92 ttbe (Barfcett 



the best ; and it is not improbable, that the 

 paradises mentioned by Strabo were planted by 

 this great and wisest king. But the idea of the 

 garden must be very great, if it answer at all to 

 that of the gardener, who must have employed 

 a great deal of his care and of his study, as 

 well as of his leisure and thought, in these en- 

 tertainments, since he writ of all plants, from 

 the cedar to the shrub. 



What the gardens of the Hesperides were, 

 we have little or no account, further than the 

 mention of them, and thereby the testimony of 

 their having been in use and request in such 

 remoteness of place and antiquity of time. 



The garden of Alcinous, described by Homer, 

 seems wholly poetical, and made at the pleasure 

 of the painter, like the rest of the romantic 

 palace in that little barren island of Phseacia 

 or Corfu. Yet, as all the pieces of this tran- 

 scendent genius are composed with excellent 

 knowledge, as well as fancy, so they seldom 

 fail of instruction as well as delight, to all that 

 read him. The seat of this garden, joining to 

 the gates of the palace, the compass of the in- 

 closure being four acres, the tall trees of shade, 

 as well as those of fruit, the two fountains, the 

 one for the use of the garden, and the other of 

 the palace, the continual succession of fruits 

 throughout the whole year are, for aught I 



