The Illustrated History of England ... Comprising also a summary of the history of the nations of Europe ... With ... engravings ... Edited by H. W. D

Front matter

i. Her Majesty Victoria I., Queen and Empress. 2. H.R.H. Victoria, Princess Royal 3. H.R.H. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. 4. H.R.H. Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse 5. H.R.H. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Nos. 2 ,:xrf \from Photographs by A. Bassano, Old Bond Street, W. No. 3 by Messrs. W. & D Downey Ebury Street, W. No. 5 by Abel Lewis, Douglas, Isle 0/ Man. THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE YEAR i887 THE JUBILEE OF QUEEN VICTORIA I. COMPRISING ALSO a Summary of tbc Ibiston? of tbe IHations of Europe, ARRANGED IN DIVISIONS CORRESPONDING WITH THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. WITH NUMEROUS HIGH-CL'VSS ORIGINAL PAGE ENGRAVINGS DEPICTING REMARKABLE EVENTS AND SCENES, AND MANY HUNDRED WOODCUTS ILLUSTRATING ENGLISH HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY, ARCHITECTURE, ANTIQUITIES, TOPOGRAPHY, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, ARMS AND ARMOUR, DRESSES AND HABITS, SPORTS AND PASTIMES, OFFICIAL, MILITARY, AND POPULAR LIFE, Etc, Etc. Edited by H. W. DULCKEN, Ph.D. bonbon : WARD, LOCK, & CO., WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.

Preface

. THE increasing desire for mental culture and instruction, characteristic of the present time, has nowhere been more strongly marked than in the interest manifested in the study of History. Nor is this to be wondered at ; for an accurate acquaintance with the history of our own country, its dangers, triumphs, and progress, is in itself a valuable and available fund of knowledge, and is, indeed, indispensable to all who aim at self-culture. The History of England has, especially of late years, been placed before the great English public very fully and in very various forms. In some cases it has been the history of the people and the progress of the nation generally that constituted the staple of the work ; in others the biographical form has been adhered to, and the lives of the kings and queens are the chief feature.

In the present work the endeavour has been to tell the story at once of the kings and of the nation, and to present fairly and honestly, and without political prejudice or bias, the events and changes during the successive periods of the life of the English nation ; to avoid anything like misrepresentation or overcolouring, but to state the facts honestly and clearly, leaving the reader to form his own judgment, and to draw his own con clusions. Thus the work will be found rather a record of facts than a com mentary on them. At the same time, the opinions of accredited historians have here and there been given, as possessing in themselves an intrinsic value and a living interest for every reader. The feature of the work, on which especial care has been bestowed, and by which the present work is distinguished from others dealing with English history, is in the association with the story of our own nation of a summary containing a sketch of the records of the world beyond the English shores.

This summary has been divided into portions, to run parallel with the periods of English history which it supplements, and on which, to a certain extent, it forms a commentary, at the same time elucidating many of the facts and investing the subject with a new interest. Thus, for 'instance, the sketch given in the foreign summary of the quarrel between the German Empire and the Papacy, the pretensions of Hildebrand, the opposition and subsequent humiliation and submission of the Emperor

PREFACE.

. VI Henry IV., and the record of the relations between the Roman pontiffs and such powerful Hohenstaufen emperors as Frederick Barbarossa, will explain the position taken up by Becket towards Henry II., and the importance of the Constitutions of Clarendon ; while the particulars given concerning the history of France and Spain in the Elizabethan era will help to illustrate the policy of the heroic Tudor queen and point the contrast between her rule and that of her degenerate successor, Jam.es \. In the latter part of the work, when the history of England became more intimately connected with that of Europe generally, in the Napoleonic era and the subsequent part of the present century, the history of the Continent, with its great changes and revolutionary struggles, has still been kept prominently in view ; for it is chiefly by comparison with the principles of government and the march of events on the Continent that a true estimate of the position and progress of England can be obtained, and that Englishmen can realize what is really meant by the British Empire.

With the same object, more space than usual has been devoted to the story of the United States of America, with the War of Independence, and the great civil war between North arid South ; and a separate chapter gives a summary of the establishment and progress of the Greater Britain that has arisen in the Southern Hemisphere, to carry on the most cherished traditions and extend the history of the parent country. Australia and New Zealand, and even the new possessions of England in the Fiji Islands, are living records of the triumph of liberty, self-government, and the principles of equity and justice, and their story emphatically belongs to the history of England. Concerning the illustrations, it may be remarked that, in the large page engravings representing scenes from English history, the object has not been merely to add ornamental embellishment to the book.

