fore consider the whole as a sacred enclo

sure:

Εκτοςθεν δ' αυλής μεγας ορχατος αγχι θυραων
Τετράγυος-περι δ' έρκος ελήλαται αμφοτέρωθεν.
Without the gates the spacious garden lies
From storms defended, and inclement skies;
Four acres was the allotted space of ground,
Fenc'd with a high enclosure all around.

Closely connected with it was a corrupted representation of the sacred tabernacle or shechinah, with the cherubic exhibition on the east of Eden. This was the temple or palace of Alcinous, and was singularly magnificent and superb.

Ως γαρ γελιου αιγλη πελεν, με σεληνης
Δώμα και υψερεφες μεγαλήτορος Αλκινόοιο
Χαλκέοι μεν γαρ τοιχοι εληλαδατ' ενθα και ενθα
Ες μυχου εξ εδεπερι δε θριγκος κυάνοιο.
Χρύσειαι δε θυραι πυκινον δόμον εντος εεργον
Αργύρεοι δε σταθμοι εν χαλκεω εςασαν εδω.
Αργυρεον δ' εφ' υπερθυρίον, χρυσέη δε κορωνη.
The front appear'd with radiant splendors gay,
Bright as the lamp of night, or orb of day.
The walls were massive brass;—the cornice high
Blue metals crown'd in colours of the sky,-
Rich plates of gold the folding-doors incase,
The pillars silver, on a brazen base;
Silver the lintels, deep projecting o'er,

And gold the ringlets that command the door.

We perceive in the above, some mutilated remains distorted by pagan corruptions, of "the "likeness of the firmament upon the heads, of "the living creatures, which was as the colour "of the terrible chrystal stretched forth over "their heads above. And above the firmament "that was over their heads, was the likeness of "a

a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire."* So in the palace of Alcinous there were thrones within; and without, in the front of the shining edifice, were living and mysterious images, the work of Vulcan, and presenting, however obscurely, some vestiges of the cherubic-animal exhibition on the east of Eden.

Χρυσείοι δ' εκάτερθε και αργύριοι κύνες εσαν
Ους Ηφαιστος ετυξεν ιδυίησι πραπίδεσσι,
Δωμα φυλασσέμεναι μεγαλήτορος Αλκινόοιο
Αθανατος οντας και αγήρως ηματα παντα.
Two rows of stately dogs on either hand
In sculptur'd gold, and labour'd silver stand.
These Vulcan form'd with art divine to wait
Immortal guardians at Alcinous' gate;
Alive each animated frame appears,

And still to live beyond the power of years.

All these traditional memorials of paradise must have come originally out of the east, and

Ezek. i. 22-26. A similar instance of heathenish imitation is mentioned by Philostratus de Vit. Apoll. lib. iii. cap. 11.

therefore may be found, as might be reasonably expected, amongst the Syrians, and other oriental nations. The paradise of Phaneas, in Palestine, and the celebrated Eden, (so called to this day) in the shades of Mount Lebanon, which both Ptolemy and Stephanus† term Пapadeiros a paradisos, were consecrated gardens of the nature before described. To these may be added the gardens of Daphne upon, the Orontes, described by Strabo. They consisted of "a grove, vast and shady, irrigated with "fountains of water, which preserved it for ever "cool and verdant. In the midst was a temple "and asylum of Apollo, together with a fane "consecrated to Diana, whither the inhabitants "of Antioch were accustomed to resort, and "celebrate their festivals. The circumference "of the sacred grove was fourscore stadia. In

There was another place named Phance in the island of Chius, sacred to Apollo, and celebrated for palm-trees.

+ See a very excellent note on this in the var. editions of Sulp. Severus, p. 6, and the authorities there cited. The Persians were accustomed to these sacred gardens, in which there were not only fountains and other symbols of paradise, but they also preserved a number of different wild animals in them, which were made to live together in a state of harmony and peace, emblematic of the life led by the animal creation in the garden of Eden.

↑ Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 1089 et 1096.

"this place they feign that a dreadful serpent "called Typhon was overthrown by Apollo," and from this mythological circumstance, the river Orontes, which watered the garden of Daphne, was, to a certain extent, called after the name of the monster, Typhon. Now Typhon, by an easy transition of its radical letters, is certainly the same as the serpent Python, the history of both, moreover, being so decidedly analogous. It cannot but have struck the attentive reader how universally this legend of the serpent is connected with all the instances of heathen paradisi, which we meet with in ancient writers.

We shall find this remarkably illustrated in the case of the garden of the Hesperides.*

*There was also a fountain of ambrosia or immortality in the midst of the garden of the Hesperides, answering to the Tree of Life. Eurip. Hippol. v. 750. A late writer and eminently learned missionary well observes, that "the Tree of "Life, the fountain or well of life, and the water of life, all "seem identified in scripture. As in the garden of Eden "the Tree of Life was an emblem or pledge of happiness to

Adam, had he continued in innocency, so the water of "life, flowing through the paradise in heaven, is an emblem "of that eternal glory, which Christ the second Adam has "secured for all who believe." Henry Martyn's Sermons. 2d ed. p. 198.

This celebrated place was situated on the extreme verge of Ethiopia in Africa, and not far from Meroe. As is usual with almost all places of this nature, it was considered as on the borders of the world, or as if it hardly belonged to it. Atlas is said to have surrounded it on all sides with high mountains, on account of an ancient oracle, which affirmed that the Son of the Deity would at a certain time arrive, open a way of access thither, and carry off the golden apples, which hung on a mysterious tree in the midst of the garden. There is a very curious antique yet extant, as I have before remarked, in which Hercules is represented standing with an apple in his hand before the Tree, around which a serpent is enfolded, as described by Lucretius:

Aureaque Hesperidum servans fulgentia mala
Asper acerba tuens immani corpore: Serpens.
Arboris amplexus stirpem.*

This serpent, who for ever watched the fruit of this mysterious tree, was said to have been born of Typhon, another serpent; but in fact

*Lucret. de Nat. Rer. v. 33. Virg. Æneid iv. 482. Lucan. Phar. ix. 367.