who has attained to a thorough Command over himself, andknows when to indulge, and when to reprefs his Defires, builds his Happiness on a firm and unfhaken Foundation ; and by establishing Peace within, fecures a Tranquillity not fubject to be ruffled by the Storms and Sallies of Paffion. Thefe and fuch like Maxims of Prudence delineated in Hiftory, and which the reading of it often fuggefts, will teach you to begin with yourfelf betimes, to take an Account of your own Mind, its Inclinations, Appetites, and Defires; that you may thereby establish that Subordination of its Powes to Reason, that entire Harmony of Affections, which is the Source of Virtue, and a well-regulated Life. And here let me obferve to you, that by this means you will not only be qualified to acquit yourself with Applause in every Character, when you come to enter upon the greater Scenes of Life; but will be also reconciled to fuch prefent Accidents and Occurrences, as may hitherto perhaps have given you no small Mortification. To illuftrate my Meaning by a familiar Inftance. You have Parents that are extremely indulgent, and every Day give Proofs of their Love and Affection for you, and yet they do not think fit to gratify you in all your Defires. When you ask for new Cloaths, the Demand is not always granted; and if a youthful Vanity prompts you to afpire after every Piece of Finery that prevails among thofe of your Age, they now and then check the growing Inclination, and you are obliged to put up with a Refufal. On thefe Occafions, you are fometimes no doubt greatly disgusted, and tempted to think the Behaviour of your Parents harsh, unreasonable, and fevere. But when by the Study here recommended, you fee the ill Confequences of a Man's not being used early to Oppofition and Contradiction; that thereby ill Habits are apt to grow upon him, and he becomes quite unfit for the Practice of that Self-denial and Restraint, for which there is fo frequent Occafion in Life; you will then own and approve the Wildom of your Parents, in accuftoming you betimes to this Virtue, and think it a Happiness, that there is already fome Foundation laid for that Command and Maftery over yourself, which it muft henceforward be one great Aim of your Life to acquire.

P. Indeed you here propofe an Example, that leaves a very ftrong Impreffion upon my Mind; and had this Reflection ever occured to me before, it might have prevented many Mortifications and Heart-burnings, that were for the time at least very irk fome to bear,

G. It is well that you begin already to be convinced of thefe Truths. Experience and Obfervation will I doubt not contribute to root them deeply in your Mind. But to return to our Subject. As from what has been already faid you fee, that Hiftory best teaches what is honourable and becoming in all the various Stations of Life, and how a Man may acquit himself with Dignity, if Fortune fmiles upon him, and recommends him to Places of Credit and Power: fo will it give you the trueft Infight into the Inftability of human things, and thereby prepare you for thofe Revolutions and Changes, which in the Courfe of Life may happen. For when you look back into the Annals of paft Ages, you fee not only particular Men and Families experience thefe Alterations, but even mighty Kingdoms, and potent Empires, have undergone the fame Fate. Greece and Rome, heretofore famous for their invincible Armies, renowned Commanders, and the Extent of their Dominions, are now brought to a Level with other Nations, yea funk into the most abject State of Slavery. The Arts and Sciences that flourished in fo eminent a Degree among them, and fpread their Reputation fo far, are in a great measure difperfed into other Countries, and have contributed to raise them out of the Obscurity in which they were long involved. And if great and powerful States are not exempt from thefe Changes, well may we expect them in the Fortunes of particular Men. And how useful muft that Study be, which not only teaches us to acquit ourfelves well, upon any fudden Elevation and Succefs; but alfo arms us against the adverse Accidents of Life, so that no Reverse of Fortune fhall be able to break the Harmony of our Minds? For here we meet with many Examples of Men, who after fupporting public Stations with Honour, have fhone out no lefs illuftrious in private Life: others again, finking fuddenly from Riches to Poverty, have by their Behaviour added a Dignity to their low and depreffed Condition. Thefe are the Models which Hiftory lays before you, and by following thefe you will make yourself great, wife, and efteemed, in every Sphere of Life. If called to public Employments, you will know how to fill them with Luftre; and being well apprized of the Inftability of human Affairs, will not fuffer any Attachments to grow upon you, that by a Reverse of Fortune might deftroy the Balance within. A Mind rightly conftituted, is not intoxicated with Profperity; but ftill looking forward, and forefeeing the Poffibility of a Change, difpofes itself to fubmit without Murmuring or Regret.

I

I have one Observation more to make before I leave this Subject, and it is: That Hiftory acquaints us with the different Characters of Men, and lays before us their Views, Interefts, and Defigns. By this Means we become inftructed in the feveral Windings and Labyrinths of the Human Heart, and may be faid to enter into the Commerce of the World, before we meddle with the Business and Tranfactions of it. And of how great Advantage this may be, in the future Conduct of your Life, will not need many Words to explain. Were you fent abroad into the World quite a Stranger to the Manners and Customs of it, and unacquainted with the Dif pofitions and Characters of Mankind, you would be liable to be deceived in every Inftance, and could not attain the Capacity of judging in difficult Circumftances and Conjunctures, but by Experience of Errors paft. For being a Stranger to Deceit yourself, you would not fufpect it in others, and by laying your Heart open to all without Diftinction, would give felfish and defigning Men an Opportunity of drawing you into their Snares. Now Hiftory is in this Cafe a fafe and fure Teacher; for there, without Hazard to ourfelves, we are made wife by the Experience of others. We fee the Paffions of Mankind, their interfering Interefts, and all the Artifices by which they impofe upon one another. We are taught to be upon our guard against Flattery, to fhun the Contagion of Vice, to disclaim all Commerce with the Diffolute and Abandoned, and affociate only with the Wife and Good. Tell me whether thefe are not Advantages you ought to covet, and whether they do not make the Study of History appear well worthy of your Attention?

