was but 40 years; and that in this 40 years are included the invasion of the Scythians, and their domination during 28 years. From this it appears clear, that A. Z. has confounded, in direct opposition to the testimony of Herodotus, the 40 years of Cyaxares' reign, with the 28 years of the government of the Scythians included in it; and thus makes Cyaxares to have reigned 68 years; which, however, as I have already shown, is at variance with the epochs he has given. Assuming then the epoch assigned by A. Z. to the time of Cyaxares' ascending the throne, viz. 639 B. C. it follows, that the 68 years given to his reign must be distributed between the reign of Cyaxares and that of Astiages his son; and therefore Cyaxares having, according to Herodotus, reigned but 40 years, the remaining 28 belong to the reign of Astiages. These 68 years being deducted from 639 B.C. give the epoch 571 B. C. at which ime, according to A. Z. "Ajaxares," or the Astiages of Herodotus, ascended the throne, which is thus clearly demonstrated to be an error. The duration of the reign of Astiages is, according to Herodotus, 35 years, which, deducted from 599 B. C. the expiration of the 40 years of Cyaxares' reign, gives 564 B. C. for the termination of the reign of Astiages, by the accession of Cyrus; which makes a difference of 28 years between the above epoch 564 B. C. and 536 B. C. asserted by A. Z. to have been the epoch of the termination of the reign of Astiages, and consequently the epoch of Cyrus's ascending the throne. It is clear, therefore, that A. Z. has been misled by the 28 years of the government of the Scythians, included in the reign of Cyaxares, which has thus deranged the epochs given by him. The epoch obtained above, for the termination of the reign of Astiages, viz. 564 B. C. appears from the testimony of Herodotus to be within 4 years of the true epoch ;, since it is clearly deducible from Herodotus that Cyrus ascended the throne by dethroning Astiages, in 560 B. C. This epoch 560 B. C. affording a determinate point to set out from, with respect to preceding events, and assigning to the reigns of the Median Kings the duration given them by Herodotus, there will occur first for the 35 years of Astiages, the epoch 595 B. C.; this, therefore, must be the true epoch of the death of Cyaxares, and the accession of Astiages to the throne; which A. Z. has erroneously set down at 630 B. C. the difference being exactly 35 years. Secondly, the 40 years assigned to the duration of Cyaxares' reign, will, added to the above epoch 595 B. C. give 635 B. C. for the epoch of Cyaxares' ascending the throne, and the death of Phraortés, which, however, is within 3 or 4 years of the time assigned by A. Z. viz. 639 B C. By adding 22 years, the duration of the reign of Phraortés, according to Herodotus, to 595 B. C. the result is 657 B. C. for the epoch of Phraortés ascending the throne; and 53 years being assigned to the reign of Déïokès by Herodotus, gives 710 B. C. within one year of the time stated by A. Z. It appears, however, from Herodotus, that an anarchy of about 6 years preceded the time of Déiokès' ascending the throne, or of his being elected King; and this consequently gives 716 B. C. for the revolt or independence of the Medes, to which A. Z. has given the epoch 711 B. C. The above epochs, therefore, being cleared and arranged, will be as follow: NEW CHURCHES.-No. X. THI Trinity Church. (See vol. xcv. ii. The steeple, between a tower and a spire, possesses some merit for its originality. In common with the body of the Church, it stands high in its designer's favour, having been set up with but little variation on two other churches. The plan is square, and the elevation made into two principal diminishing stories, the whole supporting a square pedestal, with honeysuckle mouldings on each face, and finished with a stone ball and cross. The first story rests on a rusticated basement, and in each face are two Doric columns with antæ at the angles. On the frieze two chaplets, as the west front. This will be seen, by comparison of the two engravings, to be exactly similar to Trinity Church. The second story is uniform; the order Ionic. Both stories are open, and the angles with Grecian tiles. In many points of view this tower is not an inelegant object. Architect, F. Bedford. HIS Church stands on the south bank of the Surrey Canal, about a furlong and a half from the high road. In plan it is an entire parallelogram. The body is composed of four plain unbroken walls of stone, with. common dwelling-house rectangular is windows and doorways, as devoid of mouldings and architectural ornaments as the building is of grace and elegance. The windows are in two series; the upper long, the lower shallow. The doorways are in number five, and are all in the western wall. In describe ing the walls as unbroken, I have, however, forgotten to notice several pilasters of pasteboard projection, one of which has a station between the two windows nearest the west, in each of the side walls; why they are placed there, the architect, who probably had some reason