Among the profane nations of antiquity, that which first makes a remarkable figure, and whose history at the same time has a claim to be regarded as authentic, is the states of Greece. They therefore demand a peculiar attention, and it is of importance to trace their history to its origin. But the Greeks were indebted for the greatest part of their knowledge to the Egyptians and Phoenicians. These, therefore, as relative to the leading nation, demand a portion of our attention, and naturally precede, or pave the way to, he history of the Greeks. For a similar reason, the Assyrians, a rival nation, conquered by the Egyptians at one time, and conquerors of them afterwards in their turn, (though their early history is extremely dark and uncertain,) require likewise a share in our observation.

The Greeks then come to fill up the whole of the picture, and we endeavor to present an accurate delineation of their independent states, the singular constitution of the two great republics of Sparta and Athens, and the outlines of their history, down to the period of the Persian war, commenced by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and prosecuted under his successors Xerxes and Artaxerxes. This connection naturally induces a short retrospect to the preceding periods of the Persian history; the rise of that monarchy, the nature of its government, the manners of the people, and the singular religion of the ancient Persians, which subsisted without much adulteration for some thousands of years, and is still kept alive among a particular sect at this day.

The conclusion of the Persian war brings us back to the internal history of the states of Greece. We observe the subjection of Athens to the ambitious Pericles, and the seeds sown of the decline of that illustrious republic. The divisions of Greece engage our attention; the war of Peloponnesus; the corruption of the Spartan constitution introduced by Lysander; the glory of Thebes under Pelopidas and Epaminondas. We consider now the ambitious schemes of Philip of Macedon, the renewal of the war with Persia, and the immense conquests of Alexander the Great. We see, in fine, the total corruption of the Greeks; the extinction of all public virtue; the last feeble remains of patriotism in the union of the Achæan states; and the final reduction and submission of Greece to the arms of the Romans.

The history of this illustrious people, the Greeks, furnishes a most ample field of reflection. The policy and constitution of the different states, particularly the two great and rival republics of Athens and Lacedæmon, demand our attention, as singularly illustrative of ancient manners, and the wonderful effects of habit and discipline on the nature of man. The causes which contributed to the rise and decline of those commonwealths are pregnant with political instruction. The change which the national character of the Greeks in general underwent, is a striking circumstance in the history of human nature, and will illustrate the influence of morals

on political prosperity. The literary genius of this people, their progress in philosophy, their eminence in the fine arts-in all of which departments they became the models of imitation and the instructers of the ancient world,-these subjects, furnishing much matter of useful speculation, will be treated in separate short disquisitions at the conclusion of the historical detail.

Hitherto the leading object of attention is the history of Greece, to which, as may be observed, may be referred, by a natural connection, that of all the other nations whose history is in those periods deserving of our acquaintance.

The conquest of Greece by the Romans entitles this latter nation to rank as the principal object in the subsequent delineation of ancient history. Without regard to the offence against chronology, we now return back above four hundred years, to observe the origin and rise of this remarkable people. We contemplate them in their infancy; we observe the military character which they derived from their incessant wars with the neighboring states of Italy; the nature of their government and internal policy under the kings; the easy revolution effected by the substitution of the consular for the regal dignity, without any substantial change in the constitution. We next remark the causes of the subsequent change; the people uniting themselves to resist the tyranny and oppression of the patrician order; the advantages they gain by the creation of the popular magistrates; the continual encroachments they make on the powers and privileges of the higher order, till they obtain an equal capacity of enjoying all the offices and dignities of the commonwealth.

We now view the gradual extension of the Roman arms; the conquest of all Italy; the origin of the wars with foreign nations; the progress of the Punic wars, which open a collateral view of the history of Carthage and of Sicily; we trace the success of the Roman arms in Asia, Macedonia, and Greece, the opulence of the republic, from her conquests; and the corruption of her manners. In fine, we behold the extinction of patriotism; the endless discords between the orders, loosening all the bands of public virtue; the progress of faction and inordinate ambition, terminating in the civil wars and ruin of the commonwealth.

At this remarkable period, which naturally allows a pause in the historical detail, I shall devote some time to the examination of those particulars which are characteristic of the genius and national spirit of the Romans; their system of education; their laws; their literary character; their art of war; their knowledge in the arts and sciences; their private and public manners; and their predominant tastes and passions. I shall close the remarks on the Roman history during the commonwealth, with some political reflections. naturally arising from the subject, and illustrated by examples drawn both from that history, and from the preceding account of the states of Greece.

We then resume the outlines of the Roman history under the emperors. We observe the specious policy under which they disguise an absolute authority, till it is no longer necessary to keep on the mask. We remark the decline of the ambitious character of the Romans, and their easy submission to the entire loss of civil liberty; the progress of corruption; the venality of the imperial dignity; the mischievous though necessary policy of the emperors, who, to secure their own power, industriously abased the military spirit of the people; the effect of this ruinous policy in inviting the barbarous nations to attack the frontiers of those extensive dominions, which were now a languid 'and unwieldy body without. internal vigor; the weakness of the empire still further increased by its partition under Diocletian, and subdivision under his successors; the triumph of Christianity, and the extinction of paganism in the age of Theodosius.

We mark now the progress of the barbarian nations, who attack the provinces on every quarter, till the Western empire becomes entirely their prey; Africa seized by the Vandals, Spain by the Visigoths, Gaul by the Franks, Britain by the Saxons; Rome and Italy itself by the Herulians, and afterwards by the Ostrogoths. We shall then observe, as the last flashes of an expiring lamp, a short but vigorous exertion from the East, by the generals of Justinian; the temporary recovery of Italy; and its final reduction by the Lombards.

