12 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION; 



expedition of the Argonauts ; of the fiege of 

 Troy, &c. &c. though he do not give the 

 fame credit to thefe as to the gofpel. . It is of 

 little import to us, whether thefe relations be 

 true or not, either in fubflance or in circum- 

 flance ; it is fufficient that we know in what 

 manner hiftory relates them. Thefe marvellous 

 ftories even fometimes furnim afiiftance, pleafing 

 ideas and allufions, to poetry and eloquence. 

 The ftrid veracity of fafts does not appear to 

 become interesting to us, but in proportion as 

 hiftory approaches thefe ages that immediately 

 precede the prefent ; for the titles, the poffd- 

 fions, and pretenfions of modern princes and 

 nations, are entirely founded on thefe hiftorical 

 fafts, and on the minuteft circumftances that 

 have attended them. The real influence of 

 thefe fads and events on the interefts of modern 

 nations, can go very little further back than the 

 time of Charlemagne. The principal points are, 

 to determine in what ftate that monarch found 

 Europe ; what were then the rights of the peo- 

 ple , after what manner he conquered them ; 

 by what method he eftablifhcd the weftern em- 

 pire ; what rights he thereby acquired ; and 

 what are the revolutions that have happened 

 in the wor!4 from that period down to the pre-. 

 fent day. 



XII. It is therefore from this famous epoch, 

 that it concerns us thoroughly to know the 

 veracity of fafts, and of all their circumftances. 



Thofe 



