or compositions are called different styles. This way was mostly made use of in the writing of letters or epistles; hence such epistles are in Latin called b Tabellæ, and the carriers of themb Tabellarii. When their epis tles were thus writen, they tied the tables together with a thread or string, setting their seal upon the knot, and so sent them to the party to whom they were directed, who, cutting the string, opened, and read them. But, on the invention of the Egyptian papyrus for this use, all the other ways of writing were soon superseded; no material till then invented being more convenient to write upon than this. And therefore, when Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, set up to make a great library, and to gather all sorts of books into it, he caused them all to be copied out on this sort of paper. And it was exported also for the use of other countries, till Eumenes, king of Pergamus, endeavouring to erect a library at Pergamus, which should outdo that at Alexandria, occasioned a prohibition to be put upon the exportation of that commodity. For the Ptolemy who then reigned in Egypt not liking that his library should be outdone by any other, to put a stop to Eumenes' emulation in this particular, forbade the carrying any more papyr out of Egypt, thinking that, without it, he could no farther multiply his books. This put Eumenes upon the invention of making books of parchment, and on them he thenceforth copied out such of the works of learned men, as he afterwards put into his library; and hence it is, that parchment is called Pergamena in Latin, that is, from the city Pergamus in Lesser Asia, where it was first used for this purpose among the Greeks. For that Eumenes, on this occasion, first invented the making of parchment cannot be true: for in fIsaiah, & Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and other parts of the holy Scriptures, many ages be fore the time of Eumenes, we find mention made of rolls of writing; and who can doubt but that these rolls

d

b Vide Vossii Etymologicon in voce Tabula. c Vide Vossii Etymologicon in voce Papyrus. d Plin. lib. 13, c. 11.

e Vide Vossii Etymologicon in voce Pergamena. f Isaiah viii, 1.

h Ezekiel ii, 9; iii, 1, 2, 3.

g Jeremiah xxxvi.

k

were of parchment? And it must be acknowledged, that the authentic copy of the law, which Hilkiah found in the temple, and sent to king Josiah, was of this material; none other used for writing, excepting parchment only, being of so durable a nature, as to last from Moses' time till then (which was eight hundred and thirty years.) And it is said by Diodorus Siculus, that the Persians of old wrote all their records on skins. And 'Herodotus tells us of sheep-skins and goat-skins made use of in writing by the ancient Ionians, many hundreds of years before Eumenes' time. And can any one think, that these skins were not dressed and prepared for this use, in the same manner as parchments were in the after-times, though perchance not so artificially? It is possible, Eumenes might have found out a better way of dressing them for this use at Pergamus, and perchance it thenceforth became the chief trade of the place to make them; and either of these is reason enough, from Pergamus, to call them Pergamenæ. These were found so useful for records and books, by reason of their durableness, that most of the ancient manuscripts we now have, are written in them. But, from the time that the noble art of printing hath been invented, the paper which is made of the paste of linen rags is that which hath been generally made use of, both in writing and in printing, as being the most convenient for both; and the use of parchment hath been mostly appropriated to records, registers, and instruments of law, for which, by reason of its durableness, it is most fit. The invention of making this sort of paper Mr. Ray puts very late: for he tells us, in his Herbal, that it was not known in Germany till the year of our Lord 1470; that then, two men, named Antony and Michael, brought this at first to Basil, out of Galicia in Spain, and that from thence it was learned and brought into use by the rest of the Germans. But there must be a mistake in this; there being both printed books, as well as manuscripts, of this sort of paper, which are certainly ancienter than

i 2 Kings xxii. 2 Chron. ExNİV. 1 Herodot. lib. 5.

