quickfet bedge. The whole compass of this pompous garden inclofed----four acres. Four acres was th'allotted space of ground, Fenc'd with a green inclosure all around. The trees were apples, figs, pomegranates, pears, olives, and vines. Tall thriving trees confefs'd the fruitful mold; Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows, * * * * * * Beds of all various herbs, for ever green, Alcinous's garden was planted by the poet, enriched by him with the fairy gift of eternal fummer, and no doubt an effort of imagination furpaffing any thing he had ever seen. As be bas bestowed on the fame happy prince a palace with brazen walls and columns of filver, he certainly intended that the garden fhould be proportionably magnificent. We are fure therefore that as late as Homer's age, an inclosure of four acres L'enceinte entiére de ce tout environné d'une haye vive. Jardin pompeux contenoit quatre arpens. Quatre arpens font le tour que ce Jardin embrasse, Une verte clôture en circonfcrit l'espace. Les arbres étoient le pommier, le figuier, le grenadier, le poirier, l'olivier & la vigne. Nourri par le terreau tout s'élève & profpere, * * * * * * Et des lits d'un gazon toujours verd, toujours beau Le poëte a planté le Jardin d'Alcinous; il l'a doué avec la baguette des Fées d'un printems éternel, & fans doute il a épuisé pour l'embellir tous les efforts de l'imagination. Comme il avoit donné au palais de ce prince fortuné des murs d'airain & des colonnes d'argent, il vouloit certainement que le jardin fut d'une magnificence proportionnée. Ainfi nous fommes furs que jufqu'au tems d'Homere, un acres, comprehending orchard, vineyard and kitchen-garden, was a stretch of luxury the world at that time had never bebeld. The hanging gardens of Babylon were a ftill greater prodigy. We are not acquainted with their difpofition or contents, but as they are fuppofed to have been formed on terraffes and the walls of the palace, whither foil was conveyed on purpose, we are very certain of what they were not; I mean they must have been trifling, of no extent, and a wanton inftance of expense and labour. In other words, they were what fumptuous gardens have been in all ages till the prefent, ↓ unnatural, enriched by art, poffibly with fountains, ftatues, balustrades, and fummer-houses and were any thing but verdant and rural. From the days of Homer to thofe of Pliny, we have no traces to lead our guess to what were the gardens of the intervening ages. When Roman authors, whofe climate inftilled a wish for cool retreats, Speak of their enjoyments in that kind, they figh for grottoes, caves, and the refreshing hollows of mountains, near irriguous and shady founts; or boast of their porticos, walks of planes, canals, baths and breezes from the fea. Their gardens are never mentioned as affording Shade and Shelter from the rage of the dog-ftar. Pliny has left us defcriptions enclos de quatre arpens contenant un verger, un vignoble & un légumier étoit le plus grand excès de luxe eût jamais vu. que le monde Cependant les jardins de Babylone suspendus en l'air étoient encore plus merveilleux. Nous ne fçavons ni leur difpofition ni leur étendue; mais comme on fuppofe qu'ils étoient formés en terraffes fur les murs du palais où on avoit aporté pour celà de la terre, nous fçavons avec certitude ce qu'ils n'étoient pas; je les regarde comme une bagatelle fans aucune grandeur, comme un étalage frivole de depenfe & de travail. C'étoit en d'autres termes ce que les beaux Jardins ont été dans tous les tems jufqu'au tems present; rien de naturel; toutes les richeffes de l'art, des fontaines peut être, des statues, des baluftrades, des pavillons, enfin tout autre chofe que du champêtre & de la verdure. Depuis le tems d'Homere jusqu'à celui de Pline, nous n'avons rien qui puiffe nous faire deviner ce qu'étoient les Jardins dans l'intervalle de ces deux âges. Quand les auteurs Romains à qui leur climat inspiroit le goût des retraites fraîches, parlent de leurs jouiffances dans ce genre, ils foupirent pour des grottes, des fouterrains, des antres au sein des montagnes près de quelque fource bien ombragée; ils vantent leurs portiques, leurs allées de platanes, leurs canaux, leurs bains, & les brizes de mer fi raffraîchiffantes. Leurs jardins ne font jamais cités comme donnant de l'ombre & des abris contre les ardeurs de la canicule. Pline nous a laiffé defcriptions of two of his villas. As he used bis Laurentine villa for his winter-retreat, it is not surprising that the garden makes no confiderable part of the account. All be fays of it is, that the geftatio or place of exercise, which Surrounded the garden (the latter confequently not being very large) was bounded by a hedge of box, and where that was perished, with rosemary; that there was a walk of vines, and that most of the trees were fig and mulberry, the foil not being proper for any other forts. On his Tufcan villa he is more diffuse, the garden makes a confiderable part of the defcription----and what was the principal beauty of that pleasure-ground? Exactly what was the admiration of this country about threescore years ago; box-trees cut into monsters, animals, letters, and the names of the mafter and the artificer. In an age when architecture difplayed all its grandeur, all its purity, and all its tafte; when arofe Vefpafian's amphitheatre, the temple of Peace, Trajan's forum, Domitian's baths, and Adrian's villa, the ruins and veftiges of which still excite our aftonishment and curiofity; a Roman conful, a polished emperor's friend, and a man of elegant litterature and tafte, delighted in what the mob now fcarce admire in a college-garden. All the ingre dients |