structed of wood and earth, are generally low and mean, destitute of chimneys, and with unglazed windows. Fires are of frequent occurrence, and the city is often visited by the plague. The extensive burial-ground, with its elegant tombs and thick groves of lofty trees, is on the Asiatic side of the channel, in the vicinity of Scutari, which is considered a suburb of Constantinople.

XVIII.-Greece.

EGYPTIAN Colonies, having passed into Greece about 3600 years ago, founded those famous republics, which make so brilliant a figure in ancient history; and whose legislators, philosophers, patriots, and men of genius, have, by their writings or virtues, contributed to the civilization of mankind. Sicyon and Argos were founded about 1800 years B.C.; and Athens, the most celebrated of the Grecian cities, by Cecrops, about 250 years later. Athens, by the valour and genius of her citizens, soon attained a high rank among the nations. The wisdom of Solon, the philosophy of Socrates and Plato, the eloquence of Demosthenes, the warlike renown of Theseus, Miltiades, and Themistocles, have long been the admiration of the world: yet these are but a few of the illustrious names that adorn her annals. In all the arts and sciences, as well as in arms, her citizens were proudly pre-eminent. During the long period of her prosperity, she maintained a protracted warfare with the other States of Greece, or with the overwhelming force of the Persians. Along with the rest of Greece, she yielded, 337 B.C., to the arms of Philip of Macedon: the city was besieged, taken, and burnt, 86 B.C., by the Roman General, Sylla -restored to something like her ancient splendour, by the Roman Emperor, Adrian, A.D. 100,-and finally was almost totally destroyed, in the year 396, by Alaric, king of the Goths. In later times, after being subject to the Venetians, she fell at last, in 1455, under the dominion of the Turks. Athens is now the capital of the modern kingdom of Greece.

The

The ancient monuments still existing in Athens, are the most magnificent and renowned in the world. Temple of Theseus, the Poecile or lantern of Demosthenes, the Tower of the Winds, Adrian's gate, and a wall of the theatre, are still entire. The chief object of interest, however, is the Acropolis, or ancient citadel, a rock inaccessible on three sides, which rises above the old and new town. It was there that Cecrops and Theseus assembled the inhabitants of Attica, and Themistocles surrounded it with walls after his victory at Salamis. On the same rock stands the Parthenon, or Temple of Minerva, one of the finest specimens of ancient architecture now existing. It was built by Pericles, and adorned by the art of Phidias. West from the Acropolis, is the Areopagus, the ancient seat of the sovereign tribunal at Athens. Before this tribunal, the apostle Paul was called to give an account of his doctrine, and by his arguments and eloquence converted Dionysius, one of its members. Modern Athens lies on the north-east and north of the citadel. The streets are irregular, and the houses mean and straggling.

Corinth, so flourishing in ancient times, is now a village of only 1300 inhabitants; and the once famous Lacedemon, or Sparta, is so completely destroyed, that its site can scarcely be recognised in the vicinity of Mistra.

SECTION III.

SCOTTISH HISTORY.

I.-JAMES V.-Minority.-1513-1528.

THE news of the defeat at Flodden, filled Scotland with consternation and mourning. The Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh, had accompanied the king on his fatal expedition; but the deputies entrusted with the management of affairs in their absence, displayed a firmness honourable to the Scottish character. Instead of giving way to despair, they issued a manly proclamation, wherein, alluding to the rumours of some great calamity, said to have befallen the king and his army, they forbade, on pain of banishment, the wailing of women in the streets, directed the better sort to repair to the Churches for prayer, and the men to arm themselves at the tolling of the city bell, and prepare for the defence of the capital.

Henry VIII., who was in France, on hearing of Surrey's victory, issued orders for the invasion of Scotland; but Surrey was in no condition to give effect to the wishes of his heartless master. His own loss on the field of. Flodden had been so severe, that although Scotland lay defenceless before him, he found himself under the necessity of disbanding his forces, without attempting any invasion of that country.

