion of its having a democratical tendency. Conflicts in the streets of Paris between the military and the citizens ; part of the military join the popular cause, and Charles X. retires to Rambouillet, July 27th, 30th. The deputies assemble and request Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans (son of Philippe Egalite of the Revolution), to accept the lieutenancy of the kingdom, July 31st. •— Charles X. declared his abdication in favour of the duke de Bourdeaux, August 2nd. — Louis Philippe accepted the crown of France upon the terms proposed to him, August 9th. — Revolution commenced by the Belgians at Brussels, August 25th. — The duke of Brunswick fled to England in consequence of riots wherein his palace was destroyed, September 8th. — Commotion at Dresden, in consequence of which the king of Saxony, Anthony, committed his authority to his nephew Frederic as regent, September 9th. About this time various disturbances of a political nature took place at Berlin, Hamburgh, Hesse Darmstadt, and other places in the northern parts of Europe. — The states general of the Netherlands assemble, September 13th. — Liverpool and Manchester railroad opened. Mr. Huskisson killed by an accident on this occasion, September 15th. — The Dutch troops in vain endeavoured to capture Brussels; great loss on both sides; three days’ fighting, September 21st. — Independence of the South American republics acknowledged by France, September 30th. — Provisional government at Brussels proclaim the independence of Belgium, October 4th. — Incendiarism prevailed in Kent. — The Belgian troops having entered Antwerp, were opposed by the Dutch garrison, who at length, being driven into the citadel, cannonaded the town, which was set on fire in various places, October 27th. — “The Association of Irish Volunteers for the Repeal of the Union ” de¬ nounced as illegal by proclamation of the lord-lieutenant, October 30th. — Francis king of Naples died; succeeded by Ferdinand Charles, his son, Nov. 7. — The king declined visiting the City of London on Lord Mayor’s Day. — The duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel announced their resignation of the ministry, November 16th. A new administration formed by earl Grey, November 22nd. — The Polish revolution commenced at Warsaw. The Polish army declared itself in favour of the people, November 29th. — The grand duke Constantine abandoned Warsaw, December 2nd. — Polignac and the French ministers condemned to perpetual banishment, December 21st. — The marquis of Anglesey appointed loid-lieutenant of Ireland. — The allied powers recognized the independence of Belgium. 1831. The cholera morbus, which had been for some time fatally prevalent at Moscow, extended itself to St. Petersburgh, January. — Political meetings in Ireland having been forbidden by proclamation, Mr. O’Connell and others held to bail upon a charge of having attended and organized such meetings. 1830. 1831. I L Sir Thomas Lawrence, pres. R. A. painter , d. Lord Redesdale, d. Queen Dowager of Portugal, d. G. Tierney, M.P. d. Grand duke Louis of Baden, d. Grand duke of Hesse, d. Mr. Huskisson, M.P. d. Simon Bolivar, d. Major Rennell, trav. d. Rev. Stephen Weston, F.R.S., iniscel. and antiq. Rev. Thos. Belsham, controv. divinity , d. Sir Robert Peel (father to the Rt. Hon. Sir R. Peel), d. W. Lister, M.D. W. Hazlitt, crit. and miscel. d. Rev. Wm. Holwell Carr, ( donor of c* collection of pictures to the nation ,) d. Prof. Rahbek, d. Rd. Chevenix, chem. d. F. A. Winsor, invent . of gas-light, d. Marq. de Lally-To- lendal, d. Countess Genlis, d. Mrs.Siddons,c«tfm's,rf. Wm. Roscoe, hist. d. II. Mackenzie ( Man of Feeling ), d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 195 A.C. 1831. 