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"1. That it be expedient to establish an institution upon a liberal and ex"tensive scale in some central situation in the city of London, the object of " which shall be to provide

"1. A Library to contain works of intrinsic value.
"2. Lectures for the diffusion of useful knowledge.

ແ 3. Reading rooms for the daily papers, periodical publications, in-
teresting pamphlets, and foreign journals.

« 2. That this institution shall consist of a limited number of Proprietors, "and of Life and Annual Subscribers.

" 3. 'That the interest of the Proprietors shall be equal, permanent, trans"ferable, and hereditary, and shall extend to the absolute property of the "whole establishment; they shall be entitled to such extraordinary privile "ges, as may be consistent with general convenience, and upon them shall "devolve the exclusive right of the management of the Institution.

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4. That the Life and Annual Subscribers shall have the same use of and access to the Institution, as the Proprietors.

5. That the qualification of a Proprietor be fixed for the present at seventy five guineas.

« 6. That the Subscription for Life be for the present twenty five guineas. "7. That Ladies shall be received, as subscribers to the Lectures, under "such regulations and upon such terms, as may hereafter be determined.

" 8. That as soon, as one hundred persons have declared their intention to "become proprietors, a general meeting of all such persons shall be conven"ed, who shall proceed, as they see occasion, to carry the plan into ef "fect, to appoint a Committee to draw up regulations for the Institution, "and to submit the same to a General Meeting of the Proprietors for "their approbation.

66 9. That this Institution be denominated the LONDON INSTITUTION "FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LITERATURE, AND THE DIFFUSION OF USE"FUL KNOWLEDGE.

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The subscription having been rapidly filled, it was voted on the 28th May at a meeting of the Proprietors, to close it, and petition for a charter. We could wish, that men of fortune in our principal cities would imitate this example of their elder brethren. A National Literary Institute of some kind is peculiarly wanting among us, in order to consolidate the learning of the country in some general and efficient plan of public benefit. If it can. not be National, let it be the wisdom of New England at least to possess something of the kind. Our capital is not wanting in men of public spirit, as their late benefactions to literature evince. They need but a hint, we are persuaded, and as they are wise....." sat verbum."

Note. THE Editors of the Miscellany acknowledge the receipt of remarks on a certain Editorial notice in the Monthly Anthology, which contained strictures by no means pleasing on a communication, published in our last number. The remarks are written in a masterly style, and do credit to the head and heart of the author. Bnt he must accept our apology for declining to hand them to the public. We are unwilling to prolong a literary contention, and extremely desirous to " study the things, that make for peace, "and things, whereby one may EDIFY another.”

LITERARY MISCELLANY.

PRIMITIVE HISTORY.

CHAP. IV.

[Continued from page 104.]

Comprehending the first century after the flood.

On the other side of Greece great part of the riv

er Eridanus lost after the flood the form of a river, and widened into a long and spacious bay, since distinguished, as the Adriatic sea, and afterward, as the gulf of Venice; and the continent of Italy was separated from the neighbouring islands of Sicily, and perhaps from Sardinia and Corsica.

The same reasoning applies to the Baltic, which was at first a large river, discharging its waters into the ocean, as it does now. But after the flood it was a much more extensive bay, than it is at present. Hence we find, that the Hindoos place Atristan, or Dresden, near the sea, though by the subsequent recess of the sea it has become an inland town.

It was the postdiluvian sea, that insulated the cape of Good Hope, upon which Vaillant made his observations.

We have now taken a general view of the old continent, and of the changes, wrought in it by the deluge. The reader however is to remember, that some other local and comparatively small changes have at other times been produced by earthquakes. These changes will not in all cases agree with the general rule, that we have assumed. Some small islands, but of great elevation, have been thus produced, and other places have been sunk; yet these instances are so small, as to be only exceptions to the general rule, and so few, as not to occasion any doubt of its propriety. Let us now return to Noah.

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The huge mountain, on which the ark rested, is described, as being detached from the ridge, that runs through Armenia. At the foot of the hill, but on different sides, and six miles distant from each other, arise the Euphrates and Araxes. The former first runs westerly, and after a circuitous course and receiving into its bosom many large streams, the principal of which is the Tigris, it falls into the Persian Gulf. The Araxes is a smaller and very rapid river, which runs eastward, and falls into the Caspian Sea. It was anciently a boundary between Armenia and Media. The mountain itself is described, as covered to a great distance from its top with snow, which remains nearly all the year, and makes the summit generally inaccessible. The next region for some miles is very rough and craggy, and so destitute of soil, as to produce only a little of the bushes, known by the name of Juniper and goat's thorn.

