and on which are measured the degrees of longitude. The Ecliptic is the circle drawn across the equator which describes the annual course of the sun. The lines which intersect the equator at right angles, and meet in the poles, are called Meridians, and on them is measured the latitude of places. These are the great Circles of the globe, which like all other circles contain 360 degrees, and each degree 60 minutes. A degree on a great circle of the earth is something more than 69 English miles. The tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are two imaginary circles each drawn at the distance of 23 degrees from the equator, the former to the north, the latter to the south. When the sun approaches one of these boundaries of the ecliptic he seems to make a stand for a few days, and then gradually recedes toward the other: hence they are called the Summer and the Winter Solstices. The polar or Arctic and Antarctic circles are drawn at the distance of 231 degrees from either Pole. Within these Circles the Sun appears above the horizon, from the space of six months to that of twenty-four hours.

In the survey of the four quarters of the World, viz. Europe, Asia, Africa and America, we remark the comparative dimensions and the boundaries of each kingdom and state, the governments, forms of religion, soils, productions, manners and customs by which the families of the earth are distinguished.

EUROPE although the smallest of these divisions, in extent of country, is by far the most eminent with respect to religion, laws, learning, arts, arms, and commerce.

ASIA is remarkable for the number of inhabitants, fertility of soil, and variety of climate. There are found the diamonds of Golconda, and the spices of Malabar. There the most ancient Empires were founded, the Will of God was revealed to Man, and Mahomet spread his imposture. China is remarkable for its patriarchal state of society, its language consisting of hieroglyphical characters, and abounding in monosyllables, its wide extent of empire, and the myriads of its ingenious and crafty inhabitants. Hindoostan, or the Empire of the Great Mogul, is best known to us by the flourishing British Colonies planted upon the Coromandel and Malabar Coasts, and exhibiting the curious prospect of extensive, populous, and rich Provinces, situated at the distance of nearly half the globe from the mother country, and governed by a small Company of Merchants in London.

The vast Peninsula of AFRICA united to the Continent of Asia by the isthmus of Suez, rich in gold, ivory, gums, and

drugs, is, for the most part, barbarous and uncultivated. Yet on surveying these sultry and inhospitable regions, the mind feels some satisfaction to remark the British Settlements of Sierra Leone, and Bulama, established for raising the productions of the West Indies, without the aid of miserable slaves, and a commerce in human flesh. Egypt, whence of old beamed the light of Science and Civilization, is renowned for its stupendous pyramids, the most ancient monuments of human labour extant, the periodical inundations of the Nile, and the degraded condition of the natives foretold in the holy Scriptures, exactly corresponding with the observations of travellers. In the interior Provinces of Zamfara, and Makako, and upon the remote bank of the Niger, the people are immersed in the grossest ignorance and idolatry. At the extreme point of the Continent-the Cape of Good Hope, the tribes of the Caffres with an invincible ferocity, like the lions of their forests, oppose the restraints of civilization, and resolutely persist in their savage mode of life.

AMERICA, or the New World, was discovered by the great Christopher Columbus, in 1491, but derives its name from Americus Vesputius, who ascertained the land to the south of the equator a few years after. Its north east division, bounded by the great River Mississippi, includes the coasts peopled by the Colonists from Great Britain. The southwest part includes the fertile provinces of Mexico and Louisiana, the former belongs to Spain, the latter is ceded by that power to the French, who originally planted a colony there, and have lately sold it to the United States of America. In South America, Peru, Chili and Paraguay are likewise subject to that Kingdom. The Brasils, rich in ebony, emeralds, and birds of the most beautiful plumage, belong to the Portuguese; and Surinam, planted with the sugar cane, cotton, and indigo, which form the most delightful prospects upon banks of the creeks and rivulets, belong to the Dutch. The Patagonians, famed for gigantic stature and mildness of temper, inhabit the most southern extremity, near the straits of Magellan.

the

the

In America the works of Creatione, formed upon largest scale. There the Rivers of St. Laurence, Amazon Oroonoko, and Plata

to whose dread expanse, Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course

Our floods are rills

roll their mighty waters to the Ocean; and there the towering Andes, extending 5000 miles in North and South Ame

rica, rear their summits, white with perpetual snow even in the torrid zone.

Such is a superficial view of the Globe we inhabit, so large in size, that even Teneriffe or Mont Blanc are, compared to it, but as grains of dust upon an artificial sphere. Its diameter is 7970 miles, and its surface contains 199,557,259 square miles. Placed between the Orbits of Venus and Mars, it performs its course around the Sun at the rate of 68243 miles in an hour, and completes its annual revolution in rather more than 365 days.

From the sandy deserts of Arabia and Egypt, or the ever flourishing savannahs at the Equator, where grow the most luxurious fruits, and the waters and the fields teem with life;—from such glowing climes to the frozen regions of the arctic circle, where vegetation is extinct, and the waters are bound by eternal frost, men as well as the inferior animals, are powerfully affected by peculiarity of situation. So great is the influence of Climate; but if we consider how slow and gradual the variations are from the black complexion of the Negro of Senegal, to the brown of the Otaheitan, and from him to the fair natives of the North of Europe, we shall find reasons to confirm the account recorded in the History of Moses, that the various tribes of men sprung originally from one family, as well as conversed originally in one language.