1832. The diet at Warsaw declare the throne of Poland vacant, January 25th. The Poles gain several victories over the Russians, but a Polish corps, being hard pressed by the Russians in Volhynia, was compelled to surren¬ der to the Austrians; and although another division forced its way through the Russian positions into Lithuania, and forwarded succours to Volhynia, the Poles were defeated at Warsaw, which city capitulated, and their army retired, September. This may be said to have terminated the struggle, and Poland was, after the death of the grand duke Constantine, its governor, decreed to form an integral part of the Russian empire, February 26th, 1832. U Gregory XVI. pope (cardinal Mauro Capellari), Feb. 2nd. The congress of Belgium at Brussels elect the duke de Nemours, son of Louis Philippe, king; but his father’s consent was refused. M. Surlet de Chokier elected regent of the Belgic states, February 24th. Riots at Antwerp and at other of the Belgic towns, the people attacking the houses of those who favoured the prince of Orange, March 31st. Prince Leopold elected king by the congress, June 4th, who made his entry into Brussels under the title of Leopold I. on July 21st, and took the oaths to { ireserve the Belgic constitution, July 22nd. The king of the Nether- ands resuming war against Belgium, France sent an army of 50,000 men, and the king of the Netherlands withdrew, August 3rd. The terms of the separation between Holland and Belgium settled by the five allied powers, October 20th, November 3rd. An insurrection at Modena; the grand duke driven away, February 5th; but order restored by the Austrian troops, March 10th. Revolution at Brazil; the emperor Don Pedro abdicates in favour of his son Don Pedro II., a child of five years of age; a regency appointed, April 7th. Duke William of Brunswick assumes the sovereignty by consent of the German diet and of the king of England, April 23rd. Charles Felix, king of Sardinia, d .; succeeded by Charles Albert, late prince Carignan, April 29th. A British fleet sent to the Tagus to enforce redress in respect of causes of complaint against Portugal, May 4th. Clare, Galway, Roscommon, and Tipperary declared in a state of disturb¬ ance, May 10 th. A new constitution given to Denmark by Frederick king of Denmark, May 28th. Grand duke Constantine died of the cholera morbus, June 27. Trial of W. Cobbett for an alleged seditious libel; the jury were discharged, July 7th. New London Bridge opened, August 1st. Fire at Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, August 2nd. Insurrection of the troops in Lisbon against Don Miguel, suppressed with the loss of 300 lives. Coronation of king William IV. and his consort, September 9th. Riots at Derby and Nottingham, the Reform Bill having been rejected in the Lords, October 8th. Count Capo d’lstria assassinated, October 8th. Great riots in Bristol, similar to those of 1780 in London, October 29th. The Asiatic cholera in the North of England, November. Alarming riots at Lyons upon the subject of wages, November 21st. The Spanish general Torrijos having landed on the western coast of Spain, shot, together with fifty-three others, among whom was Mr. Boyd an English merchant, December 10th. Riots and disturbances in Jamaica committed by the Negro slaves, who had misapprehended the time of their emancipation, December 22nd. A conspiracy to dethrone Louis Philippe detected, February 1. The Asiatic cholera first observed in London, February 13th. The cholera suddenly broke out with amazing violence at Paris, March 27th. The ministers resigned, May 9th. The cause of this resignation occasioned great regret, and they returned to office, May 18th. A serious riot in Paris on occasion of the funeral of general Lamarque ; the city was declared in a state of siege, June 1st. The Reform Bill passed into a law, June 7th. Don Pedro’s expedition against Don Miguel sailed from the Azores, June 26th, landed at Oporto, July 5th, and obtained a victory over the Portu¬ guese royalists at Vallonge, July 23rd. St. Jean d’Acre taken by Ibrahim Pacha. The cholera raged in the Canadas, especially at Montreal and Quebec, July 12—19th. Leopold I. king of Belgium married to a daughter of Louis Philippe, July 30th. The Miguelites attack Oporto, and repulsed, September 19th. Queen of Spain appointed regent during her husband’s indisposition, Oct. 25th. The English and French fleet sailed from Spithead, November 5th. The French encamped before the citadel of Antwerp ; hostilities commenced 1831. Rd. Paul Jodrell, mis- cel. d. — Thos. novelist.d. — R. Kreutzer, violin, d. — Rev. R. Hall ( Eclectic Review ), d. — J. Sims, M.D. hot. d. — Rev. Ralph Churton, divinity, d. — J. Quick, comedian, d. — J. Abernethy, M.D.of. — A. Lafontaine, ( Ger¬ man romance ), d. — G. M. Jones, R.N. trav. d. — J. Jackson, R.A. por ¬ trait painter, d. — R.W.Elliston,actor,o?. ■— P. Nasmyth, paint, d. — Mrs. Renaud, (Mrs. Powell, actress ), d. 1832. Dr. Bell, d. — Munden, corned, d. — Crabbe, poet, d. —* Clementi, mus. d. — Murillo, Spanish gene¬ ral, d. — Goethe, poet, d. — Rev. C. C. Colton, d. — Sir James Mackintosh, hist. d. — Jeremy Bentham, d. — Duke de Reichstadt, son of Buonaparte, d. — Sir Walter Scott, poet and novelist, d. — Thomas Hardy, the Reformer, d. —• AntonioScarpa,/to/tow anatomist, d. — Dr. Adam Clarke, d. —- Rev. J. Plumptre, mis- cel. d. — James Fletcher, Hist. Poland and miscel.d. — W. Burney, LL.D. meteorol. d. — J. Bigland, hist. d. •— Aug. Pugin, archit. d. — Chiarini, Hebraist and Orientalist, d. —. Baron Cuvier, zool. d. — Rev. G. Burder,ohv. d. — Chas.Bu tier,/awycr,<7. — Anna Maria Porter, novelist , d. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1 | 106 A.C. 1832. 1833. 1834. by the Dutch firing on the besiegers, November 13th. The French opened their batteries, December 4th. Louis Philippe king of the French fired at, November 19th. A violent eruption of Mount iEtna; the town of Bronte destroyed, November 18th. The citadel of Antwerp surrendered to the French; the garrison were marched into France, as the king of Holland refused to surrender two other Belgian fortresses on the Scheldt, and the French evacuated Bel¬ gium, December 24th. A very destructive fire in Liverpool, January 1st. Dartford powder-mills exploded, January 25th. Threatened hostilities between the Russians and Mehemet Ali averted by a conciliation between the Porte and Mehemet Ali, who was confirmed in his government with additions, and Ibrahim Pacha his son confirmed in his titles, April and May. Andrew Jackson, second time president of the U.S. March 1st. Oporto attacked by the Miguelites, when they were repulsed with loss, March 4th. The same occurred on March 24th. Manilla laid waste by a fire, March 26th. Thanksgiving for the cessation of the cholera in England, April 14th. Admiral Sartorius, who had resigned his command on account of the non¬ payment of his men, again takes command of the fleet of Don Pedro, May 1st. The president of the U. S. is pulled by the nose by one Randolph, May 7th. A meeting in Coldbath Fields dispersed by the police, but a policeman killed, May 13th. Execution of lieutenant Tola for participating in a scheme to establish a republic in Sardinia, June 11th. Fire at Lympstone, near Exeter ; fifty-eight houses destroyed, June 13th. The cortes swear allegiance to the young princess of Asturias as heir to the Spanish throne, June 20th. A shock of an earthquake felt in Nottinghamshire, July 13th. Lisbon evacuated on the approach of the constitutional general. The citizens proclaim Donna Maria, July 23rd. An earthquake felt at Washington, U. S. July 27th. The transport Amphitrite lost on Boulogne sands, August 29th. Miguelites repulsed at Lisbon, September 3rd; they retreated, after hard fighting, October 10th. The queen of Portugal, on her way to Lisbon, visits England. Marquess Wellesley appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Isabella II. queen of Spain, Ferdinand VII. the king of Spain having died by apoplexy; a regency appointed till the queen attain eighteen, Sept. 29th. Captain Ross arrived at Hull, after an absence of four years, October 18th. Martial law proclaimed in Greece, Colocotroni having conspired against king Otho, the newly appointed king of Greece. Colocotroni imprisoned, October 27th. Queen of Portugal’s forces defeated by the Miguelites at Alcacer de Sal, November 2nd. Shock of an earthquake at Chichester, November 13th, and again in Jan. 23rd, 1834. Don Carlos fled from Miranda on the approach of general Rodil, who had entered Portugal in pursuit of him, December 1st. Anatomy schools at Cambridge forced by a mob, December 2nd. Incendiarism in the eastern counties. A trembling of the earth at Plymouth, January 