You will allow that what I have said in these few pages is very easily learned;-yet, little as it is, I will venture to say, that was you as perfectly mistress of it as of your alphabet, you might answer several questions relating to ancient chronology more readily than many who pretend to know something of this science. One is not so much required to tell the precise year in which a great man lived, as to know with whom he was contemporary in other parts of the world.-I would know then, from the slight sketch above given, about what year of the Roman republic Alexander the Great lived?-You would quickly run over in your mind," Alexander lived in the 3670th year of the world,-330 before Christ ;-consequently he must have flourished about the 400th of Rome, which had endured 750 years when Christ was born." Or, suppose it was asked, what was the condition of Greece, at the time of the sacking of Rome by the Gauls; had any particular state, or the united body, chosen then to take advantage of the misfortunes of the Romans? You consider that the 365th year of the city, the date of that event, is 385 before Christ; consequently this must have happened about the time of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander, when the Grecians, under such a leader, might have extirpated the Roman nation from the earth, had they ever heard of them, or thought the conquest of them an object worthy of their ambition.

Numberless questions might be answered in like manner, even on this very narrow circumscribed plan, if it were completely mastered. I might require that other periods or epochas should be learned with the same exactness; but these may serve to explain my meaning, and to shew you how practicable and easy it is. One thing, how

ever, I must observe,-though, perhaps, it is sufficiently obvious,-which is, that you can make no use of this sketch of ancient chronology, nor even hope to retain it, till you have read the ancient history. When you have gone through Rollin's Histoire Ancienne once, then will be the time to fix the ancient chronology deeply in your mind; which will very much enhance the pleasure and use of reading it a second time: for you must remember, that nobody reads a history to much purpose who does not go over it more than once.

When you have got through your course of Ancient History, and are come to the more modern, you must then have recourse to the second of the three divisions, viz. middle Chronology; containing about 800 years, from the birth of our Lord, and from within 50 years of the rise of the Roman empire, to Charlemagne, who died in 814.

This period, except in the earliest part of it, is too much involved in obscurity to require a very minute knowledge of its history ;-it may be sufficient to fix two or three of the most singular circumstances by their proper dates.

The first epocha to be observed, is the year of our Lord 330; when Constantine the first Christian emperor, who restored peace to the oppressed and persecuted church, removed the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, called afterwards from him Constantinople. After his time,-about the year 400,-began those irruptions of the Goths and Vandals, and other northern nations, who settled themselves all over the western parts of the Roman empire, and laid the foundation of the several states which now subsist in Europe.

The next epocha is the year 622,-for the ease of memory say 600,-when Mahomet, by his successful imposture, became the founder of the Sara

cen empire, which his followers extended over a great part of Asia and Africa, and over some provinces of Europe. At the same time, St Gregory, bishop of Rome, began to assume a spiritual power, which grew by degrees into that absolute and enormous dominion, so long maintained by the popes over the greatest part of Christendom. St Augustine, a missionary from St Gregory, about this time began the conversion of Great Britain to Christianity.

The third and concluding epocha in this division, is the year 800; when Charlemagne, king of France, after having subdued the Saxons, repressed the Saracens, and established the temporal dominion of the pope by a grant of considerable territories, was elected emperor of the West, and protector of the church. The date of this event corresponds with that remarkable period of our English history-the union of the Heptarchy, or seven kingdoms, under Egbert.

As to the third part of Chronology,-namely, the Modern, I shall spare you and myself all trouble about at present; for, if you follow the course of reading which I shall recommend, it will be some years before you reach modern history; and, when you do, you will easily make periods for yourself, if you do but remember carefully to examine the dates as you read, and to impress on your memory those of very remarkable reigns or

events.

I fear you are by this time tired of chronology; but my sole intention, in what I have said, is to convince you, that it is a science not out of your reach, in the moderate degree that requisite for you: The last volume of the Ancient Universal History is the best English chronological work I know if that does not come in your way, there is

an excellent French one, called Tablettes Chronologiques de l'Histoire Universelle, Du Fresnoy, 3 tomes, Paris :-there is also a Chart of universal history, including Chronology; and a Biographical Chart, both by Priestley, which you may find of service to you.

Indeed, my dear, a woman makes a poor figure, who affects, as I have heard some ladies do, to disclaim all knowledge of times and dates: the strange confusion they make of events which happened in different periods, and the stare of ignorance when such are referred to as are commonly known, are sufficiently pitiable; but the highest mark of folly is to be proud of such ignorance,-a resource, in which some of our sex find great consolation.

Adieu, my dear child!-I am, with the tenderest affection, ever yours.

LETTER X.

ON READING HISTORY.

My dearest Niece,

WHEN I recommend to you to gain some insight into the general history of the world, perhaps you will think I propose a formidable task: but your apprehensions will vanish when you consider, that of nearly half the globe we have no histories at all; that, of other parts of it, a few facts only are known to us; and that, even of those nations which make the greatest figure in history, the early ages are involved in obscurity and fable. It is not, indeed, allowable to be totally ignorant even of those fables, because they are the frequent subjects

of poetry and painting, and are often referred to in more authentic histories. *

The first recorders of actions are generally poets. In the historical songs of the bards are found the only accounts of the first ages of every state; but in these we must naturally expect to find truth mixed with fiction, and often disguised in allegory. In such early times, before science had enlightened the minds of men, the people were ready to believe every thing; and the historian, having then no restraints from the fear of contradiction or criticism, delivered the most improbable and absurd tales, as an account of the lives and actions of their forefathers: thus, the first heroes of every nation were gods, or the sons of gods; and every great event was accompanied with some supernatural agency. Homer, whom I have already mentioned as a poet, you will find the most agreeable historian of the early ages of Greece; and Virgil will shew you the supposed origin of the Carthaginians and Romans.

It will be necessary for you to observe some regular plan in your historical studies, which can never be pursued with advantage, otherwise than in a continued series. I do not mean to confine you solely to that kind of reading; on the contrary, I wish you frequently to relax with poetry, or some other amusement, whilst you are pursuing your course of history: I only mean to warn you against mixing ancient history with modern, or general histories of one place with particular reigns in another; by which desultory manner of reading, many people distract and confound their memories,

"Elements of General History," 2 vols. 8vo. with maps, by the Hon. A. F. Tytler, (Lord Woodhouselec), is an excellent work, and cannot be too highly recommended.Editor,