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ecuted under Mahomet the Great, to the total extinction of the Greek or Constantinopolitan empire. The manners, laws, and government of the Turks, merit a share of our consideration.

Returning westward, we see France in this age emancipating herself from the feudal bondage; and the consequences of the pretensions made by her sovereigns to a part of Italy. These pretensions, opposed by Ferdinand of Spain, naturally call our attention to that quarter, where a most important political change had been operated in the union of the sovereignties of Arragon and Castile, and the fall of the Moorish kingdom of Granada.

Returning to Britain, while England is embroiled with the civil wars of York and Lancaster, we pursue the great outlines of her history down to the reign of Henry VIII., and the_cotemporary history of Scotland, during the reigns of the five Jameses. At this period, presenting a short delineation of the ancient constitution of the Scottish government, I shall endeavor to point out those political principles which regulated the conduct of the Scots with respect to their neighbors of England, and to foreign

nations.

The close of the fifteenth century is a most important era in modern history. The signal improvement of navigation by the Portuguese, who opened to Europe the commerce of the Indiesthe rapid advancement of literature from the discovery of the art of printing—and the revival of the fine arts-present a most extensive field of pleasing and instructive speculation. We shall mark the effect of the Portuguese discoveries in awakening the spirit of enterprise, together with the industry, of all the European nations; and shall here introduce a progressive account of the commerce of Europe down to this era, when it was vigorously and extensively promoted. We shall in like manner exhibit a view of the progress of European literature through the preceding ages of comparative barbarism, to the splendor it attained at this remarkable period. The consideration of the progress of the fine arts we postpone to the succeeding age of Leo X., when they attained to their utmost perfection.

After a short survey of the northern states of Europe, which is necessary for preserving the unity of the picture, the capital object of attention is the aggrandizement of the House of Austria, under Charles V.; intimately connected with the history of France under Francis I.; and incidentally with that of England, under Henry VIII.: a period meriting particular and attentive consideration from two events of the utmost moral and political importance-the reformation of religion in Germany and England, and the discovery of America. On this period is likewise thrown an additional lustre from the splendor of the fine arts in Italy.

After bestowing on these varied and interesting subjects the attention which they merit, the state of Asia, which, from the period of ancient history, had attracted occasionally only a slight

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degree of notice, becomes for awhile a principal object of attention. The empire of India, highly important in modern times, the singularity of its political arrangements and national character, which have suffered no change since the age of Alexander; the political and moral history of the Persians; the revolutions operated on that immense continent by the Tartar successors of Gengis-Khan, are all worthy of a particular share of our consideration. The establishment of the Tartar pr nces on the throne of China calls our attention to that extraordinary monarchy, which, till this period, was almost unknown to the nations of Europe. We shall here examine at some length the ground of those opinions which it has of late become customary to entertain, with regard to the prodigious antiquity of this people; their wonderful attainments in the arts and sciences; their alleged early acquaintance with the chief modern discoveries of the Europeans; and the boasted excellence of their laws, their government, and political economy.

Returning to Europe, the object which, in the close of the sixteenth century, first demands our notice, is the reign of Philip II of Spain, distinguished by the revolt of the Netherlands, and the establishment of the republic of Holland. The constitution and government of the United Provinces merit here a brief delineation.

France now takes her turn, and holds the principal place in the picture during the turbulent and distracted reign of Francis II., Charles IX., and Henry III., till we witness her happiness, tranquillity, and splendor under the great Henry IV.

The transition thence is easy to the era of England's grandeur and prosperity under his cotemporary Elizabeth. The affairs of Scotland, too much connected at this period with those of the sister country, call our attention to the interesting reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the progress of the Reformation in that kingdom. Hence we pursue, without interruption, the outlines of the English history during the reigns of James I., of Charles I.-during the Commonwealth-and the subsequent reigns of Charles II. and James II.—to the important period of the Revolution.

Here, after a connected sketch of the progress of the English constitution, and a particular examination of its nature at this great era, when it became fixed and determined, we close our delineation of the British History.

But the affairs of the continent of Europe, at this time in a most active and progressive state, admit not of the same termination. We look back to France, which, under the splendid and politic administration of Richelieu, yet embroiled with faction and civil war, presents a striking object of attention. We remark the declension of the power of Spain under Philip III. and Philip IV., and Portugal in the latter reign shaking off its yoke, and establishing an independent monarchy. We see the Austrian power attacked by the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, declining under Ferdinand II. and III., and humiliated by the peace of Westphalia, in which

the French and Swedes gave laws to the empire; a treaty, however, salutary in the main, as settling the ruinous quarrels between her contending princes.

We see France, in the minority of Louis XIV., harassed with the disorders of the Fronde, originating in the unpopular administration of Mazarin. After his death, we remark the genius of Louis displaying itself in a variety of splendid enterprises; his views seconded by the abilities of his ministers and generals; while the excellent order of the finances enables him easily to execute the most important designs. The opening to the succession of the Spanish crown, while it increases for awhile the glory of his arms, leads finally to the mortifying reverse of his fortune; and we behold the latter years of this memorable reign as unfortunate, as the former had been marked with splendor and success.

