The Present State of the Republick of Letters. ...

HE Author of the fecond Tract (whofe Character and Reputation in the Learned World is fufficiently establish'd) tells us in the Preface, his Defign is to lay a Foundation, as well for a General History of Germany, as for a particular History of the feveral Countries and Nations belonging to it; and to bring into fome Order whatever is to be found difpers'd in ancient History of the Origine of the German People, their Habitations, Migrations, Inroads on the Roman Provinces, and their Inteftine Broils, of their Form of Government, Genius, Religion, Manners, Arms, &c. That on the one fide thofe Things, of which a Certainty is to be got, may be fet in a true Light; and, on the other fide, where this Certainty is not attainable, we may be supply'd with Matter and Room to raise probable Conjectures upon.

Under the Name of Germans he comprehends all thofe People whofe Language, Form of Religion, and Manners, fhew them to have been of German Extract. He accompanies those who remov'd their Habitations on their several Peregrinations, even to those new Kingdoms they founded in diftant Regions; as their Hiftory gives us a great Light into that of thofe who remain'd behind.

He has not ventur'd to go further backwards than the ancient Hiftorians have gone: He does not begin with the Germans till they inhabited Germany, and purpofely paffes by the dubious Conjectures of their Arrival thither. The Cimbri and Teutones take the firft Place in his Hiftory, to which follows the Migrations of the feveral German Nations to Gaul; the War which Arioviftu

Arioviftus, together with the Teuchters and Ufipeters, made on that Account with Julius Cæfar; the Motions of the Suevi, who twice oblig'd him to pass the Rhine into Germany; and what further Part the Germans had in the Gallick War. The Rhine and Danube are his common Theatre: However, the Roman Armies advancing to the Ems, Wefer and Elve; the War of the Chernfci with the Marcomanni; the Domestick Wars the former wag'd under Arminius and Italus; and the latter under Marabodus and Godwaid, open to us the inward Regions of Germany to the Elve. In the Marcoman War wag'd by M. Antonius, we have a View of all the German and Sarmatian Nations, who inhabited from the Danube Northward, betwixt the Weichfel and the Nieper. The Goths lead us to the Don, fometimes into the Heart of Scythia, and fometimes into Afia; the Wealth of that People having rais'd their Ambition to fuch a Height, that they cover'd the Black and Meotick Seas with their Ships. In the mean time the Franks form a Nation on the Right of the Rhine; the Alemanni cut out Work enough for Conftantianus, Valentinianus, and his Succeffors, and are Auxiliaries fometimes to protect and fometimes to infeft the Imperial Throne, according as their feveral Alliances lead them. The Saxons cruife the Northern Seas, difplay their Valour on the Gallick and British Coafts, and open their Way to the Dominion of Britain. Towards the Conclufion of the fourth Century the Goths give the firft Shock to the Roman Empire. Under Honorius thofe Fences, which had hitherto cover'd their Frontiers, were entirely broken, and from hence proceeds that fo famous Excurfion of a Swarm of Nations. The Weft Goths march into Italy, and Alarick makes himself Ma

fter

fter of Rome. The Rhine can no longer keep the bordering Germans from Gaul. The Vandals and Suevi erect new Kingdoms in Spain, and the former afterwards remove into Africa. Attila makes a Diverfion for a Time; but no fooner did the Germans lay hold of their Freedom again after his Death, than the Eaft Goths began to extend themfelves yet further. After this the Hiftory of the Franks, Alemanni, and Burgundians; of the Eaft and Weft Goths; of the Vandals in Africa, and the Suevi in Spain, are purfued; the Origine of the Thuringians and Bavarians is fhewn, and all the fingle Hiftories of the German Nations led to that Height from whence they devolve into the General History of the Franks.

Our Author continues his Hiftory to the Beginning of Chlodoveus's Reign: A Period (fays he) in which the Western Empire ceafes, and leaves the Provinces under the Dominion of the Germans. This King, as Founder of the Monarchy of the Franks, begins a new Epoch, in which all Germany was united under one Scepter. And if ever (continues he) a Period of Time was full of ftrange and unconceivable Events, it was this. As moft of the Nations in Europe feek the Intelligence of their moft ancient State in the Roman Hiftory; fo on the other Hand it is the German Hiftory they muft have Recourse to for the Occurrences of the 4th, 5th, and following Centuries; nay even in many Points for the Origine of their prefent Conftitutions.

Our Author takes Notice of the great Difficulties he had labour'd under, in being oblig'd to collect his Intelligences of the German Nations chiefly from the Writings of their Enemies; and because even in the Roman Hiftory, there are fre

quently

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