xli 



RISE AND PROGRESS 



The garden of Alcinous is supposed to have been situated 

 in an island of that name ; but by some it is considered to be 

 Corfu, in the Ionian Sea, and by others, with more probabihty, 

 an Asiatic island. 



It has been remarked by Sir William Temple, that this 

 description contains all the justest rules and provisions vj^hicb 

 are requisite for the construction of the most perfect garden. 

 The extent of the garden of Alcinous was, in those days of 

 simplicity, looked on as great, even for a prince. It was 

 enclosed to protect it fi'om depredations, and, for conveniency, 

 was placed near the gates of the palace. 



This is the first garden, according to Harte, that we read 

 of in ancient history. It contained only three or four kinds 

 of fruit-trees, a few beds of culinary vegetables, and a small 

 number of flowers. It contained two wells, one for the use 

 of the garden, and the other for the palace. 



The gardens of Laertes, described by Virgil, appear to 

 have been nearly similar to that of Alcinous, but more varied 

 in its productions. So attached was Laertes to his garden, 

 that when his son Ulysses paid him a visit, he describes him 

 to be found no where but in his garden, " attended by his 

 servants, gathering shrubs to make a hedge, and the old man 

 directing them, and weeding the plants with gloves on, because 

 of the bushes." 



The celebrated gardens of Babylon, commonly called the 

 hanging-gardens, so celebrated among the Greeks, on account 

 of their being elevated, according to some historians, upon 

 vast blocks of stone, supported by pillars of the same material. 

 These gardens are described by Strabo and Diodorus, as con- 

 taining a square of four hundred feet on each side, giving an 

 area of nearly four acres, and were carried to a considerable 

 elevation, in the manner of several large terraces, one appear- 

 ing incumbent on the other, till the height equalled that of the 

 walls of the city. The ascent was from terrace to terrace by 

 stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained by vast 

 arches, raised upon other arches, one above the other, and 

 strengthened by a wall of twenty-two feet in thickness, that 

 surrounded it on every side. Large flat stones, sixteen feet 

 long and four broad, were first laid on the top of the arches ; 



