GY**

Is the science that teaches the method of measuring time and distinguishing its parts. It is more difficult, than may at first appear, to determine the precise idea, and clearly to explain the nature, of time. That ingenious and subtle impostor Mahomet has given in his Alcoran some traces of very refined ideas of this subject. But, leaving these metaphysical researches, we shall content ourselves with saying, that by *time* we here mean the duration and succession of created beings. To determine a fixed and sensible measure of duration, it is necessary to find some motion that is constantly uniform, which may serve as a scale for that measure. From the creation of the world, it has been observed that the courses of the heavenly bodies afford the most universal measure of motion to all the inhabitants of the earth. As it was originally imagined that the sun turned round the earth, his annual and diurnal revolutions were fixed on for the common measure of time; and by this measure they divided the duration of beings into years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. It may seem strange to an astronomer, or chronologist, to read, in the first chapter of Genesis, that God did not create the sun, moon, and stars, till the fourth day, and that there were days and nights before there was any sun. But who can say what is there precisely meant by the word *day*? Moses, who lived about 3000 years after the creation, wrote the origin and history of the Jews. In order to which, he recurred to the origin of all things: he began with the creation itself; but he wrote to men; and to men who were even less enlightened than we are, especially in matters of astronomy. He was, therefore, obliged to make use of expressions that were to them intelligible. The scriptures were moreover given to mankind to serve them as guides in matters of religion, and not to teach them astronomy; of which were they ignorant, they would be obliged to believe, for example, that the sun moves round the earth, and that it was flopped, though a thousand times greater than the whole terrestrial globe, by the desire of Joshua at Gibeon; and that the moon halted in the valley of Ajalon, &c.: all which is directly contrary to the eternal laws of nature, and therefore, taken in the strictest sense, cannot be true. But who knows what means Providence may have employed to produce these appearances? Without making further inquiry into these matters, let us acknowledge the goodness of the Holy Spirit that has vouchsafed to speak to mankind in a language adapted to their capacities, in pointing out the path that leads to eternal felicity; where those dark clouds which now surround the human understanding shall be dispersed, and it will then perhaps discover many of those positions to be errors which philosophers and astronomers now regard as axioms or incontrovertible truths.

The term *chronology*, when taken in its full extent, has two objects: the first is the measuring of time and its different divisions. This part of chronology is regulated by astronomical calculation, and consequently makes a part of mathematics; and it is by this method that we are enabled to make complete calendars or almanacs. The second part of chronology consists in fixing the dates of all those events that are related in history, and of ranging them in the several divisions of time in which they occurred: and by this means... means chronology becomes one of the essential parts of history. This second part draws its principles from the first; but it has need of other supports, as of criticism, of the testimony of authors, of ancient coins, medals, inscriptions, &c., of such epochs in history as are incontrovertible; of eclipses of the sun and moon, and other astronomical observations, &c. The subject of the first part has been treated under Astronomy. That of the second falls to be considered in the present article.

Of Historic Chronology.

It is in this science that Julius Africanus, Eusebius of Caesarea, George Cynicel, John of Antioch, Denis, Petav, Clavius, Calvinus, Ulther, Simon, John Marsham, and many other learned men, have excelled. It consists of four principal parts, that form the foundations on which all its learned researches rest. These are,

1. Astronomic observations, and particularly on the eclipses of the sun and moon, combined with the calculations of mathematic chronology on the different eras and years of different nations. 2. The testimonies of credible authors. 3. Those epochs in history which are so determined and evident that no one has ever contested them. 4. Ancient medals, coins, monuments, and inscriptions.

We shall examine these four principal parts in the order they here stand; and conclude with some reflections on the uncertainty that still reigns, notwithstanding these lights, in chronological history.

I.

It is with great reason that the eclipses of the sun and moon, and the aspects of the other planets, have been called public and celestial characters of the times, as their calculations afford chronologers infallible proofs of the precise epochs in which a great number of the most signal events in history have occurred. So that in chronological matters we cannot make any great progress, if we are ignorant of the use of astronomic tables, and the calculation of eclipses. The ancients regarded the latter as prognostics of the fall of empires, of the loss of battles, of the death of monarchs, &c. And it is to this superstition, to this wretched ignorance, that we happily owe the vast labour that historians have taken to record so great a number of them. The most able chronologers have collected them with still greater labour. Calvinus, for example, founds his chronology on 144 eclipses of the sun, and 127 of the moon, that he says he had calculated. The grand conjunction of the two superior planets, Saturn and Jupiter, which, according to Kepler, occurs once in 800 years in the same point of the zodiac, and which has happened only eight times since the creation, (the last time in the month of December 1603), may also furnish chronology with incontrovertible proofs. The same may be said of the transit of Venus over the sun, which has been observed in our days, and all the other uncommon positions of the planets. But among these celestial and natural characters of times, there are also some that are named civil or artificial, and which, nevertheless, depend on astronomic calculation.

II.

The testimony of authors is the second principal part of historic chronology. Though no man whatever has a right to pretend to infallibility, or to be regarded as a sacred oracle, it would, however, be making a very unjust judgment of mankind, to treat them all as dupes or impostors; and it would be an injury offered to public integrity, were we to doubt the veracity of authors universally esteemed, and of facts that are in themselves right worthy of belief. It would be even a kind of infatuation to doubt that there have been such cities as Athens, Sparta, Rome, Carthage, &c., or that Xerxes reigned in Persia, and Augustus in Rome; whether Hannibal ever was in Italy; or that the emperor Constantine built Constantinople, &c. The unanimous testimony of the most respectable historians will not admit any doubt of these matters. When an historian is allowed to be completely able to judge of an event, and to have no intent of deceiving by his relation, his testimony is irrefutable. But to avoid the danger of adopting error for truth, and to be satisfied of a fact that appears doubtful in history, we may make use of the four following rules, as they are founded in reason.

1. We ought to pay a particular regard to the testimonies of those who wrote at the same time the events happened, and that have not been contradicted by any contemporary author of known authority. Who can doubt, for example, of the truth of the facts related by admiral Anson, in the history of his voyage round the world? The admiral saw all the facts there mentioned with his own eyes, and published his book when two hundred companions of his voyage were still living in London, and could have contradicted him immediately, if he had given any false or exaggerated relations.

2. After the contemporary authors, we should give more credit to those who lived near the time the events happened, than those who lived at a distance.

3. Those doubtful histories, which are related by authors that are but little known, can have no weight. if they are at variance with reason, or established tradition.

4. We must distrust the truth of history that is related by modern authors, when they do not agree among themselves in several circumstances, nor with ancient historians, who are to be regarded as original sources. We should especially doubt the truth of those brilliant portraits, that are drawn at pleasure by such as never knew the persons they are intended for, and even made several centuries after their decease.