These pictures of the England of the past will be found to have practical utility, in bringing before the reader the ancestors of the present Englishmen in their habits as they lived — the warrior noble iri his panoply of war, the citizen in his furred robe, the king surrounded by his court, and English scenes, such as the ancient street, with its quaint, overhanging gables, etc. The pains taken, to render the book complete will, it is hoped, gain for it the popularity achieved by Ward & Lock's " Illustrated History of the World," and other works constructed on similar lines, which have achieved general recognition and acceptance with the great British public to whom they are addressed. H. W. D. Warwick House, January, 1888. CONTENTS. CHAPTER FACE Introduction : — The Ancient World i I. Ancient Britain and its Inhabitants 33 II.

Britain under the Roman Conquest and Rule 40 III. The Heptarchy, and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom to Alfred the Great 51 IV. Summary of European History, from Augustus Cæsar to the Grandsons of Charlemagne 79 V. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom from Edward the Elder to the Danish Conquest 93 VI. The Anglo-Danish Kings, and Edward the Confessor .... 105 VII. The Norman Conquest— Reign of William I., the Conqueror . .119 VIII. The Anglo-Norman Kings— William II. Rufus 142 IX. The Anglo-Norman Kings — Henry I. (Beauclerc), and Stephen . . 157 X. The Plantagenets — Henry II 173 XI. The Plantagenets — Richard 1 193 XII. Summary of European History from Lothaire to the Death of Frederick Barbarossa 209 XIII. The Plantagenets— John 239 XIV. The Plantagenets— Henry III 255 XV. The Plantagenets — Edward I. 275 XVI.

The Plantagenets — Edward II 299 XVII. The Plantagenets— Edward III 321 XVIII. The Plantagenets— Richard II '. 353 XIX. The Lancastrians— Henry IV 371 XX. The Lancastrians— Henry V 389 XXI. Summary of European History to the end of the Fifteenth Century 403 XXII. The Lancastrians— Henry VI 421 XXIII. The Yorkists— Edward IV 447 XXIV. The Yorkists — Edward V.— Richard III 460 XXV. The Tudors— Henry VII 471 XXVI. The Tudors— Henry VIII 493 XXVII. The Tudors— Edward VI 529 XXVIII. The Tudors— Mary 1 545 XXIX. The Tudors— Elizabeth 563 XXX. The Stuarts— James 1 585 XXXI. The Stuarts— Charles 1 603 XXXII. The Commonwealth— Oliver Cromwell 637 XXXIII. The Restored Stuart Kings— Charles II 651 XXXIV. The Stuarts— James II. CONTENTS. VIII chapter page XXXV. Orange and Stuart— William III. and Mary II 687 XXXVI.

The Stuarts— Queen Anne 699 XXXVII. Summary of European History to the end of the Seventeenth Century 7'3 XXXVIII. The House of Brunswick— George I. 735 XXXIX. The House of Brunswick— George II 747 XL. The House of Brunswick— George III 781 XLI. The House of Brunswick — George III. (continued) 803 XLII. The House of Brunswick— George III. (concluded) 833 XLIII. The House of Brunswick — George IV 883 XLIV. The House of Brunswick— William IV 897 XLV. The House of Brunswick — Victoria 1 913 XLVI. The House of Brunswick — Victoria I. (continued) 945 XLVII. The House of Brunswick— Victoria I. (continued) ...... 967 XLVIII. The House of Brunswick — Victoria I. (continued) 995 XLIX. The House of Brunswick — Victoria I. (continued) 1015 L. The House of Brunswick — Victoria I. (continued) 1029 LI. The Colonies of the British Empire in Australasia .... 1047 LII. The House of Brunswick — Victoria I. (continued) so-y "VÆ VICIIS!" — THE BARBARIAN'S SWORD TURNS THE SCALE. THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Introduction

:— THE ANCIENT WORLD. AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF THE NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY, TO THE LANDING OF JULIUS CÆSAR IN BRITAIN. THE DAWN OF HISTORY— ORIGIN OF NATIONS. THE history of the British Islands commences, as it were, in the midst of that of the nations of old. Long before the very existence of this far-off corner of the world was known beyond the confines of its own white cliffs, mighty em pires had arisen, flourished, and fallen ; and the stupendous Roman Empire had almost attained the utmost limit of its extension, when the first authentic records were given to the world concerning the region whence an empire mightier, more extensive, and more enduring than Rome was to arise in the course of the ages. It may, therefore, be not uninter esting to the readers of this History of England, that an in troductory chapter should summarize, in a few pages, the course of the history of the ancient world in the times of hoary antiquity, as we find its records developed in those mighty empires whose very ruins illustrate in their stupendous grandeurjtefisjaressive words of the Hebrew prophet, who B I

INTRODUCTION.