A Parliament was held at Perth, in October 1513, whose thinned numbers and vacant benches, gave evidence how much the aristocracy had suffered in the carnage at Flodden. James V., the infant King, only two years old, was crowned at Scone, and the Queen-Mother appointed regent, a dignity which she soon forfeited by her marriage with the youthful Earl of Angus. Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., had been married to James IV. when only fourteen; she was now twenty-four; and immediately

after her confinement, in which she bore a posthumous child to her late husband, she married Angus with such indecorous haste, as gave general disgust to the nation. This young nobleman, whose father and uncle had fallen at Flodden, and whose grandfather, Archibald "Bell-theCat," had buried his old age in religious retirement, was among the most powerful of the Scottish Peers, but his haughty and overbearing demeanour soon raised against him a powerful party in the State. These, regarding Margaret's title to the regency as forfeited by her second marriage, turned their eyes to John, Duke of Albany, son of that Alexander, Duke of Albany, who had been the pest of the reign of James III., and who, when finally banished for his treasons, had retired to France, where he died. His son John, having married the Countess of Auvergne, held large estates in France; and when invited to take upon himself the Regency of Scotland, to whose crown he stood next in succession, failing the two infant sons of the late king, he immediately dispatched over D'Arcy de la Bastie, a knight of great beauty, and of high reputation, both as a courtier and a captain.

The minority of James V. exhibited even more than the usual amount of disorder and bloodshed. The nation was divided into two great parties. Those who favoured the Queen and Angus, were called the English faction; whilst by far the greater number espoused the cause of Albany, and were denominated the French party. Albany, on his arrival in 1515, exerted himself to restore order in the Government, and to weaken the party of Angus and the Queen, who had opposed his title to the Regency; but his talents were not of a high order, and the difficulties he had to encounter were too great for him. Angus and the Queen were indeed obliged to flee to the borders, where the latter gave birth in Northumberland to a female child, Margaret Douglas, who afterwards became the mother of the weak and unfortunate Darnley.

The dissensions among the Scottish nobles were zealously fostered by the hired agents of Lord Dacre, the English warden, on the border; and Albany, after a troubled rule of one year, retired to France, leaving the government in the hands of a Council, who exercised the chiet power in his name. He promised to return within four

months, but protracted his stay for a period of no less than five years, a delay that may be partly imputed to his own reluctance to resume the government of the rude realm of Scotland, and partly to the manoeuvres of the French king, who, to gratify Henry VIII., raised obstacles to his departure. His absence was marked by anarchy and outrage. Before quitting the kingdom, he had executed Lord Home for open rebellion against his government, and for holding treasonable correspondence with England. Home of Wedderburn, in revenge for the death of his chief, took summary vengeance upon D'Arcy de la Bastie, whom Albany had appointed Warden of the East Marches. Having surprised the Warden, by an ambush at Langton, he pursued and overtook him in a morass near Dunse, and cut off his head, which he tied by its long tresses to his saddle-bow, and fixed the ghastly trophy on the turrets of Home Castle. The Islanders were in open revolt seeking to re-establish an independent sovereignty in the person of the Lord of the Isles; and the attempt was only suppressed after repeated encounters by the Earl of Argyle, who had received a commission for that purpose from the council of regency. The followers of Arran and of Angus, encountered in mortal strife in the capital of the kingdom; and after a bloody fray in the High Street, Arran and his party were expelled, and Angus remained in possession of the city.

The faithless and disrespectful conduct of Angus soon alienated from him the affections of his haughty and high spirited wife; who, on the return of Albany, in 1521, joined the Regent, and threw the whole weight of her influence into the scale against her husband. Albany made another visit to France, during which the English ravag ed the Scottish border with unusual ferocity. He re turned with a force of six thousand French, and having summoned the array of the kingdom, he marched to the border with an army of forty thousand men: but the nobles peremptorily refused to cross the frontier, and symptoms of mutiny appearing in his camp, the regent disbanded his forces, and taking a final leave of the kingdom, retired to his estates in France. 1524.

The departure of Albany was followed by a sudden rev olution in the government. The queen and her party.