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But the first date of Duhalde, which differs not much from those of Freret, seems to be preferable, from an ancient inscription in Chinese letters, upon a plate of marble, and preserved in the temple of a Jewish colony, who settled in China, A.D. 73, three years after the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus; and have still a settlement at Cai fong-fou, the capital city of the province of Honan, about 150 leagues from Pekin. They came originally from Persia, through Chorasan and Samarkand, from commercial views, and at first amounted to 70 families, of the tribes of Benjamin, Levi, Judah, &c.; but were reduced to seven families, when they were visited by the learned Jesuits, Gozani, Comurge, and Gaubil, A.D. 1720, who published their accounts of this singular colony, in Lettres Edifiantes, &c. Tom. VII.; from which a curious extract is given by Brotier, in the notes of his excellent edition of Tacitus, Tom. III. p. 567, &c.

This inscription, which was made by a literary Jew, named King-tchong, A.D. 1444, is as follows:

"The author of the law of Israel (Y-se-lo-ye) is Abraham (Ha-vou-lo-han), the nineteenth from Adam (Ha-tan). That holy man lived 146 years before the beginning of Tcheou. His law was transmitted by tradition to Moses (Nieche). He received his book on mount Sinai (Si-na): there he fasted forty days and forty nights. He was always conversant with Heaven. In his book are fifty-three sections."It adds, that " Moses lived 613 years after the beginning of Tcheou." P. 575, 576.

This Era of Tcheou did not commence with the first prince of the dynasty of that name, whose reign began B.C. 1122; for Abraham certainly was much earlier. It derived its name from a celebrated division of the Empire into twelve Tcheou, or provinces; made by the Emperor Yao, in the eightieth year of his reign, (B.C. 2357-80=) B.C. 2277. According to Gaubil's computation. This would bring the birth of Abraham to (B.C. 2277-146) B.C. 2131; which differs only 22 years from the rectified era of his birth, B.C. 2153. And the birth of Moses to (B.C. 2277-613=) B.C. 1664; which differs only 64 years from the rectified era thereof, B.C. 1728. And if, as Brotier suspects, the time of Moses was reckoned not from his birth, but from his mission to his brethren, 40 years after, B.C. 1688; it would reduce the difference of the Chinese account, to 24 years. This near coincidence of Sacred and Chinese Chronology, is extremely curious, and tends to confirm both. We are therefore

warranted to date the commencement of the Chinese Empire, with the reign of Yao, about 22 years higher, B.C. 2379, or about 235 years after the division of the earth, or its colonization by the families of Noah's sons, B.C. 2614, according to our rectified Era; which is not improbable.

The reduction of the era of Yao's reign 300 years lower, by the last Missionaries, was designed, most probably, to reconcile the Chinese with the curtailed Jewish Chronology in Europe; or with the Chronology of Petavius, founded thereon, and established in the Church of Rome : for thus, the reduced birth of Abraham, B.C. 1831, would differ only 19 years from the vulgar Jewish date, B.C. 1812; and the mission of Moses, B.C. 1388, would differ 36 years from the vulgar Jewish date, B.C. 1352; and near a century more, from the dates of Petavius.

The boasted eclipse of the Sun, in the reign of the fourth Emperor of the first dynasty, founded by Yao, Chong-kang, upon which the advocates of the early scientific attainments of the Chinese lay so great a stress; and among the rest, the over-fanciful Jackson, Vol. II. p. 424, is thus recorded in the Chou King:

"On the first day of the moon, in the reign of Chong Kang, and at the autumnal equinox, there was an eclipse of the sun at eight o'clock in the morning, in the constellation Fang, (which belongs to the forehead of Scorpio) and Hi and Ho, (who presided in the tribunal of Astronomy) pretended they knew nothing at all of it. They were plunged in wine and debauchery, paying no regard to ancient customs, and entirely forgetful of their duty:" which was to observe and record this eclipse in the Calendar. And for this neglect they were put to death.

This account is so vague, that nothing certain can be collected from it. Ko, a learned Chinese writer, in a work recently published on the Chinese Antiquities, has remarked, that “neither the date of the year, not its quantity, are mentioned." Accordingly, Astronomers have differed widely in regard to the year in which it happened: it has been referred to the several years, B.C. 2885, 2159, 2155, 2137, 2007, and 1948.

Jackson has pitched on the third year, B.C. 2155; in which, says he, "Father Gaubil found this Eclipse to have happened on the eleventh day of October, in the sign and at the hour set down in the Chinese Annals: but that, however, it was so small, as not to be quite one digit in quantity at Pekin, just after sun rising; and by consequence, lasted not very many minutes in

China. This (says he) is a very remarkable attestation to the truth of the ancient Chinese Annals. P. 425.

In the same breath, however, Jackson remarks, and naturally enough," But then, if the Eclipse was really so small and so short, it is not to be wondered that the two Astronomers, Hi and Ho, should not have observed it: nor could any others hardly be supposed to have seen it."

Rejecting, therefore, this Eclipse, which "Whiston found to have been over in China, above an hour before sun-rising ;" and therefore absolutely invisible to Hi, Ho, or any one else; Jackson stumbles on the next, B.C. 2137, Oct. 22, about three digits, seen at Pekin, the middle of which was about sun-set, or half an hour after five in the afternoon, according to Whiston's calculation. And "this," Jackson pronounces, "is probably, if not certainly, the true Eclipse mentioned in the Chinese Annals of Xu-king." P. 426.-Though it violates all the conditions!— At all events, Jackson was predetermined to have an Eclipse, right or wrong. And on this infallible Eclipse, he proceeds to rectify the whole Chinese Chronology! P. 427, &c.