25th. Incendiarism in Forfarshire. War raging in the South American states after a short interval of peace. Trades’ unions attracted notice by their violence to those workmen who refused to join these mischievous associations : they also assembled in Copenhagen-fields, Islington, for the purpose of presenting a petition in favour of some labourers, convicted at Dorchester of belonging to one of these societies and administering unlawful oaths, April 21st. However, these associations were suppressed by masters declining to employ those who belonged to them. The Carlist general Zumalacarreguy defeated Quesada the queen’s general with great loss, in Lower Navarre, April 22nd. The wars terminated by the English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese governments concluding a treaty, having for its object the pacification of Spain and Portugal, by the expulsion of Don Carlos and Don Miguel from Portugal, which end was accomplished by Don Miguel capitulating, and by the surrender of Santarem, April and May. Don Carlos left Por¬ tugal and arrived in England, June. Thirty houses destroyed at North Taunton by fire; at this place two years previous, forty houses had been burnt down, June 16th. The Spanish Cortes, as newly constituted, assemble at Madrid, July 4th. Slavery in the British colonies terminated, August 1st. Inundations in the midland and northern counties of England, August 5th. 1832. Sir Everard Home, surg. d. •— Priscilla Wakefield, miscel. d. — Lord Tenterden, lawyer, d. — Dr. Spurzheim, phre¬ nologist, d. — Jean Baptiste Say, d. 1833. Charles Dibdin, dram. author , d. — John O’Keefe, dram, author , d. — Lord Exmouth, d. •— Dr. Babington, phys. d. — Edm. Kean, actor , d. •— Sir John Malcolm, d. — Lord King, d. — Earl Dudley, d. — Rev. Rowland Hill, d. — Lord Gam bier, adrn. d. — Sir Christ. Robinson, judge Adm. Court, d. •— Lord Dover, formerly G. J. W. Agar Ellis, biog. d. — W. Wilberforce, d. — Hannah More, d. — Sir J. A. Stevenson, mus. doc. d. — Wm. Sotheby, F.R.S. translator of Homer and Oberon, d. ■— Josh. Brookes, anat. d. — J. Smith, topog. illus¬ trator , d. — A. H. Haworth, ento- mol. d. — Jos. Strutt, antiq. d. 1834. Rd. Lander, African trav. d. •— Bourrienne (Sec. to Buonaparte), d. .— Lord Teignmouth (Gov.-Gen. of India, author of Life of Sir W. Jones), d. — John Thelwall (Re¬ former), d. — •—• Sennefelder (Inv. of Lithography), d. ■—• T. Stothard, hist.paint, d. — General La Fayette, d. •— Dr. Doyle (R. Catho¬ lic prelate), d. •— M. Angelo Taylor, M.P. d. — Stephen Lee, astron. and math. d. — S. T. Coleridge, meta- phys. § poet , d. — J. Caley {Records), d. — Francis Douce, antq.d. — Sir Gilbt. Blane, M.D. d. ■— P. Hoare, miscel. d. j .. 1 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 197 _ A.C. 1834. Don Pedro confirmed in the regency of Portugal, August 25th.—He resigned on account of had health, and consequently the queen was declared of age by the Cortes, September 20.—Don Pedro died Sept. 24. — The cholera raged in Madrid in August, and in Sweden and Denmark in Sept. — The Melbourne ministry dissolved, October 14th.—The duke of Welling¬ ton sent for by the king to advise as to the formation of a new ministry, October 16th. — The parliament houses destroyed by fire on the evening of October 16th. — The “ three days’ ministry ” in France. — Sir Robert Peel accepts the post of premier, being first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, the duke of Wellington as secretary for foreign affairs, and lord Lyndhurst as lord chancellor, December 8th. — Numerous public meetings with reference to political subjects. 1835. Francis I. emperor of Austria, died, March 2nd. — Ferdinand I. emperor of Austria. — Prince Augustus of Portugal (the duke of Leuchtenberg), the husband of the queen of Portugal, died, March 28th. — Sir Robert Peel’s ministry resigned, April 18th. The former administration of Lord Melbourne revived. The great seal put in commission. Lord Mulgrave appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland. — War in Spain between the queen and the adherents of Don Carlos con¬ ducted with great cruelty, May and June. — An attempt made at Paris to kill Louis Philippe by means of an “ infernal machine,” by an assassin of the name of Fieschi, July 28th. —- Captain Back returned from the Arctic Land expedition, September 5th. .