About thirty miles from the top and ten from the bottom of this hill, in a tolerably level country, is the town of Nacsivan, or Naxuana, which is supposed to be the oldest town in the world, and to have been built by Noah, from whom it derived its name, and where he settled after he had left the ark. D' Anville in his map places it in north latitude 39°, and in east longitude from Ferro 65°.* The same claim to antiquity is also made by Erivan about twelve leagues from the mountain, but in an opposite course.+ Nacsivan being ten leagues to the southwest, and Erivan twelve to the north east of it., The country about this hill is very beautiful and productive. But the long drought, which begins in May, and lasts till November, makes artificial watering, by turning the streams into small canals, necessary. The fruits and the wines are

much esteemed

Nacsivan was then the second nursery of mankind. Here Noah and his son built houses, cultivated their fields and vineyards, and tended their flocks. As they had preserved all

*Calmet's Dict. Bible 4to, Ararat and Araxes. Guthrie's Hist. World vol. i. p. 27.

+ World displ. 12mo, vol. xv. p. 176.

the antediluvian books, and had acquired practical knowledge in many useful arts, before the destruction of the old world, they were able to begin their new colony with great advantage. The skins of beasts supplied them with their ordinary clothing, and their flocks supplied them with the necessary materials for finer fabrics, manufactured in their own families. Bows and arrows and stakes, sharpened and hardened in the fire, were all the weapons necessary to procure animal food, or to defend their flocks from the ravages of wild beasts. Here they continued, till their numbers increased to such a degree, as to render it convenient to send out colonies. But long before that time their hunting excursions furnished them with a considerable knowledge of the postdiluvian world, and of the changes, that had been made in the environs of Ararat, and as far, as the nearest seas, on every side. Their children were carefully instructed in religious and moral knowledge, and in the arts then understood. The forms of public worship were also immediately established, as we find Noah, as soon as the waters were dried up, offering a burnt sacrifice. This is the first instance of meat dressed by fire, and it was followed by a divine permission to eat flesh, which had never been before granted. The antediluvians had eaten it from necessity, as the arts of culture declined. But they used it, as it came from the carcase, whether it was human, or bestial. From the permission to eat it following the burnt offering, it was probably coupled with an injunction to dress it over the fire. The same thing was afterward carefully attended to in the Mosaic law, where we meet with repeated prohibitions from eating flesh with the blood in it. This has been understood, as forbidding the eating of live flesh; but most probably in my mind comprehended all raw meat. The Jewish doctors say, that God gave Noah seven precepts, to be of perpetual obligation on mankind. 1. To abstain from idolatry; 2. from blasphemy; 3. from murder; 4. from adultery; 5. from theft; 6, to appoint judges to enforce their laws; and 7. to abstain from

However reasonable

eating the flesh of living animals.* these injunctions may be, Moses does not mention them, as given to Noah, excepting the third, and by implication the seventh. This last we have already remarked. The law against murder was not left to implication. It was pointed. "Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood "be shed." The antediluvians had so misimproved the lenity, shown to Cain, that murder and violence filled the world. Moses mentions in his usual brief style the drunkenness of Noah. The same thing is recorded in the Hindoo books, with the additional circumstance of the line of demarcation between the countries of Shem and Japhet.+ It is not to be understood, that this is the first instance of the use of wine. Bacchus is agreed to have introduced it into Greece, and he was a Deva under Jared in the twelfth century from the creation. The story is introduced merely, as connected with the destiny of Noah's children, and did not take place till a century after the flood. For we find the Patriarch, when he awoke and was informed of Ham's misconduct, dividing the world between Japhet and Shem, and condemning Ham and and his posterity to servitude. This was done at the birth of Peleg, and he was born a century after the flood. The probability is, that it took place at a public festival, and that the prophecy of Noah was given in a public speech to his assembled offspring.

At the end of a cenmankind amounted to Noah assembled them

The amount of the story is this. tury from the beginning of the flood about a hundred and sixty thousand. at Nacsivan to celebrate a century feast. At the age of seven hundred years Noah, as healthy, as men of modern times usually are at sixty five, presided at the meeting of the whole species. He was however so overcome by the festivity of the occasion, that after his retreat his youngest son, Ham, discovered him in an indecent posture, and made him the

* Guthrie Hist. World vol. i, p. 29. also Calmet's dict. 4to, word Noachic. † Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 263.

Gen. ix. 24-28. x. 25. and xi. 10-16. Asiat. Res. iii. p. 263.

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