To the Dauphin

Though History were of no use lo other men, it The should be made the study of princes. There is no better means of discovering to them the power passions and interests, the importance of times and v»>'>(- conjunctures, and the consequences of good and evil counsels. Histories are composed only of such actions as they are engaged in, and every thing in them seems ca\cu\a\ed for their use. If experience is necessary towards ibeir acquiring that prudence which teaches to reign well, there is nothing more useful for their instruction, than to join their own daily experience in the examples of past aees. Whereas they usually learn only at the hazard of their subjects, and of their own glory, to judge of the critical affairs tbst come before them; by the aid of history they form their judgment upon past events, without risking any thing. When they see even most secret faults of princes, exposed fo the view of all men, notwithstanding the false praises bestowed on them in their life* time, they are ashamed of the vain delight which flat* tery occasions them, and convinced that true glory can only consist with merit.

Besides, it were shameful, not to say for a prince, but in general for any gentleman, to be with mankind, and the memorable tie course of time has produced m N«m\A-

AN UNITBRSAL HISTORY.

we do not learn from history to distinguish times, we shall represent men under the law of nature, or under the written law, such as they are under the evangelical; we shall confound the Persians conquered under Alexander, with the Persians victorious under we shall make Greece as free in the days of Philip, as ia those of Themistocles, or Miltiades; the Roman people as bigb-spirited under the emperors, as under the consuls; the church as quiet under Dioclesian, as under Constantine; and France, torn with civil wars in the time of Charles IX. and Henry III. as powerful as in the time of Lewis XIV. when united under so great a monarch, she alone triumphs over all Europe* It was, Sir, to avoid these inconveniences, that you have read so many ancient as well as modern histo* ries. It was expedient, before all things, to make you read in scripture, the history of the people of God, which is the foundation of religion. You have not been left ignorant of the Grecian, nor of the Roman history; and what was to you of still greater imEortance, you have been carefully instructed in the istory of that kingdom, which you are bound one day to render happy. But lest these histories, and those you have yet to learn, should confuse one another in your mind, there is nothing more necessary* than to eet-tefore you in a distinct, but concise man-lier, the series of all ages.

This sort of universal history, is to the histories of each country and people, what a general map is to particular ones. In particular maps you see the whole detail of a kingdom, or province in itself; in general maps you learn to situate those parts of the world in their whole; you see what Paris, or the isle of France is in the kingdom, what the kingdom is in Europe, and what Europe is in the World.

Just so particular histories represent the series of

Qvents,that have happened to a people ijith all their respective circumstances in turn; but in order to iMoerstaDd the whole, we muslknow the relation eacb

AN TJNIVEBSAL HfSTORr. history bears to others: which is only to be effected by an abridgment, wherein we see, as it were with one glance, the whole order of time.

Such an abridgment, Sir, exhibits a noble specta* cle to your view. Yoo see all preceding ages unreil tbemseires, so to speak, in a few hours before you: you see how empires succeed one another, and how religion, in its various states, supports itself from the beginning of the world, down to our days.

It is the progress of these two particulars, I mean that of religion, and that of empires, that yoa ought to impnnt upon your memory; and as religion and poVitical government, are the two hinges, whereon all human things turn, to see whatever concerns those particulars summed up in an epitome, and by this means to discover the whole order and progression o( them, is to comprise in thought all that is great among men, and to hold, so to say, the thread of all the fairs of the world.

As then in examining a general map, you leave the country where you are bom, and the place that bounds you, to roam over the whole habitable earth wbicb you grasp id thought, with all its seas and countries; so in considering a chronological epitome, you overleap the narrow bounds of your own lime» and launch out into all ages.

But in like manner as to help the memory in the knowledge of places, we mark certain principal countries, around which we place others, each at its pro« per distance; sojn the order of ages, we must have certain times distinguished by some great event, to which we may refer all the rest.

This is what is called an Epoch, from a Greek word which sienifies to stop, because we stop tbere, as at a restiDg place, to consider all that happened before and after, and by this means to avoid anachronisms, or that sort of error which creates a confusion of times.

We must first confine ourselves to a few such as are in the times of aoQieBl •.

Adam, or the creation; IsToab, or the deluge; the calling of Abraham, or the beginning of God's cove* nant with men; Moses, or the written law; the taking of Troy; Solomon, or the finishing of the temple; Romulus, or the building of Rome; Cyrus, or the people of God delivered from the Babylonish captivity; Scipio, or the conquest of Carthage; the birth of Jesus Christ; Constanline, or the peace of the church; Charlemagne, or the establishment of the new empire.

I you this establishment of the new empire under Charlemagne, as the end of ancient history, because there you shall see the ancient Roman empire totally at an end. It is for this reason I detain you at so considerable a period of universal history. The continuation of it shall be laid before you in a second part, which will bring you down to the age we see adorned by the immortal actions of your royal father, and to which the ardour you show to follow so great a pattern, gives still ground to expect an additional lustre.

Having explained to you in general the design of this work, I have three things to do in order to make its usefulness answer to my expectation, I must first run over with you the epochs which I e- propose to your observation, and by pointing out to iJJ" in few words, the principal events, which ought to be annexed to each of them, accustom your mind to range those events in their proper places, without regard to any thing but the order of time. But as ray principal intention is to make you observe in this progression of times, that of religion, and that of great empires; after carrying on together, according to the course of years, the facts which regard those two topics, I shall particularly resume, with necessary reflec* tions, first, those which set forth to us the perpetual duration of religion; and, lastly, those which discover to us the causes of the great revolutions that have empires.

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Then, whatever part of ancient history you read, all will turn out to your advantage. No fact shall pass, but you shall perceive its consequences. You will admire the train of God's counsels in the concerns of religion: you will lilrewise see the concatenation of bumao afiairSi and thereby will be sensible, with how great reflection and foresight they must needs be governed.