: THE ANCIENT WORLD. 2 declared : " The stone shall cry out of the wall ; and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." History treats of the origin, growth, and decline of kingdoms and governments, and the Subjects development and decay of nations. For everything under the sun is subjected treated in to endless change, and the fate of nations is but the common fate of men. Each History. nat;on nas a happy season of youth, when all its powers unfold themselves ; it has a ripe manhood, when outward greatness is combined with internal prosperity ; and it has an old age, when the powers decline, until at last the nation has to make way for, or submit to, a stronger one. In the first period, historical, warlike deeds form the chief object of historic record ; in the second, government and legislation, and mental activity as shown in art and literature ; in the third, party combats, disputes as to social rights and position of classes, and the complications of a civilized and over-refined people.

In this manner men attained to the knowledge that patriotism, good citizenship, and simplicity of life are the foundations of greatness in kingdoms and peoples ; and that selfishness, and consequently strife, together with effeminacy and love of pleasure, are their destruction and ruin ; for the same principles that govern the lives of individuals are found powerfully influencing the lives of nations, and producing good or evil results, according to their nature and development. As kingdoms and nations arose before the art of writing came into use, and men carried on wars and made civil regulations before they noted down their achievements, what we know of the most ancient history is derived from sources alike unreliable and incomplete. The information concerning an ancient people was sometimes drawn from ballads, national songs, etc. ; sometimes it rested on reports which were handed down in oral tradition, and was thus passed on from age to age.

The East, the land of the morning, in so far as it was inhabited by men of the white race, is also the scene of the dawn of history. The Asiatic, European, and North Raoes.°US African races, among whom we find comprised the histories of the ancient world, are grouped into the Aryan or Indo-germanic, the Turanian or Mongolian, and the Semitic race. Although the Mongols of eastern Asia, especially the Chinese, developed a high degree of civilization at an early period, they exerted no influence on the progress of the human race generally. We have, therefore, to seek for the commencement of history in the story of the Aryan and the Semitic nations. THE RACES AND THEIR RELIGIONS. '"pHE Aryans, so called from a term signifying the " excellent " people, a comely, well- -L shaped race, inhabited the highland of Thibet.

Nomadic in their habits, they wandered from their original dwelling-place, one division of the Aryan race settling in the region to the north of the Hindoo Koosh Mountains, and called by the ancients Sogdiana, Bactria, Hyrcania, and Arachosia ; while another penetrated into the north-western region of India, now known as the Punjaub, and took possession of the rich and fertile country on the shores of the Indus, The former division became known as the Iranians, or Zend nation : the latter. Zend nation c „m ., • • , r , . and Hindus. ,rom the principal river of their new country, obtained the name of Indi or Hindus. These Hindus were at first divided into numerous tribes, under chiefs and kings, worshipping and offering sacrifices to the sun-god Indra, the all-embracing Varunas, and the other forces of nature, as is shown in the Vedas or sacred poems.

These Vedas are written in the Sanskrit tongue, a dead language singularly copious and beautiful in structure. One portion, the Brahmana, enlarged by the priests, contained the most ancient laws of ritual, while the Sutra discussed matters of religious faith. After a time the priests intro duced a system of Pantheism, setting up Brahma as the soul of the world, and bringing the entire nation under the sway of ecclesiastical law. Then the distinctions of caste were introduced, dividing the nation into definite and rigidly separated ranks, of which the Brahmin caste was the highest, the three other castes named in the Vedas beinothe warriors the agriculturists and traders, and the Sudra or slave caste. There are many mixed castes', the lowest being the Pariahs. The Brahmin religion taught that Brahma assumed the three- RELIGION OF THE BRAHMINS. 3 HINDOO RITE OF SUTTEE.

