superb metropolis of the commerce of the world detained him nine months. He took Gaza after a siege of two months; crossed the desert in seven days; entered Pelusium, and Memphis; and founded Alexandria. In less than two years, after two battles and four or five sieges, the coasts of the Black Sea, from Phasis to Byzantium, those of the Mediterranean, as far as Alexandria, all Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, had submitted to his arms. "In 331, he repassed the desert, encamped in Tyre, recrossed Syria, entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates and Tigris, and defeated Darius on the field of Arbela, when he was at the head of a still stronger army than that which he commanded on the Issus, and Babylon opened her gates to him. In 330, he overran Susa, and took that city, Persepolis, and Pasarga, which contained the tomb of Cyrus. In 329, he directed his course northward, entered Ecbatana, and extended his conquests to the coasts of the Caspian, punished Bessus, the cowardly assassin of Darius, penetrated into Scythia, and subdued the Scythians. In 328, he forced the passage of the Oxus, received 16,000 recruits from Macedonia, and reduced the neighboring people to subjection. In 327, he crossed the Indus, vanquished Porus in a pitched battle, took him prisoner, and treated him as a king. He contemplated passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed down the Indus, in the year 326, with 800 vessels; having arrived at the ocean, he sent Nearchus with a fleet to run along the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, as far as the mouth of the Euphrates. In 325, he took sixty days in crossing from Gedrosia, entered Keramania, returned to Pasarga, Persepolis, and Susa, and married Statira, the daughter of Darius. In 324, he marched once more to the north, passed Ecbatana, and terminated his career at Babylon. The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be estimated not by the duration of his own life and empire, or even by the duration of the kingdoms which his generals after his death formed out of the fragments, of that mighty dominion. In every region of the world that he traversed, Alexander planted Greek settlements, and founded cities, in the populations of which the Greek element at once asserted its predominance. Among his successors, the Seleucida and the Ptolemies imitated their great captain in blending schemes of civilization, of commercial intercourse, and of literary and scientific research with all their enterprizes of military aggrandizement, and with all their systems of civil administration. Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so wonderfully comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it introduced, that within thirty years after Alexander crossed the Hellespont, the Greek language was spoken in every country from the shores of gaan to the Indus, and also throughout Egypt-not, indeed, wholly to the extirpation of the native dialects, but it became the language of every court, of all literature, of every judicial and political function, and formed a medium of communication among the many myriads of mankind inhabiting these large portions of the old world. Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, the Hellenic character that was thus imparted, remained in full vigor down to the time of the Mahometan conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in the highest and holiest point of view, has often been pointed out, and the workings of the finger of Providence has been gratefully recognized by those who have observed how the early growth and progress of Christianity were aided by that diffusion of the Greek language and civilization throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, which had been caused by the Macedonian conquest of the East. In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material influence of Greek ascendency was more short-lived. Yet, during the existence of the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, especially of the Greck kingdom of Bactria, the modern Bokhara, very important effects were produced on the intellectual tendencies and tastes of the inhabitants of those countries and of the adjacent ones, by the animating contact of the Grecian spirit. Much of Hindoo science and philosophy, much of the literature of the later Persian kingdom of the Arsacidæ, either originated from, or was largely modified by, Grecian influences. So, also, the learning and science of the Arabians was in a far less degree the result of original invention and genius, than it was the reproduction, in an altered form, of the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore, which the Saracenic conquerors acquired together with their acquisition of the provinces, which Alexander had subjugated, nearly a thousand years before the armed disciples of Mahomet commenced their career in the East. It is well known that Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its philosophy, its arts, and its science, principally from Arabian teachers. And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient Greece, poured on the eastern world by Alexander's victories, and then brought back to bear on mediæval Europe by the spread of the Saracenic powers, has exerted its action on the elements of modern civilization by this powerful though indirect channel, as well as by the more obvious effects of the remnants of classic civilization which survived in Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain, after the irruption of the Germanic nations.