Still his lamenting progeny deplore

Minerva's tuneful gift and Phoebus' power:

While through steep banks, his torrent swift he leads, And with Meander winds among the meads."-Book iii. ccording to some authors, Dædalus owes the first idea of amous labyrinth to the river Meander, to which we find ference in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

"As soft Meander's wanton current plays,
When through the Phrygian fields he loosely strays:
Backward and forward rolls the dimpled tide,
Seeming, at once, two differeut ways to glide;
While circling streams their former banks survey,
And waters past succeeding waters see:

Now floating to the sea with downward course,
Now pointing upward to its ancient source.
Such was the work, so intricate the place,

That scarce the workman all its turns could trace:
And Daedalus was puzzled how to find

The secret ways, of what himself designed."-Book viii.

Caystrus.-This is a rapid river of Asia, rising in Lydia, hich, after a meandering course, falls into the gean sea, ear Ephesus. Like the Meander, it is celebrated in the ages of the ancient poets, who say, that its banks and neighourhood were the resort of the "stately sailing swan." Thus, in the story of Phaeton, Ovid says:

"The swans, that on Cayster often tried

Their tuneful songs, now sung their last, and died."-Book i.

Hermus. This river is thought to originate in the western extremity of the central plateaus of Asia Minor. It flows near Sardes, and receives the waters of the Pactolus and Hyllus; after which it falls into the gean sea. According to the poets, its sands were covered with gold. Thus, Virgil, celebrating the fertility of Italy, says:

"But neither Median woods, (a pleasant land,)
Fair Ganges, Hermus rolling golden sand,
Nor Bactria, nor the richer Indian fields,
Nor all the gummy stores Arabia yields,
Nor any foreign earth of greater name,

Can with sweet Italy contend in fame."--GEORG. ii.

Halys.-The Halys, now the Kizil-Ermak, is described as taking its rise by two branches in the higher ranges of the

as Apollo, by whom he was first vanquished and then flayed. Some compassionate nymphs, however, who loved his music better than that of Apollo, turned him into a river, which falls into the Meander.

Taurus, in Cappadocia. It received the name of Halys from the saltness of its waters before it enters the sea. It is now called the Kizil-Ermak, or Red River; but its true name is said to be Aito-Su. Where Kinnier crossed it, between Woiwode and Vizir Kapri, it was about three hundred feet broad, and this, it must be remembered, was at a place where the stream was contracted, near the ruins of a fine old bridge. Tournefort describes it to be, at its mouth, about the width of the Seine at Paris. Its whole course was probably four hundred miles. According to a French authority, it falls into the Black Sea by one mouth, at the boundary of Pontus and Paphlagonia.

The Halys is the largest river of Asia Minor, and in the days of Croesus it formed the western limit of the Median, and the eastern limit of the Lydian empires. It is celebrated for the defeat of Croesus, who was deceived by this quibbling oracle: "If Crœsus passes over the Halys, he shall destroy a great empire." That empire was his own!

Pactolus.-The Pactolus is a tributary to the Hermus. Taking its rise in Mount Tmolus, it falls into that river after it has watered the city of Sardes. By Pliny it is called Timolus. The poets say that Midas washed himself in this river, when he turned into gold whatever he touched; and from that circumstance it ever after rolled golden sand, and received the name of Chrysorrhoas.

"The king, instructed, to the fount retires,

But with the golden charm the stream inspires:
For while this quality the man forsakes,
An equal power the limpid water takes;

Informs with veins of gold the neighbouring land,
And glides along a bed of golden sand."

OVID MET. xi.

It would appear, from history, that gold was anciently found both among the sands of the Pactolus and Hermus; and Lucan, in his Pharsalia, says truly:

"Proud Lydia's plains send forth her wealthy sons,
Pactolus there, and golden Hermus, runs:

From earth's dark womb hid treasures they convey,
And, rich in yellow waters, rise to day."

Strabo observes, however, that the Pactolus had no golden sands in his age.

FERTILITY, ETC.

