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1474. 66 Æsop's Fables," printed by Caxton, [ duced by Nicholas Walsh, Chancellor of St. is supposed to be the first book with its Patrick's, 1571. The first newspaper printed leaves numbered.

Aldus cast the Greek alphabet, and a Greek book was printed, 1476. He introduced the Italic. The Pentateuch, in Hebrew, 1482. Homer, in folio, beautifully done at Florence, eclipsing all former printing, by Demetrius, 1488.

Printing used in Scotland, 1509. The first edition of the whole Bible was, strictly speaking, the Complutensian Polyglot of Cardinal Ximenes, 1517. The Liturgy, the first book printed in Ireland, by Humphrey Powell, 1550. Printing in Irish characters intro

in England, 1588. First patent granted for printing, 1591. First printing-press improved by William Blaeu, at Amsterdam, 1601. First printing in America, in New England, when the Freeman's Oath and an Almanac were printed, 1639. First Bible printed in Ireland was at Belfast, 1704. First types cast in England by Caslon, 1720. Stereotype printing suggested by William Ged, of Edinburgh, 1735. The present mode of stereotype invented by Mr. Tilloch, about 1779. By others the invention is ascribed to Francis Ambrose Didot, of Paris, about the

same year; and still others say that stereotype printing was in use in Holland, in the last century. The invention is also claimed for Cadwallader Colden, of New York, who sent the details of his plan in 1779 to Dr. Franklin, then in Paris. Franklin communicated the plan to Didot, the famous printer, and Herbau, a German, who had been an assistant to Didot, took it up in opposition to him.

In the oldest mode of printing, the writing is carved on wooden tables; they are then covered with ink, the paper is put upon them, and an impression is taken. This ancient method of printing, is still in use in China, Japan, and Thibet. The Chinese, even in the reign of the Emperor WuWang, who lived about 1100 B.C., are said to have been well acquainted with this way of printing; but the Japanese assume the merit of the invention. In Thibet, also, according to the accounts of various travelers, this art has been exercised from time immemorial.

Although it had been the custom, for thousands of years, to make impressions with seals on wax, which might have easily led to the invention of the art of printing, Guttenberg first made this discovery about three centuries and a half ago; for it may justly be questioned whether the Europeans had then any knowledge of the art of printing among the Chinese: although it is not to be denied, that before the time of Guttenberg, and even in 1423, the art of cutting images on wood with a few lines of text, was well known.

Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde were the earliest English printers. The titles of some of their books may not be uninteresting. The Game and Playe of the Chesse. Translated

out of the Frenche and emprynted by me William Caxton Fynysshid the last day of Marche the yer of our Lord God a thousand foure hondred and lxxiiij.

TULLY.

The Boke of Tulle of Olde age Emprunted by me simple persone William Caxton in to Englyshe as the playsir solace and reverence of men growyng in to old age the xij day of August the yere of our lord M.cccc.lxxxj.

THE POLYCRONYCON.

The Polycronycon conteyning the Berynges and Dedes of many Tymes in eyght Bokes. Imprinted by William Caxton after having somewhat chaunged the rude and olde Englysshe, that is to wete [to wit] certayn Words which in these

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[As printed by Caxton in 1483.] Father our that art in heavens, hallowed be thy name: thy kingdome come to us; thy will be done in earth as is in heaven: oure every days bred give us to day; and forgive us oure trèspasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not in to temptation, but deliver us from all evil sin, amen.

Among the early printers, the only points used were the comma, parenthesis, interrogation, and full stop. To these succeeded the colon; afterward the semicolon; and last the note of admiration. The sentences were full of abbreviations and contractions; and there were no running titles, numbered leaves, or catch-words. Our punctuation appears to have been introduced with the art of printing.

PRIOR, MATTHEW, an English poet and statesman, born 1664, and died in 1721.

The university of Berlin, founded in 1809, when Prussia was groaning beneath the yoke of the French, is at present one of the first literary institutions of the continent. Berlin has thirty squares and market-places, sixteen gates (that of Brandenburg, modeled on the Propylæa at Athens, but larger, being the most beautiful), forty bridges, &c. On the top of the Mountain of the Cross, before the Halle gate, a monument of iron was erected in 1820 in commemoration of the wars against France. In the Dorothenstadt is the celebrated street called Unter-den-Linden, 2,744 feet long, 174 broad, and shaded by two double lines of linden-trees. Berlin is one of the finest cities in Europe. Besides its numerous public edifices of elegance, it has many literary, scientific, and charitable institutions. Its manufactures and commerce are also important.