The most pure and most fruitful source of ancient history is doubtless to be found in the Holy Bible. Let us here for a moment cease to regard it as divine, and let us presume to consider it as a common history. Now, when we regard the writers of the books of the Old Testament, and consider them sometimes as authors, sometimes as ocular witnesses, and sometimes as respectable historians; whether we reflect on the simplicity of the narration, and the air of truth that is there constantly visible; or, when we consider the care that the people, the governments, and the learned men of all ages have taken to preserve the true text of the Bible; or that we have regard to the happy conformity of the chronology of the holy scriptures with that of profane history; or, if we observe the admirable harmony that is between these books and the most respectable historians, as Josephus and others; and lastly, when we consider that the books of the holy scripture furnish us alone with an accurate history of the world from the creation, through the line of patriarchs, judges, kings and princes of the Hebrews; and that we may, by its aid, form an almost entire series of events down to the birth of Christ, or the time of Augustus, which comprehends a space of about 4000 years, some small interruptions excepted, and which are easily supplied by profane history: when all these reflections are justly made, we must constantly allow that the scriptures form a book which merits the first rank among all the sources of ancient history. It has been objected, that this book contains contradictions; but the most able interpreters have reconciled these seeming contradictions. It has been said, that the chronology of the Hebrew text and the Vulgate, do not agree with the chronology of the version of the Septuagint; but the soundest critics have shown that they may be made to agree. It has been observed, moreover, that the scriptures abound with miracles and prodigies; but they are miracles that have really happened: and what ancient history is there that is not filled with miracles and other marvellous events? And do we for that reject their authority? Cannot the true God be supposed to have performed those miracles which Pagan historians have attributed to their false divinities? Must we pay no regard to the writings of Livy, because his history contains many fabulous relations?

III.

The epochs form the third principal part of chronology. These are those fixed points in history that have never been contested, and of which there can, in fact, be no doubt. Chronologers fix on the events that are to serve as epochs, in a manner quite arbitrary; but this is of little consequence, provided the dates of these epochs agree, and that there is no contradiction in the facts themselves. When we come to treat expressly on history, we shall mention, in our progress, all the principal epochs.

IV.

Medals, monuments, and inscriptions, form the fourth and last principal part of chronology. It is scarce more than 150 years since close application has been made to the study of these; and we owe to the celebrated Spanheim the greatest obligations, for the progress that is made in this method; his excellent work, De praestantia et usu numismatum antiquorum, has shown the great advantages of it; and it is evident that these monuments are the most authentic witnesses that can be produced. It is by the aid of medals that M. Vaillant has composed his judicious history of the kings of Syria, from the time of Alexander the Great to that of Pompey: they have been, moreover, of the greatest service in elucidating all ancient history, especially that of the Romans; and even sometimes that of the middle age. Their use is more fully spoken of in the article Medals. What we here say of medals, is to be understood equally, in its full force, of ancient inscriptions, and of all other authentic monuments that have come down to us: as the famous Arundel marbles, which the earl of Arundel (from whom they have been denominated) purchased from the Turks in the Levant, by William Petre, whom he sent thither for that purpose. These marbles, which were ranged at London in the rooms and garden of that nobleman, on the border of the Thames, were found in the island of Paros; and contain a chronicle, wherein the principal epochs of the history of the Athenians are exactly and distinctly marked, from the first year of the reign of Cecrops, which began 1582 years before the Christian era. John Selden composed a book in 1629, the title of which is Marmorar Arundelliana, wherein he explains these valuable antiquities.

Every reader, endowed with a just discernment, will readily allow that these four parts of chronology afford clear lights, and are excellent guides to conduct us through the thick darkness of antiquity. That impartiality, however, which directs us to give a faithful relation of that which is true and false, of the certainty and uncertainty of all the sciences, obliges us here freely to confess, that these guides are not infallible, nor the proofs that they afford mathematical demonstrations. In fact, with regard to history in general, and ancient history in particular, something must be always left to conjecture and historic faith. It would be an offence against common probity, were we to suffer ourselves to pass over in silence those objections which authors of the greatest reputation have made against the certainty of chronology. We shall extract them from their own works; and we hope that there is no magistrate, theologian, or public professor in Europe, who would be mean enough to accuse us of a crime, for not unworthily disquising the truth.

1. The prodigious difference there is between the Septuagint Bible and the Vulgate, in point of chronology, logies, occasions an embarrassment, which is the more difficult to avoid, as we cannot positively say on which side the error lies. The Greek Bible counts, for example, from the creation of the world to the birth of Abraham, 1500 years more than the Hebrew and Latin Bibles, etc. 2. How difficult is it to ascertain the years of the judges of the Jewish nation, in the Bible? What darkness is spread over the succession of the kings of Judah and Israel? The calculation of time is there so inaccurate, that the scripture never marks if they are current or complete years. For we cannot suppose that a patriarch, judge, or king, lived exactly 60, 90, 100, or 999 years, without any odd months or days. 3. The different names that the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks, have given to the same prince, have contributed not a little to embarrass all ancient chronology. Three or four princes have borne the name of Assurus, though they had also other names. If we did not know that Nabucodonosor, Nabucodonosor, and Nabucolassar, were the same name, or the name of the same man; we should scarcely believe it. Sargon is Sennacherib; Ozias is Azarias; Sedecias is Mathanias; Joachas is also called Sellum; Asaraddon, which is pronounced indifferently Esarhaddon and Asaraddon, is called Asenaphar by the Cuthans; and by an edict of which we do not know the origin, Sardanapalus is called by the Greeks Tenos Concoleros. 4. There remain to us but few monuments of the first monarchs of the world. Numberless books have been lost, and those which have come down to us are mutilated or altered by transcribers. The Greeks began to write very late. Herodotus, their first historian, was of a credulous disposition, and believed all the fables that were related by the Egyptian priests. The Greeks were in general vain, partial, and held no nation in esteem but their own. The Romans were still more infatuated with notions of their own merit and grandeur: their historians were altogether as unjust as was their senate, toward other nations that were frequently far more respectable. 5. The eras, the years, the periods and epochs, were not the same in each nation; and they, moreover, began at different lengths of the year. All this has thrown so much obscurity over chronology, that it appears to be beyond all human capacity totally to dispel it.