* These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs in the East with neverdying interest, such as the most showy and sanguinary successes of mere low ambition and the pride of kings," however they may dazzle for a moment, can never retain with posterity. Whether the old Persian empire which Cyrus founded could have survived much longer than it did, even if Darius had been victorious at Arbela, may safely be disputed. That ancient dominion, like the Turkish at the present time, labored under every cause of decay and dissolution. The satraps, like the modern pachas, continually rebelled against the central power, and Egypt in particular, was almost always in a state of insurrection against its nominal sovereign. There was no longer any effective central control, or any internal principle of unity fused through the huge mass of the empire, and binding it together. Persia was evidently about to fall, but, had it not been for Alexander's invasion of Asia, she would most probably have fallen beneath some other oriental power, as Media and Babylon had formerly fallen before herself, and as, in after times, the Parthian supremacy gave way to the revived ascendency of Persia in the East, under the sceptres of the Arsacidæ. A revolution that merely substituted one Eastern power for another, would have been utterly barren and unprofitable to mankind. Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an Oriental dynasty, but established European rulers in its stead. It broke the monotony of the Eastern world by the impression of Western energy and *See Humboldt's "Cosmos." superior civilization; even as England's present mission is to break up the mental and moral stagnation of India and Cathay, by pouring upon and through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon commerce and conquest. Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the decisive battle which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty miles from the actual scene of conflict. The little village, then named Gaugamela, is close to the spot where the armies met, but has ceded the honor of naming the battle to its more euphonious neighbor. Gaugamela is situate in one of the wide plains that lie between the Tigris and the mountains of Kurdistan. A few undulating hillocks diversify the surface of this sandy track; but the ground is generally level, and admirably qualified for the evolutions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger of two armies the full advantage of numerical superiority. The Persian king (who before he came to the throne had proved his personal valor as a soldier, and his skill as a general) had wisely selected this region for the third and decisive encounter between his forces and the invader. The previous defeats of his troops, however severe they had been, were not looked on as irreparable. The Granicus had been fought by his Generals rashly and without mutual concert. And, though Darius himself had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that defeat might be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground; where, cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the general's skill and the soldier's prowess, and their very strength had been made their weakness. Here, on the broad plains of Kurdistan, there was scope for Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to condense or expand its squadrons, to manœuvre, and to charge at will. Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge into that living sea of war, their destruction seemed inevitable. Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as well as to his adversary of the coming encounter. He could not hope to retrieve the consequences of a third overthrow. The great cities of Mesopotamia and Upper Asia, the central provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to be at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic character well enough to be aware how it yields to the prestige of suc cess, and the apparent career of destiny. Iviously screened from their view. Then, He felt that the diadem was now either to halting for the night, Alexander encamped be firmly replaced on his own brow, or to his men in the order which they were to be irrevocably transferred to the head of take in action, and each bold adventurer in his European conqueror. He, therefore, the European host, whether king, general, during the long interval left him after the officer, or simple soldier, made him ready battle of Issus, while Alexander was subju- for what each felt would be the world-wingating Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied ning battle of the morrow. himself in selecting the best troops which his vast empire supplied, and in training his varied forces to act together with some uniformity of discipline and system. The hardy mountaineers of Affghanistan, Bokhara, Khiva, and Thibet, were then, as at present, far different to the generality of Asiatics in warlike spirit and endurance. From these districts, Darius collected large bodies of admirable infantry; and the countries of the modern Kurds and Turcomans supplied, as they do now, squadrons of horsemen, hardy, skilful, bold, and trained to a life of constant activity and There was deep need of skill as well as of valor on Alexander's side; and few battlefields have witnessed more consummate generalship, than was now displayed by the Macedonian king. There were no natural barriers by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but there was imminent risk of their circling round him and charging him in the rear while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore, a second or reserve line, which was to wheel round if required, or to detach troops to either flank, as the enemy's movements Contingents also came in from the nu- might necessitate; and thus, with their merous other provinces that yet obeyed the whole army ready at any moment to be Great King. Altogether, the horse are thrown into one vast hollow square, the said to have been forty thousand, the scythe- Macedonians advanced in two lines against bearing chariots two hundred, and the the enemy, Alexander himself leading on armed elephants fifteen in number. The the right wing, and the renowned phalanx amount of the infantry is