PRUSSIA consists of two great divisions, unconnected with one another. The western and smaller, comprising Westphalia and Rhenish Prussia, lies on both sides of the Rhine, between Belgium and Hanover; the main portion borders upon Russia. The entire kingdom has an area of 107,954 square miles, and a population of 17,203,000. The principal rivers are the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, and Niemen. The situation of Prussia debars her from prominence in maritime commerce, but her transit and inland traffic is extensive. There is, properly speaking, no state religion in Prussia; that of the royal family, and of a majority of the people, is Calvinism, but men of all denominations are equally admissible to all public employments. In 1817, the three hundredth year of the • Reformation, the Calvinists, Lutherans, and other Protestant sects in Prussia, and in some other parts of Germany, united themselves Dantzic (Danzig), on the Vistula near the into one religious body, under the name of Baltic, population 70,000, is one of the Evangelical Christians. The system of edu- strongest fortresses and most flourishing cation maintained by the state is thorough, towns in Prussia. It was founded in the extending from primary schools to the great tenth century, and formerly belonged to Pouniversities of Berlin, Bonn, Greifswald, land. In 1709 it was ravaged by the plague, Halle, Münster, and Königsberg. The at- and in 1734 taken by the Russians and Saxtendance of children at school is enforced by ons. May, 1807, the French captured it law. All male subjects are bound to military after a long siege. It was occupied by a service. The government was until recently French garrison until Napoleon's disastrous an unlimited monarchy. Various struggles campaign in Russia, after which it was blockfor greater freedom have succeeded in obtain-aded, and bravely defended by Gen. Rapp. ing from the king a species of constitutional It surrendered, however, and in 1814 reliberty based upon representation. verted to Prussia.

Prussia was anciently inhabited by the Borussi, who denominated it Prussia, which has been corrupted to Prussia. They were con

Berlin, the capital of the Prussian dominions, is situated in the provence of Brandenburg, on the Spree. It is twelve miles in circuit, including six quarters, and four sub-quered by the knights of the Teutonic order; urbs. In 1852 it contained 441,931 inhabit

ants.

Berlin Proper was built in 1163, by the Margrave Albert the Bear. Koln or Cologne, on the Spree, was so called from the kollnen (piles), on which the Vandals had built their huts. Friedrichswerder was founded by the Elector Frederick William the Great. Neu or Dorotheenstadt was built by the same elector and named in honor of his wife. Friedrichsstadt, founded in 1688 by the Elector Frederick III., is the most extensive and handsome division of this vast city. The number of its public establishments of various kinds, makes Berlin very interesting.

whom Casimir IV. of Poland compelled to acknowledge themselves his vassals, and to allow Polish Prussia to continue under the protection of Poland. Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg and grand-master of the order, renounced his vows, embraced Protestantism, and had the dukedom of East Prussia given to him, by Sigismund I. of Poland, 1525. It was united with Brandenburg in 1594.

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, surnamed the Great, was freed from paying any homage to the crown of Poland. His son Frederick raised the duchy of Prussia to a kingdom, 1701. His son, Frederick

William, was a wise and politic prince, who amassed a prodigious treasure, though he maintained an army of 60,000 men.

PRYNNE, WILLIAM, an eminent Puritan lawyer and writer in the reign of Charles I., born in 1600; tried by the star chamber, 1633; stood in the pillory, and was heavily fined, May, 1634; again, 1637; took his seat in the long parliament, Nov. 28th, 1640; died Oct. 24th, 1669. The first time that he stood in the pillory, his ears were cropped, his nose slit, his forehead branded, and then he was thrown into prison: the second time, the stumps of his ears were hacked off, and both cheeks branded: all for opposing the ecclesiastical tyranny of Laud.

PTOLEMY I., surnamed Soter, was the natural son of Philip of Macedon by Arsinoe. When Alexander invaded Asia, the son

He was succeeded by his son, Frederick II., one of the first military, political, and literary characters that ever filled a throne, but very despotic in his administration. His reign was pregnant with striking historical events. In 1756, Russia, Austria, and France leagued against him, and he maintained against them the famous seven years' war. He was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II., a weak and unwise prince. Dying in 1797, he was succeeded by Frederick William III., who unhappily revived some obsolete pretensions to Hanover, in 1805. Napoleon proposing to restore that of Arsinoe attended him as one of his generelectorate to England, in 1806, Frederick took als. During the expedition, he behaved with the field; but being totally defeated at Jena, uncommon valor, and killed one of the Inhis kingdom was conquered by Napoleon. dian monarchs in single combat. After the Prussia, in conjunction with the other powers conqueror's death, in the general division of of Europe, twice assisted in deposing Napo- the Macedonian empire, Ptolemy obtained, leon, and recovered the conquered provinces. as his share, the government of Egypt, with The revolutionary wave of 1848 rolled Libya and part of the neighboring territothrough Prussia, but the king, by bowing to ries of Arabia. He made himself master of the popular will for a time, allayed the tumult. Colosyria, Phoenicia, and the neighboring As the result of the war with Austria in coast of Syria; and when he had reduced 1866, (see Austria p. 90,) Prussia, that on Jerusalem, he carried about 100,000 prisonthe 14th of June was the tail of the Pentar-ers to Egypt, to people the extensive city of chy, had, on the 4th of July, by a sudden Alexandria, which became the capital of his and brilliant stride, leaped to a commanding place among European nations. Her campaign was a swift and splendid success. This was achieved by the statesmanship of Count Bismarck, premier of William I, and by a soldiery gathered from the best educated peasantry and people of Europe.

