Oriental Account! of the Ancient History of Persia, 



1823.] 



I tried this to my cost and my im- 

 provement. In the interim, I am not 

 decrying the use of carrots in the sta- 

 bles, for which, indeed, I have always 

 been an advocate. It has been the 

 custom hitherto, with those who have 

 become desperately enamoured with 

 the potatoe, to pay no kind of attention 

 to arguments like the foregoing, but to 

 proceed with their eulogiums on their 

 favourite farina, even as the Moslem 

 priests, mounting the minarets, call out presentations 



515 



last author is no where quoted before 

 the age of Alexander ; and his book i^* 

 probably a Greek forgery, under th»; 

 name of the physician of Artaxerxes 

 Mneraon, made about the time when 

 Greece was intent on the expedition of 

 Alexander. Tlie author cannot have 

 known the countries he describes, 

 although he has been able to impose 

 on Diodorus Siculus, who has adopted, 

 and conferred authority on, his misre- 



daily, " There is only one God, and 

 Mahomet is his prophet." But some 

 more substantial proofs than those re- 

 sulting from mere chemical analysis, are 

 required to establish the superior 



The commencement of the Jewish 

 captivity lias been erroneously nar- 

 rated by the authors of the " Universal 

 History," and by all their successors. 

 They rely on the authority of Jose- 



substance and effects of the potatoe phus, who groundlessly teaches that 

 farina. bis Nebuchadnezzar tlourislied se- 

 I heartily join with Mr. Bartley in venty years before Cyrus. 'J'he title 

 wishing to the nations of the Peninsula Nebuchadnezzar consists of the Medic 

 all the benefits, and they may be words, Nebu — cadne— tsar (Coelo — 

 great, of an extensive potatoe-cultiva- dignus — princeps,) which signify, the 

 tion. 'I'here is a wish, however, much throne-worthy prince, the crown- 

 nearer to my heart: it is, that they may prince, and was the official desigua- 

 not neglect to plant, universally and tion (see Forster's Letter to Michaelis, 

 permanently, the sacred tree of liberty, preserved in the Spiciieyivm Geogra- 

 which may bring forth for ages to come, phice Hehraorum extera,) of the heir- 

 the Rights of Man, — that they may not apparent to the Medic throne. Hence, 



be deterred in their glorious career by 

 insidious and treacherous mediation ; 

 ami, above all things, having achieved 

 their liberties, that they may not have 

 those ravished from them by some 

 perjured traitor, under the name of an 

 eaiperor. John Lawrence. 



Sumerg Town, May 8. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 



ON the ANCIENT HISTORY o/" PERSIA. 



IN the second volume of the "'J'rans- 

 actions of the Literary Society at 

 Bombay," Captain Kennedy has in- 

 serted some learned " Remarks on the 

 Chronology of Persian History, pre- 

 vious to the Conquest by Alexander 

 the Great." His pervasive knowledge 

 of Persian literature deserves admira- 

 tion ; but, for want of a critical study 

 of the sacred books, he seems to have 

 missed the oidy clue which can guide 



.safely through the labyrinth of primal- Jerusalem; the Chaldeans kept up a 

 val clironiclc. As Sir J(>hn Malcolm, secret understanding with the mono- 

 in a more responsible ca|iacity, has, theists, especially wilh the family of 

 from the same cause, incurred similar Hilkiah, which eventually superseded 

 errors ; and as oriental history cannot the established dynasty, 

 be correctly written without first un- I lie sovereign of Babylon, continues 

 derstanding its biblical basis; jou will, Joseplins, jiassed the Ruphrates at 



under Cyrus, his son Cambyses was 

 the Nebuchadnezzar ; and, under 

 Darius, his son Xerxes was the 

 Nebuchadnezzar. Now the prince, 

 who took Jerusalem, and led the Jews 

 captive, was evidently Cambyses. 



According to Josephus, indeed, (Ani. 

 X. 6,) the Nebuchadnezzar took the 

 government over the Babylonians in 

 the fourth year of the reign of Jehoia- 

 kim, king of the Jews; and immedi- 

 ately determined on an expedition 

 against Necho, the Pharaoh, or king, 

 of Egypt, under whose protection 

 Syria then was. This attack was not 

 wholly unprovoked ; for, in the time of 

 Manasseh, Palestine had become a 

 satrapy dependent on Babylon, but 

 liad been conquered in the time of 

 Josiah by the Egyptians, and rendered 

 tributary to Memphis. 'J'he Egyp- 

 tians were favoured by the idolaters of 



perhaps, indulge an attempt to re- 

 move s<jme of the more prevailing 

 misstatements. 



Captain Kennedy trusts Herodotus 

 too little, and Ctesias too much. This 



Carchemisli, took all Syria as far as 

 I'elusium ; and, a little lime after- 

 wards, made an expedition against 

 Jehoiakim, who received bim into 

 Jerusalem. This king was unexpe«;t- 



edly 