uncertain; but forming the centre, while Parmenio comthe knowledge which both ancient and manded on the right. modern times supply of the usual character of oriental armies, and of their populations of camp-followers, may warrant us in believing that many myriads were prepared to fight, or to encumber those who fought, for the last Darius. warfare. Great reliance had been placed by the Persian king on the effects of the scythebearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry, which it was hoped, would find His great assailant came on against him the ranks of the spearmen disordered by across the Euphrates and the Tigris, at the the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy head of an army, which Arrian, copying this most formidable part of Alexander's from the memoirs of Macedonian generals, force. In front, therefore, of the Persian states to have consisted of about forty centre, where Darius took his station, and thousand foot, and seven thousand horse. which it was supposed that the phalanx To Englishmen, who know with what mere would attack, the ground had been carehandfuls of men our own generals have at fully levelled and smoothed, so as to allow Plassy, at Assaye, at Mecanec, and other the chariots to charge over it with their full Indian battles, routed large hosts of sweep and speed. As the Macedonian army Asiatics, the disparity of numbers, that approached the Persian, Alexander found we read of in the victories won by the that the front of his whole line barely Macedonians over the Persians, presents equalled the front of the Persian centre, so nothing incredible. The army which Alex- that he was out-flanked on his right by the ander now led, was wholly composed of entire left wing of the enemy, and by their veteran troops in the highest possible state entire right wing on his left. His tactics of equipment and discipline, enthusiasti- were to assail some one point of the hostile cally devoted to their leader, and full of army, and gain a decisive advantage; while confidence in his military genius and his he refused, as far as possible, the encounter victorious destiny. They marched on till along the rest of the line. He, therefore, within a few miles of the Persian camp, inclined his order of march to the right, so which some intervening hillocks had pre-as to enable his right wing and centre to . come into collision with the enemy on as favorable terms as possible, although the manœuvre might in some respect compromise his left. Alexander's eager pursuit of his rival was checked that he might return and relieve his left wing, which had been weakened in order to enable him to gain his adThe effect of this oblique movement was vantages on the right and in the centre. to bring the phalanx and his own wing That wing had been seriously jeopardized; nearly beyond the limits of the tract, which the Persian right having outflanked and the Persians had prepared for the opera-severely pressed it, and a large column of tions of the chariots; and Darius, fearing Indian horsemen having actually ridden to lose the benefit of this arm against the through the double line of the Macedonian most important parts of the Macedonian infantry in this quarter of the field, and force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian forced their way to Alexander's camp, cavalry in his extreme left to charge Alex- which they forthwith plundered, instead of ander's right wing in flank, and check its wheeling round to attack other parts of further lateral progress. Against these their adversary's army. Still the steady assailants Alexander sent from his second valor of the troops under Parmenio bore line some squadrons of horse, supported by up against the heavy pressure of superior a brigade of foot, which, after a warm con- numbers, and the approach of their victoriflict, beat the Asiatics back. The scythed ous comrades and king, and the news that chariots were now sent by the Persians Darius had fled, soon made the triumph of against the phalanx, but were met half-way the European army complete. Slaughterby some light armed troops, whom Alexan-ed helplessly, or chased unresistingly, like der had specially appointed for the service, sheep, Asia's thousands and tens of thouand who, wounding the horses and drivers sands fell or fled along the encumbered plain. with their missile weapons, and running And the night, that closed on that scene of alongside so as to cut the traces or seize carnage, closed also on the last day of Perthe reins, marred the intended charge; and sian dominion or independence. the few chariots that reached the phalanx, passed harmlessly through the intervals which the spearmen opened for them, and were easily captured in the rear. MARRIAGES AT CHURCH AND CHAPEL.-The eighth Report of the Registrar-General shows that performed according to the rites of the Established in the year 1845, of 143,743 marriages, 129,515 were Church, and 14,228 not according to those rites; showing that a great number of Dissenters still marOf the latter number there were ry at Church. 9,997 marriages in registered places of worship, 3,977 in superintendent registrars' offices, 180 marriages of Jews, and 74 of Quakers. In the first year of the Reports of the Registrar-General (1838) the number of marriages celebrated otherwise than at church 8,125; in the ninth year (1845) it had increased to was only 4,280; in the fifth year (1841) it was 14,228. A second charge of Persian cavalry was now made against Alexander's right flank; and this also he met and baffled with troops brought up from' his second line, while he kept his own guard and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready to take advantage of the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow. This soon came. A large body of horse who were posted in the Persian left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their station, and rode off to help their comrades in the cavalry fight, that still was going on at the extreme right of Alexander's wing against the detachments EXPENSE OF A MAN-OF-WAR.