THE WIDOW BURNT WITH HER HUSBAND'S COKl'SE. fold personality of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer. As a rival faith to Brahminism arose, in the sixth century B.C., Buddhism. The founder of this religion, Buddha, "the awakened," taught a doctrine of mercy for all, and whose faith,Jin spite of Brahmin opposition, rapidly spread. In all the various religious systems of the ancient world, — which we shall have to speak of more fully when we come to treat of the history of the separate nations, — there is manifested the same endeavour to grasp the idea of the Deity, whose existence man perceived both in nature and in his own inner consciousness, and to approach it by the fostering and development of the spiritual part of human nature.

The Semitic nations, especially the Babylonians, sought for their ideal in the investigation of outward nature, the observation of the sun and stars in their courses, and their influence on the earth and on human life ; the Indians endeavoured to penetrate the secrets of creation, and strove hard to find the connection between the human soul and the soul of nature, the created world and the _ _, r. ■ , , ■ • , , , - • Various ideas Deity, and to extract the hidden spiritual germ, and trace back existence to its concerning the source ; the Egyptians united these two tendencies in a system suited to their Deity. national characteristics and position, and venerated the eternal power and immutability of the Divine Being as symbolized in the steadfast, abiding instincts of animals ; whereas the Medes and Persians elevated into an ethic system the idea that hosts of good and evil spirits under Ormuz, the god of light, and Ahriman, the demon of darkness, waged eternal war to obtain the mastery over the world and humanity ; and taught that man should serve the god of light in purity of soul, and should do battle with the evil one in the outer world as welUs in his°own breast ; the Greeks filled the universe with the Divine Being, and ennobled the human form by fashioning the images of the gods in their likeness ; and through the poetic images of a superb mythology they established as it were a direct communication between the gods and the hum-in race.

The fruitful country watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, and the verdant terrace region of Mesopotamia (the hind between the rivers), was the habitat of the Semitic nations, among whom the Babylonians and Assyrians were the chief. ANCIENT EGYPT AND ITS KINGS. EGYPT, the valley of the Nile,— fertilized every year by the overflowing of the mighty river, the secret of whose sources has been recently wrung from nature, after remaining for ages the problem of the world,— is designated as the cradle of civilization in the most ancient Hebrew and Greek writings. Though the ancient priestly records of Egyptian history cannot be accepted as authentic, it is certain that civilization in that wonderful country dates from more than 3,000 years before Christ. Thus the change in the length of the year from 360 to 365 days was made in Egypt about 2,800 B.C. The religion of the people t had a cl°se affinity to the natural features of their country.

The great force of nature which bestowed fruitfulness on the land, the Sun, was the chief object of their adoration. The sun-god was Ra, and the title Ra was afterwards added to the names of various local deities worshipped in different temples. Ra was chiefly worshipped in Memphis and Heliopolis, the city of the sun. Other gods were Ptah, the father of light, Osiris, and his sister Isis, and their son Horus. Osiris is the life-giving, and Isis the life receiving power. In the myth of Typhon, the destroying wind who kills Osiris, but is van quished by Horus the god of light, the phenomena of the year were typified, and the conflict between the creative and the destructive powers presented by their country. The Egyptians also paid divine honours to certain animals, such as the cow, the cat, the heron, the ibis, and the crocodile.

The sacred bull Apis was worshipped at Memphis as an incarnation of the god Ptah. Considering the human being as a manifestation of the divine nature, the Egyptians sought by embalming the bodies of their dead and of sacred animals, and deposit ing them in closely-sealed sepulchres, to preserve them from corruption. Astronomy, medicine, architecture, painting, sculpture, and many other arts and sciences made up the learning of the Egyptians. At the commencement of the Delta, where the stream divides into several branches, there existed an ancient State, the central point of which was the city of Memphis. From Menes (about 3000 B.C.) the supposed founder of the town, to the invasion of the Hyksos, a foreign shepherd-tribe of Semitic descent, there existed a long line of kings, who adorned the State of Memphis with large buildings, especially along the western side of the precipitous mountains, where the catacombs with their monuments, and the kings' graves with their pyramids, extended for miles.

