• Reifkius, the commentator on Cluver, 404, fays, “Japhetum, Noachi filium, qui primus gentium Græcarum conditor, apud Phoenices, aut Egyptios, ipfis Græcis innotuit, variato paulùm nomine Iaile, aut mutato:"-but Japheth is allowed by all historians to have peopled Europe, not Africa, in which Egypt is fituate: it feems therefore more probable, that Mizraim, the younger fon of Ham, was the founder of Egypt, and not Japheth; for Ham, and his pofterity, peopled Africa, of which Egypt, or the land of Haw, is a principal part; and Japheth, and his pofterity, peopled Europe; notwithstanding the fimilarity

of names.

The

The countries now, which these different defcendents, nations, and people, are faid to have inhabited, and first of all colonized, may be feen in the following Table:

Thus have we seen that Eber, from whom the Hebrews are defcended, is almost equal in time, tho' fomething inferior in defcent, to Nimrod, the founder of the Chaldean race; and much inferior to Mizraim, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy: which makes it the more remarkable, that fome editions of the Bible fhould tell us in the chronological dates, placed in their margins, that Nimrod began to exalt himself, circiter, about 2218; which is only one year before the birth of Reu, in 2217; but this is most probably a tranfpofition of the prefs; viz. 2218 instead of 2281, the very year in which Eber, the grandfather of Reu, was born; for it is fcarce poffible to fuppofe, that a person of so haughty and afpiring a difpofition as Nimrod (the third in defcent) is always represented, fhould not have given fome earlier proofs of his ambition, than to have deferred the time of his beginning to exalt himself, till Eber (the fourth in defcent) should have been 63 years of age.

But the misfortune is, there is but little dependence to be had in the chronology

of events fo very remote *: and to convince us ftill farther of the truth of this affertion, we find that Eber was born in the year 2281 before Chrift; but thofe authors tell us, that the kingdom of Egypt was founded by Mizraim in 2188, which is no less than 93 years after the birth of Eber: that date therefore for the foundation of Egypt is very probably wrong; though it is the fame with the date given by Monf. Rollin: for we cannot fuppofe, that Mizraim, the second in defcent, should not have been able to have established a kingdom in those early ages of the world, when he had nobody to oppose him, till Eber, the fourth in descent (or as the index afferts, the fifth in defcent) fhould have been 93 years of age: nay, what is ftill more remarkable is, that the Oxford quarto Bible of 1712, and the Cambridge quarto Bible of 1762, in the chronological index, should call Mizraim the grandson of Ham; whereas it ought to have been printed either Mizraim, the fon of Ham; or Mizraim, the grandson of Noah.

The time then for his fettling a colony in Egypt, could not poffibly have been fo late as the year 2188; for that would be only three years before the birth of Serug in 2185, who was the great-great-great grandfon of Arphaxad, the grandfon of Noah; which Arphaxad is in the fame degree of defcent from that patriarch with Mizraim himself; Arphaxad being the fon of Shem, and Mizraim the fon of Ham; that date therefore ought perhaps to have been printed 2288, not 2188; and then the Egyptian monarchy would have been founded by Mizraim about 7 years 7 years before Nimrod began to exalt himself, or 41 before he built Babylon; and not 59 years after it, according to their account; particularly when we confider that Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, was uncle to Nimrod, the founder of Babylon; and therefore the nephew can scarce be fuppofed to have established a kingdom 30 years before his uncle, though he might about 41 years

after him.

From the Hebrew, let us now turn our thoughts on the antiquity of the Greek language.

We find by the chronological Tables to the Universal Antient History, that the Egyptians, about the time of Abraham, colonized Greece, under Ægialeus, who founded the kingdom of Sicyon so early as the year 2079 before Chrift, which is about 83 before the birth of Abraham in 1996; or 159 before his descent into Egypt in 1920 +:-and that they fent another colony into Greece, under Inachus,

As the ftudies of Geography and Aftronomy ought to be conjoined; fo ought thofe of History and Chronology to walk hand in hand; for facts without dates are at beft but unedifying inftruction; thus, for inftance, to tell us that fuch a tranfaction was performed, or that fuch an event happened, without telling us at the fame time the period when it was performed, and the date when it happened, is really giving us but very flender information: it is thro' the want of attending to this ufeful part of writing in our earliest hiftorians, that we find fo great a difference in the account of fubfequent writers; thus fome have affirmed, that an eminent perfon performed fuch an exploit, or invented fuch an art; without telling us the time when, or the place where: others tell us that fuch an event happened, or fuch a battle was fought; without ever mentioning the date of either; and if the dates are mentioned, they fometimes differ fo widely, as to render the truth of thofe events very much fufpected, or the veracity of the authors them felves very much doubted: but by fixing the chronology of any action, and telling us the precife time, when fuch an event happened, they give as it were a fanétion to their narration, and ftamp it with the authority of time.

+ Urbem ipfam Sicyonem Abrahami temporibus conditam narrat hiftoria :-Poftremò; quum variis antè affecti cladibus effent Sicyonii, ipfam urbem terræ motus ad folitudinem et vaftitatem redegit.— Bunon in Cluver, 410. This city antiently ftood to the Weft of Corinth.

to

to Argos, about the year 1856.-That Ogyges likewife founded Thebes in Baotia, in the year following, viz. 1855-and that a third colony from Egypt, under Cecrops, established the kingdom of Athens in 1582, fome fay 1571; or rather, according to others, 1556 years before Chrift.

