and which son (about the year 813) has been justly 

 termed the Augustus of Bagdad. "Study, books, and men 

 of letters, (I am quoting the eloquent pages of De Sismondi 

 On the Literature of the Arabians,) almost entirely engrossed 

 his attention. Hundreds of camels might be seen entering 

 Bagdad loaded with nothing but manuscripts and papers. 

 Masters, instructors, translators, and commentators, formed 

 the court of Al-Mamoun, which appeared rather to be a 

 learned academy than the centre of government in a war- 

 like empire.'' 



The gardens of Epicurus, and of Pisistratus, Cimon, and 

 Theophrastus, were the most famous of any in the Grecian 

 empire. Those of Herculaneum may be seen in the 2nd vol. 

 of the paintings found there. The luxurious gardens of the 

 affluent Seneca, and the delight with which Cicero speaks of 

 his paternal seat, (which enraptured his friend Atticus with 

 its beauty,) and the romantic ones of Adrian, at Tivoli, 

 and of Lucullus, of Sallust, of the rich and powerful Crassus, 

 and of Pompey, shew the delight which the old Romans took 

 in them. One may gather this also from Livy; and Virgil's 

 energy of language warmly paints the 



■ flowering pride 



Of meads and streams that through the valleys glide. 

 A country cottage near a crystal flood, 

 A winding valley, and a lofty wood. 



Leisure and calm in groves, and cooling vales; 

 Grottoes and babbling brooks, and darksome dales. 



Messaline (says a translation of Tacitus) avoit une passion 

 extreme pour les jardins de Lucullus, qu'il embellisoit su- 

 perbement, ajoutant tous les jours quelque nouvelles beautez 

 a, celles quils avoint receui's de leur premier maitrc. 