-By a calculation from his second line. This made a huge the hull of an eighty-gun liner, to be manned with founded on an Admiralty return, we find the cost of gap in the Persian array, and into this 750 men, is about 54,000.; rigging, sails, and stores, space Alexander instantly charged with his about 16,0057.; ordnance, about 11,7321. The pay guard and all the cavalry of his wing; and of officers and men for one year is 19,8121.; the cost of victuals, 13,3251.; rigging, sails, and stores, then pressing towards his left, he soon be3,2011.; wear and tear of hull, 3,6602.; wear and gan to make havoc in the left flank of the tear of ordnance, 4681. The estimate for wear and . Persian centre. That centre was now tear under the three last heads is generally assumed charged in front by the Macedonian phaat one-fifth, one-fifteenth, and one twenty-fifth, of the original cost. lanx, and soon broke beneath the double The average annual expense of wages per head shock. Darius hurried from the field; and for the crew of a first-rate line-of-battle-ship-e. g. the news that the king had fled rapidly the St. Vincent-is about 281.; of a war-steamerspread through the Persian army, and alle. g. the Sampson-about 401. Of the 243 ships and vessels in commission on the 1st of January 1838, their host, except their right wing, was soon only 21 were steamers; of the 252 in commission on in full flight from the field. the 1st of January 1848, 78 were steamers. From Fraser's Magazine. IT was loftily asserted by Caxton, when he printed his Booke of Eneydos, that his work was not intended for the simple, but for the gentle; "not," to borrow his own words, "for a rude, uplandish man, to labor therein, nor read it, but only for a clerke and a noble gentleman, that feeleth and understandeth in feats of arms, in love, and in noble chivalry." These notions of the aristocratic printer have long been as obsolete as his language. In his day, the craft of printing and the profession of publishing were necessarily viewed with a deep respect, of which the altered habits of succeeding generations have changed the grounds. The clergy were, in the earliest era of revived literature, our printers, publishers, and authors; for the three characters were usually conjoined. A clerkly education, a scholastic seclusion, and access to a princely fortune, generally supplied by some patronizing noble, qualified a man in those days for the business of a publisher. Some beautiful instances of a disinterested promulgation of learning occurred among the earliest printers and publishers, both in England and on the Continent. At Venice there might be seen the celebrated Aldus Manutius, the founder of the Aldine press, and the inventor of the Italic letter, now lecturing on the classics, now retiring to his closet to compose works of great learning, which he printed and dispersed even before the year 1500. Nor did this ornament to his honorable profession derive any pecuniary benefit from his labors. No: he sacrificed, on the contrary, a large fortune in the cause of learning, affording a home and sustenance, at his own cost, to many poor but distinguished contemporaries. Independently of these lets and hindrances to the accomplishment of their great object, the early publishers were exposed to heavy losses through piracies. Indeed, it was the frequency of such frauds which led to the adoption of symbols,such as the anchor and dolphin, prefixed by Aldus to his printed works; the two triangles crossed, by William Fagues and Wynkyn de Worde; and the figure 4, which was adopted by Siberel, the celebrated introducer of the art into the University of Cambridge. In the sixteenth century, the higher orders were proud to engage in the great work of disseminating the knowledge of which their lordly ancestors had enjoyed only a dim vision. Translations from the classics, chronicles, Italian and French romances, and religious works, were thus given to the English public; to which suc- Notwithstanding the patronage of the ceeded primers, catechisms, and dictiona- nobility, and the efforts of the clergy, the ries. Then arose an universal cry for Bi- publication of works was retarded by the bles, followed by a demand for works of troublous state of Europe during the sixscience and of law; under the pressure of teenth century. Ariosto, as is well known, which, the Holy Scripture first, and by and published his Orlando Furioso on his own by the statutes of the realm, put on re- account. After paying all expenses, he spectively an English dress, and became realized little more than a shilling a copy intelligible to the people. Wolsey saw the for his work. He was unfortunate, morestream of light widening and widening, and, over, in the patron whom he selected he grand and far-sighted as he was, lent his dedicated his production to Cardinal Hipassistance to the high cause: in vain did the polito. "Where," exclaimed the UtilitaTudor monarchs attempt to restrain the rian prelate, after perusing the exquisite awakened love of letters by giving to indi- and soul-stirring poem, can the man have viduals the exclusive right of printing; it contrived to pick up such a mass of absurwas too late, even for their power, to quench dities?" But the world avenged the poet, the thirst of inquiry. They dared not and convicted the cardinal-with reverence avail themselves of their often abused au- be it spoken-of stupidity. A brilliant thority to restrain the publication of works. popularity was the portion of Ariosto, "There is no law," observes Selden, "to even in his earliest days of publication. prevent the printing of any book in Eng-"There is," wrote the elder Tasso to his land, but only a decree of the Star Cham- aspiring and gifted son, "no mechanic, no girl, no old man, who is satisfied to read ber." |