She was so tenderly beloved by her husband, Menones, that he could not survive his expected loss of her, and the knowledge that she was demanded by his sovereign. After the death of Ninus, whom she had married, assuming the reins of government in her hands, she immortalized her name by enriching Babylon with new works and embellishments.

Of these, the principal were the walls of the city, the quays and the bridge; the lake, banks, and canals, made for draining the river; the palace, the hanging gardens, and the temple of Belus She also enlarged her dominions by the conquest of a large part of Ethiopia.

Her greatest and last expedition was directed against India. She advanced towards the river Indus, and having prepared boats, attempted to pass it with her army. The passage was for a long time disputed, but, after a bloody battle, she put her enemies to flight. Upon this she advanced directly into the country, leaving 60,000 men to guard the bridge of boats built over the river.

As soon as the Indian king thought her far enough advanced, he faced about; a second engagement ensued, more bloody than the first. The Assyrians were routed, and Semiramis, after being twice wounded, was obliged to fly, and return to her country with scarcely one third of her army.

Some time after, discovering that her son was plotting against her, she voluntarily abdicated the throne, put the government into his hands, and withdrew from public life. She lived 62 years, of which she re gned 42. Her character, in respect to those qualities that adorn a woman, seems not to have been highly esteemed.

PERIOD III.

The Period of Egyptian Bondage, extending from the calling of Abraham, 1921 years B. C. to the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, 1491 years B. C.

HEBREWS.

SECTION 1. The HEBREWS or ISRAELITES, commonly called the People of God, are derived from Abraham, the ninth in lineal descent from Shem. His calling of God is a remarkable event in history, and was designed for purposes al together religious. This took place 1921 years B. C.

The nation of which he was the founder, though neither powerful nor refined, is one of the most interesting that ever existed. Their history instructs us in a way different from that of all others, because it brings directly into view the Divine dealings with them.

Abraham's family increased very slowly at first; but Jacob, his grandson, left a numerous offspring. Twelve sons became the heads of as many separate tribes in the nation.

§ Abrahanı, according to the Lord's command, left the land of the Chaldees, his native country, and dwelt with his father Terah, in Haran. By the same command, after Terah's death, he went into the land of Canaan, which God promised to his posterity. They were at length to be included within the boundaries of that country.

The divine design in thus setting apart one family from the rest o mankind, was to preserve the true religion in the world, and to prepare the way for the great work of redemption by Jesus Christ. The earth had now begun to be overrun with idolatry.

Abraham having acquired a name by his wealth and piety, and having passed through various trials, died at an advanced age, leaving behind him several sons, of whom only Isaac was the child of promise. Ishmael, by the maid of Abraham's wife, became the progenitor of a distinct tribe or nation.

Two sons were the progeny of Isaac, viz. Esau and Jacob, the former of whom sold his birthright to Jacob, who also by artifice obtained his father's blessing. In the line of Jacob, whose name was afterwards changed to Israel, were the Israelites descended. His twelve sons gave the names to the several tribes of which the nation was composed.

Esau was the father of the Edomites, or Idumeans.

2. Jacob closed an eventful life, 1689 years B. C., in making a prophetic declaration of the future state of his descendants, and the period of the coming of the Messiah. He had previously been brought out of Canaan, into Egypt, by means of his son Joseph, whom his brethren, through envy and malice, sold into that country.

The different occurrences by which Joseph became minister to the king of Egypt, speak the immediate interposition of Divine Providence, which was preparing for the accom plishment of the promises made to the patriarch Abraham.

The history of Joseph, as recorded in Scripture, is unparalleled in beauty and interest. Some of the principal incidents are the following.

Joseph, who was much loved by his father and hated by his brethren, upon a certain occasion which was presented, fell into the power of the latter, who sought to slay him. This horrid design, however, being providentially prevented, they availed themselves of the opportunity of selling him to some Ishmaelite slave merchants, who carried him into Egypt, where he was bought by Potiphar, an officer of the court.

Here, at length, he was wrongfully thrown into prison, by a false accusation of Potiphar's wife; but, being proved to be an interpreter

of dreams, he was introduced to the notice of Pharaoh, who, on a cer tain occasion, wanted his services in this capacity.

His success in interpreting the king's dreams, and his subsequent conduct, procured for him the highest distinction; and he became the administrator of the government. During the famine, which he predicted, and which reached the land of Canaan, all his brethren, except Benjamin, came to him to buy corn.

Joseph knew them, although they did not know him; and by an innocent contrivance, having brought them into Egypt the second time, with their brother Benjamin, he declared to them that he was Joseph whom they had persecuted and sold.

Their surprise, mortification, and terror, were at first overwhelming; but their distressing apprehensions were at length alleviated by his assurances of pardon and kindness; and inviting his father and family into Egypt, he allotted them a portion of the territory. Here they grew and multiplied exceedingly.

3. Joseph continued to rule over Egypt, after the death of Jacob. His own decease, which occurred 1635 years B. C. left the Israelites without a protector. In less than 40 years from this event, they found a cruel tyrant and oppressor in another king, who knew not Joseph.