for so doing, can best answer: two others divide the east front into three portions. In the central division is a window. This elevation, like the western, is finished with a pediment and acroteria. To the western front of the building is attached a portico consisting of six fluted columns of the Grecian Doric order, sustaining an architrave, frieze, and cornice of a doubtful order and insignificant proportions, which are continued round the whole building, and, together with the rest of the edifice, have no other connexion with the columns, than the cramps and cement that hold them together. When I add, that the triglyphs and mutules are entirely omitted, and that the whole entablature wants breadth, it will be seen how barbarously the order has been innovated upon. There is, however, an attempt at ornament in the frieze of the west front, where the places of the triglyphs are supplied by chaplets of myrtle, a style of ornament peculiar to shop fronts, and which may be seen in all its grandeur, holding up to the eyes of Christmas epicures many a noble sirloin, in the front of an eminent butcher's shop at Camberwell. Excepting the porticoes, Mr. Bedford's Church designs are very convenient; their dubious style of architecture equally suits the Doric and the Corinthian, as I have already had occasion to remark in my notice of GENT. MAG. January, 1827. THE INTERIOR. A portion of the design being occupied by the stairs to the galleries and the tower, the audience part is reduced almost to a square; it is naked and empty, with the air of a conventicle, ill suited to the dignity of the Established Church, and, except in size, closely corresponds with Trinity Church; although the order is in that building Corinthian,-of equal merit, however, with the initative Doric of the present. The first objects which meet the eye on entering are two pulpits, square unornamented boxes perched upon tall stone pedestals, formed of the upper part of a Doric column and on looking for the altar, in its place is only to be seen a large unsightly slab of veined marble, more fit for a hearth-stone, let into the eastern wall, having the Decalogue, &c. inscribed upon it, which, like a Dutch painting, may with difficulty be made. out in a particular light. Beneath is the Cominunion-table, and above, a frieze of gilt honeysuckles. I never saw in any building the altar so neglected as it is here; such a style may do for the "table pew" of a conven ticle; but from the Church I hope it only requires to be noticed to be banished for ever. The usual quota of galleries, with their delicately tinted fronts, supported on slender Doric columns, all white or nearly so, reinind the spectator how far inferior the cold naked appearance which moderu architects delight in giving to a building, is to the brown wainscot galleries of the old churches. Although the altar is so totally neglected, the highly enriched organ-case displays that perversion of ornament which so fully proves a bad taste. Between the windows are placed Ionic pilasters, with enriched capitals, occupying the whole height from the floor of the church, to an architrave and a rich frieze of honeysuckle work, on which rests the ceiling, which is pannelled into large square compartments, having a flower in the centre of each. The font is an antique vase, enriched with mouldings, standing on a square pedestal; it is cast, I apprehend, in the same mould as that at Trinity Church, which actually cost the parish of Newington 32l. 9s. ; though from appearance, any one unacquainted with the actual value of the article, would imagine it might be purchased of the itinerant Italians for as many shillings. In the tower is a musical peal of six bells, much admired in the neighbourhood for their melody, which is no doubt improved by the adjacent canal. The first stone was laid on the 7th of March, 1822, by the Bishop of Winchester, and the edifice was consecrated on the 26th of March, 1824. ST. MARK'S CHURCH, KENNINGTON. Architect, D. Roper. The second Church commenced in the parish of Lambeth, of four dedicated to the Evangelists. It stands on the upper part of a small triangular piece of land, separated from the reinainder of Kennington Common by the Brixton Road, and on the actual spot which once served for the common place of execution for the county, distinguished by the martyrdom in the last century of several unfortunate gentlemen, who here suffered an ignominious and cruel death for their devotion to the cause of the banished Stuarts In Mr. Allen's recently published History of the parish, is a woodcut of an iron swivel, found in digging the foundations of the building, which doubtless belonged to a gallows formerly erected here. This Church differs exceedingly in plan from the generality of ecclesiastical buildings, and consists of two distinct portions. The body is a long octagon (a parallelogram, with the corners cut off). The eastern end is brought out, to make a recess for the altar, and to the western end is attached the tower, sided by lobbies, containing staircases to the galleries, and the