of the Assyrian Monarchy. 327 
and why may not the same — have hap- 
pened in Assyria ? 
The explanation which has now been ap- 
plied to a single part of ancient history, is 
capable, if I mistake not, of being extended 
to very large portions of it. The earliest 
annals of every ancient nation, except the 
Jewish, have been corrupted in the same way 
as the Assyrian, and gods and their actions 
converted into personages of history. So 
widely spread are the fictions which have 
originated in this source, that whole centu- 
ries must be struck off from the authentic 
history of many countries. The origin and 
affinities of nations may have been preserved 
by tradition, and are besides written in cha- 
racters which time cannot obliterate, nor na- 
tional vanity falsify, in the similarity of lan- 
guage, feature and religious institutions ; but 
beyond this I am disposed to doubt if there is 
any thing in ancient history that can be re- 
ceived with certainty, till about eight centu- 
ries before the Christian era. Sir Isaac 
Newton long ago observed, that there is no 
dependence to be placed on any thing said to 
be done above 100 years before the use of 
writing: we have no proof that writing was 
commonly used in Greece till about the pe- 
riod which I have specified, and all early 
