The laft circumftance I fhall mention, tending to prove the antiquity of the American colonies (for I might enlarge upon feveral, as their ignorance of coined money, the plough, the bellows, &c. all which would ferve to fhew that they departed from us in the very infancy of the poftdiluvian world, before thefe arts were known to mankind) is, that they were ignorant of fhipping, or the art of making large veffels with fails, &c. till they firft faw ours; knowing before no other kind of vessels than fmall boats made of the bark of trees, fkins of fifhes, &c. or canoes, confifling of a fingle trunk of a tree hollowed out by means of fire, and thefe to be directed only by the help of oars, or a paddle.

But what feems moft to confirm the opinion, that America was peopled, or at leaft flocked with animals by land, is, that that vaft continent is every where inhabited by wild beasts and the moft noxious creatures, fuch as lions, tygers, rattle-fnakes, &c. which we cannot imagine that any perfon would be at the trouble, or expose themselves to the danger of conveying them over thither in fhips, and at the fame time leave behind them fuch ufeful creatures as the horse, the camel, &c. which were not known in the Weft-Indies, till transported thither from us. Nay, what is most remarkable, America has at prefent creatures peculiar to itself, fuch at least as are not known to exist in any other part of the world; which therefore cannot be supposed to have been carried from hence thither: and befides, they are of fuch a nature, that of themselves they could not have crossed the feas, and therefore must have come thither by land.

It appearing thus clear, that America was peopled early, and by land, the next queftion is, by whom, or from what land?

In order to folve this, let it be observed, that the facred and molt ancient hiftorian informs us, in his account of mankind after the flood, that the whole earth was overspread by the defcendants of the three fons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, who went forth of the ark, (Gen. ix, 19) From whence it is certain, that no part of the world could have been peopled VOL. XIII. 4 G

by

by any other antediluvians than thofe that went out of the ark; and of courfe that America was peopled after the flood, and by the pofterity of Noah.

Secondly, let us confider, that Mofes gives us the names of the firft defcendants of thefe three fons, and mentions the names of the countries which the principal of them inhabited; efpecially thofe whofe affairs would afterwards be mixed, or have fome connexion with the tranfactions related in the Bible, particularly with the Ifraelitifh nation: but as for the refl, he takes very little or no notice of them.

Thirdly, we cannot expect that any great notice fhould be taken of the inhabitants of fo diftant a part of the world (from that where Mofes wrote, and the intent of his writing) as the continent of America; and yet, one would imagine, that as he, who infpired Mofes in his account, faw all things from the beginning to the end (and who had made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations Acts xvii. 26.) fo he would, in speaking of the migration of mankind towards re-peopling the earth, make fome mention, or drop fome few words concerning the manner by which fo large a part of the world, as the continent of America, became inhabited.

There is reason to think he has done this, and left it on record in the following paffage, (the event denoted by which was fo fingular, as to give name to one of the poftdiluvian patriarchs, and is twice repeated in fcripture) viz. Gen. x. 25. 1 Chron. i. 19. "And the name of one (of Heber's fons) was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided [Nepelege.]" On which words that celebrated biblical critic Bengelius thus occafionally remarks, in his Ordo Temporum p. 54. Peleg a divifione terræ nominatus eft &c. i. e. Peleg was named from the divifion of the earth (which happened in his days.) The earth after the deluge was divided by degrees, by a genealogical and political divifion: but a very different kind of divifion is

meant

meant by the word [Nepelege,] namely a physical and geogra phical divifion, which happened at once, and which was fo remarkable, and of fuch extent, as fuitably to anfwer the naming of the patriarch therefrom. By this word [Peleg] that kind of divifion is principally denoted, which is applicable to land and water. From whence in the Hebrew tongue Peleg fignifies a river, and in the Greek ПEAAгOZ [Pelagos] the sea; and in the Latin Pelagus denotes the fame."

