a field for you to undertake; but the study of nature, as far as may
suit your powers and opportunities, you will find a most sublime
entertainment: the objects of this study are all the stupendous works of
the Almighty Hand, that lie within the reach of our observation. In the
works of man perfection is aimed at, but it can only be found in those
of the Creator. The contemplation of perfection must produce delight,
and every natural object around you would offer this delight, if it
could attract your attention. If you survey the earth, every leaf that
trembles in the breeze, every blade of grass beneath your feet, is a
wonder as absolutely beyond the reach of human art to imitate as the
construction of the universe. Endless pleasures, to those who have a
taste for them, might be derived from the endless variety to be found in
the composition of this globe and its inhabitants. The fossil--the
vegetable--and the animal world--gradually rising in the scale of
excellence--the innumerable species of each, still preserving their
specific differences from age to age, yet of which no two individuals
are ever perfectly alike--afford such a range for observation and
enquiry, as might engross the whole term of our short life, if followed
minutely. Besides all the animal creation obvious to our unassisted
senses, the eye, aided by philosophical inventions, sees myriads of
creatures, which by the ignorant are not known to have existence: it
sees all nature teem with life; every fluid--each part of every
vegetable and animal--swarm with its peculiar inhabitants--invisible to
the naked eye, but as perfect in all their parts, and enjoying life as
indisputably, as the elephant or the whale.
But if from the earth, and from these minute wonders, the philosophic
eye is raised towards the heavens, what a stupendous scene there opens
to its view!--those brilliant lights that sparkle to the eye of
ignorance as gems adorning the sky, or as lamps to guide the traveller
by night, assume an importance that amazes the understanding!--they
appear to be _worlds_, formed like ours for a variety of inhabitants--or
_suns_, enlightening numberless other worlds too distant for our
discovery! I shall ever remember the astonishment and rapture with which
my mind received this idea, when I was about your age: it was then
perfectly new to me, and it is impossible to describe the sensations I
felt from the glorious boundless prospect of infinite beneficence
bursting at once upon my imagination! Who can contemplate such a scene
unmoved? If our curiosity is excited to enter upon this noble enquiry, a
few books on the subject, and those of the easiest sort, with some of
the common experiments, may be sufficient for your purpose--which is to
enlarge your mind, and to excite in it the most ardent gratitude and
profound adoration towards that great and good Being, who exerts his
boundless power in communicating various portions of happiness through
all the immense regions of creation.
_Moral_ philosophy, as it relates to human actions, is of still higher
importance than the study of nature. The works of the ancients on this
subject are universally said to be entertaining as well as instructive,
by those who can read them in their original languages; and such of them
as are well translated will undoubtedly, some years hence, afford you
great pleasure and improvement. You will also find many agreeable and
useful books, written originally in French, and in English, on morals
and manners: for the present, there are works, which, without assuming
the solemn air of philosophy, will enlighten your mind on these
subjects, and introduce instruction in an easier dress: of this sort are
many of the moral essays, that have appeared in periodical papers,
which, when excellent in their kind--as are the _Spectators_,
_Guardians_, _Ramblers_, and _Adventurers_--are particularly useful to
young people, as they comprehend a great variety of subjects--introduce
many ideas and observations that are new to them--and lead to a habit of
reflecting on the characters and events that come before them in real
life, which I consider as the best exercise of the understanding.
Books on taste and criticism will hereafter be more proper for you than
at present: whatever can improve your discernment, and render your taste
elegant and just, must be of great consequence to your enjoyments as
well as to the embellishment of your understanding.
I would by no means exclude the kind of reading, which young people are
naturally most fond of: though I think the greatest care should be taken
in the choice of those _fictitious stories_ that so enchant the mind;
most of which tend to inflame the passions of youth, whilst the chief
purpose of education should be to moderate and restrain them. Add to
this, that both the writing and sentiments of most novels and romances
are such as are only proper to vitiate your style, and to mislead your
heart and understanding. The expectation of extraordinary
adventures--which seldom ever happen to the sober and prudent part of
mankind--and the admiration of extravagant passions and absurd conduct,
are some of the usual fruits of this kind of reading; which, when a
young woman makes it her chief amusement, generally render her
ridiculous in conversation, and miserably wrong-headed in her pursuits
and behaviour. There are however works of this class in which excellent
morality is joined with the most lively pictures of the human mind, and
with all that can entertain the imagination and interest the heart. But
I must repeatedly exhort you, never to read any thing of the sentimental
kind without taking the judgment of your best friends in the choice;
for, I am persuaded that, the indiscriminate reading of such kind of
books corrupts more female hearts than any other cause whatsoever.
Before I close this correspondence, I shall point out the course of
history I wish you to pursue, and give you my thoughts of geography and
chronology, some knowledge of both being, in my opinion, necessary to
the reading of history with any advantage.
I am, my dearest Niece,
Your ever affectionate.