The fact seems to be, that the Eclipse, (if there was any such) was interpolated in the Annals long after, to enhance the antiquity of the nation.

The same will hold of another boasted astronomical calculation, found also in the same Annals; that " Tchien-hio knew by calculation, that in one of the years of his reign, there would be a conjunction of the planets, observable in the constellation Che, (nearly corresponding to Pisces:) in consequence of which, he chose that year to be the first in his Calendar, and made it commence at the new moon of the Vernal Equinox.” Playfair, p. 78.

But Gaubil informs us, that the most credible Chinese historians consider this conjunction as fictitious, and omit it in their works while the European Astronomers have wearied themselves to find it out, in the years B.C. 2513, 2461, 2449, 2012.

But the fullest refutation of these supposed early astronomical calculations in China, is furnished by the acknowledged time when Eclipses began to be regularly recorded in their Annals; when they began to calculate Eclipses. In the year B.C. 776, which was the beginning of the Olympic Era, an Eclipse of the Sun, in the 6th year of Yeou-vang, is noticed in their histories; which, according to Couplet's calculation, happened about 11 o'clock in the morning of Sept. 6; and was about 4 digits.

Another, in the 51st year of Ping-vang, as computed backward by Gaubil, happened B.C. 720, Feb. 22, about 10 in the morning, and was about 8 digits.

It is remarkable, that at the ensuing full moon, after this solar Eclipse, observed in China, happened that Eclipse of the moon, recorded by the Chaldeans, in the second year of Mardok Empad, N.E. 28, in the same year, B.C. 720. These two Eclipses mutually verify each other. Jackson, Vol. ii. p. 480.

It was not till the middle of the fifth century before Christ, that Comets began to be noticed in the history of Sema-kouang, and that very imperfectly, for several centuries after.

Is it to be imagined then, that they were able to compute an eclipse of the sun, and the conjunction of five planets, in times of such remote antiquity as pretended? Or if they were, how is the omission of all the intermediate Eclipses, in so long an interval, to be accounted for* ?"

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THE PRIMITIVE SPHERE.

Astronomy seems to have been cultivated in the earliest times, on account of its great and various utility. To discover the courses, or revolutions, of the sun and moon, which were originally "ordained for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years," was necessary for an accurate knowledge of these several measures of time and of the vicissitude of seasons; so important in History, Agriculture, Navigation, and the due celebration of stated religious festivals.

The fixed stars therefore first noticed with attention, were probably those which lay nearest to the sun and moon in their paths through the heavens; because, by observation of their relative positions and distances from such stars, the length of the Month and of the Year could only be determined. Hence, the first part of the Primitive Sphere that was framed, was naturally the Zodiac. The earliest classification of the zodiacal stars, was probably into distinct groups or clusters, formed by connecting lines: such as were found on the most ancient Planispheres, among the Chinese; according to Goguet, Vol. ii. p. 403. And the names assigned to them, were probably at first significant only of their

The cycle of sixty years, employed certainly at an early period by the Chinese, on which Jackson lays much stress, was entirely of a civil nature, like the Roman Indiction, and had no relation to Astronomy.

qualities. Thus, the book of Job, the oldest composition extant probably in the whole world; since Job himself, who seems to have the best claim to it, was contemporary with Nahor, Abraham's grandfather, represents the cardinal constellations of spring and autumn, in his time, by Chimah, signifying "charming," corresponding to Taurus; and Chesil," chilled," corresponding to Scorpio; and the cardinal constellations of winter and summer, by Aish, signifying "a group," or assemblage," expressive of Ursa Major; and Mazaroth, " raging," or " furious," expressive of Canis, in the sultry "dog days." As will be proved in the adjustment of Job's Chronology.

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Of the time when the animal constellations, (Zodia, whence the Zodiac derived its name,) were first introduced, there are no traces preserved in ancient history. They probably were the invention of the Chaldeans, to whom the Ancients in general attribute the invention of Astronomy; Herodotus, Cicero, Pliny, &c. And not later, it should seem, than the time of Nimrod's death, when that "mighty hunter before the Lord" was supposed to be translated to the constellation Orion, with his hounds, Sirius and Canicula; and the bear, his principal game among the wild beasts, into Ursa Major; according to Homer. See the account of Nimrod, in the Assyrian Chronology.

It is the concurrent opinion of the most eminent Antiquaries, La Pluche, Bryant, Sir William Jones, Maurice, Faber, Kett, Barret, &c. that the Primitive Sphere was framed by Noah's posterity before the Dispersion; and that from Chaldæa, it was propagated to India, Egypt, and Greece. And indeed the general likeness that prevails among the Zodiacal constellations in all these countries, both in number and figures, seems strongly to warrant their descent from some common original or prototype. In the second volume of the Asiatic Researches, p. 292, Sir William Jones has given the twelve constellations of an ancient Indian Zodiac, which are explained in Sanscrit verse, of which he has given the following verbal translation :

“The Ram, Bull, Crab, Lion, and Scorpion, have the figures of these five animals respectively; the Pair, are a Damsel playing on a Vina, (or Indian Guittar), and a Youth wielding a mace; the Virgin stands on a boat in water, holding in one hand a lamp, in the other, an ear of rice corn; the Balance is held by a weigher, with a weight in one hand; the Bow by an archer, whose hinder parts are like those of a horse; the Sea Monster

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