GARDENS OF THE ANCIENTS 



Alexander is written to have seen Cyrus's tomb Semiramis 

 in a paradise, being a tower not very great, and aer 



covered with a shade of trees about it. So that 

 a Paradise among them seems to have been a 

 large space of ground, adorned and beautified 

 with all sorts of trees, both of fruits and of for- 

 est, either found there before it was enclosed, 

 or planted after; either cultivated like gardens, 

 for shades and for walks, with fountains or 

 streams, and all sorts of plants usual in the cli- 

 mate, and pleasant to the eye, the smell or the 

 taste; or else employed, like our Parks, for en- 

 closure, and harbour of all sorts of wild beasts, 

 as well as for the pleasure of riding and walk- 

 ing : and so they were of more or less extent, 

 and of differing entertainment, according to the 

 several humours of the princes that ordered 

 and enclosed them. 



Semiramis is the first we are told of in story, 

 that brought them in use through her empire, 

 and was so fond of them, as to make one wher- 

 ever she built, and in all, or most of the pro- 

 vinces she subdued; which are said to have been 

 from Babylon as far as India. The Assyrian 

 kings continued this custom and care, or rather 

 this pleasure, till one of them brought in the 

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