UNCLE TN ENGLAND. 227 



encourages experiment ; he says it is the high 

 road to truth and he assists all who wish to 

 travel on it. 



23rd., Sunday. I asked my uncle this morn- 

 ing to tell me the meaning of Noah's prediction, 

 " Gpd shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell 

 in the tents of Shem." In reply, he told us the 

 opinions of a very learned person, for whose 

 writings he has a high respect ; and I will endea- 

 vour to give you the substance of what he said. 



" The most obvious meaning of the expression 

 is, that Providence would bless Japhet with a 

 numerous progeny, which should not only spread 

 over an ample tract of country, but that they 

 would afterwards encroach on the territory of 

 Shem's descendants. And this sense of the words 

 is supported by history ; for the whole of Europe, 

 and a considerable part of Asia, was originally 

 peopled, and has been always occupied, by 

 Japhet's offspring, who, not contented with their 

 own possessions, have repeatedly made encroach- 

 ments on the sons of Shem ; as, for instance, 

 when Alexander the Great, with an European 

 army, attacked and overthrew the Persian mo- 

 narchy ; when the Romans subjected a great 

 part of the East ; and still more, when the Tar- 

 tar conquerors of the race of Genghis Khan 

 destroyed the empire of the Caliphs, took pos- 

 session of their country, and made settlements 