Christianity itself had subsisted near 1200 years, before they knew precisely how many years had passed since the birth of our Saviour. They saw clearly that the vulgar era was defective, but it was a long time before they could comprehend that it required four whole years to make up the true period. Abbé Denis the Little, who, in the year 532, was the first among the Christians, to form the era of that grand epoch, and to count the years from that time, in order to make their chronology altogether Christian, erred in his calculation, and led all Europe into his error. They count 132 contrary opinions of different authors concerning the year in which the Messiah appeared on the earth. M. Vallemont names 64 of them, and all celebrated writers. Among all these authors, however, there is none that reckon more than 7000, nor less than 3700 years. But even this difference is enormous. The most moderate fix the birth of Christ in the 4000th year of the world. The reasons, however, on which they found their opinion, appear to be sufficiently arbitrary.

Be these matters, however, as they may, the wisdom of Providence has so disposed all things, that there remain sufficient lights to enable us nearly to connect the series of events: for in the first 3000 years of the world, where profane history is defective, we have the chronology of the Bible to direct us; and after that period, where we find more obscurity in the chronology of the holy scriptures, we have, on the other hand, greater lights from profane authors. It is at this period that begin the time which Varro calls historic: as, since the time of the Olympiads, the truth of such events as have happened shines clear in history. Chronology, therefore, draws its principal lights from history; and, in return, serves it as a guide. Referring the reader, therefore, to the article HISTORY, and the Chart thereto annexed, we shall conclude the present article with

A Chronological Table of Remarkable Events, Discoveries, and Inventions, from the Creation to the present Time.

B.C. Chr.

4004 The creation of the world, and Adam and Eve. 4003 The birth of Cain, the first who was born of a woman. 3017 Enoch, for his piety, is translated to Heaven. 2348 The old world is destroyed by a deluge which continued 377 days. 2247 The Tower of Babel is built about this time by Noah's posterity, upon which God miraculously confounds their language, and thus disperses them into different nations. About the same time, Noah is, with great probability, supposed to have parted from his rebellious offspring, and to have led a colony of some of the more tractable into the east, and there either he or one of his successors to have founded the ancient Chinese monarchy. 2234 The celestial observations are begun at Babylon, the city which first gave birth to learning and the sciences. 2188 Nimrod, the son of Ham, founds the kingdom of Egypt, which lasted 1663 years, down to the conquest of Cambyses, in 525 before Christ. 2059 Nimrod, the son of Belos, founds the kingdom of Assyria, which lasted above 1000 years, and out of its ruins were formed the Assyrians of Babylon, those of Nineveh, and the kingdom of the Medes. 1921 The covenant of God made with Abram, when he leaves Haran to go into Canaan, which begins the 430 years of sojournings. 1897 The cities of Sodom and Gomora are destroyed for their wickedness, by fire from heaven. 1856 The kingdom of Argos, in Greece, begins under Inachus. 1822 Memnon, the Egyptian, invents the letters. 1715 Prometheus first struck fire from flints. 1635 Joseph dies in Egypt, which concludes the book of Genesis, containing a period of 2369 years. 1574 Aaron born in Egypt; 1490, appointed by God first high-priest of the Israelites.

1571 Moses, brother to Aaron, born in Egypt, and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, who educates him in all the learning of the Egyptians.

1556 Cecrops, brings a colony of Saites from Egypt into Attica, and begins the kingdom of Athens in Greece.

1546 Scamander comes from Crete into Phrygia, and begins the kingdom of Troy.

1493 Cadmus carried the Phenician letters into Greece, and built the citadel of Thebes.

1491 Moses performs a number of miracles in Egypt, and departs from that kingdom, together with 600,000 Israelites, besides children, which completed the 430 years of sojournings. They miraculously pass through the Red Sea, and come to the desert of Sinai, where Moses receives from God, and delivers to the people, the Ten Commandments, and the other laws, and sets up the tabernacle, and in it the ark of the covenant.

1485 The first ship that appeared in Greece, was brought from Egypt by Danaus, who arrived at Rhodes, and brought with him his fifty daughters.

1453 The first Olympic games celebrated at Olympia in Greece.

1452 The Pentateuch, or five first books of Moses, are written in the land of Moab, where he died the year following, aged 110.

1451 The Israelites, after sojournings in the Wilderness forty years, and led under Joshua into the land of Canaan, where they fix themselves, after having subdued the natives, and the period of the sabbatical year commences.

1406 Iron is found in Greece, from the accidental burning of the woods.

1198 The rape of Helen by Paris, which, in 1193, gave rise to the Trojan war, and siege of Troy, by the Greeks, which continued ten years, when that city was taken and burnt.

1048 David is sole king of Israel.

1004 The Temple is solemnly dedicated by Solomon.

896 Elijah, the prophet, is translated to Heaven.

894 Money first made of gold and silver at Argos.

869 The city of Carthage, in Africa, founded by queen Dido.

814 The kingdom of Macedon begins.

753 Era of the building of Rome in Italy by Romulus, first king of the Romans.

720 Samaria taken, after three years siege, and the kingdom of Israel finished, by Salmanasar, king of Assyria, who carries the ten tribes into captivity.

The first eclipse of the moon on record.

658 Byzantium (now Constantinople) built by a colony of Athenians.

604 By order of Necho, king of Egypt, some Phenicians sailed from the Red Sea round Africa, and returned by the Mediterranean.

600 Thales, of Miletus, travels into Egypt, consults the priests of Memphis, acquires the knowledge of geometry, astronomy, and philosophy; returns to Greece, calculates eclipses, gives general notions of the universe, and maintains that an only supreme intelligence regulates all its motions.

Maps, globes, and the signs of the Zodiac, invented by Anaximander, the scholar of Thales.

597 Jehoiakim, king of Judah, is carried away captive, by Nebuchadnezzar, to Babylon.

587 The city of Jerusalem taken, after a siege of 18 months.

562 The first comedy at Athens acted upon a moveable scaffold.

559 Cyrus the first king of Persia.

538 The kingdom of Babylon finished; that city being taken by Cyrus, who, in 536, gives an edict for the return of the Jews.

535 The first tragedy was acted at Athens, on a waggon, by Thespis.

526 Learning is greatly encouraged at Athens, and a public library first founded.

515 The second temple at Jerusalem is finished under Darius.

509 Tarquin, the seventh and last king of the Romans, is expelled, and Rome is governed by two consuls, and other republican magistrates, till the battle of Pharsalia, being a space of 461 years.

504 Sardis taken and burnt by the Athenians, which gave occasion to the Persian invasion of Greece.

486 Aeschylus, the Greek poet, first gains the prize of tragedy.

481 Xerxes the Great, king of Persia, begins his expedition against Greece.

458 Ezra is sent from Babylon to Jerusalem, with the captive Jews and the vessels of gold and silver, &c., being seventy weeks of years, or 490 years before the crucifixion of our Saviour.

