s formed in the
northern parts, which not only carried commerce to the greatest
perfection of which it was capable, till the discovery of the Indies,
but also formed new codes of useful laws for its regulation.

_Codes_, books or writings setting forth certain laws or
rules respecting particular subjects; books of civil laws.

Are Navigation and Commerce inseparably connected with each other?

It may be considered as a general maxim, that their union is so
intimate, that the fall of one inevitably draws after it that of the
other; and that they will always either flourish or decline together
may be seen, by examining the reason of their passing successively
from the Venetians, Genoese, &c., to the Portuguese and Spaniards, and
from them to the English, Dutch, &c.

_Maxim_, rule, an established principle.

_Intimate_, close.

_Inevitably_, without possibility of escape, unavoidably.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MUSIC, PAINTING, POETRY, ASTRONOMY, ARTS AND SCIENCES, ART OF
WRITING, AND CHEMISTRY.

What are the earliest accounts of Musical Instruments on record?

The earliest accounts of music which we possess are to be found in the
Bible, in which the state of the world before the flood is noticed.
Jubal is said to have been "the father of them that play upon the harp
and organ;" but it is not to be supposed that these instruments at all
resembled the harp and organ of modern times. Musical instruments, in
the times of David and Solomon, were used in religious services; and
music was certainly employed by the Jews on many other occasions, as
at funerals and weddings, at harvest home, and at festivals of all
kinds.

_Modern_, opposed to ancient, pertaining to the present
time, or time not long past.

_Festival_, a rejoicing, a feast, a season dedicated to
mirth.

What nation was particularly celebrated for musical talents?

The ancient Egyptians; who were so celebrated for their talents in
music, that the distinguished philosophers of Greece braved many
dangers, in order to study the science in Egypt; and this, at a period
when the Egyptians were far from being in the same high state of
civilization as their forefathers had been in earlier times. The
history and monuments of ancient Egypt have many accounts and
representations of musical instruments, and remains of these have
lately been discovered, so that we have ocular demonstration both of
their existence