THE village of Rochester is situated on the Genesee river, a few miles south from Lake Ontario. In the village are many interesting objects deserving the attention of the stranger and tourist. This village, which for population, extent and business, may soon take rank among our cities, was not settled till about the close of the last war-its progress was not very rapid until about the year 1820, from which period we find it gradually improving until the present day. It now contains a population of 12,000 inhabitants, including the suburbs, if we may so call the environs of a village. The water power of the river, within the distance of two miles, is im mense. Within the village the same water is used two or three times over for hydraulic purposes, and a mile below at North Rochester may be used again in the same manner. Situated in the heart of a fine country for the growth of wheat, with great facilities for transport by roads, canals, the river and Lake Ontario, we find one of the most important branches of its business to consist of the manufacture of flour for the markets of New-York and Montreal. There are already 12 or 14 flour mills erected, and others in preparation within the distance we have mentioned, containing in all fifty run of stone.-Some of these buildings are substantial stone structures-particularly that denominated the Mammoth Mill, calculated for sixteen run of stone.

The Aqueduct which takes the Erie Canal across the Genesee river is deserving of notice, and forms a prominent object of interest to all travellers. It is of hewn stone, containing 11 arches of 50 feet span-its length 800 feet, but a considerable part of each end is hid from view by mills and other buildings erected since its construction. The Rochester High School is a spacious building of stone, 80 by 50 feet, and three stories high, capable of accommodating 600 or 700 scholars. There are some other buildings deserving of notice, especially the Arcade, a noble structure, 100 feet in front and four stories high, with a cupola, from which is a fine prospect of the village. Under its roof are six stores, an extensive boarding house, the post office, printing and exchange offices, the Atheneum, justices' and lawyers' offices, &c. The Atheneum is

very creditable to the place, having a very valuable library, maps, the periodicals and newspapers from various parts.

The annexed engraving was designed by G. Boulton, Esq. an intelligent gentleman of Rochester, and presented to Mr. Hart, for the purpose of illustrating his valuable geography, which is used in the High Schools of that village as well as those of this city and elsewhere.

THE ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY OF

NATIONS.

OF THE PERSIAN MONARCHY.

THE Persian monarchy, in the height of its glory, included all India, Assyria, Media, Persia, and the parts about the Euxine and Caspian seas. This monarchy was founded by Cyrus, five hundred and thirtysix years before Christ, who, on account of his valor and achievements, was surnamed the Great, and it lasted about two hundred years. During the reign of Cyrus, the Jews were permitted to return to their own land, and were assisted by him in rebuilding their temple. Cyrus and his successors governed according to their own arbitrary will; they were revered by their subjects as gods, none daring to appear before their throne without prostrating themselves on the ground with profound reverence. After Cyrus had reigned with great glory for many years he made war against a people of Scythia, by whom he was defeated and slain, and, it is said, by order of Tomyris, their queen, his head was cut off, and put into a vessel filled with human blood, while at the same time she exclaimed, "Satiate thyself with blood now, of which thou hast been so long insatiable." But Xenophon has asserted that he died happily, and was buried with great magnificence at Babylon.

Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who subdued Egypt, and added that country to the Persian monarchy. His reign was short, but it is recorded of him, that to prevent instances of mal-administration, he commanded an unjust judge to be flayed alive, and his skin to be spread over the seat of justice, at the same time promoting the son to the office which his father had proved himself so unworthy of holding.

Smerdis one of the magi or priests, succeeded Cambyses, and pretended to be his brother, but the fraud was soon detected, and he with a considerable number of magi were slain, in commemoration of which an anniversary was long kept, called "the slaughter of the magi."

Darius, the next Persian monarch, one of the seven nobles who undertook to depose and destroy the usurper Smerdis, was chosen to the office, in consequence of a resolution agreed on between them, that he whose horse neighed first, should succeed to the crown. Darius was twenty-nine years old when he ascended the throne, and he soon distinguished himself by his activity and military prowess. He took and destroyed Babylon, and soon after undertook an expedition into Scythia, and in his way thither conquered Thrace; but in his main object he was unsuccessful, and was obliged to return home covered with shame and disgrace. A war was soon after kindled between Greece and Persia. After various success the Persians were completely defeated at the celebrated battle of Marathon, by ten thousand Athenians. The Persians in this expedition are said to have lost two hundred thousand fighting men. Darius, not disheartened by this blow, was preparing for another expedition, when he died, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, and was succeeded by his son.

