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delaying yet to execute his threatenings, raised up the young and amiable JOSIAH to shed a lustre on the throne of DAVID, before its glory should be totally eclipsed. His deep humiliation for the sins and negligences of his subjects, his punishment of those who had seduced them into all the crimes and horrors of an impious and infernal superstition, his zealous efforts to restore the institutions of divine appointment, and his own personal and exemplary piety, procured a respite from impending judgments during the period of his short but eminently holy life. Incorrigible in their wickedness, the house of JUDAH, as the house of ISRAEL had been previously, were then delivered over to that dreadful vengeance, which the spirit of unerring Prophecy had in the beginning denounced against them, as the fearful consequence of a determined violation of the solemn Covenant of their God. (To be continued.)

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ACCOUNT OF CRETE,
(NOW CALLED CANDIA.)

To the Editor of the Youth's Instructer.

It is probable that some of your juvenile readers, having read that strange character which St. Paul gives of the Cretans, from one of their own Poets, EPIMENIDES, where he says, "The Cretans are always liars," proverbially addicted to lying; "evil beasts," ferocious and cruel in their manners; "slow bellies," lazy and gluttonous in their appetites ;-have felt a desire to know a little more of the history of that

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A View of Puttine in ine Band of Crete.

Engraved by E. Roberts

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ACCOUNT OF CRETE.

people, and of their country.

For the information

of such, the following account of Crete has been drawn up, which may probably be followed by an account of some of the neighbouring places.

Alnwick, 1821.

J. B. HOLROYD.

CRETE, or, as it is now called, CANDIA, is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea; it lies between 22′ and 27° lon. E., and between 35 and 36° lat. N. Its length is about 260 miles, and its breadth only about 50 miles. The length being so disproportionate to its breadth, was the reason of its being called Long Island. CRETE was not only rendered famous by its hundred cities, by its Labyrinth, and by various transactions reported in mythological history, but above all, by the wise laws which its King MINOS enacted, the most pure and just of which antiquity can boast. One of his laws was expressed in these words: "Let the Cretans never drink together to intoxication." The following was well calculated to check the presumptuous ardour of youth: "Let not the young men indulge an indiscreet curiosity respecting the laws; let them not examine whether the legislator did right or wrong to enact them; but let them exclaim with one voice, They are good, because they procéeded from the gods. If any of the old men discover in them abuses proper to be reformed, let him address himself to a magistrate, or discuss the subject with his equals, but never in the presence of young people."*

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CRETE is supposed to have been first peopled from Palestine; but colonies were sent thither from Athens,

*SAVARY'S Letters on Greece.

Cydonia, Lacedemon, &c. Its government was originally monarchical. The name of the first King was CRESS; from him the island had its name: and the last King that reigned in CRETE was IDOMENEUS, who assisted AGAMEMNON in the Trojan war. Soon after his death, it became one of the most celebrated republics, and continued to flourish till the age of JULIUS CESAR, a period of about ten centuries. The sound principles of justice and prudence, on which their laws were founded, and the faithful manner in which they were obeyed, may account for the long and uninterrupted continuance of that form of government. But at length the fatal period arrived when the Romans, elated with their victories, would no longer admit of any distinction among the surrounding nations, but that of slaves or subjects. They declared war against CRETE, and MARK ANTONY sailed on the expedition sent against it; but the Cretans cut off the greatest part of his fleet, and he returned home in confusion.

After the Macedonian war was ended, they sent another formidable armament against CRETE, under METELLUS, who, after three years' contest, and an immense expenditure of blood and treasure, succeeded in subduing the island; after which it became a Roman province, and continued annexed to that empire till the ninth century, when, in the reign of MICHAEL II. it was conquered by the Saracens. To secure their conquests, they built a fortress, which they called Khandak, (i. e. a fortification,) which the Venetians softened into CANDIA. In the tenth century, the Emperor NICEPHORUS PHOсAS expelled the Saracens, and re-united the island to the Roman empire; and so it remained till the time of BALDWIN, Earl of Flan

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