THE GARDEN OF IREM 243 



Buildings before you. . . . You go up to them, 

 not by regular Stone Steps, but by a rough Sort of 

 Rock- work ; form'd as if there had been so many 

 Steps produced there by Nature. . . . Every Valley, 

 as I told you before, has its Pleasure-house. . . . 

 And how many of these Places do you think there 

 may be, in all the Valleys of the Inclosure ? There 

 are 1 above 200 of them : without reckoning as many 

 other Houses for the Eunuchs. . . . 



The whole Inclosure is called, Yven-ming Yven, 

 The Garden of Gardens ; or The Garden, by way 

 of Eminence. It is not the only one that belongs 

 to the Emperor ; he has Three others, of the same 

 Kind : but none of them so large, or so beautiful, 

 as this. In one of these lives the Empress his 

 Mother, and all her Court. It was built by the 

 Emperor's Grandfather, Cang-hy ; and is called 

 Tchamg Tchun Yven, or The Garden of Perpetual 

 Spring. 



F. ATTIBET. 

 (Translated by JOSEPH SPENCE.) 



THE GARDEN OF IREM 



HAVE you seen the Garden of Irem ? 



No mortal knoweth the road thereto. 



Find me a path in the mists that gather 



When the sunbeams scatter the morning-dew, 



And I will lead you thither. 



Give me a key to the halls of the sun 



When he goes behind the purple sea, 