At this period, of the fall of the Western empire, we are naturally invited to enter into some short inquiries regarding the manners, the genius, the laws, and government of the Gothic nations; and the distinguishing characteristics of those northern invaders, both before and after their establishment in the provinces of the empire.

Thus, Ancient History will admit of a perspicuous delineation, by making our principal object of attention the predominant states of Greece and Rome, and incidentally touching on the most remarkable parts of the history of the subordinate nations of antiquity, when connected with, or relative to, the principal object.

In the delineation of Modern History, a similar plan will be pursued. The leading objects will be more various, and will more. frequently change their place a nation at one time the principal, may become for awhile subordinate, and afterwards reassume its rank as principal; but uniformity of design will still characterize this moving picture; the attention will always be directed to the history of a predominant people; and other nations will be only incidentally noticed, when there is a natural connection with the principal object.

After the fall of the Western empire, the nation which first distinguishes itself by its conquests, and the splendor of its domin.on, is that of the Saracens. The progress of the arms and of the religion of Mahomet, the rise and extent of the empire of the

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caliphs, are singular and interesting objects of attention. The Franks, though settled in Gaul before this period, do not attract our notice till afterwards-when the foundation of the new empire of the west by Charlemagne naturally engages us to look back to the origin of their monarchy. Thus we have briefly before us, in one connected view, the progress of this remarkable people from their infancy under Clovis, to their higest elevation under Charlemagne; and thence to the reduction and dismemberment of their dominions under his weak posterity.

The age of Charlemagne furnishes some interesting matters of inquiry with regard to laws, literature, manners, and government; and we shall endeavor to trace the origin of that remarkable policy, the source (as has been justly said) both of the stability and of the disorders of the kingdoms of Europe, the feudal system.

The collateral objects of attention during this period are, the still venerable remains of the Roman empire in the East ; the beginning of the conquests and establishments of the Normans ; the foundation and progress of the temporal dominion of the church of Rome; the separation of the Greek and Latin churches; the affairs of Italy, and the conquest of Spain by the Saracens.

We now direct our attention for the first time to the history of Britain, postponed to this period, that we may consider it in one connected view, from its rudest stage to the end of the AngloSaxon government.

As the history of our own country is of more importance to us than that of any other, the British history, as often as it is resumed, will be treated with greater amplitude than the limits of our plan allow to other nations; and while we note the progress of manners, literature, and the arts, it shall be our endeavor, without prejudice, to mark those circumstances which indicate the progress of the constitution, its successive changes, and its advancement to that system of equal liberty under which we have the happiness of living. We shall see in the Saxon Wittenagemot the rude model of a parliament; and in the institutions of the English Alfred, we shall admire, in an age of barbarism, the genius of a great politician and legislator.

While the history of Britain to the Conquest is the primary object of attention, a collateral view is taken of the state of the continental kingdoms of Europe. France, under the first sovereigns of the Capetian race, presents us with very little that is worthy of observation. The Normans carry their arms into Italy, and achieve the conquest of Sicily; while the maritime states of Venice and Genoa, rising into consequence, become the commercial agents of most of the European kingdoms. The dissensions. between the German emperors and the popes, and the gradual increase of the temporal authority of the see of Rome, are not unworthy of a particular attention.

The British history is again resumed as a principal object; and

we pursue its great outlines from the Norman conquest to the death of King John. In the tyranny of William the Conqueror, and in the exorbitant weight of the crown during the reigns im mediately succeeding, we shall observe the causes of that spirit of union among the people, in their efforts to resist it, which procured for them those valuable charters, the foundation of our civil liberty. Under the reign of the second Henry, we shall observe a most important accession of territory to the English crown, in the acquisition of the ancient and early civilized kingdom of Ireland.

Q

At this period, the whole of the nations of Europe, as if actuated by one spirit, join in the Crusades, a series of fatal and desperate enterprises, but which form an important object of attention, from their effects in the formation of new kingdoms, new political arrangements, and a new system of manners. We shall trace with some care those effects in the changes of territorial property in the feudal governments-in the immunities acquired by towns and boroughs, which had hitherto been tied down by a species of vassalage to the nobles-and in the aggrandizement of the maritime cities. The moral as well as the political effects of those enterprises must be particularly noticed; and we shall find a subject of entertaining disquisition in tracing the origin of chival ry, and its consequences in the introduction of romantic fiction.

A short connected sketch of the European kingdoms, after the crusades, naturally follows; in which a variety of interesting subjects solicit our attention :-the rise of the House of Austria; the decline of the feudal government in France by the introduction of the Third Estate to the national assemblies; the establishment of the Swiss republics; the disorders in the popedom; and the me morable transactions in the council of Constance.

These shortly considered, Britain again resumes her place as the leading object of attention. We remark the progress of the English constitution under Henry III., when the deputies of the boroughs were first admitted into parliament, the real date of the origin of the House of Commons: the strengthening of the liberties of the people under Edward I. whose military enterprises, the conquest of Wales, and the temporary reduction of Scotland, lead us, by an easy connection, to the history of the latter kingdom. We shall here behold the many noble and successful struggles made by that ancient nation for her freedom and independence, against the power of the three first Edwards. We consider the claim of right preferred by Edward III. to the crown of France, equally ill-founded, but more ably and gloriously sustained: and the multiplied triumphs of the arms of England, till the kingdom of France itself is won by Henry V.

We now turn our attention to the East, to remark an interest ing spectacle the progress of the Ottoman arms retarded for a while by the conquests of Tamerlane and Scanderbeg; but pros