Lib. 2, p. 84. m Lib. 22, c. 2.

the year 1470. There is extant a book" called Catholicon, written by Jacobus de Janua, a monk, printed on paper at Mentz in Germany, A.D. 1460; and therefore the Germans must have had the use of this sort of paper long before the time that Mr. Ray saith. And there are manuscripts written on this sort of paper that are much ancienter, as may be especially evidenced in several registers within this realm, where the dates of the instruments or acts registered prove the time. There is, in the bishop's registry at Norwich, a register book of wills, all made of paper, wherein registrations are made which bear date so high up as the year of our Lord 1370, just one hundred years before the time that Mr. Ray saith the use of it begun in Germany. And I have seen a registration of some acts of John Granden, prior of Ely, made upon paper, which bears date in the fourteenth year of king Edward II. that is, A. D. 1320. This invention seems to have been brought out of the East: for most of the old manuscripts in Arabic, and the other oriental languages which we have from thence, are written in this sort of paper; and some of them are certainly much ancienter, than any of the times here mentioned about this matter. But we often find them written on paper made of the paste of silk, as well as of linen. It is most likely, the Saracens of Spain first brought it out of the East into that country; of which Galicia being a prov ince, it might from thence, according to Mr. Ray, have been first brought into Germany: but it must have been much earlier than the time he says.

Ptolemy the astronomer being an Egyptian, and a native of Alexandria, begins the reign of Alexander over the East from the building of this city. And here ends the reign of Darius and the Persian empire; and therefore I will here also end this book.

n This book is in the library collected by Dr John Moor, late bishop of Ely. See the Oxford Catalogue of the manuscripts of England and Ireland, tom. 2, part 1, p. 379.

THE

Old and New Testaments

CONNECTED, &c.

BOOK VIII.

An. 331.

Alex. 1.

ALEXANDER, while he wintered at Memphis, settled the affairs of Egypt. The military command he entrusted only with his Macedonians, dividing the country into several districts, under each of which he placed lieutenants, independent of each other, not thinking it safe to commit the whole military power of that large and populous country into one man's hands. But the civil government he placed wholly in Doloaspes an Egyptian; for his intentions being, that the country should still be governed by its own laws and usages, he thought a native, who was best acquainted with them, the properest for this charge. And that the finishing of his new city Alexandria (so called from his name, might be carried on with the more expedition and success, he appointed Cleomenes to be his supervisor in that work, who continued many years in this charge; and hence it is, that in Justine he is said to be the founder of that city. He wasd of Naucratis, a Grecian city in Egypt, there built by a colony of the Milesians in times long before past. Alexander also did set him over the tribute of Arabia; but, being a very wicked man, he abused both these trusts, to the great oppression of all that were under him, till at length he received the just reward of all his evil deeds

a Arrian. lib. 3. Q Curtius, lib. 4, c. 8.

b Arrian. & Q. Curtius, ibid. Aristotelis Oeconom, lib. 2. c Justin. lib. 13, c. 4

d Arrian. lib. 5. e Strabo, lib. 17, p. 801. Stephanus & Suidas in Nauxpass.

in an ignominious death; for Ptolemy, after he had possessed himself of Egypt, finding him plotting against him for the interest of Perdiccas,f caused him to be executed for it. There is extant a letter of Alexander's to him of a very odd nature; for therein commanding him, on the death of Hephestion, to build two temples to that favourite, one in Alexandria, and the other in the island of Pharus adjoining, to excite his diligence herein, he promiseth him such a pardon, as the pope often gives to his deluded votaries, that is, of all his evil deeds, past, present, and But this did not save him from the just vengeance which Providence at length, by the hand of Ptolemy, brought upon him for all his wicked and unjust actions.

to come.

When Alexander had thus disposed of all matters in Egypt, the spring drawing on, he hastened towards the East to find out Darius. In the way, on his returning to Palestine, he had an account from thence which very much displeased him. On his going from that country into Egypt, he had made Andromachus, a special favourite of his, governour of Syria and Palestine; on whose coming to Samaria, to settle some matters there, the Samaritans mutinied against him, and, rising in a tumult, set fire to the house in which he was, and burned him to death. This, it is suppos ed, they did out of a rage and discontent that those privileges should be denied them which were granted to their enemies the Jews; whereas, by their services to Alexander, especially at the siege of Tyre, they thought they had merited much more from him than the other, who had then denied him their assistance. Alexander, being exceedingly exasperated hereby against that people, as the fact sufficiently deserved, caused all that had acted any part in this murder to be put to death, and drove all the rest out of the city of Samaria, planting there, instead of them, a colony of his Macedonians, and giving their other territories to the Jews. Those that survived this calamity re

f Pausanias in Atticis.

g Arrian. lib. 7.

h Q Curtius, lib 4, c 8. Eusebii Chron. p. 177. Cedrenus. i Josephus contra Apionem, lib. 2.