454 The Romans send to Athens for Solon's laws.

451 The Decemvirs created at Rome, and the laws of the twelve tables compiled and ratified.

430 The history of the Old Testament finishes about this time.

Malachi the last of the prophets.

400 Socrates, the founder of moral philosophy among the Greeks, believes the immortality of the soul, a state of rewards and punishments; for which, and other sublime doctrines, he is put to death by the Athenians, who soon after repent, and erect to his memory a statue of brass.

331 Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, conquers Darius, king of Persia, and other nations of Asia. 323, Dies at Babylon, and his empire is divided by his generals into four kingdoms.

285 Dionysius, of Alexandria, began his astronomical era on Monday June 26, being the first who found the exact solar year to consist of 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 minutes.

284 Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, employs 72 interpreters to translate the Old Testament into the Greek language, which is called the Septuagint.

269 The first coining of silver at Rome.

264 The first Punic war begins, and continues 23 years. years. The chronology of the Arundelian marbles composed.

260 The Romans first concern themselves in naval affairs, and defeat the Carthaginians at sea.

237 Hamilcar, the Carthaginian, causes his son Hannibal, at nine years old, to swear eternal enmity to the Romans.

218 The second Punic war begins, and continues 17 years. Hannibal passes the Alps, and defeats the Romans in several battles; but being amused by his women, does not improve his victories by the storming of Rome.

190 The first Roman army enters Asia, and from the spoils of Antiochus brings the Asiatic luxury first to Rome.

168 Perseus defeated by the Romans, which ends the Macedonian kingdom.

167 The first library erected at Rome, of books brought from Macedonia.

163 The government of Judea under the Maccabees begins, and continues 126 years.

146 Carthage, the rival to Rome, is razed to the ground by the Romans.

135 The history of the Apocrypha ends.

52 Julius Caesar makes his first expedition into Britain.

47 The battle of Pharsalia, between Caesar and Pompey, in which the latter is defeated.

The Alexandrian library, consisting of 400,000 valuable books, burnt by accident.

45 The war of Africa, in which Cato kills himself.

The solar year introduced by Caesar.

44 Caesar, the greatest of the Roman conquerors, after having fought fifty pitched battles, and slain 1,192,000 men, is killed in the senate-house by conspirators.

31 The battle of Actium fought, in which Mark Anthony and Cleopatra are totally defeated by Octavius, nephew to Julius Caesar.

30 Alexandria, in Egypt, is taken by Octavius, upon which Anthony and Cleopatra put themselves to death, and Egypt is reduced to a Roman province.

27 Octavius, by a decree of the senate, obtains the title of Augustus Caesar, and an absolute exemption from the laws, and is properly the first Roman emperor.

8 Rome at this time is fifty miles in circumference, and contains 463,000 men fit to bear arms.

The temple of Janus is shut by Augustus, as an emblem of universal peace, and

JESUS CHRIST is born, on Monday, December 25.

12 ——Disputes with the Doctors in the Temple;

27 ——baptized in the wilderness by John,

33 ——crucified on Friday, April 3, at 3 o'clock P.M., his resurrection on Sunday, April 5; his Ascension, Thursday May 14.

26 St Paul converted.

29 St Matthew writes his Gospel.

Pontius Pilate kills himself.

40 The name of Christians first given at Antioch to the followers of Christ.

43 Claudius Caesar's expedition into Britain.

44 St Mark writes his Gospel.

49 London is founded by the Romans; 368, surrounded by ditto with a wall, some parts of which are still observable.

51 Caratacus, the British king, is carried in chains to Rome.

52 The council of the Apostles at Jerusalem.

55 St Luke writes his Gospel.

59 The emperor Nero puts his mother and brothers to death.

——Persecutes the Druids in Britain.

61 Boadicea, the British queen, defeats the Romans; but is conquered soon after by Suetonius, governor of Britain.

62 St Paul is sent in bonds to Rome—writes his epistles between 51 and 66.

63 The Acts of the Apostles written.

Christianity is supposed to be introduced into Britain by St Paul or some of his disciples about this time.

64 Rome set on fire, and burned for six days; upon which began (under Nero) the first persecution against the Christians.

67 St Peter and St Paul put to death.

70 While the factious Jews are destroying one another with mutual fury, Titus, the Roman general, takes Jerusalem, which is razed to the ground, and the plough made to pass over it.

83 The philosophers expelled Rome by Domitian.

85 Julius Agricola, governor of South-Britain, to protect the civilized Britains from the incursions of the Caledonians, builds a line of forts between the rivers Forth and Clyde; defeats the Caledonians under Galgacus on the Grampian hills; and first sails round Britain, which he discovers to be an island.

96 St John the evangelist wrote his Revelation—his Gospel in 97.

121 The Caledonians reconquer from the Romans all the southern parts of Scotland; upon which the emperor Adrian builds a wall between Newcastle and Carlisle; but this also proving ineffective, Pollius Urbicus, the Roman general, about the year 144, repairs Agricola's forts which he joins by a wall four yards thick.

135 The second Jewish war ends, when they were all banished Judea.

139 Justin writes his first Apology for the Christians.

141 A number of heresies appear about this time.

152 The emperor Antoninus Pius stops the persecution against the Christians.

217 The Septuagint found in a cask.

222 About this time the Roman empire begins to sink under its own weight. The Barbarians begin their eruptions, and the Goths have annual tribute not to molest the empire.

260 Valerius is taken prisoner by Sapor, king of Persia, and freed alive.

274 Silk first brought from India; the manufactory of it introduced into Europe by some monks, 551; first worn by the clergy in England, 1534.

291 Two emperors and two Caesars march to defend the the four quarters of the empire.

305 Constantine the Great begins his reign.

308 Cardinals first began.

313 The tenth persecution ends by an edict of Constantine, who favours the Christians, and gives full liberty to their religion.

314 Three bishops, or fathers, are sent from Britain to assist at the council of Arles.

325 The first general council at Nice, when 318 fathers attended, against Arius, the founder of Arianism, where was composed the famous Nicene Creed, which we attribute to them.

328 Constantine removes the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, which is thereafter called Constantinople.

331 ________ orders all the heathen temples to be destroyed.

363 The Roman emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate, endeavours in vain to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem.

364 The Roman empire is divided into the eastern (Constantinople the capital) and western, (of which Rome continued to be the capital), each being now under the government of different emperors.