— Mendizabal prime minister of Spain, November. — Hatfield destroyed by fire; the aged marchioness of Salisbury perished in the flames, November 27th. 1836. Donna Maria queen of Portugal married to Ferdinand Augustus, duke of Saxe Coburg, January 1st. — Riots at Barcelona; the citadel taken by assault, and Carlist prisoners mur¬ dered by the populace, January 5th. — Silver groats coined; proclamation for their issue, Februai’y 3rd. —. The republic of Cracow, whose independence was assured by the congress of Vienna, 1815, occupied by the Russian and Austrian troops, under pre¬ tence of securing this slip of territory from revolutionary movements. — The operations of the Spanish army on the northern coast of Spain protected by a British squadron, March. — The fortifications of Don Carlos forced by the British auxiliary legion under General Evans, May 5th. — House of Assembly in Upper Canada dissolved by Sir Francis B. Head in consequence of stopping the supplies, May 28th. — Captain Back sailed on an exploring expedition to Wager River, June 21st. — Louis Philippe fired at by a young man named Alibaud, June 25tli. — The national guard of Malaga in Spain revolted, and put to death the civil and military authorities under circumstances of great cruelty. The Spanish constitution of 1812 also proclaimed there and at Cadiz, Seville, and other places, July 25th. Madrid in a state of siege, and a revolution took place. General Quesada brutally murdered. The queen proclaimed the constitution, subject to the revision of the Cortes, August 12th. — Sudden outbreak at Lisbon. The constitution of 1820 was proclaimed by Donna Maria, and no blood shed on this occasion, September .9th. — Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, a nephew of Buonaparte, attempted an insur¬ rection at Strasburg, which was instantly suppressed, October 29th.—A similar circumstance occurred at Vendome, October 30th. — Charles X. the ex-king of France died at Gratz in Hungary aged eighty-two, November 6th. — An attempt to effect a counter-revolution at Lisbon against the constitution of 1820 suppressed, November 8th. Bilboa relieved by Espartero against the Carlists, December 24th. — Louis Philippe fired at by one Meunier, the shot narrowly missed, Dec. 27. 1837. Martin Van Buren, president of the United States, March 4th. — Successes by Espartero and general Evans against the Carlists in Spain, May. — Victoria queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, June 20. — The duke of Cumberland became king of Hanover on the death of his brother by the Salic law : he commenced his reign by abrogating the con¬ stitution granted by his brother William IV. in 1833. — The Carlists defeated near Valencia with great loss, July 15tli. .— Don Carlos approached Madrid, which city was declared in a state of siege : Espartero’s forces defended the city, August. — Espartero appointed president of the council, August 14. — The cholera raged in Italy and in various parts of the continent. _ Don Carlos defeated general Buerens, whose forces were inferior, in Aragon, August 24th. _ The duke of Terceira and Marshal Saldanha issued a proclamation and raised a party for the purpose of restoring the charter of Don Pedro, which had been set aside by the movement of September 9th, 1836; in fact, of over- 1834. Sir John Leach, M.R. d. — Earl Spencer, d. — Gen. Sir J.M. Doyle, d. — Duke of Gloucester,^. — Tlio. Pringle {anti¬ slavery), d. — Rev. Edward Irving, d. 1835. Sir W. E. Taunton, judge , d. — Dupuytren, French surg. d. — Henry Hunt (reform.) d. — Mrs. Hemans, poetess, d. — Charles Mathews, actor, d. >— Wm.Cobbctt, agricul. & politic, d. — Michael T. Sadler {Factory quest, and population ), d. — Lord Suffield, d. — Sir John Sinclair, agri. S[ statesman, d. 1836. Rev.E.Burton, classic. cvztt d. — Sir W. Gell, Etruscan antiq. d. — W. Taylor (of Nor¬ wich), hist. German poetry, d. — Henry Roscoe, d. — Rev. Dr. Valpy, d. — Wm. Godwin {Caleb Williams , <§■