GARDEN DESIGN— COMPARATIVE, HISTORICAL, AND ETHICAL. 367 



The Babylonian was another form of impressive gardenage, fitting 

 companion to the Egyptian, and, broadly speaking, is its successor. Here 

 we have, ethically speaking, the gardens of display for the sake of that 

 which ministers to itself— namely, pride — gardens stupendous, magnificent, 

 wonderful. The hanging gardens of Babylon and the Egyptian Sphinx 

 are two of the seven wonders of the world. They may appeal to us by 

 their unsurpassable greatness, and may perhaps benefit us in making us 

 feel how small we are ; but I should be sorry if my life were to be solely 

 occupied in pronouncing upon the earth the display of wealth and pomp. 

 I have to plead guilty to so doing sometimes. The man who pays the piper 

 must be allowed the choice of his tune. It may not and is not always 

 my own simple and beloved harmony of " Home, sweet Home," and I must 

 help him to leave upon the earth the impress of his regal wealth, since 

 needs press and " home " must be maintained. The well-known garden 

 writer, E. V. B., says somewhere, " For pride or any other reason the 

 costliest monument is raised, but only love will plant roses to entwine 

 the home and the tomb." 



To build or rear a garden as an edifice is one thing, and to emblazon it 

 like the boast of heraldry is a feat, and thus we hear the expression of 

 pride by the great despot Nebuchadnezzar, in a voice that causes his 

 subjects to tremble, when gazing upon the mightiness of Babylon with 

 its hanging gardens towering above all, " Is not this great Babylon which 

 I have builded ? " For builded indeed it and its celebrated gardens were, 

 and they must have been a most striking, stupendous, and even refreshing 

 sight, towering aloft, tier on tier of gardens upon columned arches with 

 whatever freshness in the shape of fountains, flowers and verdure could be 

 interspersed, a triumph of the genius of architecture and art, reared on 

 high above, and in the midst of this Euphrates-girt stronghold, upon the 

 otherwise flat plain of Dura. Although doubtless so grand, it must be 

 classified in the category of " building a garden " rather than in the sim- 

 plicity of Eden, where, as the Scripture and Lord Bacon have it, Jehovah 

 "planted a garden." 



The following is the shortest and most reliable account of this world 

 wonder : " This garden was 400 feet square, and the ascent up to it was to 

 the top of a mountain, and it had buildings and apartments out of one into 

 another, like a theatre. Under the steps to the ascent were built arches 

 one above another, rising gently by degrees, which supported the whole 

 plantation. The highest arch on which the platform of the garden was 

 laid was 50 cubits, or about 90 feet high, and the garden itself was 

 surmounted with battlements and bulwarks " (very imposing but very 

 stern, as is the following). " The walls were made very strong, built at 

 no small expense and charge, being 22 feet thick. Over the several 

 storeys of this fabric were laid beams, and summers of large mossy stones, 

 each 16 feet long and 4 feet broad. The roof over all these was first 

 covered with reeds daubed with an abundance of brimstone (or bitumen), 

 and then upon them were laid double tiles, joined with a hard and durable 

 mortar, and over them all was a covering of sheets of lead, so that the 

 wet which drained through the earth might not find its way into the 

 foundation. Upon all these was laid earth, of a convenient depth 

 sufficient for the growth of the greatest trees of all beauty and of all size, 