Meantime, two rival powers of high celebrity call our attention to a variety of interesting scenes in the North of Europe. Russia, till now in absolute barbarism, becomes at once, by the abilities of a single man, a powerful and polished empire. Sweden, under the minority of its prince, ready to be torn in pieces by the powers of Russia, Denmark, and Poland, becomes, in a single campaign, the terror of the surrounding kingdoms. We see this prince, a second Alexander, in a career as short and as impetuous, carry those heroic virtues which he possessed to an extreme as dangerous as their opposite vices.

At this period we close our delineation of modern history, with a view of the progress of the sciences, and of the state of literature in Europe, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Such is the plan to be pursued in the following Commentaries. Of the merits or defects of the arrangement, those who possess an extensive knowledge of history, and who have prosecuted that study to its best purposes,-instruction in political and moral science,—are best fitted to form a judgment. To the general reader, I trust it will at least be found to possess the qualities of simplicity and perspicuity.

With regard to chronology, it is necessary to remark that, without entering into any discussion of the merits of the different systems, I have chosen to follow the chronology of Archbishop Usher, or that which is founded on the Hebrew text of the Sacred Writings; and this for the sole reason, that it has beer most generally adopted by the writers both of our own and o foreign nations.

CHAPTER II.

Earliest Ages of the World-Early History of Assyria-Of Egypt-Invasion of the Shepherd Kings.

PROFANE History, agreeing with sacred, joins in the establishment of this great truth, which reason itself, independently of authority, must have clearly evinced, that this visible system of things which we term the Universe has had its commencement.

All accounts of the early history of single nations trace them back to a state of rudeness and barbarism, which argues a new and an infant establishment; and we must conclude that to be true with respect to the whole, which we find to be true with respect to all its parts. But to delineate the characters of this early state of society, to trace distinctly the steps by which population extended over the whole surface of the habitable globe; the separation of mankind into tribes and nations; the causes which led to the formation of the first kingdoms, and the precise times when they were formed-are matters of inquiry for which neither sacred nor profane history affords us that amplitude of information which is necessary for giving clear and positive ideas. But while we travel through those remote periods of the history of an infant world, making the best of those lights we can procure, we have the comfort of thinking that, in proportion as man advances from barbarism to civilization, in proportion as his history becomes useful or instructive, its certainty increases, and its materials become more authentic and more abundant.

The Hebrew text of the sacred writings informs us that a period of 1656 years elapsed between the Creation of the world and the Deluge. The Books of Moses contain a brief detail of the trans actions of that period, and are the only records of those ages. With regard to the state of the antediluvian world, speculative nien have exercised their fancy in numberless conjectures. Various notions have been formed concerning the population of this globe and its physical appearance-probable causes conjectured of the longevity of its inhabitants-inquiries into the state of the arts—and theories framed of that process of nature by which the Almighty Being is supposed to have brought about the universal deluge. These are, no doubt, ingenious and interesting speculations; but they can scarcely be said to fall within the department of history, of which it is the province to instruct by ascer

tained facts, and not to amuse by fanciful theories. To us, who wish to derive from history a knowledge of human nature as it is at present, and to study those important lessons which it furnishes for the conduct of life, it is of little consequence to know what was either the physical or the political state of the world before the deluge. As so entire a change must have been caused by that event on the face of nature, as totally to extinguish all traces of antediluvian knowledge, and to reduce the world anew to a state of infancy, we are well assured that the manners, customs, arts, sciences, and political arrangements of the antediluvian ages could have had little or no influence on those which succeeded them.

Of the times immediately following the deluge, we have no other original history than that contained in the Books of Moses. The sacred writings inform us, that the family of Noah established themselves in the plain of Shinaar, where they built the Tower of Babel, and that the confusion of their language caused their dispersion into the different regions of the earth.

A view of the physical surface of this habitable globe, parted, as we observe it is, by those great natural boundaries, the chains of mountains, and the rivers which intersect it, affords the most convincing evidence that the earth was intended by the great Architect of all things to be peopled by various tribes and nations, who should be perpetually separated from each other by those eternal barriers, which will ever prevent empires and states from permanently exceeding a just bound of territory. Without those natural boundaries, the limits of kingdoms must have been continually fluctuating; and perpetual discord must have embroiled the universe. An ambitious potentate may, with the accidental concurrence of favorable circumstances, enlarge for a time the limits of an empire, beyond this just proportion; but the force of government and laws is weakened as its sphere is extended: and the encroachment being clearly marked and defined by those natural barriers, the lost territory will scarcely fail to be regained; and the revolution of a few years will again bring empires and kingdoms to their ancient limits.

The physical nature, with respect to soil and climate, of the different countries into which the inhabitants of the earth were dispersed, must, in most cases, have determined their manner of life, and influenced the condition of society. If, before their dispersion, mankind had made any progress in the arts, as, after that event, many of those wandering tribes must, from the nature of the countries which they occupied, have betaken themselves to the pastoral life, while others subsisted solely as hunters, the arts among them being totally neglected from finding no call to their exercise; it is no wonder that we observe, soon after the deluge, the greater part of the nations in a state of barbarism, or little advanced beyond that condition. Such of the original tribes, how

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