Without a knowledge of Geography no reader can have a clear idea of the scene where any occurrence takes place ; but is liable to great mistakes by confounding one part of the world with another. It is applicable to history in general, and introduces the pleasing combination of the ancient and modern names of places, and a comparison of the characters and manners of those who have inhabited them at different times. It assists the memory by the various associations of ideas, with which it furnishes the mind; and the prospect of a country presented by a map, or a globe, recalls the memorable transactions which have been performed in it, and revives the recollection of its illustrious men.

Persons in various situations of life are interested in the study of geography, and may reap advantage from its cultivation. While it constitutes a branch of knowledge essentially necessary for the traveller, the merchant, and the sailor, it furnishes abundant stores of investigation to the naturalist and the philosopher. It is not only requisite for every reader of history, but for every one who peruses the daily accounts of the events which are taking place in various parts of the world. It has long been considered as a material part of

polite education; at present indeed it is more particularly proper that it should be so, as the British commerce and colonies extend our connexions to so many different countries; and as many voyages of discovery have of late years been made. These circumstances must naturally excite our curiosity, and operate as a strong inducement to the cultivation of this very interesting branch of study.

Without Chronology, which regulates the several periods of time, and teaches its artificial divisions, we have no standard by which the rise and fall of empires, the length of lives, the dates of remarkable occurrences, or the lapse of time can be measured. We are unable without this assistance, to understand the modes of reckoning among different nations, such as the Olympiads of the Greeks, the Foundation of Rome, the Hegira of the Turks, and the Julian and Gregorian Calendars. The first year of the first Olympiad coincides with the 776 year before Christ, and the year of the foundation of Rome with 753 before Christ. The Hegira, or flight of Mahomet from Mecca, happened in the 622 year of the Christian Era. The Julian, or old style, is so called from Julius Cæsar, who regulated the Roman Calendar. He added a day immediately after the twenty-fourth of February, called by the Romans the sixth of the calends of March; as it was thus reckoned twice, the year in which it was introduced was called Bissextile, or Leap Year. Pepe Gregory the xiiith, in 1582, reformed the Julian Calendar, as he found that the odd eleven minutes, viz. the difference between 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes, the time in which the Sun returns annually to the same point of the Zodiac, and the 365 days 6 hours which make a Julian Year, amount in the course of a century almost to a whole day; and from this excess in reckoning the equinoxes had gone back ten days in 1257 years. He therefore caused these ten days to be suppressed, and the eleventh of March to be called the twenty-first. Thus the Equinox fell on the same day of the month as when the Council of Nice was held, in the year 325, at the vernal Equinox. The Old Style was used till September 1752, when the New was adopted in all the Christian countries of Europe.

Geography and Chronology are with the greatest propriety called the eyes of history; because this metaphor expresses better than any other how effectually they assist us as the proper instruments to discern the various actions and revolutions of mankind.

There are other assistances, by which the study of history may be considerably promoted, and the events which it re

*

cords may be very pleasingly illustrated. Coins and medals, inscriptions, gems, and statues, not only show us the progress of ancient arts, but likewise ascertain many curious particulars respecting characters, instruments, buildings, and ceremonies. Coins and medals indeed are particularly serviceable in that respect. The representation of so many events is delineated upon them, that they illustrate several passages in ancient writers, and confirm doubtful facts. Sometimes they are not only the assistants but the substitutes of history. Gibbon remarks that if all the historians of that period were lost, medals, inscriptions, and other monuments, would be sufficient to record the travels of the emperor Hadrian. Coins are to general history, what miniatures are to historical pictures; when arranged in exact order, they answer the purpose of a chronological epitome, and convey similar information, with the additional advantage of a more lively and picturesque manner of communicating it.

But the Laws of a country are more intimately connected with its history, and indeed, more accurately speaking, constitute an essential part of it. They show the genius of a people, illustrate their manners, and enable us to trace their progress from rude independence to due subordination and proper government. The historians of antiquity, indeed, taking it for granted that the laws of their respective countries would be as well known to others as to themselves, have not paid sufficient attention to this subject. From the turbulent scenes of public affairs, from battles and the conflicts of contending factions, we can derive little knowledge of the internal state of manners and customs. An acquaintance with jurisprudence is calculated to supply this information; and even from the ancient laws, extremely concise as they are, we may infer with a great degree of probability, what the state of the country was, in any particular respect, when a new law was enacted. The remedy recommended clearly points out the nature of the disease. For instance, the encroachments of luxury in Rome may be marked by the Oppian law, which prohibited the Roman ladies from wearing ornaments to their dress, which exceeded the value of an ounce of gold; and by a decree of the Senate obtained by Cornelius, which limited to a particular sum the expense of funerals.

* The comparative use of Medals and Inscriptions by the learned Scipio Maffei may be found in Du Fresnoy's new Method of studying History, vol. i, p. 323.