4 HISTORY OF GARDENING. Parr I.

the garden he was turned out to till the ground, and paradise was afterwards guarded by a miraculous sword, which turned every way to meet trespassers.(See Genesis ii. 3.; Bishop Huet on the Situation of Paradise, 1691, 12mo.; Burnet’s Theory of the Earth, book ii. chap. 2.; Sickler’s Geschichte der obst cultur,&c. 1801. 1 Band.)

6. The gardens of Hesperides were situated in Africa, near Mount Atlas, or, accord- ing to some, near Cyrenaica. They are described by Scylax, a geographer of the sixth century, B. C., as lying in a place eighteen fathoms deep, steep on all sides, and two stadia,in diameter, covered with trees of various kinds, planted very close together, and interwoven with one another. Among the fruit-trees were golden apples(supposed to be oranges), pomegranates, mulberries, vines, olives, almonds, and walnuts; and the orna- mental trees included the arbutus, myrtle, bay, ivy, and wild olive. This garden con- tained the golden apples which Juno gave to Jupiter on the day of their nuptials. They were occupied by three celebrated nymphs, daughters of Hesperus, and guarded by a dreadful dragon which never slept. Hercules carried off the apples by stratagem, but they were afterwards returned by Minerva. What finally became of the nymphs of the garden, or of the apples, we are as ignorant as we are of the fate of paradise, or the tree “‘in the midst thereof,” which contained the forbidden fruit, and of which, as Lord Walpole observes,“ not a slip or a sucker has been left behind.”

7. The promised garden of Mahomet, or the heaven of his religion, is said to abound in umbrageous groves, fountains, and Houri, or black-eyed girls: and the enjoyments, which in such scenes on earth last but for a moment, are to be there prolonged for a thousand years.

8. Dr. Sickler’s opinion of these gardens is, that Eden and Hesperides allude to, or are derived from, one original tradition. Paradise, he considers as a sort of figurative description of the finest district of Persia; and he traces various resemblances between the apples of Eve and of Juno; the dragon which never slept, and the flaming sword which turned every way. Some very learned and curious speculations on this subject are to be found in the introduction to his Geschichte der obst cultur. With respect to the paradise of Mahomet, it is but of modern date, and may probably have been suggested by the gardens described in“ Solomon’s Song,” and other poems; though some allege that the rural coffee-houses which abound in the suburbs of Constantinople gaye the first idea to the prophet.

Secr. II. Jewish Gardens. B.C. 1500.

9. King Solomon’s garden is the principal one on record; though many others belong- ing both to Jewish princes and subjects are mentioned in the Bible. Solomon was at once a botanist, a man of learning, of pleasure, and a king.‘The area. of his garden was quadrangular, and surrounded by a high wall; it contained a variety of plants, curious as objects of natural history, as the hyssop,(a moss, as Hasselquist thinks,} “‘ which springeth out of the wall; odoriferous and showy flowers, as the rose, and the lily of the valley, the calamus, camphire, spikenard, saffron, and cinnamon; timber-trees, as the cedar, the pine, and the fir; and the richest fruits, as the fig, grape, apple, palm, and pomegranate.(Curtii Sprengel Historia Rei herbaria, lib. i. c. 1.) It contained water in wells, and in living streams, and, agreeably to eastern practices, aviaries and a seraglio. The seraglio Parkhurst supposes was at once a temple of worship and of pleasure, and he quotes the words of Ezekiel(xiii. 20.) in their literal translation:« J am against, saith the Lord, your luxurious cushions, wherewith ye ensnare souls in the flower-gardens.”’ Ashué or Venus was the deity who was worshipped by a company of naked females: Dr. Brown(Antig. of the Jews,) describes the mode of worship; and concludes by lamenting that depravity in man, which converts the beauties of nature into instruments of sin, The situation of Solomon’s garden was in all probability near to the palace, as were those of his successors, Ahasuerus and Ahab.(Esther vii. 8.)

10. We know little of the horticulture of the Jews; but like that of the eastern nations in general, it was probably then as it still is in Canaan, directed to the growing of cooling fruits, to allay thirst and moderate heat; aromatic herbs to give a tone to the stomach, and wine to refresh and invigorate the spirits. Hence, while their agricultural produce was wheat, barley, rye, millet, vetches, lentils, and beans, their gardens produced cucumbers, melons, gourds, onions, garlic, anise, cummin, coriander, mustard, and y spices. Their vineyards were sometimes extensive: Solomon had one at B which he let out at 1000 pieces of silver per annum.(Cant. viii. 11, 12.)

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Sect. III. Pheacian Gardens. B.C. 900.

ll. The garden of Alcinous, the Phzacian king, was situated in an island of that name, by some considered Corfu, in the Ionian sea, and by others, and with more reason, an Asiatic island. It is minutely described by Homer in the Odyssey, and may be compared to the garden of an ordinary farm-house in point of extent and form; but in respect to the variety of fruits, vegetables, and flowers cultivated, was far inferior. It

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