400 Bells invented by bishop Paulinus, of Campagna.

404 The kingdom of Caledonia or Scotland revives under Fergus.

406 The Vandals, Alans, and Suevi, spread into France and Spain, by a concession of Honorius, emperor of the West.

410 Rome taken and plundered by Alaric, king of the Visigoths.

412 The Vandals begin their kingdom in Spain.

420 The kingdom of France begins upon the Lower Rhine, under Pharamond.

426 The Romans, reduced to extremities at home, withdraw their troops from Britain, and never return; advising the Britons to arm in their own defence, and trust to their own valour.

446 The Britons, now left to themselves, are greatly harassed by the Scots and Piets, upon which they once more make their complaint to the Romans, (which they entitle, The Crowns of the Britons), but receive no affiance from that quarter.

447 Attila (surnamed the Scourge of God) with his Huns ravage the Roman empire.

449 Vortigern, king of the Britons, invites the Saxons into Britain, against the Scots and Piets.

455 The Saxons having repelled the Scots and Piets invite over more of their countrymen, and begin to establish themselves in Kent, under Hengist.

476 The western empire is finished, 523 years after the battle of Pharalia; upon the ruins of which several new states arise in Italy and other parts, consisting of Goths, Vandals, Huns, and other barbarians, under whom literature is extinguished, and the works of the learned are destroyed.

496 Clovis, king of France, baptized, and Christianity begins in that kingdom.

508 Prince Arthur begins his reign over the Britons.

513 Constantinople besieged by Vitalianus, whose fleet is burnt by a spectulum of brafs.

516 The computing of time by the Christian era is introduced by Dionysius the monk.

529 The codex of Justinian, the eastern emperor, is published.

557 A terrible plague all over Europe, Asia, and Africa, which continues near fifty years.

581 Latin ceased to be spoke about this time in Italy.

596 Augustin the monk comes into England with forty monks.

606 Here begins the power of the popes, by the concessions of Phocas, emperor of the East.

622 Mahomet, the false prophet, flies from Mecca to Medina, in Arabia, in the 44th year of his age, and 10th of his ministry, when he laid the foundation of the Saracen empire, and from whom the Mahometan princes to this day claim their descent. His followers compute their time from this era, which in Arabic is called hegira, i.e. "the Flight."

637 Jerusalem is taken by the Saracens or followers of Mahomet.

640 Alexandria in Egypt is taken by ditto, and the grand library there burnt by order of Omar their caliph or prince.

653 The Saracens now extend their conquests on every side, and retaliate the barbarities of the Goths and Vandals upon their posterity.

664 Glafs invented in England by Benalt a monk.

685 The Britons, after a brave struggle of near 150 years, are totally expelled by the Saxons, and drove into Wales and Cornwall.

713 The Saracens conquer Spain.

726 The controversy about images begins, and occasions many insurrections in the eastern empire.

748 The computing of years from the birth of Christ began to be used in history.

749 The race of Abbas became caliphs of the Saracens, and encourage learning.

762 The city of Bagdad upon the Tigris, is made the capital for the caliphs of the house of Abbas.

800 Charlemagne, king of France, begins the empire of Germany, afterwards called the Western empire; gives the present names to the winds and months; endeavours to restore learning in Europe, but mankind are not yet disposed for it, being solely engrossed in military enterprizes.

826 Harold, king of Denmark, dethroned by his subjects, for being a Christian.

828 Egbert, king of Wessex, unites the heptarchy, by the name of England.

836 The Flemings trade to Scotland for fish.

838 The Scots and Piets have a decisive battle, in which the former prevail, and both kingdoms are united by Kenneth, which begins the second period of the Scottish history.

867 The Danes begin their ravages in England.

896 Alfred the Great, after subduing the Danish invaders, (against whom he fought 56 battles by sea and land), composes his body of laws; divides divides England into counties, hundreds, ty- things; erects county-courts, and founds the university of Oxford about this time.

915 The university of Cambridge founded. 936 The Saracen empire is divided by usurpation into seven kingdoms. 975 Pope Boniface VII. is deposed and banished for his crimes. 979 Coronation oath first used in England. Juries first instituted in ditto. 991 The figures in arithmetic are brought into Eu- rope by the Saracens from Arabia; letters of the alphabet were hitherto used. 996 Otho III. makes the empire of Germany elec- tive. 999 Boleslaus, the first king of Poland. 1000 Paper made of cotton rags was in use; that of linen rags in 1170; the manufactory introduc- ed into England at Dartford, 1388. 1005 All the old churches are rebuilt about this time in a new manner of architecture. 1015 Children forbidden by law to be sold by their parents in England. 1017 Canute, king of Denmark, gets possession of England. 1040 The Danes, after several engagements with va- rious success, are about this time driven out of Scotland, and never again return in a hostile manner. 1041 The Saxon line restored under Edward the Confessor. 1043 The Turks (a nation of adventurers from Tar- tary, serving hitherto in the armies of con- tending princes) become formidable, and take possession of Persia. 1054 Leo IX. the first pope that kept up an army. 1057 Malcolm III., king of Scotland, kills the tyrant Macbeth at Dunsinane, and marries the princess Margaret, sister to Edgar Atheling. 1065 The Turks take Jerusalem from the Saracens. 1066 The conquest of England by William (furnished the bastard) duke of Normandy, in the battle of Hastings, where Harold is slain. 1070 William introduces the feudal law. Musical notes invented. 1075 Henry IV., emperor of Germany, and the pope, quarrel about the nomination of the German bishops. Henry, in penance, walks barefooted to the pope towards the end of January. 1076 Justices of the peace first appointed in Eng- land. 1080 Doomsday-book began to be compiled by order of William, from a survey of all the estates in England, and finished in 1086. The Tower of London built by ditto, to curb his English subjects; numbers of whom fly to Scotland, where they introduce the Saxon or English language, are protected by Malcolm, and have lands given them. 1091 The Saracens in Spain, being hard pressed by the Spaniards, call to their assistance Joseph, king of Morocco; by which the Moors get possession of all the Saracen dominions in Spain. 1096 The first crusade to the Holy Land is begun un- der several Christian princes, to drive the in- fidels from Jerusalem. 1110 Edgar Atheling, the last of the Saxon princes, dies in England, where he had been permitted to reside as a subject. 1118 The order of the Knights Templars instituted, to defend the Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and to protect Christian strangers. 1151 The canon law collected by Gratian, a monk of Bologna. 1163 London bridge, consisting of 19 small arches, first built of stone. 1164 The Teutonic order of religious knights begins in Germany. 1172 Henry II., king of England, (and first of the Plantagenets) takes possession of Ireland; which, from that period, has been governed by an English viceroy, or lord lieutenant. 1176 England is divided, by Henry, into five circuits, and justice is dispensed by itinerant judges. 1180 Glass windows began to be used in private houses in England. 1181 The laws of England are digested about this time by Glanville. 1182 Pope Alexander III. compelled the kings of England and France to hold the stirrups of his saddle when he mounted his horse. 1186 The great conjunction of the sun and moon and all the planets in Libra, happened in September. 1192 The battle of Ascalon, in Judea, in which Ri- chard, king of England, defeats Saladin's ar- my, consisting of 300,000 combatants. 1194 Deus et non Drus, first used as a motto by Ri- chard, on a victory over the French. 1200 Chimneys were not known in England. Surnames now began to be used; first among the nobility. 1208 London incorporated, and obtained their first charter for electing their Lord Mayor and o- ther magistrates from King John. 1215 Magna Charta is signed by King John and the barons of England. Court of common pleas established. 1227 The Tartars, a new race of heroes, under Gin- gis-Kan, emerge from the northern parts of Asia, over-run all the Saracen empire; and, in imitation of former conquerors, carry death and desolation wherever they march. 1233 The Inquisition begun in 1204, is now trusted to the Dominicans. The houses of London, and other cities in Eng- land, France, and Germany, still thatched with straw. 1253 The famous astronomical tables are composed by Alfonso, king of Castile. 1258 The Tartars take Bagdad, which signifies the empire of the Saracens. 1263 Acho, king of Norway, invades Scotland with 1600 men, and lands 20,000 men at the mouth of the Clyde, who are cut to pieces by Alex- ander III. who recovers the western isles. 1264 The commons of England first summoned to par- liament about this time.

