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of nations, the beauty of Chaldea, the lady of kingdoms, the 

 golden city, with many similar titles, given by the prophets, 

 as characteristic of its splendour and dignity. Nothing could 

 exceed the grandeur of ils palaces and temples, nor the beauty 

 of the hanging-gardens: these, with the canals, water-works, and 

 other ornaments, described by ancient historians, fill the mind with 

 astonishment. How awful are the reflections upon the judgments 

 denounced against these cities for their impiety and idolatry! 

 they were so literally accomplished that infidels have been com- 

 pelled to assert that the prophecies were written after the events. 



Herodotus and Diodorus say the walls of Babylon were 

 three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty-seven broad; so that 

 six chariots could pass abreast on the ramparts; a magnitude 

 perhaps without a parallel; yet it was foretold, that for the Avicked- 

 ness of its inhabitants it should become a desolation, a dry land, 

 and a wilderness; a land where no man should dwell, neither any 

 son of man pass thereby: that it should be a spot swept with the 

 besom of destruction; where the Arabian would not pitch his tent 

 nor the shepherds make their folds. So literally is all this ful- 

 filled, that travellers, a few centuries ago, assert that the ruins of 

 ancient Babylon were so full of venomous creatures, especially of 

 a poisonous animal called eglo, that no one dared to approach 

 nearer this heap of desolation than half a league; and those who 

 have been lately there, declare they can no longer discern the site 

 of this ancient city. 



Ahmedabad, like those proud capitals, seemed hastening to ils 

 dissolution; from covering an extent of thirty miles, it had dwindled 

 to less than six; much of that space, even within the walls, was 





