Entered, according to the act of Congress, in the year 1844, by JOHN FROST, m the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. REED & CUNNINGHAM PRINTERS. 7-13-33 PREFACE. THE intention of this work is so fully set forth in the title page, that a preface is almost wholly superfluous. It is enough to remark, that the passion for the marvellous implanted in our constitution by the Supreme Being, is a harmless one, which may be gratified without injury to the mind. Shall this be done by fiction, or by truth? I answer, by neither, to the entire exclusion of the other; but in the present rage for fiction, it is but fair to give truth a hearing once in a while. When the general reader is wearied with the wonders of fiction, I would let his mind seek a little repose on the Wonders of History. Here he may learn that the real annals of the world present examples of brilliant characters, great actions, and remarkable events, which leave the inventions of the novelists far behind them. The real dramas performed on the great theatre of life, outshine all the gorgeous pageants of the mimic stage; and the epics of history far surpass the masterly creations of the epic poets. I have sought to furnish a specimen of what history could do in the production of wonders. It is but a specimen- -it pretends to be no more. I have limited it to the Old World, reserving for a separate volume the Wonders of History of the New World. Philadelphia, June 18th, 1844. |