Aft. Chrifl. 1269 The Hamburgh company incorporated in England.

1273 The empire of the prefent Austrian family begins in Germany.

1282 Lewellyn, prince of Wales, defeated and killed by Edward I. who unites that principality to England.

1284 Edward II. born at Carnarvon, is the first prince of Wales.

1285 Alexander III. king of Scotland, dies, and that kingdom is disputed by twelve candidates, who submit their claims to the arbitration of Edward, king of England; which lays the foundation of a long and defolating war between both nations.

1293 There is a regular succession of English parliaments from this year, being the 22d of Edward I.

1298 The prefent Turkish empire begins in Bithynia under Ottoman.

Silver-hafted knives, spoons, and cups, a great luxury.

Tallow candles so great a luxury, that splinters of wood were used for lights.

Wine sold by apothecaries as a cordial.

1302 The mariner's compass invented, or improved by Givia, of Naples.

1307 The beginning of the Swiss cantons.

1308 The popes remove to Avignon in France for 70 years.

1310 Lincoln's inn society established.

1314 The battle of Bannockburn, between Edward II. and Robert Bruce, which establishes the latter on the throne of Scotland.

The cardinals set fire to the conclave and separate.

A vacancy in the papal chair for two years.

1320 Gold first coined in Christendom; 1344 ditto in England.

1336 Two Brabant weavers settle at York, which, says Edward III. may prove of great benefit to us and our subjects.

1337 The first comet whose course is described with an astronomical exactness.

1340 Gunpowder and guns first invented by Swartz, a monk of Cologne; 1346 Edward III. had four pieces of cannon, which gained him the battle of Creilly; 1346, bombs and mortars were invented.

Oil painting first made use of by John Vaneck.

Heralds college instituted in England.

1344 The first creation to titles by patents used by Edward III.

1346 The battle of Durham, in which David, king of Scots, is taken prisoner.

1349 The order of the Garter instituted in England by Edward III. altered in 1557, and consists of 26 knights.

1352 The Turks first enter Europe.

1354 The money in Scotland till now the same as in England.

1356 The battle of Poitiers, in which king John of France and his son are taken prisoners by Edward the Black Prince.

1357 Coals first brought to London.

1358 Arms of England and France first quartered by Edward III.

1362 The law pleadings in England changed from French to English as a favour of Edward III. to his people.

John Wickliffe an Englishman begins to call into question the doctrines of the church of Rome about this time, whose followers are called Lollards.

1386 A company of linen weavers from the Netherlands established in London.

Windor castle built by Edward III.

1388 The battle of Otterburn between Hotspur and the earl of Douglas.

1391 Cards invented in France for the king's amusement.

1399 Westminster abbey rebuilt and enlarged—Westminster hall ditto.

Order of the Bath instituted at the coronation of Henry IV. renewed in 1725; consisting of 38 knights.

1410 Guildhall, London, built.

1411 The university of St Andrew's in Scotland founded.

1415 The battle of Agincourt gained over the French by Henry V. of England.

1428 The siege of Orleans, the first blow to the English power in France.

1440 Printing invented by L. Koster at Harlaem in Holland; brought into England by W. Caxton, a mercer of London, 1471.

1446 The Vatican library founded at Rome.

The sea breaks in at Dort, in Holland, and drowns 100,000 people.

1453 Constantinople taken by the Turks, which ends the eastern empire, 1123 years from its dedication by Constantine the Great, and 2206 years from the foundation of Rome.

1454 The university of Glasgow in Scotland founded.

1460 Engraving and etching on copper invented.

1477 The university of Aberdeen in Scotland founded.

1483 Richard III. king of England, and last of the Plantagenets, is defeated and killed at the battle of Bosworth, by Henry (Tudor) VII., which puts an end to the civil wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, after a contest of 30 years, and the loss of 100,000 men.

1486 Henry establishes fifty yeomen of the guards, the first standing army.

1489 Maps and sea charts first brought to England by Barth. Columbus.

1491 William Groceyn introduces the study of the Greek language into England.

The Moors, hitherto a formidable enemy to the native Spaniards, are entirely subdued by Ferdinand, and become subjects to that prince on certain conditions, which are ill observed by the Spaniards, whose clergy use the Inquisition in all its tortures; and in 1609, near one million of the Moors are driven from Spain to the opposite coast of Africa, from whence they originally come.