P. I must be very flow of Apprehenfion indeed, not to own this, nor are you to wonder after the Defcription given, if I think every Hour an Age till I enter ferioufly upon this Part of Knowledge. Begin therefore according to your Promife, and inftruct me in what Manner I am to proceed, fo as to draw the greatest Advantage from the Study I am to enter

upon.

G. That is properly now my Tafk, and accordingly I fet about it with Joy. And here let me firft obferve to you, that as History is a Recital of paft Events, and Occurrences that have been carried on in different Countries, and in a Series of Ages the one fucceeding the other; in order to reap the Fruits of it in their full Extent and Maturity, it will be neceffary to have fome previous Knowledge of the Succeffion of Times, and of the feveral Nations and Kingdoms, where thefe Tranfactions took place. For it fo happens, that the Revolutions

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lutions of one Age often give rife to, and are ftrictly connected with those of another. And therefore we can form but very confused Notions of the Rife and Fall of Empires, and the Establishment of States, without fome fuch general Comprehenfion of the whole Current of Time, as may enable us to trace out diftinctly the Dependence of Events, and diftribute them into thofe Periods and Divifions, that fhall lay the whole Chain of paft Transactions in a just and orderly Manner before This is that Part of Knowledge which the Learned diftinguifh by the Name of Chronology; importing a Difcourfe concerning Time. In like manner, the Situation of Kingdoms in refpect of one another, aud their different Interefts and Views, often give rife to Wars, Devaftations, and other memorable Occurrences; infomuch that if we would fee clearly into the Caufes of thofe Quarrels that have divided the World, and comprehend the Motives upon which the feveral Princes acted, it is neceflary that we acquaint ourselves with the various Diftributions of the Earth, the Extent of Kingdoms and Commonwealths, and their Subdivifions and Dependencies. For thus fhall we understand how the convenient Situation of one Country or Province in refpect of another, by rouzing the Ambition of fome neighbouring State, powerful and afpiring, brought on mighty Wars and Contentions, and aggrandizing one Nation at the Expence of another, paved the Way to the greater Empires. But this laft Branch of Science, known by the Name of Geography, having been already handled in a preceding Chapter, I fhall fay nothing more of it here. The other I purpofely referved till now, refolving not only to premife it as an Introduction to History, but alfo to make it ferve for a Guide to conduct you thro' the feveral. Periods and Divifions of it.

P. As from your Manner of reprefenting Things, I fee clearly into the Dependence they have one upon another, and that Chronology muft neceffarily precede Hiftory, in order to throw fome needful Illuftrations upon it; I can patiently bear this Interruption, and fufpend my Curiofity after Things paft, until I carry this Guide and Conductor along with me.

G. And in return I promise you that you will have no Caufe to repent it. Now Chronology, as I faid before, is a Science that takes account of Time, and adjusts it to paft Tranfactions. I fhall not trouble you with the nice Speculations of Philofophers, in the Definitions they have endeavoured to give us of Time, as tending rather to perplex than illuftrate the Matter. Let it fuffice to obferve, that the Idea of it feems to rife from the Reflection of our own Minds,

when

when in turning our Troughts upon the general Course of Things, we confider fome as prefent, fome as paft, and fome as to come. For here Confideration is had of various Periods, not co-exiftent, but following one another in Succeffron; and the Interval between any two of these Periods, is what we properly call a Space of Time. The general Idea thus explained, it will be eafy to trace its different Shapes and Modifications. For in taking account of Things paft, they appear to the Mind either as exifting together, or as diftant from one another by various Intervals. And when thefe Intervals come to be compared, fome of them appearing longer than others, and thefe longer being confidered as double or triple the fhorter, hence we get the Notion of meafuring one Portion of Time by another, than which nothing can tend more to render our Ideas of it clear and diftinct. For when any Extent of Time is too large for the Mind to take in at once, by thus confidering it as a Compofition of fome leffer Space, and equal to a certain Repetition of it, the Idea is ascertained, and passes in a diftinct Review of all its Parts before us. But then, when we come to apply these Measures to Time, either as running on in continual Succeffion, or as already paft and gone, we find ourselves loft in an unmeasurable Depth, and meet with nothing to bound us either Way. This makes it neceffary to fix upon fome determinate Point or Points in this infinite Duration, from which, as from a Beginning, the various Measures of Time, as Days, Months, Years, &c. may be numbered either backwards or forwards. And accordingly feveral Roots or Terms of this Kind have been devised by different Nations, as they happened to think one thing or another more worthy of Remembrance, and therefore fit to give a Date to other Transactions. They are called Epochas or Aras, as being a kind of RestingPlace for the Mind, from which to look about it, and begin its Computations.

Now from what has been faid you will readily perceive, that the whole Science of Chronology may be fitly divided into two Parts or Branches. One comprehending the Knowledge of the various Meafures and Periods by which Time is computed; and the other defcribing the feveral ras and Epochs, from which, according to different Nations, Events are dated. For by knowing thefe two, you are Mafter of the whole Current of Time; as being not only able to calculate the Length of any Interval or Distance, but also by comparing the Computation of various Ages and Kingdoms, to fit

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