BOOKOFOLD-WORLDGARDENS 



The use of smaller and more regular gardens : for 

 h avm married a wife he was fond of, out of 

 Assyrian one of the provinces, where such paradises or 

 Lg gardens were much in use, and the country lady 

 not well bearing the air or enclosure of the 

 palace in Babylon to which the Assyrian kings 

 used to confine themselves; he made her gar- 

 dens, not only within the palaces, but upon ter- 

 races raised with earth, over the arched roofs, 

 and even upon the top of the highest tower, 

 planted them with all sorts of fruit-trees, as well 

 as other plants and flowers, the most pleasant 

 of that country; and thereby made at least the 

 most airy gardens, as well as the most costly, 

 that have been heard of in the world. This lady 

 may probably have been native of the provinces 

 of Chasimir,or of Damascus, which have in all 

 times been the happiest regions for fruits of all 

 the East, by the excellence of soil, the position 

 of mountains, the frequency of streams, rather 

 than the advantages of climate. And 'tis great 

 pity we do not yet see the history of Chasimir, 

 which Monsieur Bernier assured me he had 

 translated out of Persian, and intended to pub- 

 lish; and of which he has given such a taste, in 

 his excellent memoirs of the Mogul's country. 



86 



