COMPENDIUM OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, FROM THE CREATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. Translated from the Twenty-fourth Edition of the BY CHARLES THEOMARTYR STAFFORD. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. PREFACE. THIS volume is a literal translation of a German work of great celebrity, carefully revised by a clergyman of the Church of England, with the addition of a few interesting extracts and anecdotes, distinguished by an asterisk. This work, it is hoped, may be serviceable, both to the student and the man of letters to the latter, as a book of reference, and as a compendious review of discursive reading; to the former, as a well-drawn outline for the clear arrangement of future stores, or, as "the leading-strings" of History, for his early guidance. Still, though an outline, this is not a bare skeleton. Frequent notices of inventions, arts, and sciences, serve as flowers and fruit to this Tree of History; and will in some degree account for its extensive circulation in Germany, where it has gone through twenty-four editions, and is adopted in almost every school. In this translation, the strength and the spirit of the original is not sacrificed to mere fluency or elegance of expression still, in respect of that perspicuity which is so essential to rivet the attention of youth, this work will not prove deficient ; and should it be as extensively used in England as in Germany, I shall be satisfied that I have rendered no little assistance in the diffusion of useful knowledge. CHARLES THEOMARTYR STAFFORD. Berlin, January 1. 1850. CONTENTS. Page - viii - 1 2 - 3 4 6 9 10 Chap. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY I. What do we learn from History? II. Formation of the Earth to its present shape III. Creation of Plants, Beasts, and Men IV. Mode of Life among the First of Mankind, and V. Discovery of Agriculture and the Implements necessary thereto VII. The first means of retaining Fire, of Cooking, of working Metals, and of building Houses XI. The Egyptian Castes. Priests the possessors of all the Knowledge. Reckoning of Time. XIII. Samuel. Saul. David. Solomon XIV. Discovery of Navigation XVI. Traffick. Navigation. Colonies and Dis- 30 |