From this precife meaning of the word then we may conclude, that the earth was fplit or divided afunder for a very great extent, and the fea came between, in the days of Peleg.. Now furely when any perfon views the fituation of America, and confiders how it ftands disjoined from this part of the world, and what an immense sea divides it from us, he will not be backward to allow, that this was the grand divifion intended by the paffage under confideration. And therefore we may juftly fuppofe, with the abovementioned writer, "That foon after the confufion of tongues, and the difperfion of mankind upon the face of the whole earth, fome of the fons of Ham (to whom Africa was alloted) went out of Africa into that part of America, which now looks towards Africa: And the earth being divided or fplit afunder in the days of Peleg, they with their pofterity (the Americans) were for many ages feparated from the rest of mankind. This feparation of the human race, by means of fo large a sea, prevented in like manner any pernicious confpiracy, as the confufion of tongues did."

If this account be feconded by any fimilar event related in ancient Heathen hiftory, our fuppofition may deserve a greater degree of credit. And fuch an event we have recorded by Plato in his dialogue named Timeus; in which he treats of nature, or the fyftem of the univerfe, its generation or beginning, and the nature of man. And as a prelude to his fubject, he makes mention of a fact that happened in the most early ages. the neareft of any known to the beginning of the world; and

that is of a vast tract of land, or an Ifland greater than Lybia and Afia, fituated beyond the bounds of Africa and Europe, which, by concuffion of an earthquake, was fwallowed up in the ocean.

Plato introduceth this fact, as related by Solon (one of the firft of the feven wife men of Greece) who, while he was in Egypt, had heard it of an old Egyptian Prieft, when he difcourfed with him concerning the most ancient events. This priest tells Solon, that the Greeks, with regard to their knowledge in antiquity, had always been children, and then informs him of the hiftory of this famous Island (which they knew nothing of before :) the defcription of which and its catastrophe is as follows, (which in itfelf is fo remarkable. that there must have been fome ground in nature for the tradition of it.) "There was formerly an Ifland at the entrance of the ocean, where the pillars of Hercules ftand (and fo beyond the then fuppofed bounds of Europe and Africa.) This Inland was larger than al Lybia and Afia; and from it was an eafy paffage to many other Iflands; and from these Islands to all that Continent which was oppofite, and next to the true fea. Yet within the mouth there

But that land, which fur

was a gulph with a narrow entry. rounded the fea called Пayos (Pelagos, where the divifion was made) might juflly be called a continent. In after-times there happened a dreadful earthquake, and an inundation of water, which continued for the space of a whole day and night, and this land Atlantis, being covered and overwhelmed by the waves, funk beneath the ocean, and fo disappeared: wherefore that fea (yo) is now unpaffable, on account of the flime and mud which have been left by the immerfed Ifland."

This paflage of Plato may receive fome illuftration, and the point I am upon, fome degree of confirmation, from what occurs in the eighteenth chapter of the third book of Elian's hiftory of various things. "Theopompus relates a certain dif course that paffed between Midas the Phrygian and Silenus. This Silenus was the fon of a nymph, and was inferior to the

gods

gods, but fuperior to mortals. When thefe two had difcourfed of many things, Silenus, above all, tells Midas "That Europe, Afia, and Lybia, ought to be confidered as Iflands, which the ocean wholly furrounded, and that that part of the world, which lay beyond this, ought to be efteemed the Continent: as it was of an immense extent, and nourished very different and vaftly larger kinds of animals than this fide of the world."

From what has been offered, I think, we may conclude, that Africa and America were once joined, or at leaft feparated from each other but by a very narrow gulph; and that fome time after the flood the earth was divided or parted afunder; probably by means of an earthquake, and then part of this middle land funk beneath the ocean.

According to fcripture this event came to pass in the days of Peleg; for, we are told that in his days the earth was divided. From whence fome have imagined, this divifion fell out exactly at the time of his birth; but the extenfive expreffion of his days rather implies the contrary; and denotes that it happened when he was in an advanced age, when he had feen many days, not when he had feen but one. So that his name must have been given him prophetically, in the fame manner as was Noah's, under which was predicted an event which did not come to pafs till fome hundreds of years after his birth (Gen. v. 29. viii. 21.) Several others of the patriarchs alfó had fuch prophetical names,

THE

ANECDOTE of LEWIS the XIVth.

*****

HE Jefuits of the College de Clermont having requested the King Louis XIVth to honour them with his presence at a tragedy, which was to be performed by their scholars, the Monarch accepted the invitation. Thefe artful courtiers took care to infert in various parts of the piece many flattering paffages, which were plainly addreffed to the royal auditor, who greedily inhaled the precious incenfe.

When