whole fronted by a portico formed of four columns, and two insulated antæ at the angles, supporting an entablature of the Greek Doric order, and finished with a pediment. This portico and the rest of the appendages which form the second portion of the building, are very faulty; the triglyphs and mutules are only applied to the west front; and the antæ, which form the exterior supporters of the portico, give it in a side view the appearance of a wall. All the portion just described is stone. The body of the Church is constructed with brick, and has stone pilasters attached to the piers between the windows, ranging from a continued plinth to the entablature which finishes the elevation. The windows themselves are in the meanest dwelling house style, in fact mere openings in the wall, and the whole of this part of the building is sadly at variance with the Grecian portico. The tower is square and massy. Each angle is strengthened with a square pilaster buttress, on the capital of which is placed a knot of honeysuckles. The elevation then takes an octangular form, with bulls' eyes on four of the faces to receive the dials. This story supports a circular temple, composed of fluted columns of the Ionic order, finished with a plain spherical cupola, on the apex of which is a stone cross of an elegant design. Between each of these columns is a pedestal supporting a tripod. Some originality is displayed in this tower; but its cupola, like the other parts of the Church, is at variance with every Grecian example. side of the east window, which is enriched with a border of stained glass, and contains a dove and glory. The ceiling of the Church is coved elliptically, and its only ornaments are groups of at intervals; it more pleasing to the eye than the flat ceilings which are so fashionable; it gives an appearance of lightness to the Church, and adds greatly to the grandeur of the design. The pulpit is supported on a screen of Doric architecture, and is very tastefully embellished. The reading-desk on the opposite side of the Church corresponds with it, and, unlike the modern Church arrangements, is lower than the pulpit. The galleries rest on Doric columns, and the piers between the windows are furnished with pilasters. Throughout the interior, the architect has displayed great taste in the judicious embellishments he has introduced. His attention to the appropriate ornamenting of the altar is not lost, and had he assimilated the styles of the building more closely, it would have presented to the critical eye that additional claim to admiration which results from propriety. The lighting of the Church by antique bronze lamps is very tastefully effected. The church-yard is inclosed by a handsome railing on a granite plinth, and set off by piers of the same material. Some advocate for innovation has deviated from the universal custom of burying the corpse with the feet to the east, several of the graves having been constructed exactly at angles with the usual mode. I have somewhere seen the prevalence of the custom in all ages adduced as an evidence of the reliance of the Church on the general resurrection: receiving the custom in this light, it ought not to be departed from in these ages of schism, at the mere caprice of a gravedigger. When an old custom like this is, to say the least of it, harmless, and clearly not unmeaning, though it may be founded in a superstitious reason, until a better cause can be assigned for giving it up than for retaining it, I see no reason for its discontinuance. The estimated expence of the present Church is 15,2481. The first stone was laid on the 1st of July, 1822, and it was consecrated on the 30th of June, 1824; the ceremony on NE of the most lures in the history of all feations, and which constitutes the ground of a just demand upon posterity for credibility, is chronological accuracy, As mankind in all ages have formed one great family, their original must have begun at one period; for at whatever æra of time any one of them may have begun to take " a local habitation and a name," their progress must have been traceable to one source: the difficulty of discovering their pedigree, especially when involved by themselves in obscure traditions, has given rise to one of the most valuable arts which the improvements of laborious research has ever ushered into the world,-the art of verifying dates. There is a vanity prevalent in nations as in some individuals, respecting the antiquity of their race. The nobility and gentry of these kingdoms are not more zealous that their banners and heraldic crests should be known to have shone in the Crusades, and at Poictiers and Cressy, than the leaders of the nations of China and Tartary should be able to trace their foundation to the skies, and to have looked down upon the origin of the present world. The zeal or the artifice by which they have been able either to deceive or to silence the rest of mankind into the acquiescence of this national vanity, has involved the great question to discover where lies the correct truth; and of this, as there can be no direct