The fertility of Lydia, and the salubrity of its climate, are frequently mentioned by ancient writers. The air, especially near Mount Tmolus, is much celebrated in their pages. It is said that it was so wholesome, that the inhabitants generally lived to the age of 150 years; and that the neighbouring country was very prolific, and produced an abundance of odoriferous flowers. Mount Tmolus itself was celebrated for the herb saffron, to which we find an illusion in the Georgics of Virgil:

"Thus Tmolus is with yellow saffron crown'd."

The account of ancient writers, concerning the fertility of the ground, and the salubrity of the air of Lydia, is confirmed by the reports of modern travellers. Chishall speaks of the country between Tmolus and Messogis, as a "region inexpressibly delicious." It would appear, indeed, that the soil of Lydia, by reason of its many rivers, was very fertile, and that the country abounded in all kinds of grain, and was celebrated for its excellent wines.

Some authors state, that Lydia was enriched with many mines, whence Croesus obtained his immense wealth; but there is no proof that the Lydians ever carried on the operation of mining. It is most probable that they obtained their gold chiefly from the river Pactolus, which, according to Herodotus, washed it down from Mount Tmolus.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF LYDIA.

THE most important towns of Lydia were, Sardis, Philadelphia, Thyatira, and Magnesia.

SARDIS.

Sardis was the capital of the kingdom of Lydia, in the days of Croesus, who, when defeated in the plain before this city, by Cyrus, was master of all the nations within the river Halys. The dominion of this territory then passed into the hands of the Persians, and Sardis became the residence of the Satraps, to whom the government was committed; it was also the chosen resort of the Persian monarchs, when in this part of their empire. It surrendered to Alexander, after he had defeated the Persians in the battle of the Granicus; and it continued a great city under the Romans, until the terrible earthquake, which happened in the days of Tiberius. By that emperor's orders, however, it was rebuilt; but subsequent calamities of the same description, with the ravages and spoliations of the Goths, Saracens, and Turks, have reduced it to a heap of ruins, in which, notwithstanding, some remains of its ancient splendour may be traced.

Sardis, which is now a miserable village, called Sart, is situated on the northern side of Mount Tmolus, having a pleasant and spacious plain before it, well watered with several streams, flowing from a neighbouring hill to the southeast. These streams fall into the Pactolus, rising to the east from the same hill, and which, with its collected waters, increases the stream of the Hermus, or Sarabat, into which it falls.

Sardis is celebrated in Christian history, as one of the "SEVEN APOCALYPTIC CHURCHES," against which the evangelist John lifted up his warning voice: "And unto the an

of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he it hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I ow thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and : dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which reain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works erfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast reived and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore ou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou halt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou ast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their arments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they re worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed n white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," Rev. iii. 1—6.

How literally this threatening has been accomplished, history and the testimony of travellers declare. This once opulent city is now dwindled into an insignificant village, the houses of which are few and mean. The present inhabitants are mostly shepherds, who tend their flocks and herds as they feed in the spacious plains. "If I were asked," says Arundel, in his Discoveries in Asia Minor,' "what impresses the mind most strongly in beholding Sardis, I should say, its indescribable solitude, like the darkness of Egypt, darkness that could be felt. So the deep solitude of the spot, once the 'lady of the kingdoms,' produces a corresponding feeling of desolate abandonment in the mind, which can never be forgotten;" The Rev. J. Hartley also remarks: "The ruins are, with one exception, more entirely gone to decay than those of most of the ancient cities which we have visited. No Christians reside on the spot; two Greeks, only, work in a mill here, and a few wretched Turkish huts are scattered among the ruins. We saw the churches of St. John and the Virgin, the theatre, and the building styled the palace of Crosus; but the most striking object at Sardis is the temple of Cybele. I was filled with wonder and awe at beholding the two stupendous columns of this edifice, which are still remaining they are silent but impressive witnesses of the power and splendour of antiquity." Southward of the village of Sart, at the bottom of a small hill, considerable ruins are discovered. Six pillars are standing there, twenty-one feet in circumference, and thirty in height; and there are several vast stones belonging to pillars now prostrate. In