1492 America first discovered by Columbus, a Genoese, in the service of Spain.

1494 Algebra

1494 Algebra first known in Europe. 1497 The Portuguese first sail to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. South America discovered by Americus Vespucci, from whom it has its name. 1499 North America discovered, for Henry VII. by Cabot, a Venetian. 1500 Maximilian divides the empire of Germany into six circles, and adds four more in 1512. 1505 Shillings first coined in England. 1509 Gardening introduced into England from the Netherlands, from whence vegetables were imported hitherto. 1513 The battle of Flodden, in which James IV. king of Scotland is killed, with the flower of his nobility. 1517 Martin Luther began the Reformation. Egypt is conquered by the Turks. 1518 Magellan, in the service of Spain, first discovers the straits of that name in South America. 1520 Henry VIII., for his writings in favour of popery, receives the title of Defender of the Faith from his Holiness. 1529 The name of Protestant takes its rise from the reformed protesting against the church of Rome, at the diet of Spires in Germany. 1534 The reformation takes place in England, under Henry VIII. 1537 Religious houses dissolved by ditto. 1539 The first English edition of the Bible authorized; the present translation finished 1611. About this time cannon began to be used in ships. 1543 Silk stockings first worn by the French king; first worn in England by queen Eliz. 1561; the steel frame for weaving invented by the Rev. Mr Lee, of John's College, Cambridge, 1589. Pins first used in England, before which time the ladies used skewers. 1544 Good lands let in England at one shilling per acre. 1545 The famous council of Trent begins, and continues 18 years. 1546 First law in England establishing the interest of money at 10 per cent. 1549 Lords lieutenants of counties instituted in England. 1550 Horse guards instituted in England. 1555 The Russian company established in England. 1558 Queen Elizabeth begins her reign. 1560 The reformation in Scotland completed by John Knox. 1562 Knives first made in England. 1569 Royal Exchange first built. 1572 The great massacre of Protestants at Paris. 1579 The Dutch shake off the Spanish yoke, and the republic of Holland begins. English East-India company incorporated—established 1600. Turkish company incorporated. 1580 Sir Francis Drake returns from his voyage round the world, being the first English circumnavigator. Parochial register first appointed in England. 1582 Pope Gregory introduces the New Style in Italy; the 5th of October being counted 15.

Vol. III.

1583 Tobacco first brought from Virginia into England. 1587 Mary queen of Scots is beheaded by order of Elizabeth, after 18 years imprisonment. 1588 The Spanish Armada destroyed by Drake and other English admirals. Henry IV. passes the edict of Nantes, tolerating the Protestants. 1589 Coaches first introduced into England; hackney act 1693; increased to 1000, in 1770. 1590 Band of pensioners instituted in England. 1591 Trinity college, Dublin, founded. 1597 Watches first brought into England from Germany. 1602 Decimal arithmetic invented at Bruges. 1603 Queen Elizabeth (the last of the Tudors) dies; and nominates James VI. of Scotland (and first of the Stuarts) as her successor; which unites both kingdoms under the name of Great Britain. 1605 The Gunpowder-plot discovered at Westminster; being a project of the Roman Catholics to blow up the king and both houses of Parliament. 1606 Oaths of allegiance first administered in England. 1608 Galileo, of Florence, first discovers the satellites about the planet Saturn, by the telescope, then just invented in Holland. 1610 Henry IV. is murdered at Paris, by Ravaillac, a priest. 1611 Baronets first created in England by James I. 1614 Napier of Merchiston, in Scotland, invents the logarithms. Sir Hugh Middleton brings the new river to London from Ware. 1616 The first permanent settlement in Virginia. 1619 W. Harvey, an Englishman, confirms the doctrine of the circulation of the blood, which had been first broached by Servetus, a French physician, in 1553. 1620 The broad silk manufacture from raw silk, introduced into England. 1621 New England planted by the Puritans. 1625 King James dies, and is succeeded by his son, Charles I. The island of Barbadoes, the first English settlement in the West Indies, is planted. 1632 The battle of Lutzen, in which Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, and head of the Protestants in Germany, is killed. 1635 Province of Maryland planted by lord Baltimore. Regular posts established from London to Scotland, Ireland, &c. 1640 King Charles disobeys his Scottish subjects, on which their army, under general Leslie, enters England, and takes Newcastle, being encouraged by the malcontents in England. The massacre in Ireland, when 40,000 English Protestants were killed. 1642 King Charles impeaches five refractory members, which begins the civil wars in England. 1643 Excise on beer, ale, &c. first imposed by parliament.

1649 Charles Aft. Christ. 1649 Charles I. beheaded by Cromwell, at Whitehall, January 30, aged 49.

1654 Cromwell assumes the protectorship.

1655 The English, under admiral Penn, take Jamaica from the Spaniards.

1658 Cromwell dies, and is succeeded in the protectorship, by his son Richard.

1660 King Charles II. is restored by Monk, commander of the army, after an exile of twelve years, in France and Holland.

The people of Denmark, being oppressed by the nobles, surrender their privileges to Frederic III., who becomes absolute.

1662 The Royal Society, established at London, by Charles II.

1663 Carolina planted; 1728 divided into two separate governments.

1664 The New Netherlands, in North America, conquered from the Swedes and Dutch by the English.

1665 The plague rages in London, and carries off 68,000 persons.

1666 The great fire of London began Sept. 2, and continued three days, in which were destroyed 13,000 houses, and 400 streets.

Tea first used in England.

1667 The peace of Breda, which confirms to the English the New Netherlands, now known by the names of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

1668 ditto, Aix la Chapelle.

St James's Park planted, and made a thoroughfare for public use by Charles II.

1670 The English Hudson's Bay company incorporated.

1672 Lewis XIV. over-runs great part of Holland, when the Dutch opened their sluices, being determined to drown their country, and retire to their settlements in the East Indies.

African company established.

1678 The peace of Nimeguen.

The habeas corpus act passed.

1680 A great comet appeared, and from its nearness to our earth alarmed the inhabitants. It continued visible from Nov. 3, to March 9.

William Penn, a Quaker, receives a charter for planting Pennsylvania.

1683 India stock sold from 360 to 500 per cent.

1685 Charles II. dies, aged 55, and is succeeded by his brother James II.

The duke of Monmouth, natural son to Charles II., raises a rebellion, but is defeated at the battle of Sedgemoor, and beheaded.

The edict of Nantes is revoked by Lewis XIV., and the Protestants are greatly disfranchised.

1687 The palace of Versailles, near Paris, finished by Lewis XIV.

1688 The Revolution in Great Britain begins Nov. 5.

King James abdicates, and retires to France, December 3.

King William and queen Mary, daughter and son-in-law to James, are proclaimed February 16.

Viscount Dundee stands out for James in Scotland, but is killed by general Mackey, at the battle of Killycrankie, upon which the Highlanders, Aft. Christ., wearied with repeated misfortunes, disperse.

1689 The land-tax palled in England.

The toleration act passed in ditto.

Several bishops are deprived for not taking the oaths to William.

William Fuller, who pretended to prove the Prince of Wales spurious, was voted by the commons to be a notorious cheat, impostor, and false accuser.

1690 The battle of the Boyne, gained by William against James, in Ireland.

1691 The war in Ireland finished, by surrender of Limerick to William.

1692 The English and Dutch fleets, commanded by Admiral Russell, defeat the French fleet off La Hague.

1693 Bayonets at the end of loaded muskets first used by the French against the confederates in the battle of Turin.

The duchy of Hanover made the ninth electorate.

