PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 243 



and said to have contained notices of seven hundred distinguished 

 men ; though unfortunately it is now lost. Cornelius Nepos, in his 

 Lives of Excellent Commanders, about 30 B. C., has given, in a 

 classical style, the biography of twenty-two celebrated generals, 

 mostly Grecian. Suetonius, about A. D. 100, wrote the Lives of the 

 Twelve Caesars ; and notices of Illustrious Grammarians, Rhetori- 

 cians, and Poets ; which works are yet extant. Plutarch, who died 

 about A. D. 130, was the first and only Greek writer of note, on 

 general Biography ; and his Parallel Lives of celebrated Greeks and 

 Romans, gave to this study a more philosophical form, and raised it 

 to a higher estimation, than it had previously attained. 



The name Autobiography, is applied to those works in which the 

 writer gives an account of his own life. If written with fidelity, 

 they are often of great value ; being usually more full and explana- 

 tory than more formal works. The name of Memoirs, is applied to 

 mixed works of history and biography, written at the time of the 

 events described, or soon after ; usually by persons who witnessed 

 the events, or took part therein. Such works are generally minute 

 and sprightly ; often valuable, but not always worthy of entire con- 

 fidence. The term Necrology, has been applied to a brief biogra- 

 phy, or obituary notice of persons recently deceased. - Such produc- 

 tions are often partial, and almost necessarily incomplete ; but as 

 rapid sketches, demanded by the public curiosity, they often possess 

 the deepest interest. The term Eulogy, is often applied to a funeral 

 discourse, in honor of some distinguished person. 



The subject of Genealogy, is a constituent part of Biography ; 

 tracing, as it does, the ancestry or the progeny of individuals, and 

 the relationship of families. It is a subject of legal importance, in 

 regard to the descent or disposition of property ; as already alluded 

 to in a previous department, (p. 119). It is also frequently import- 

 ant in history, as regulating the descent of crowns, fiefs, and titles of 

 nobility ; and occasionally furnishing the cause of wars, quarrels, 

 alliances, and other events. A series of persons descended from a 

 common ancestor, is called a genealogical line ; and tables are often 

 constructed, in the form of a tree, or otherwise, for the purpose of 

 exhibiting family genealogies. These were most highly prized in 

 the middle ages ; when noble descent was most highly regarded ; 

 and when the wealth and power of the nobles gave the greatest value 

 to their titles and claims. In many cases also, important offices, not 

 hereditary, were accessible only to those who could prove a sufficient 

 line of noble ancestors. Happy is it for our own country, that we 

 have abrogated the aristocratical system of Europe ; though family 

 influence, and the influence of wealth and fashion, are still strongly, 

 and often too strongly felt. The use of family names, or surnames, 

 though occasional in remote times, was not generally introduced in 

 Europe, till about A. D. 1200 : and the earliest recorded instance in 

 Germany, is that of Henry de Sinna, in 1062. 



Heraldry, is that study, or science, which relates to badges of 

 honor, or personal insignia, called coats of arms. In a wider sense, 

 it relates also to the management of public ceremonials ; as proces- 

 sions, cavalcades, tournaments, coronations, and the like. The name 



