story upon the subsequent
events of the place. And as in those days they could carry up the genealogy
of their princes to the very source of all, it will be found, under
whatever title he may come, that the first king in every country was Noah.
For as he was mentioned first in the genealogy of their princes, he was in
aftertimes looked upon as a real monarch; and represented as a great
traveller, a mighty conqueror, and sovereign of the whole earth. This
circumstance will appear even in the annals of the Egyptians: and though
their chronology has been supposed to have reached beyond that of any
nation, yet it coincides very happily with the accounts given by Moses.

In the prosecution of my system I shall not amuse the Reader with doubtful
and solitary extracts; but collect all that can be obtained upon the
subject, and shew the universal scope of writers. I shall endeavour
particularly to compare sacred history with profane, and prove the general
assent of mankind to the wonderful events recorded. My purpose is not to
lay science in ruins; but instead of desolating to build up, and to rectify
what time has impaired: to divest mythology of every foreign and unmeaning
ornament, and to display the truth in its native simplicity: to shew, that
all the rites and mysteries of the Gentiles were only so many memorials of
their principal ancestors; and of the great occurrences to which they had
been witnesses. Among these memorials the chief were the ruin of mankind by
a flood; and the renewal of the world in one family. They had symbolical
representations, by which these occurrences were commemorated: and the
antient hymns in their temples were to the same purpose. They all related
to the history of the first ages, and to the same events which are recorded
by Moses.

Before I can arrive at this essential part of my inquiries, I must give an
account of the rites and customs of antient Hellas; and of those people
which I term Amonians. This I must do in order to shew, from whence they
came: and from what quarter their evidence is derived. A great deal will be
said of their religion and rites: also of their towers, temples, and
Puratheia, where their worship was performed. The mistakes likewise of the
Greeks in respect to antient terms, which they strangely perverted, will be
exhibited in many instances: and much true history will be ascertained from
a detection of this peculiar misapplication. It is a circumstance of great
conse