Bank of England established by king William.

The first public lottery was drawn this year.

Massacre of Highlanders at Glencoe, by king William's army.

1694 Queen Mary dies at the age of 33, and William reigns alone.

Stamp duties instituted in England.

1696 The peace of Ryswick.

1699 The Scots settled a colony at the isthmus of Darien, in America, and called it Caledonia.

1700 Charles XII. of Sweden, begins his reign.

King James II. dies at St Germain, in the 68th year of his age.

1701 Prussia erected into a kingdom.

Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts established.

1702 King William dies, aged 50, and is succeeded by queen Anne, daughter to James II. who, with the Emperor and States General, renews the war against France and Spain.

1704 Gibraltar taken from the Spaniards, by admiral Rooke.

The battle of Blenheim, won by the duke of Marlborough and allies, against the French.

The court of Exchequer instituted in England.

1706 The treaty of Union between England and Scotland, signed July 22.

The battle of Ramillies won by Marlborough and the allies.

1707 The first British parliament.

1708 Minorca taken from the Spaniards by general Stanhope.

The battle of Oudenarde won by Marlborough and the allies.

Sardinia erected into a kingdom, and given to the duke of Savoy.

1709 Peter the Great, czar of Muscovy, defeats Charles XII. at Pultowa, who flies to Turkey.

The battle of Malplaquet won by Marlborough and the allies.

1710 Queen Anne changes the Whig ministry for others more favourable to the interest of her brother, the late Pretender. The cathedral church of St Paul, London, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, in 37 years, at one million expense, by a duty on coals.

The English South-Sea company began.

Duke of Hamilton and lord Mohun killed in a duel in Hyde-Park.

The peace of Utrecht, whereby Newfoundland, Nova-Scotia, New-Britain, and Hudson's-Bay, in North America, were yielded to Great Britain; Gibraltar and Minorca, in Europe, were also confirmed to the said crown by this treaty.

Queen Anne dies, at the age of 50, and is succeeded by George I.

Interest reduced to five per cent.

Lewis XIV. dies, and is succeeded by his great-grandson Lewis XV. the late king of France. The rebellion in Scotland begins in September under the earl of Mar, in favour of the Pretender. The action of Sheriff-muir, and the surrender of Preston, both in November, when the rebels disperse.

The Pretender married the princess Sobieska, grand-daughter of John Sobieski, late king of Poland.

An act passed for septennial parliaments.

The Mississippi scheme at its height in France. Lombe's silk-throwing machine, containing 26,586 wheels, erected at Derby: takes up one-eighth of a mile; one water-wheel moves the rest; and in 24 hours, it works 318,504,960 yards of organzine silk thread.

The South-Sea scheme in England begun April 7, was at its height at the end of June, and quite sunk about September 29.

King George dies, in the 68th year of his age; and is succeeded by his only son, George II.

Inoculation first tried on criminals with success. Russia, formerly a dukedom, is now established as an empire.

Kouli Khan usurps the Persian throne, conquers the Mogul empire, and returns with two hundred thirty-one millions Sterling.

Several public-spirited gentlemen begin the settlement of Georgia, in North America.

Capt. Porteous having ordered his soldiers to fire upon the populace at an execution of a smuggler, is himself hanged by the mob at Edinburgh.

Westminster bridge, consisting of 15 arches, begun; finished in 1750, at the expense of 389,000l. defrayed by parliament.

Letters of marque issued out in Britain against Spain, July 21, and war declared Oct. 23.

The battle of Dettingen won by the English and allies, in favour of the queen of Hungary.

War declared against France.—Commodore Anson returns from his voyage round the world.

The allies lose the battle at Fontenoy.

The rebellion breaks out in Scotland, and the Pretender's army defeated by the duke of Cumberland, at Culloden, April 16, 1746.

British Linen Company erected.

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, by which a restitution of all places taken during the war, was to be made on all sides.

The interest on the British funds reduced to 3 per cent.

British herring-fishery incorporated.

Frederic, prince of Wales, father to his present majesty, died.

Antiquarian society at London incorporated.

The new style introduced into Great Britain; the 3rd of September being counted the 14th.

The British museum erected at Montague-house. Society of arts, manufactures, and commerce, instituted in London.

Lisbon destroyed by an earthquake.

146 Englishmen are confined in the black hole at Calcutta, in the East Indies, by order of the nabob, and 123 found dead next morning.

Marine society established at London.

Damien attempted to assassinate the French king.

General Wolf is killed in the battle of Quebec, which is gained by the English.

King George II. dies October 25, in the 77th year of his age, and is succeeded by his present majesty, who, on the 22nd of September, 1761, married the princess Charlotte, of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz.

Black-friars bridge, consisting of 9 arches, begun; finished 1770, at the expense of 152,840l. to be discharged by a toll.

War declared against Spain.

Peter III. emperor of Russia, is deposed, imprisoned, and murdered.

American philosophical society established in Philadelphia.

George Augustus Frederic, prince of Wales, born Aug. 12.

The definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, concluded at Paris, February 10, which confirms to Great Britain the extensive provinces of Canada, East and West Florida, and part of Louisiana, in North America; also the islands of Granada, St Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago, in the West Indies.

The parliament granted 10,000l. to Mr Harrison, for his discovery of the longitude by his time-piece.

His majesty's royal charter passed for incorporating the society of artists.

An act passed annexing the sovereignty of the island of Man to the crown of Great Britain.

April 21, a spot or macula of the sun, more than thrice the bigness of our earth, passed the sun's center.

Academy of painting established in London.

The Turks imprison the Russian ambassador, and declare war against that empire.

Dr Solander and Mr Banks, in his majesty's ship the Endeavour, lieutenant Cooke, return from a voyage round the world, having made several important discoveries in the South-Seas.

The king of Sweden changes the constitution from aristocracy to a limited monarchy.

The pretender marries a princess of Germany, grand-daughter of Thomas, late Earl of Aylebury.

The emperor of Germany, emprefs of Russia,

1773 The war between the Russians and the Turks Mr. Christ proves disgraceful to the latter, who lose the islands in the Archipelago, and by sea are everywhere unsuccessful.

1774 Peace is proclaimed between the Russians and Turks.

The British parliament having passed an act, laying a duty of 3 d. per pound upon all tea imported into America; the colonists, considering this as a grievance, deny the right of the British parliament to tax them.

1775 The American colonies send deputies to Philadelphia, who assume the title of The Congress of the Thirteen United Provinces, and all the powers of government.

1776 The congress declare the United States of America independent of the crown and parliament of Great Britain.