Sesostris, or Sestesura, invasion of India by, 41; reign of, 117; conquests of, 117; worthiness of, 117; death of, 118.

Sharma and Jayapati, names of, given at random to the son of Satyavratá, 38, 49.

Shishak, or Bacchus, conquest of India by, 41, 118; Spartembas placed on the throne of India by, 41; erroneously identified with Sakya Muni, 41; mention of in the Bible, 118.

Sicyon, history of, 129.

Sidon, history of, 93.

Solar race of India, account of the, 38.

Solomon, appearance of God to, in a dream, 102.

Solon, court of Areopagus improved by, 130, 132; code of laws given to Athens by, 131.

Sparta, history of, 134; wars of, with Athens, 138, 139; supremacy of, subverted by the Thebans, 140.

Sun, no setting of the, in China, for ten days, 15.

Sylla, elevation of, to the dictatorship, 154; abdication of the dictatorship

by, 154. Syria, 97.

Syria, general description of, 97; principal states of, 97; history of, 97; colonisation of, 98; government of, 98; character of the people of, 99; religion of, 99; civilisation of, 99.

TÁH

ÁHÁMURS, of Persia, knowledge of letters acquired by, from magicians, 56. Tartary, 81.

Tartary, general description of, 81; tribes of, and their nomad habits, 82; Scythic kings of, 82; Turk, Tartar, and Mogul kings of, 84; wars between the Tartars and Moguls in, 84, 85; subversion of the Mogul power in, 85; flight of the Moguls from, to Irgáná Kon, 85; return of the Moguls to, 85; planting of, 87; prolificness of, 88; known as terra incognita by the ancients, 88; exercise of authority in, 89; laws of, 89; character of the people of, 90; religion of the people of, 90; résumé of the history of, 174.

Tartars, character of the military and colonising expeditions of the, 171, 174; habits of the, 171.

Tartar invasions of China referred to by Father Martini, 18, 26.

Tartar, or Scythic irruptions, in China, 17, 20, 23; in India, 41, 42; in Persia, 57; in Media, 77.

Thebes, account of, 115.

Thermopylæ, battle of, 139.

Thessaly, history of, 133.

Thomyris, queen of the Massagetas, offer of marriage made to, by Cyrus, 83;

war of Cyrus with, 83.

Traditions, national, value of, 3.

Tribunal of history in China, and its labours, 30.

Turks, their desire to settle in China, 22; bought off by bribes, 22; establish

ment of their present dominions by the, 22.

Typhon, understood to mean a deluge, 113; resemblance of the name to the word "Toofan," or tempest at sea, 113.

Tyre, history of, 94.

VOL. I.

VIKRAMADITYA, era of, 45; nine gems in the court of, 45, and note;

arrest of Scythic inroads into India by, 45; defeated and slain by Saliváhana, 46.

WESTERN EMPIRE, destruction of the, in the reign of Augustus

Romulus, 158.

World, idea regarding the planting of the, by Noah and his descendants, 4, 8; other theories regarding the planting of the, 9; conclusion on the peopling of the, 166, 167.

Writing, discovery of the art of, 169.

ERXES, wars of, with Greece, 60; defeat of, 60, 139; licentious life of, and death, 61.

AOU, reign of, 15; the first legislator of China, 30.

YAO

ZOE

Yu, founder of the Hea dynasty in China, reign of, 16; administrative arrangements of, 16.

WOHAUK, conquest of Persia by, 56; cruelty of, 57; captured and killed by Kawáh, a blacksmith, 57.

Zoroaster, religion of, in Persia, 60, 64, 70.

THE MODERN WORLD."

CHAPTER I.

PREFATORY REMARKS.

THE best study of man is the future of mankind, and to qualify for that study it is necessary to know the history of the past. We have already spoken of the Ancient World; it is our purpose now to speak of the Modern World, so remarkable for its political changes and intellectual revolutions. To read it aright we must read the history of its growth; but that does not necessarily imply that we must burden ourselves with a multitude of facts, names, and dates, a dry collection of which will never be palatable to the general reader. The facts in detail are fully set forth in special histories, which are always accessible for reference. The aim we have in view is to present to the reader such a selection of items from them as will give a telescopic view of the world as we find it, explaining the phases it has passed through. In such an attempt it will be necessary, of course, to allude to the projecting or turning points of general history, and to the memorable events of all times and places which have contributed to the development of the nations that exist; but it will be necessary, at the same time, to shorten the pictures by abridgment, and to omit not only events and deeds of secondary importance, but also all the unnecessary adjuncts

The political state of the world has undergone some changes since this portion of the work was first published in 1876; but we have not so revised it as to include every change that has taken place.

appertaining to deeds of primary magnitude. The multitude of facts to pick from is immense; but we must not get entangled among them. We want those particulars only that elucidate the dependence of the different countries on each other, and account for their present relative positions. The history of England is, or ought to be, familiar to all our readers, and no regular narration of events relating to it will therefore be attempted. But some cursory allusion to the principal events of other countries must be made, since the English reader generally is not very conversant with them.

The main points of our inquiry, it will be understood, are the progress of liberty and the diffusion of civilisation, which virtually comprise the history of modern times. Absolute freedom nowhere exists; it is an indefinite term that does not admit of complete realization. But every nation carries with it the principle or capacity of development, and the results compassed by such development are freedom, civilisation, and happiness, in greater or less degree. In the ancient world civilisation was well attained, but not freedom, till we come to the times of Greece and Rome. In the modern world, both civilisation. and freedom have been better attained in all places, even where much of political liberty has not yet been acquired. The civilisation of the modern world is also of a higher standard than that which was attained in the past, the latter having been founded on universal abasement, while the former is established on universal advancement; but genius, talent, and virtue were met with in as much abundance in the old world as they have yet been in the new. The knowledge of the modern world differs from that of the ancient world mainly in this, that it is more extensively diffused, the earth having become man's more fully now than it ever was before. He has bridged over its seas and scaled its mountains; traversed its wildest and most arid plains; explored its remotest inlets and islands, even unto the poles. The knowledge of the ancients permeated only through the countries which were known to them—namely,

the southern portions of Asia, the south-eastern countries of Europe, and the north-eastern corner of Africa. But now geography has mastered all the secrets of terra incognita, and the pushing civilisation of the age has made every part of the globe accessible by railways, bridges, and canals. The Suez Canal, the Thames Tunnel, the bridges over the Menai Straits and the St. Lawrence, are stupendous works which have been multiplied in minor dimensions in every direction. The lightning-post has traversed every part of Europe and the United States, and is rapidly crossing Australasia, India, and the extremities of the earth generally, all of which are being daily more closely connected with Europe. The network of railways has received almost equal expansion; and the result of these advances is, that the standard of humanity has been raised everywhere by the acceleration of intercourse between the different races inhabiting the earth, and by the relief of material want by the utilization of the surplusage of one place for the benefit of another. It is a common saying, that all in Europe are now in the presence of each other; nor are America, India, and Australasia more distant on account of the seas that intervene between them. Within an interval of twenty-two days the latest new novel published in London or Paris finds its way out into the hands of the Hindu reader on the banks of the Brahmapootra; and day by day the electric wire doles out the most important items of intelligence from all the great centres of civilisation to the outermost confines of the globe.

Taking the two divisions of the world, the old and the new, together, the course of progress is seen to have travelled from east to west-from Asia to Europe, and thence across the Atlantic to America. It has since diverged towards the south and south-east-to Africa, Australasia, and the islands in the Indian Ocean; while the West, originally a borrower, is repaying to the East her deep debt of gratitude by communicating to her all her recent discoveries and refinements. The footsteps of this