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1713. Frederick William I., his son. 1740. Frederick the Great, his son.

dominions. He made war with success against Demetrius and Antigonus, who disputed his right to the provinces of Syria. The bay of Alexandria being dangerous of access, he built a tower to conduct the sailors in the obscurity of the night; and that his subjects might be acquainted with literature, he laid the foundation of a library, which, under the succeeding reigns, became the most celebrated in the world. He also established in the capital of his dominions, a society called Museum, of which the members, maintained at the public expense, were employed in philosophical researches, and in the ad

vancement of science and the liberal arts. Ptolemy died in the eighty-fourth year of his age, after a reign of thirty-nine years, about B.C. 284.

PTOLEMY II., the second son of Ptolemy 1786. Frederick William II., nephew of the great I., succeeded his father on the Egyptian

Frederick.

1797. Frederick William III.

1840. Frederick William IV., his son 1861. William I., his brother.

throne, and was called Philadelphus by antiphrasis, because he killed two of his

brothers. While he strengthened himself | his progress, and he returned to Egypt loaded

with the spoils of conquered nations. The last years of Ptolemy's reign were passed in peace, if we except the refusal of the Jews to pay the tribute of twenty silver talents, which their ancestors had always paid to the Egyp

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by the Egyptians) died B.C. 221, after a reign of twenty-five years. Like his two illustrious predecessors, he was the patron of learning, and, indeed, he is the last of the Lagides who gained popularity among his subjects by clemency, moderation, and humanity, and who commanded respect even from his enemies, by valor, prudence, and reputation.

by alliances with foreign powers, the internal peace of his kingdom was disturbed by the revolt of Magas, his brother, king of Cyrene. The sedition, however, was stopped, though kindled by Antiochus, king of Syria; and the death of the rebellious prince re-es-tian monarchs. Euergetes (as he was called tablished peace for some time in the family of Philadelphus. Philadelphus died in the sixty-fourth year of his age, B.C. 246. During the whole of his reign, Philadelphus was employed in exciting industry, and in encouraging the liberal arts and useful knowledge among his subjects. The inhabitants of the adjacent countries were allured by promises and presents, to increase the number of the PTOLEMY IV. succeeded his father EuerEgyptian subjects; and Ptolemy could boast getes, and received the surname of Philopator of reigning over 33,339 well-peopled cities. by antiphrasis; because, according to some He gave every possible encouragement to historians, he destroyed his father by poison. commerce; and by keeping two powerful He began his reign with acts of the greatest fleets, one in the Mediterranean, and the cruelty and debauchery. In the midst of his other in the Red Sea, he made Egypt the pleasures, Philopator was called to war against mart of the world. His army consisted of Antiochus, king of Syria; at the head of a 200,000 foot, and 40,000 horse, besides 300 powerful army, he soon invaded his enemy's elephants, and 2,000 armed chariots. His territories, and might have added the kingdom palace was the asylum of learned men, whom of Syria to Egypt, if he had made a prudent he admired and patronized. He increased use of the victories which attended his arms. the library which his father had founded, In the latter part of his reign, the Romans, and showed his taste for learning and his whom a dangerous war with Carthage ha‍l wish to encourage genius. This celebrated weakened, but at the same time roused to su. library, at his death, contained 200,000 vol-perior activity, renewed, for political reasons, umes of the best and choicest books; and it was afterward increased to 700,000. Part of it was burnt by the flames of Cæsar's fleet, when he set it on fire to save himself; a circumstance, however, not mentioned by the general; the remainder was again magnificently repaired by Cleopatra, who added to the Egyptian library that of the kings of Pergamus. It is said that the Old Testament was translated into Greek during this reign; a translation which has been called the Septuagint, because translated by the labors of seventy different persons.

the treaty of alliance which had been made with the Egyptian monarchs. Philopator at last, weakened and enervated by intemperance and continual debauchery, died in the thirtyseventh year of his age, after a reign of sevent teen years, B.C. 204.

PTOLEMY V. was the son of Philopator, whom he succeeded as king of Egypt, though only in the fourth year of his age. The Romans renewed their alliance with him after their victories over Hannibal, and the conclusion of the second Punic war. When Ptolemy had reached his fourteenth year, according to PTOLEMY III., surnamed Euergetes, suc- the laws and customs of Egypt, the years of ceeded his father Philadelphus on the Egyp- his minority expired. He received the surtian throne. He early engaged in a war name of Epiphanes, or Illustrious, and was against Antiochus Theus, for his unkindness crowned at Alexandria, with the greatest soto Berenice, the Egyptian king's sister, whom lemnity. Young Ptolemy was no sooner dehe had married with the consent of Philadel- livered from the shackles of his guardian, than phus. With the most rapid success he con- he betrayed the same vices which had characquered Syria and Cilicia, and advanced as far terized his father. His cruelties raised sedias the Tigris; but a sedition at home stopped | tions among his subjects; but these were

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