CONTENTS. PAGES. Rome....Under Kings and Consuls-Punic Wars. The Gracchi.....Marius and Sylla....Pompey and PAGES Germany....Its ancient limits....Conrad, the first Emperor.... Contentions between the Emperors and Popes....Guelphs and Gibelines.... Charles V..... The Peace of Westphalia, 71 England....From its earliest period....Heptarchy.....Norman Conquest.....Plantagenets....Conquest of Ireland.....Civil Wars of York and Lancaster....Reformation, James I....Charles I....Usurpation of Cromwell.... A short delineation of the English constitution, Spain....Under the Carthaginians.... The Romans....The Van- dals......and the Moors......Arragon and Castile under Ferdinand and Isabella....Expulsion of the Moors....Dis- Portugal....Ancient Inhabitants...Discovery of the Portuguese in the Fifteenth Century....Freed from the Spanish Yoke, 109 Poland....Situation..... Lech.....Dukes.... Woywoods....Cracus The Northern Kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, Prussia.....Original Inhabitants....Name.... Subdued by the Teutonic Knights....Albert the first Duke....Erected into a France....Under the Franks or Merovingian Race.....Carlovin- France....Assembly of the Notables....Junction of the Citi- zens and Soldiers....Destruction of the Bastile....Death of the King and Queen....War with England.... Death of the Dauphin....Descent of the French upon Egypt....The Eng- DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. Frontispiece to face the Title. Female Captive to front page 205. Sir William Wallace to front page 264. AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ALL NATIONS. CHAPTER I. The History of Mankind from the Creation to the Deluge. WE shall commence our History with a concise ac count of the cosmogony, according to Moses' inspired narration. Of the first creation of the heaven and the earth there is no particular description in the sacred volume: nor was it requisite that the inspired author of the Pentateuch should express himself in any other terms than those which substantiate the important truth, that they were created by the immediate power of God. The earth, subsequent to the creation, was a dark and shapeless mass of matter; but, at the sovereign command of the Almighty, the cheerful light appeared, the firmament expanded, to divide the upper from the lower waters; the congregated floods retired to their destined bed; and the dry land was crowned with a rich profusion of herbage, fruits and flowers. These great occurrences having occupied the three first days, the succeeding one was devoted to an illumination of the newly created globe: the face of heaven B |