FOOTNOTE:
[28] There has been lately published a work particularly adapted to the
use of young ladies, entitled, "_A Dictionary of Polite Literature, or
Fabulous History of Heathen Gods and Illustrious Heroes._ Two Vols. with
Plates."
_Editor._
LETTER IX.
ON GEOGRAPHY AND CHRONOLOGY.
_MY DEAREST NIECE_,
I HAVE told you, that you will not be able to read history, with much
pleasure or advantage, without some little knowledge of _Geography_ and
_Chronology_. They are both very easily attained--I mean in the degree
that will be necessary for you. You must be sensible that you can know
but little of a country, whose situation with respect to the rest of the
world you are entirely ignorant of; and, that it is to little purpose
that you are able to mention a fact, if you cannot nearly ascertain the
_time_ in which it happened, which alone, in many cases, gives
importance to the fact itself.
In Geography--the easiest of all sciences, and the best adapted to the
capacity of children--I suppose you to have made some beginning; to know
at least the figure of the earth--the supposed lines--the degrees--how
to measure distances--and a few of the common terms: If you do not
already know these, two or three lessons will be sufficient to attain
them; the rest is the work of memory, and is easily gained by reading
with maps; for I do not wish your knowledge to be exact and masterly;
but such only as is necessary for the purpose of understanding history,
and, without which, even a newspaper would be unintelligible. It may be
sufficient for this end, if, with respect to _ancient_ Geography, you
have a general idea of the situation of all the great states, without
being able precisely to ascertain their limits. But, in the _modern_,
you ought to know the bounds and extent of every state in Europe, and
its situation with respect to the rest. The other parts of the world
will require less accurate knowledge, except with regard to the European
settlements.
It may be an useful and agreeable method, when you learn the situation
of any important country, to join with that knowledge some one or two
leading facts or circumstances concerning it, so that its particular
property may always put you in mind of the situation, and the situation,
in like manner, recal the particular property. When, for instance, you
learn in what part of the globe to find Ethiopia, to be told at the same
time, that, in that vast unknown tract of country, the Christian
religion was once the religion of the state, would be of service;
because the geographical and historical knowledge would assist each
other. Thus, to join with Egypt, _the nurse and parent of arts and of
superstition_--with Persia, _shocking despotism and perpetual
revolutions_--with ancient Greece, _freedom and genius_--with Scythia,
_hardiness and conquest_, are hints which you may make use of as you
please. Perhaps annexing to any country the idea of some familiar form
which it most resembles may at first assist you to retain a general
notion of it; thus Italy has been called a _boot_, and Europe compared
to a _woman sitting_.
The difference of the ancient and modern names of places is somewhat
perplexing; the most important should be known by both names at the same
time, and you must endeavour to fix a few of those which are of most
consequence so strongly in your mind, by thinking of them, and being
often told of them, that the ancient name should always call up the
modern one to your memory, and the modern the ancient: Such as the AEgean
Sea, now _The Archipelago_--The Peloponnesus, now _The Morea_--Crete,
_Candia_--Gaul, _France_--Babylon, _Bagdat_--Byzantium--to which the
Romans transplanted their seat of empire--_Constantinople_, &c.
There have been so many ingenious contrivances to make Geography easy
and amusing, that I cannot hope to add any thing of much service; I
would only prevail with you not to neglect acquiring, by whatever method
pleases you best, that share of knowledge in it which you will find
necessary, and which is so easily attained; and I entreat that you would
learn it in such a manner as to fix it in your mind, so that it may not
be lost and forgotten among other childish acquisitions, but that it may
remain ready for use through the rest of your life.
Chronology indeed has more of difficulty; but if you do not bewilder
yourself by attempting to learn too much and too minutely at first, you
need not despair of gaining enough for the purpose of reading history
with pleasure and utility.
Chronology may be naturally divided into three parts, _the
Ancient_--_the Middle_--and _the Modern_. With respect to all these, the
best direction that can be given is to fix on some periods or epochas,
which, by being often mentioned and thought of, explained and referred
to, will at last be so deeply engraven on the memory, that they will be
ready to present themselves whenever you call for them: these indeed
should be few, and ought to be well chosen for their importance, since
they are to serve as elevated stations to the mind, from which it may
look backwards and forwards upon a great variety of facts.
Till your more learned friends shall supply you with better, I will take
the liberty to recommend the following, which I have found of service to
myself.
In the ancient chronology, you will find there were four thousand years
from the creation to the redemption of man; and that Noah and his family
were miraculously preserved in the ark 1650 years after Adam's creation.
As there is no history, except that in the Bible, of any thing before
the flood, we may set out from that great event, which happened, as I
have said above, in the year of the world 1650.
The 2350 years, which passed from the deluge to our Saviour's birth, may
be thus divided.--There have been four successive _Empires_, called
_Universal_, because they extended over a great part of the then known
world: these are usually distinguished by the name of _The Four great
Monarchies_: the three first of them are included in ancient Chronology,
and began and ended in the following manner.
1st, The ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, founded by Nimrod in the year of the world
1800, ended under Sardanapalus in 3250, endured 1450 years.
