THE

WORLD DISPLAYED,

IN ITS

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY;

EMBRACING

A HISTORY OF THE WORLD,

FROM THE

CREATION TO THE PRESENT DAY.

WITH GENERAL VIEWS OF THE POLITICS, RELIGION, MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS, ARTS, literature, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND SOCIETY,

OF ANCIENT AS WELL AS MODERN NATIONS.

BY THE REV. ROYAL ROBBINS.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

AN OUTLINE OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY.

TWO VOLUMES IN ONE
VOL. I.

New-York:

PUBLISHED BY H. SAVAGE.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT.
District Clerk's Office.

RE IT REMEMBERED, That on the nineteenth day of January, 1830, in the fifty tourth year of the Independence of the United States of America, S. G. Goodrich of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"The World Displayed, in its History and Geography; embracing a History of the World, from the Creation to the Present Day. With General Views of the Politics, Religion, Military and Naval Affairs, Arts, Literature, Manners, Customs, and Society of Ancient as well as Modern Nations. By the Rev. Royal Robbins."

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books 13 the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled, "An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled, an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extendIng the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

JNO. W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts

INTRODUCTION.

1. The term History comprehends a record of all the remarkable transactions which have taken place among the human family. It is the collected result of individual experience in every age and nation; and is, consequently, a source of practical wisdom to legislators and rulers, and of profitable reflection to private persons.

The benefits to be expected from history deserve a few remarks in detail. When it is written with a proper spirit, and in strict agreement with facts, there is scarcely any branch of letters so well calculated to furnish an agreeable relaxation to the student; to improve his understanding and enlarge his stores of useful knowledge; or, in general, to subserve the cause of morality and religion in human society.

From the infinite variety of aspects in which history presents the dealings of Providence, and from the immense number of characters and incidents which it brings into view, it becomes a source of perpetual interest and enjoy ment. The novelist, with all the license he possesses to imagine such physi cal and moral combinations as he pleases, cannot clothe his subject with half the attractions which a reflecting mind attaches to true narrative.

The view of past ages fills the mind with a sublime and pleasing melancholy. We dwell with deep and tender emotion on the actions, sufferings, and changes of those who were "bone of our bones, and flesh of our flesh"-we regret that some of them should ever have lived to disorder the world with their crimes, and that others should have died, to leave it without the benefit of their continued active labours.

History improves our understanding, and enlarges our stores of useful knowledge, by bringing to our assistance the experience of others the expeience of all time; by making us acquainted with human nature; by delivering the mind from bigotry and prejudice-from narrow and sectional feelings; by opening to us the springs of human affairs, and the causes of the rise, greatness, decline, and fall of empires.

There is something in the picture of the generations before us, of their achievements and projects; of their manners, pursuits, and attainments; of their mode of thinking and acting; of their religion, government, and literature; which, going beyond the gratification of curiosity, or storing the mind with mere ideas, teaches us wisdom, by the comparison of their situation with our own, and by a great variety of interesting reflections naturally suggested to our thoughts.

From the whole that history presents us, we deduce conclusions that have an important bearing on human happiness and virtue. This we consider as the most signal benefit derivable from the record of past ages. It gives us in connexion with revelation, which furnishes a most interesting portion of the world's history, a correct estimate of life and of human nature in all its variety. It shows us how man has acted according to his own pleasure, whether uprightly or wickedly, and, at the same time, how God has conducted the train of events to bring about the purposes of His wisdom and grace.

Speaking in the way of aphorism, history is a record of what God has donc, and of what he has either enabled or suffered man to do, on the stage of the world. Even, therefore, without the direct comments of the writer, which nevertheless are duc, we can derive important instruction from it; and can hardly help being impressed with the grandeur or solemnity of the movements Providence, in the destiny of nations.