This king, whose name was Pharaoh,* seeing the Hebrews to be too numerous and mighty, resolved to enfeeble them; and, therefore, condemned them to slavery, and ordered his people to cast every new-born son among them into the river.

The object in view was defeated: for the people increased in an unexampled manner. God was with them, and, in the wonderful preservation of Moses, and his education in the court of Pharaoh, was preparing for them a deliverer from their cruel bondage.

§ For the particulars of this persecution of God's people, we refer to the beginning of the book of Exodus.

CANAANITES.

SECTION 4. The CANAANITES were an ancient people. The country which they inhabited was called the land of Canaan, the name of Ham's youngest son, who settled it immediately after the dispersion at Babel. He divided it among his eleven sons. The general denomination of Canaanites included seven nations, which are frequently mentioned in scripture.

The Canaanites seem to have laboured, in a particular manner, under the evil influence of the curse denounced against their proge⚫ A name common to the kings of Egypt.

nitor; being doomea, in the end, to subjection, expulsion, or extirpation, and being subdivided into so many little kingdoms.

The beginning of their history is extremely dark. They are supposed, however, upon the increase of their families, to have possessed themselves of the Arabian side of Egypt, and there to have erected a kingdom coeval with that of Misraim. But they seem at length to have been expelled from that region.

5. The first authentic account of this people applies to the inhabitants of the vale of Siddim, who, 1912 years B. C., were invaded by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and obliged to pay an annual tribute. When they afterwards revolted, they were punished with great severity.

Fifteen years after this, a most terrific judgment was inflicted on the inhabitants of Siddim, in consequence of their gross wickedness. Four cities in this delightful vale, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, were at once destroyed by fire from heaven. The whole tract of country in their vicinity became a sea, called the Dead Sea.

§ The 18th and 19th chapters of Genesis contain an account of this catastrophe, and of its causes; to these we refer the reader.

At the present time, from the accounts of travellers, it appears that the sea and adjacent region are marked by several peculiarities worthy of notice.

In a journal of one of our American missionaries in Palestine, of recent date, we find the following account. "The water looks remarkably clear and pure; but, on taking it into my mouth, I found it nauseous and bitter, I think beyond any thing I ever tasted.

"It has been said, that these waters are so heavy, that the most impetuous winds can scarcely ruffle their surface. Nothing could be more entirely without foundation. The waves ran so high, that I found difficulty in filling some bottles with water. My clothes were wet by the waves, and, as they dried, I found them covered with salt."

Quantities of bitumen are gathered in the vicinity, which, in appearance, resembles pitch, but may be distinguished from it by its sulphureous smell and taste. Pebbles are also found here which burn when held in a blaze, producing a very disagreeable scent, but they lose nothing of their size.

6. During this period, nothing more of much importance is recorded concerning the Canaanites. The compact of the Hittites with Abraham, respecting the cave of Machpelah, the selling of a piece of ground to Jacob, by Hamor, king of Shechem, and the massacre of his subjects by some of the sons of Jacob, on account of an insult which the patriarch's family had received, are the only events transmitted to us.

GREECE.

7. The GREEKS are an ancient people, whose origin is clouded with fable. All that we know, during the present or preceding period, of the descendants of Japhet, who peopled Europe, is comprised in the history of this nation.

We date the commencement of the Greeks, as a community, from the founding of Argos by Inachus, who arrived in Greece, from Phoenicia, 1856 years B. C. Sicyon is by some thought to have been founded before; but we incline to the opinion that Egialtes, a son of Inachus, was the founder of Sicyon.

§ As much has been written concerning the fabulous times in the history of Greece, we will here present a very brief account of that portion of its history. These fables, however, are supposed to be founded on facts, and the greater part of the deities worshipped by the Greeks, were princes by whom their progenitors had been governed.

Uranus, afterwards worshipped as the heavens, appears to have been one of the earliest of their princes. He married his sister Tithea, and migrated from Asia into Greece, where he founded a kingdom. He had many children, called Titans, who rebelled against their father and dethroned him.

Saturn, or Chronos, succceded his father Uranus, whom, with the help of his brethren, he dethroned; and dreading lest he should be treated in the same manner by his own children, he ordered them to be shut up, or put to death, immediately after their birth; but Jupiter was concealed by his mother, and sent to Crete, where he was educated.

Jupiter began to reign in Thessaly, after having dethroned Saturn. The Titans, jealous of him, declared war against him, but were vanquished, and expelled Greece. He soon divided his dominions with his two brothers, Pluto and Neptune.

The countries which he reserved to himself, he governed with great wisdom; he had his palace, and held his court, on Mount Olympus, whence the poets gave this name to heaven, when Jupiter was worshipped as a god.

8. The ancient inhabitants of Greece were extremely rude and savage, scarcely one degree superior to brutes. They lived on herbs and roots, and lay either in the open fields, or, at best, sheltered themselves in dens, clefts, and hollow trees.

An improvement of their condition occasionally took place; out Greece, for some ages, was in a continual state of fluctuation. They were unacquainted with letters till the time of Cadmus, who is hereafter to be mentioned.