The Median--though not accounted one of the four great
monarchies, being conquests of rebels on the Assyrian
empire--comes in here for about 200 years.
2d, THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, which began under Cyrus, in the year of the
world 3450, ended in Darius in 3670, before Christ 330, lasted a little
more than 200 years.
3d, THE GRECIAN EMPIRE, began under Alexander the Great in 3670, was
soon after his death dismembered by his successors; but the different
parcels into which they divided it were possessed by their respective
families, till the famous Cleopatra, the last of the race of Ptolemy,
one of Alexander's captains who reigned in Egypt, was conquered by
Julius Caesar, about half a century before our Lord's birth, which is a
term of about 300 years.
Thus you see that, from the deluge to the establishment of the first
great monarchy--the
Years
Assyrian--is 150
The Assyrian empire continued 1450
The Median 200
The Persian 200
The Grecian 300
From Julius Caesar, with whom began
the fourth great monarchy,--_viz._
the Roman--to Christ 50
----
In all 2350
years; the term from the deluge to Christ.
I do not give you these dates and periods as correctly true, for I have
taken only round numbers, as more easily retained by the memory; so
that, when you come to consult chronological books or tables, you will
find variances of some years between them and the above accounts; but
precise exactness is not material to a beginner.
I offer this short table as a little specimen of what you may easily do
for yourself; but even this sketch, slight as it is, will give you a
general notion of the ancient history of the world, from the deluge to
the birth of Christ.
Within this period flourished the Grecian and Roman republics, with the
history and chronology of which it will be expected you should be
tolerably well acquainted; and indeed you will find nothing in the
records of mankind so entertaining. Greece was divided into many petty
states, whose various revolutions and annals you can never hope
distinctly to remember; you are therefore to consider them as forming
together one great kingdom--like the Germanic body, or the United
Provinces--composed separately of different governments, but sometimes
acting with united force for their common interest. The _Lacedemonian_
government, formed by Lycurgus in the year of the world 3100--and the
_Athenian_, regulated by Solon about the year 3440--will chiefly engage
your attention.
In pursuing the _Grecian_ chronology, you need only perhaps make one
stand or epocha, at the time _Socrates_, that wisest of philosophers,
whom you must have heard of, who lived about 3570 years from the
creation, and about 430 before Christ: for within the term of 150 years
_before_ Socrates, and 200 _after_ him, will fall in most of the great
events and illustrious characters of the Grecian history.
I must inform you that the Grecian method of dating time was by
_Olympiads_; that is, four complete years; so called from the
celebration, every fifty years, of the Olympic Games, which were
contests in all the manly exercises, such as wrestling, boxing, running,
chariot-racing, &c. They were instituted in honour of Jupiter and took
their name from Olympia, a city of Elis, near which they were performed:
they were attended by all ranks of people, from every state in Greece;
the noblest youths were eager to obtain the prize of victory, which was
no other than an olive crown, but esteemed the most distinguishing
ornament. These games continued all the time that Greece retained any
spark of liberty; and with them begins the authentic history of that
country--all before being considered as fabulous. You must therefore
endeavour to remember, that they began in the year of the world 3228;
after the flood 1570 years; after the destruction of Troy 400; before
the building of Rome 23; before Cyrus about 200; and 770 before Christ.
If you cannot retain _all_ these dates, at least you must not fail to
remember the near coincidence of the first _Olympiad_ with the _building
of Rome_, which is of great consequence, because, as the Grecians
reckoned time by Olympiads, the Romans dated from the building of their
city; and as these two eras are within 23 years of each other, you may,
for the ease of memory, suppose them to begin together, in the year of
the world 3228.
In reading the history of the _Roman Republic_, which continued in that
form of government to the time of Julius Caesar's dictatorship, about the
year of the world 3960, and about 48 years before Christ, you will make
as many epochas as you shall find convenient: I will mention only two;
the sacking of Rome by the Gauls, which happened in the year of the
world 3620, in the 365th year of the city, in the 97th Olympiad, before
Christ 385, and about 30 years before the birth of Alexander. The
second epocha may be the 608th year of the city, when, after three
obstinate wars, Carthage was destroyed, and Rome was left without a
rival.
Perhaps the following bad verses, which were given me when I was young,
may help to fix in your mind the important eras of the Roman and Grecian
dates: You must not laugh at them, for chronologers do not pique
themselves on their poetry, but they make use of numbers and rhymes
merely as assistants to memory, being so easily learned by heart.
"Rome and Olympiads bear the same date,
Three thousand two hundred and twenty-eight.
In three hundred and sixty[29] was Rome sack'd and torn,
Thirty summers before Alexander was born."
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 their
ambition.
Numberless questions might be answered in like manner, even on this very
narrow circumscribed plan, if it was 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 show you
how practicable and easy it is. One thing, however, 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 deep 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 Saracen
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 is 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 your's.
FOOTNOTE:
[29] That is, in the 365th year of the city.
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 near 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.