It would be impoffible to fay what the Greek language was at thofe early periods; but, whether it was spoken (it certainly could not be written) with that elegance, purity, and perfection, which is found in the writings of their orators, poets, and hiftorians, after the taking of Troy, may be very easily conjectured; and most probably it was not; but this we may without any controverfy be affured of, that at the times of Homer, which was about 1000, or 900 years before Christ, or 277 after the fiege of Troy, it was then undoubtedly spoken, and we find it undoubtedly written, or left to be written, by that great poet, with fuch fublimity and elegance, as have rendered his works fo juftly admired even to this very day.

To convince us then of the great antiquity of the Greek language, let us just take a review of this argument:-Homer is faid to have lived about 1000, of 900 years before Chrift; therefore it can hardly be fuppofed, from what has been here advanced, that the Greek language was then in its infancy; fince his writings are allowed to be the standard of Greek epic poetry: that language then must have fubfifted for many centuries, before it could have arrived at that perfection of tile, that harmony of numbers, and that loftinefs of expreffion, which are to be found in the writings of Homer: two or three centuries only before his own times would carry us up no higher, than the period of those transactions, which are the great fubjects of his Iliad and Odyffey; the taking of Troy, and the adventures of Ulyffes, after that catastrophe; which happened about 277 years before his own birth: but the kingdom of Sicyon had been founded in 2079 before Christ, which is 895 years before the taking of Troy, or 1172 before Homer; so that the arrangement of thefe numbers will appear thus:

From the founding the kingdom of Sicyon, to the fiege of Troy

From the fiege of Troy to the times of Homer
From Homer to the birth of Alexander

From the birth of Alexander to that of Chrift

Bef. Chrift.

895

277

551 356

The year in which Troy was taken

From the founding the kingdom of Sicyon to the birth of Christ
From the birth of Chrift to the prefent age

Total number of years from Sicyon to the present times

3862

years.

So long a period has elapfed, fince Greece was first of all colonized :--now, let any one of our antiquaries, or etymologifts, point out to us a period earlier than the taking of Troy, or than even the times of Homer, in which the Celtic, Gaulish, Welsh, Saxon, Teutonic, or Icelandic tongues, were fpoken, or written with greater elegance, purity, and perfection, than the Greek was, at either of those early periods: nay, even tho' a manufcript might at any time hereafter be found,

written

written in any one of those polite languages, and dated five hundred years before Homer; ftill would the kingdom of Sicyon have fubfifted above fix hundred years, before the date of fuch a manuscript.

Perhaps here it may be asked, by what channel, and at what period, can we fuppofe the Greek language fhould have made its way into Britain?-to this it may be answered, by means of the Druids, Celts, and Gauls; concerning whom, tho' we have no authentic history before Cæfar*; yet, that there were a people who inhabited this ifland for ages prior to the coming of Cafar, is a fact that is founded on truth; for the Romans at their landing faw it was not only inhabited, but inhabited by a people of a very warlike race; as we fhall find presently in the Fourth article:-but let us firft endeavour to trace out those inhabitants, and fee, whether they were the first men, who ever peopled this ifland.

That those inhabitants of Britain, whom the Romans found here, were a race of Celtic Gauls, is a fuppofition very probable; but it is very far from being probable to suppose, that those Celts were the first fet of men who inhabited this country, notwithstanding their proximity to it: and Cæfar himself acknowledges thus much, because we do not find, nor indeed do we know enough of these antient Britons, or even of thofe Celtic Gauls, to affert, that in thofe early ages of the world, they had any kind of shipping, or made use of any sort of veffels, to carry on the least kind of trade or traffic, by navigation, with other distant parts of the world; for we do not read that the Britons, Celts, or Gauls, for any long period before Cafar's time, were mariners; they might have had barges, and Imall craft enough to cross over to each other: but the Phenicians, Greeks, and other Eaftern nations, are known to have been early navigators, and to have made long voyages: therefore, what Milton fays in the beginning of his History of England, before the arrival of the Romans, is undoubtedly juft; that "relations, often accounted fabulous, have been afterwards found to contain in them many footsteps and relicks of fomething true:"-this fomething therefore is the only fact required:-permit me then to proceed with his narration.

"This ifland," fays he, p. 8, " might have been inhabited before the Flood; at least this we are affured of from fcripture, that Gomer and Javan, two fons of Japheth, the eldest son of Noah, journeyed leafurely from the Eaft, and peopled the Western and North-western climes :"-for by their descendents were the ifles of the Gentiles divided; as we have just now seen in Tables I. and IV.

The most early part of our fabulous hiftory, though it does not look up fo high, as to any period before the Flood, yet, according to Sammes, 148, we find this island peopled, very foon after the Flood, by Mefech, the 5th fon of Japheth, who is furnamed Samothes and Dis: he is faid to have begun his reign in this island, which from him was called Samathea, about 2038 years before Christ, or 310 years after the Flood.

De primis Britanniæ incolis, nihil certum :" fays Sheringham, p. 7.-With regard to the name of Britain, fee the work itfelf, under the article BRITAIN: Gr.

+ Britanniæ pars interior ab iis incolitur, quos natos in infulâ memoriâ proditum affirmant; maritima pars ab iis, qui prædæ, ac belli inferendi caufà, ex Belgio (Gallico) tranfierant. And Sheringham likewife obferves, fub temporibus Cæfaris, coloniæ aliquot è Belgio (Gallico) migraverant, et ad loca quædam maritima habitabant; in mediterraneis, antiqui Britanni; qui fe indiginam gentem putabant, p. 7.

Samothes

.