304 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



II. With regard to the firft object, genealo^ 

 gy draws its knowledge from the hiftory of na- 

 tions thcmlelves : for it is hiftory that furni (lies' 

 this fcience with the names of thofe illuftrious 

 perfonages that have adorned any country or 

 nation -, with the dates of their birth, marriage 

 and death, their immediate poflerity, their alli- 

 ances, &c. John Hubrier, ancient rector of 

 the college of Hamburg, has publifhed, in four 

 folio volumes, a collection of genealogical tables, 

 wherein he has exhibited, in a regular fyftem, 

 and with admirable order, the genealogy of all 

 the illuftrious families, as well ancient as mo- 

 dern, that have exifted upon the earth, from 

 the days of the patriarchs down to the prefent 

 time. It is thus that genealogy reftores to hif- 

 tory what it has borrowed from it , for it is 

 fcarce poffible clearly to comprehend the latter, 

 to have a diftinct idea of all the revolutions that 

 have occurred among the various nations of the 

 earth, without having tables of this fort before 

 our eyes-, without knowing the genealogy of 

 thofe families that have governed or concurred 

 in the government of each nation, 



III. It is not eafy to conceive in the conftruc- 

 tion of fuch tables, how great a knowledge of 

 hiftory in general is necefiary, how many par- 

 ticular hiftories, memoirs, &rc. an author^ of 

 this fort muft read or confult, before he fits 

 down to write, what difficulty he will find in 4 

 reconciling, with propriety, the frequent contra- 

 diction^ 