Xerxes, who to revenge the slaughter made by the Athenians, marched into Greece with an army consisting of more than a million and a half of men; but being vanquished by Themistocles, at the battle of Salamis, he escaped in a small fishing-boat, leaving behind him an army of three hundred thousand men, under the command of Mardonius, which was soon after destroyed at the city of Platea, by Pausanius, the Spartan general. Xerxes, returning from this expedition, was despised by his people, and was slain by one of his own life guards. But what high respect and obedience the Persians usually paid to their sovereigns we learn from Herodotus, who informs us, that Xerxes being once in considerable danger by sea, many, at the

king's command, strove who should be the first in leaping overboard to lighten the vessel, and save the prince's life at the expense of their own.

Under Artaxerxes Longimanus, so called on account of the unequal length of his hands, the successor to Xerxes, the Grecian cities, situated on the borders of Lesser Asia, obtained their freedom.

Of Xerxes the Second, and Ochus, we have nothing remarkable to mention.

Artaxerxes Mnemon, so named from the excellence of his memory, studied the arts of Peace; and, to secure his own power and tranquillity, he excited dissensions among the Grecian states. Artaxerxes had

three brothers, of whom Cyrus the elder attempted to seize the government, but, after a bloody battle, was killed; and so desirous was Artaxerxes of the honour of having slain his brother with his own hand, that he put to death two men for saying that they had killed him. The Greeks, who had assisted Cyrus against his brother, though at the distance of six hundred leagues from their own country, made their way through the territories of the enemy; and there is no fact in history more celebrated than this as the retreat of the ten thousand. The length of their journey has been calculated to be eleven hundred and fifty-five leagues, which was performed in the space of fifteen months.

Artaxerxes reigned forty-six years, and was succeeded by Ochus, a most cruel tyrant, who beheaded in one day his brothers and near relations, to the number of fourscore. He surpassed all the Persian kings in the indulgence of his passions and in the cruelty of his government; and perished by poison, given to him by his physician, at the instigation of Bagoas. Bagoas was an Egyptian by birth, and had conceived hatred to the king because he had plundered the Egyptian temples, and slain the sacred bull, or god Apis. Not satisfied with the death of the king, he cut the dead body into small pieces, and gave it, thus mangled, to the cats, and of the bones he made handles for swords.

Arses, the youngest son of Ochus, was elevated to the throne, who, in the second year of his reign, was

put to death by the same Bagoas, and was succeeded by,

Darius Codomannus, a prince of mild and generous disposition, of great personal valour, and, with regard to his person, he was esteemed the handsomest man in the Persian empire. He was not, however, able to withstand his fortunate rival Alexander the Great. By him Darius was defeated in three battles. The first of which was the battle of Granicus, where the Persians lost twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse. In this action Alexander himself was first wounded in the head, afterwards in the side, besides having a horse killed from under him. In the second battle, which was fought near Mount Taurus, Darius lost, with his army, his wife, his mother, and his children, and with much difficulty escaped himself: after the third defeat at Arbela he fled to Media, where he was betrayed, and mortally wounded by Bessus, governor of Bactria. Two years after, Bessus was taken and sent to Alexander, by whom he was delivered to the brother of Darius, who cut off his nose and ears, and nailed him to a cross as a mark for the soldiers to shoot at.

Although the Persian monarchs were masters of the whole of Asia, yet they were at all times unsuccessful in their attacks upon the Scythians and Greeks. It had therefore been the policy of the Persians, for a number of years, to promote dissensions among the Grecian states, and occasionally to afford assistance to the weaker against the more powerful. Darius Codomannus despised, or was ignorant of this art, and thereby drew the united strength of Greece upon him; hence all Asia was subdued by the Macedonians, and an end put to the Persian monarchy.

Darius, who had been wounded with a shower of arrows, was left lying alone in a cart, to which the groans of the dying monarch conducted Polystratus, a Macedonian. The king, very near his end, had strength enough to ask for water, which Polystratus readily brought him. After drinking he charged him to return his hearty thanks to Alexander for the kindness he had shown to his wife, mother, and children,