The most remarkable names among the royal of Egypt" Srace °f Pharaoh at Memphis were Chephren and Cheops, 2500, the builders of the highest pyramids ; Sesortosis, 2300, who first turned his arms towards the South, and conquered the Nubians, as recounted on a column found in the upper falls of the Nile ; and the third, Amenhema, who, on account of the overflow of the Nile, is said to have made Lake Moeris in the valley of Fayum, not far from Memphis, and consequently in many histories bears the name of Moeris. The extensive and wonderful structure called the Labyrinth, an imperial palace, with innumerable reception halls, courts, and porticoes, both above and below the ground, which served as a common centre for all the solemn celebrations of the whole of the provinces and districts of the empire, has also been ascribed to him BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN EMPIRES. 5 Soon after the death of Moeris, according to the Egyptians, some wandering tribes from Syria and North Arabia made their way into the Nile country, conquered the kingdom, and ruled despotically and oppressively over the subdued population.

This tyrannical dominion of the shepherd-tribe, Hyksos, lasted over five hundred years, until finally some of the kings of Upper Egypt (Thebes) succeeded in the liberation of the country. The empire attained its highest pitch of prosperity with this race of kings, under the greatest of whom, Ramesis II., the Sesostris of the Greeks, the rule of the Pharaohs extended over the greater part of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia. Gigantic palaces, obelisks, and sepulchral caverns, wherein were deposited the mummies of the kings, still bear witness to the grandeur and magnificence of this line of monarchs. Under the successors of Ramesis III., these conquests were lost. An independent kingdom, Meroe, was established in Ethiopia ; and about 730 B.C. the Ethiopian Sabako conquered Egypt. The second successor of Sabako, Tirhaka, was driven back into his own country fifty-eight years after, by Esarhaddon of Assyria, who made Egypt into a province of Assyria, establishing twenty governors over the separate divisions.

The mighty city of Thebes, with her "hundred gates," and countless palaces, temples, monu ments, and catacombs, was the pride and admiration of the ancients, as her ruined remains are still the marvel of travellers in the present day. But the gigantic memorials of Memphis and Thebes are equally the speaking witnesses of the slavery of a people and the despotism of rulers. Only with the most abject prostrations might any one approach the majesty of the king ; even commanders, governors, and priests crawled in the dust before the master, on whose will and pleasure the life and death of all his subjects depended. The Egyptians have surpassed every other nation in their veneration for their rulers, to whom they have given divine honours. "As in the beginning of all things, according to the teaching of the priests, the gods ruled over the Egyptians, so, afterwards, the Pharaohs ruled in the place of the gods.

They are not merely descended from the gods, they are themselves gods of the land." BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. ANCIENT Babylon and ancient Assyria had an early mythical history, from which, however, it is to be recognised that the beginning of its civilization came from the shores of the Persian Gulf, with a people known as the Akkadians or Elamites, the inventors of the cuneiform writing which was afterwards adopted by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Medes, and Persians. About 2300 B.C. the kings of Elam extended their dominion over Babylon and Mesopotamia to Syria. As the founder of the Babylonian kingdom, with its square-built capital, Babylon, on the Euphrates, Nimrod is mentioned, 2100 B.C., who is entitled, "a mighty hunter before the Lord." A hundred years later, Ninus, 2000, king of old Assyria, is said to have established the great cosmopolitan city of Nineveh, on the Tigris, and conquered old Babylonia, with Armenia, Media, and other countries.

The story of the wife of Ninus, Semiramis,— of whom tradition relates that after the murder of her husband she assumed the reins of government, and advanced triumphantly as far as India,— and of her son Ninias, belongs to the region of the fabulous and mythical. Before 1500 B.C. Assyria had separated from Babylon and achieved its independence by long wars. The first king's name recorded in this region is that of Sargon I. Ismidagon's son, Samsi Bin, built the temple of Assur, whose ruins are to be seen at Kileh-Shergat on the Tigris ; while Chalah, whose ruins are seen at Nimroud, was founded by Salmanassar I. about 1300 B.C. Under Tiglath-Pilesar the Assyrians extended their conquests northwards, probably to the Black Sea. Sennacherib (712) threatened Judah with conquest ; but sudden mischances necessitated his hasty retreat to Nineveh, where he soon afterwards met his death at the hands of his sons.

" And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword." But his son Esarhaddon, 675-626, revenged his father's death, and drove his unnatural brothers out of the country. After the death of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, the kingdom of Nineveh began to degenerate, EASTERN KINGS INVOKING THE JUDGMENT OF THE R01MAN STATE. and the Median king, Cyaxares, formed a plan with Nabopolassar, of Babylon, to fit out an armed expedition for the reconquest of the country. They set out with large Uneven.0 armies for the capital, Nineveh, but were repulsed by the last king, Sardanapalus, 620-606, who, in spite of his proverbial voluptuousness and luxurious love of pleasure, displayed great courage in this desperate struggle, until the flooding of the river demolished part of the wall of the city, and so facilitated the ingress of the enemy.

