Here we must close our account of this volume for the present. In the next half of it, we shall have occasion to attend on Dr. Townson more in the capacity of the naturalist, and the observer of men and manners, than in that of the politician and the statist. [To be concluded in our next Review.] ART. II. Chronological Tables, beginning with the Reign of Solomon, and ending with the Death of Alexander the Great: with a prefatory Discourse. By the late Thomas Falconer, of Chester, Esq. 4to. 158. Boards. Printed at Oxford; London, Cadell jun. and Davies. 1796. PP. 200, HRONOLOGY has been sometimes called the soul of history: but the appellation, in our judgment, is improper; for she is only an hand-maid, and often but an awkward and faithless one. Yet many great men have employed uncommon pains and rare talents to make her become an useful attendant; on whom her mistress might lean with security through the long and dark path of time, without being in danger of deviating either to the right or to the left. That they have not, however, been altogether successful in their well-meant endeavours, is evident from their almost continual disagreement.-They have not been able determinately to fix a single epoch prior to the Olympiads; and even after that celebrated æra, how much uncertainty remains! Neither the birth nor the crucifixion of Jesus Christ has yet been indisputably ascertained; although, among Christians of every denomination, it has been a subject of discussion for above sixteen hundred years. One principal object of chronologists has been to connect and reconcile sacred with profane history: a task which no one has yet fully accomplished; and which, in our opinion, can never be accomplished, without some other data than those which have. hitherto served as the ground-work of the various systems that have been applied to effect that purpose. The posthumous work before us, published by Dr. Hodson. of Oxford, at the request of Dr. Falconer of Bath, brother of the author, must have cost much time and labour to bring it even to the imperfect state in which it now appears. The first idea of it was suggested to the author, by observing that several writers of distinguished abilities had committed mistakes in adjusting the reigns of the Jewish kings to those of the eastern monarchs: In order to explain these difficulties, which, it is hoped, are by no means insuperable, the primary view of this work was, to begin with the reign of Solomon, and continue it down only so far as the 6th year of the reign of Darius Hystaspes, when the prophecies relating to the 2d Temple were fulfilled. But as the collateral assistance of the era of Nabonassar was absolutely necessary, so, had the Tables been concluded at this time, it would have broken that celebrated era abruptly in the middle; whereas, by continuing it on to the close of the first division, viz. to the death of Alexander the Great, it not only tends to illustrate the rise and fall of the Grecian republics, but also the remaining history of the Jews till the Canon of the Scriptures is closed by Nehemiah as an historian, and by Malachi as a prophet. In the prosecution of this work, no attachment has been shewn to any particular system, where there was a possibility of avoiding it; and the authority of chronological compilera is seldom admitted, unless when confirmed by the direct evidence of good historians, who either borrowed from authentic records, or lived near the times concerning which they wrote. To separate truth from error; to distinguish what is probable from what is doubtful; and where facts are not exactly ascertained as to time, to fix them within certain limits, has been the Author's sole object. In one part, where historical evidence is wanting, analogical reasoning has been admitted, viz. in the history of ancient Greece before the time of Cyrus, and in the first four reigns of the kings of Media: but all these facts are marked with an asterisk, to distinguish them from those which are grounded on direct evidence; nor are these calculations obtruded on the reader, but submitted with deference, and meant rather to excite than to satisfy enquiry. Should this part, however, be disapproved of by any, it must at least be acknowledged by every impartial reader, that the facts here investigated in relation to ancient Greece, cannot clash with the sacred writings; for, whether we adopt the extended calculations of Eratosthenes, or those more contracted laid down by Sir Isaac Newton, the Scripture history is equally distinct from the profane; and the taking of Troy, whereever it is placed, has no reference to the Jewish history, or any of the kingdoms connected with it.' In a prefatory discourse, of 134 pages, Mr. Falconer directs his attention towards establishing the authenticity of the era of Nabonassar, as the basis on which his tables are founded; explains the mode of computation therein used; and takes a wide range through the antiquities of Chaldea, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, coeval with the period of Jewish history which it is his design to illustrate.-There is a considerable portion of learning, but little of either taste or method, in this dry and tedious dissertation; and much extraneous matter is intermixed :-for example, we have ten whole pages on architecture, sculpture, and painting. As, besides fixing the Jewish chronology, one of Mr. F.'s principal views in writing was to shew that the great scheme of prophecy under the first covenant was completed before these tables are closed,' he was obliged to settle the dates of certain historical facts connected with those prophecies, and to recon cile the latter to the chronology of the Medes and Persians. The result of this labour he gives in the following table: His order of arrangement, with respect to the minor Prophets, is the same with that of Archbp. Newcome, except that the Archbishop places Zephaniah after Joel: but, with regard to the times of their beginning to prophecy, the two tables differ considerably. According to the learned Prelate, Jonah began to prophecy 823 years before Christ-Amos 823-Hosea 809 -Micah 757-Nahum, probably, 720-Joel, probably, 696Zephaniah 640-Habakkuk, probably, 606-- Obadiah soon after 587-Haggai about 520 Zechariali 520 and Malachi 436. We are inclined to think that Mr. Falconer's calculations are more correct. Mr. F. next points out several contested facts, both in profane and sacred history, which may, he thinks, be settled by his tables. The first is the foundation of Carthage; which he places, not in the 7th year of Pygmalion, but in the 27th; the captivity of Jehoiakim he places in the third year of his reign and in the seventh of Nebuchadnezzar; the burning of the temple in the eleventh of Zedekiah, &c.