evidence, the fact must be ascertained from those æras when tradition ceased, and positive testimony and record commenced. In order to reconcile this great dif ference between the Chinese and European nations, the case would soon be decided, if it were to be determined by a majority in numbers: but as this would no more attain the truth than a battle ascertains more than strength, a still more powerful effort must be sought for. One principal ground of difference in their and our computations is probably to be found in their methods of division of time, and of counting pe riods and days; and these have not been clearly explained. We know ourselves that in prophetical and metaphorical language, years and days have not unfrequently been involved together, "times and half times," and 1260 days have been after deep investigation discovered to mean years; and this interpretation has shown to the modern nations of Christendom that the period to which they allude will terminate in A. D. 1866! Now the Chinese may likewise, in their prophetical books, have metaphorical terms of a similar kind, and thus, computing by the smallest numbers, have founded their origin before the beginning of time. This point is of great importance, when it is recollected that they do not carry their name earlier than to Fo-hi, which is their Noah, who became their founder immediately after the dispersion of the race of mankind from the plains of Sennaar. Chinnong is synonimous, and is constantly used as well as Fo-hi, and seems to correspond better with the name of Noah, or King Nong. All the traditions of every nation have been satisfied to go up to that æra, and if all would be content to remain there, we should all be satisfied of the truth of our own, and of profane and of sacred history, which is my principal object of inquiry. The French editors of the laborious Dominican work "L'art de Verifier les Dates," of which a volume was subjoined in 1820, for events" avant l'ère Chrétienne," have placed Fo-hi as founder of the nation of China at 2838 before our æra, which was A. M. 1166. Calmet places his birth at A.M. 1056, Julian period, to which if 150 years be added for the subsequent Deluge, and the descent of the family to the plains of Sennaar, it will agree with them in the year 1166. But Bp. Usher's Bible Chronology dates the Deluge at 2349 ante Christ, 1655 A.M. and this dispersion at 2247 A. C. and 1757 A. M. The children of Shem, say these French editors, who do not enter upon the discussion of the date, left the plain of Sennaar to seek an establishment at the extremity of the East; they rested in the parts since called China, and subsisted on the fruits of the earth. Convinced of the necessity of having a chief Governor, they fixed on Fo-hi, who had given some proofs of valour and skill; and the first use he made of his power was to provide security for marriage, and to divide all his company into 100 families, to each of which he assigned a particular name. This law still subsists, as there are now only 100 names to distinguish all the families of that vast empire. Fo-hi devoted indefatigable pains in humanising and polishing his people, and died in the 115th year of his reign at Tchin-tong; where he had constantly held his court, and was buried at some distance from that city, which still subsists under the name of Tchin-tche. This 115 would bring down the period of his death to 2723 A.C. which Calmet fixes as to Noah at 1994 A. C. at the age of 950 years. Ching-nong succeeded to Fo-hi, though at an early age, according to them, 2723 A. C. which seems to be the date of the Chinese empire in its improved state. This fact of the Deluge and the dispersion agrees with the history and subsequent discoveries of all nations, and particularly of America in modern times, whatever date they assume. From that event of the Deluge, all the early families of mankind lived together in the plains between the Tigris and Euphrates and the neighbouring regions. They spoke only one language, trusted themselves in very short excursions, and erected the tower of Babel, as a land mark by which they should always know which way to return home. This motive for the building is far more innocent than that ascribed to it by Moses, Gen. 11, 4. Pagan Antiq. has confused the patriarch Noah with Deucalion, Saturn with Xisuthrus, and mingled their history with that of Pluto, that of Japhet with Neptune, &c. According to Seth Calvisius, the date of the Deluge was A.M. 1656, and 2292 A. C. But I know that I must not prolong these remarks; let them, whether erroneous or correct, and the former is the far greater probability, attract some critical notice of your Correspondents. I could on such a subject in days past have appealed for candour and liberal correction and reference to our venerable friend the late, though not I hope the last of the race of, URBAN; on whose departed merit, veracity, learning, and fidelity, aided by an exhaustless store of unshaken memory, I cannot restrain a sigh of filial respect, as I pass the relics of remote antiquity! Yours, &c. A. H. |