When Sardanapalus despaired of escape, he caused the royal citadel to be set on fire, and was by his own act burned to death in the midst of his wives and treasures. Thus Nineveh was razed to the ground, 606, and the two conquerors divided the kingdom of Assyria between them. " Nineveh is laid waste," cried the prophet Nahum ; "all that hear the bruit of thee HISTORY OF THE ISRAELITES. 7 shall clap the hands over thee ; for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually ? Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria : thy nobles shall dwell in the dust : thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them." " How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in ! " says Zephaniah, " every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand." Some scattered accounts of antiquity give a fabulous picture of the greatness and splendour of the old city of Nineveh, which is said to have surpassed all Eastern cities in extent, in the height and breadth of its walls, and number of its palaces and houses.

And the grand ruins of costly, splendid buildings, with elegant sculpture and cuneiform inscrip tions ; long sacrificial processions of slender forms with well-curled beards and womanly garb in bas-reliefs, and wondrous winged figures of high technical perfection, — which have been brought to light in recent excavations on the right bank of the Tigris, near the villages of Nimroud, Kouyunjik, etc., prove the correctness of these estimates, and testify to the war like deeds, the expeditions of conquest, and regal power of the ancient rulers, as well as to the artistic skill, luxury, and culture of the inhabitants of the Assyrian capital. Layard considers the ruins of Nimroud, Kouyunjik, Khorsabad, and Karamles, which form a long quadrangle, to be portions of one and the same city ; and the remains correspond perfectly with the dimensions attributed by Diodorus to the city of Nineveh.

These four mounds of ruins were, in Layard's opinion, palaces, each of which the'state occupied the centre of a particular quarter. From that time the Chaldeans had the ascendency, particularly during the reign of the son of Nabopolassar, the warlike and powerful Nebuchadnezzar, 604-561, who conquered the Egyptian king Necho, at Circesium (Carchemis), on the Euphrates, gained possession of the islandtown of Tyros, made the Phœnician and Syrian territories tributary, brought the kingdom of Judea, with the chief city Jerusalem, under his dominion, and scattered the inhabitants. After he had subjugated all the country from the Tigris to the Mediterranean Sea, Nebuchadnezzar enlarged and beautified the town of Babylon. Of the condition of Babylon of to-day travellers give dreaiy descriptions. "At the present time this noble country lies almost uncultivated and useless under the savage, des tructive power of Turkey ; and the old garden of God has become a wide field for plunder ; tut old ruins of great cities and boundary walls with the canals and system of irrigation, show what prosperity once existed here."

THE ISRAELITES. WHILE the uniformity of the plain of the Euphrates and Tigris is aptly associated with the origin and development of great despotic empires, the rich and varied regions of the mountain region in the west of the valley of the Jordan soon became the home of different separated nations. The land on the right bank of the Jordan was called Canaan, the southern coast line from its inhabitants, Palestine, the northern part Phœnicia. One nation of shepherds of Semitic descent, dwelling in Mesopotamia, held to the belief in one God, who, as the Creator and Preserver of the universe, was omnipotent over all the changing life of nature. Abram, afterwards called Abraham in the Scriptures, 2000 B.C., one of the pro genitors of this nomad nation, at the command of Jehovah quitted his native pastures, and with his herds, young men, and maids, and his brother's son Lot, settled in the lowland Canaan, where they continued their shepherd life, and were called by "^Patriarchs. the inhabitants Hebrews, a word meaning " the strangers from the other side."

Isaac, whom Sarah bare to Abraham in her old age, established his race ; while Ishmael, Abraham's son by his bondwoman Hagar, wandered into the wilderness, and is regarded as the progenitor of the race of Arabs. The history of Abraham and his descendants the Israelites, as told in the books of the Pentateuch, and especially in Genesis and Exodus, forms a wonderfully graphic record of Oriental life and its features. The religion of the Israelites is a Monotheism, radically distinct from the religious con ceptions of the heathen world ; for while the heathen divinities, however much they may have been personified, are still identified with the natural forces, having a certain agreement with those they represent, the God of the Israelite patriarchs is the Being raised above all nature, the Ruler of all the natural and spiritual forces, the Creator of heaven and earth, the one, self sustaining, holy God, who rewards that which is good and punishes that which is evil.