-As, however, we think that all these chronological minutia are of small importance, we refer those who esteem this sort of reading to the work itself; and we shall proceed to a description of the form in which Mr. F. has constructed his tables: for our pages are too narrow for an expanded sample. From the year of the Julian Period 3743, corresponding with the death of Solomon and the year before Christ 971, to the era of Nabonassar, which commences at the year of the Julian ; Period 3966, before Christ 748, the table is divided into ten columns. The first contains the years of the Julian Period the second, the names of the kings of Judah; the third, the years of their reigns; the fourth, the years of the reigns of the kings of Israel; the fifth, the names of the same kings; and the sixth, the years of Ezekiel's prediction. All these are on the left-hand page. The first and second columns of the opposite page are allotted to contemporary princes and events; the third marks the annals of Tyre from Abdastratus to PygmaHon, and of the Lydian kings from Ardisus to Alyattes; and the last column contains the years before Christ. From the first year of the Nabonassar era to the Babylonian captivity, the tables continue the same; except that there is only one column for contemporary events, and that the second column of the right-hand page contains the years of the before-mentioned With the contemporary events are arranged the annals of Egypt, and with the Lydian kings those of Media. From that period, the two columns which before contained the kings of Judah, and, as far as they go, the kings of Israel, are henceforwards, with profane history, blended with what concerns the Jews, and dated from the captivity of Zedekiah and from that of Jehoiakim; and the first column on the opposite page contains the Egyptian and Tyrian annals. At the year 4201 of the Julian Period, before Christ 515, the tables take another form. The consular tables of Rome occupy the second column of the left-hand page; the principal transactions in Greece fill the fifth column; and the contemporary events are arranged in the first and third columns of the opposite page, on each side of the years of the Nabonassar era. Although we are clearly of opinion that these tables might have been more methodically and intelligibly exhibited, and although several petty mistakes might easily be pointed out in them, we cannot help considering the work as an useful companion to the reader of antient history, who wishes to adjust the dates to the facts, and to have at once a view of contemporary events. As to Mr. Falconer's style, we cannot highly praise it, for it is neither terse nor elegant. Indeed, he seems to have been careless about composition, and to have been contented with the first phraseology that occurred. He writes, however, with simplicity, and is seldom either obscure or embarrassed: but he is too verbose and desultory. ART. ART. III. A Plan for the Conduct of Female Education, in Boarding Author of 4to. Pp. 128. 56 IT T is a condition to which eminence in literature is not unreasonably subjected, that no future efforts are permitted to fall short of the standard of excellence established by a writer's former productions. Diversity of subject, it is true, may unavoidably render one work of an author less splendid and popular than another: but an equal degree of proportional merit may justly be expected from equal exertions bestowed on it. That nothing ordinary, nothing trivial, nothing careless, can be atcepted from Dr. Darwin's pen, is the honourable consequen of a reputation acquired by works sanctioned by high public applause; and where he chooses to appear in the character of apthor of these works, he must prepare to sustain this rank as such. The subject of the present publication has already, in several of its parts, engaged the attention of writers of the first class; and when we mention, as its leading topics, the female character, with all its concomitants of polite and useful knowlege, arts, accomplishments, morals, religion, &c. in addition to all considerations relative to health and corporeal habits, it will not be doubted that scope enough is taken for the employment of all the philosophical and literary attainments which can be possessed by any individual. It seems, however, not to have been the purpose of Dr. D. to engage deeply, nor as an original thinker, on most of these subjects; and in fact he has done no more than slightly touch on a few leading ideas, often referring to other writers for more minute and accurate investigations. We shall give one of his moral sections as a specimen: • FORTITUDE. • If female children are not treated with tenderness by a mother in their early years of infancy, they are perhaps liable to acquire a harsh ness of character, and an apparent unfeeiingness, which afterwards renders them less amiable; though it may give them greater fortitude; which should therefore be inculcated at their rather maturer years. • Neither the robust assailing courage, which prompts to the performance of heroic actions, nor the ostentatious patience, which requires the flattery of the public eye for it's support, belong to the female character. But that serene strength of mind, which faces unavoidable danger with open eyes, prepared to counteract or to bear the necessary evils of life, is equally valuable as a male or female acquisition. This is term'd presence of mind; it depends on our judg ment of the real value of things; and on our application of those causes, |