KC12206 HORVARD Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. ADVERTISEMENT. THERE is nothing, perhaps, which more striking. ly exemplifies the mutability of human concerns than the sad memorials presented to our contemplation in the ruins of ancient cities. These venerable and majestic remains speak to the heart with an eloquence and force which no language can rival. The prostrate and broken columns, the dilapidated temples, the mounds of buried fragments, which mark the once proud and populous seats of empire, excite in the minds of the astonished traveller emotions more deep and solemn than he experiences in beholding any other objects. It is the design of this work to present a description of the most remarkable of these ruins, in connexion with a brief account of the rise, progress, and decline of the respective cities of which they are the remains, illustrated and enlivened by notices of striking events, and anecdotes of distinguished men, that shall be alike entertaining and instructive to the general reader. The author, it will be perceived, from the numerous authorities consulted by him, has spared no pains to authenticate his statements, and to enrich his pages with the greatest possible variety of information. It was believed, however, that he had made his work, in some of its parts, less interesting, by the insertion of places comparatively unimportant, and, accordingly, the articles in relation to such places have been omitted in this edition. Other articles, that were somewhat tedious from their length, have been judiciously curtailed, and the style of the author, whereever it appeared to be faulty, has been corrected. With these improvements the work is submitted to the public, in the confident persuasion that it will be found both interesting and instructive in no com. mon degree. New-York, June, 1841. H. & B. PREFACE. THE reader is requested to observe, that, though the plan of this work is entirely his own, the compiler of it does not put it forth as in any way original, either in respect to language or description. It is, in fact, a much better book than if it had been what is strictly called original; for it is a selection of some of the best materials the British Museum could furnish; sometimes worked up in his own language, and sometimes-and, indeed, very frequently-in that of others: the compiler having, at an humble distance and with unequal steps, followed the plan which M. Rollin proposed to himself when he composed his celebrated history of ancient times. "To adorn and enrich my own," says that celebrated writer, "I will be so ingenuous as to confess that I do not scruple, nor am ashamed, to rifle wherever I come; and that I often do not cite the authors from whom I transcribe, because of the liberty I take to make some slight alterations. I have made the best use in my power of the solid reflections that occur in the Bishop of Meaux's Universal History, which is one of the most beautiful and most useful books in our language. I have also received great assistance from the learned Dean Prideaux's Connexion of the Old and New Testaments,' in which he has traced and cleared up, in an admirable manner, the particulars relating to ancient history. I shall take the same liberty with whatever comes in my way, that may suit my design, and contribute to its perfection. I am very sensible that it is not so much for a person's reputation to make use of other men's labours, and that it is in a manner renouncing the name and quality of author. But I am not over-fond of that title, and shall be extremely well pleased, and think myself very happy, if I can but deserve the name of a good compiler, and supply my readers with a tolerable history, who will not be over-solicitous to inquire what hand it comes from, provided they are but pleased with it." Having followed this example-the compiler wishes he could say with equal effect-he will be fully satisfied should judicious readers feel inclined to concede that he has shown some judgment in selecting his materials, and some taste in binding "the beads of the chain" that connects them together. He disclaims, in fact (as in the present instance he is bound to do), all the honours of authorship; satisfied with those of a selecter, adapter, and compiler; and happy in the hope that he has, by means of the superior writers whose labours he has used, furnished his readers with a useful, accurate, and amusing work. London, January, 1840. C. B. |