64 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



pofed bis judicious hiilory of the kings of Syria, 

 from the time of Alexander the Great to that of 

 Pompey : they have been, moreover, of the 

 greateft fervice in elucidating all ancient hiltory, 

 cfpecially that of the Romans ; and even fome- 

 times that of the middle age. We fhal! have 

 occafion to fpeak more fully of their ufe in the 

 chapter where we exprefsly treat of medals and 

 antiquities. What we here fay of medals, is to be 

 underftood equally, in its full force, of ancient 

 infcriptions, and of all other authentic monu- 

 ments that have come down to us : as the fa- 

 mous Arundel marbles^ which an Englifo noble- 

 man of that name purchafed from the Turks in 

 the Levant, by William Petre, whom he fent 

 thither for that purpofe. Thefe marbles, which 

 were ranged at London in the rooms and garden 

 of the earl of Arundel, on the border of the 

 Thames, were found in the ifland of Paros, and 

 contain a chronicle, wherein the principal 

 epochs of the hiftory of the Athenians are exactly 

 and diRindlly marked, from the firft year of the 

 Cecrops, which began 1582 years before the 

 Chriflian era. John Selclen compofed a book in 

 1629, tnc tide of which is,Mar,;:wa Armdelliana^ 

 wherein he explains thefc valuable antiquities. 

 Who can fay what happy difcoveries of monu- 

 ments, Fortune, propitious to letters, may have 

 referved for us in the ruins of Herculaneum : 

 and which may ferve as well to elucidate as to 

 dlabiifh ancient hiftory-? 



XXXVIII. 



