that an Author who ſhould write a Hiſtory, in which there were no Dates fix'd, and ſhould know that nine Kings had reign'd over a Nation; ſuch an Hiſtorian, would commit a great Error ſhould he allow three hundred Years to theſe nine Monarchs. Every Generation takes about thirty ſix Years; every Reign is, one with the other, about twenty. Thirty Kings of England have ſway'd the Scepter from William the Conqueror to George the Firſt, the Years of whoſe Reigns added together, amount to ſix hundred and forty eight Years; which being divided equally among the thirty Kings, give to every one a Reign of twenty one Years and a half very near. Sixty three Kings of France have ſet upon the Throne; theſe have, one with another, reign'd about twenty Years each. This is the uſual Courſe of Nature: The Ancients therefore were miſtaken, when they ſuppos'd the Durations in general, of Reigns, to equal that of Generations. They therefore allow'd too great a Number of Years,
