sible to suppress the feelings of regret which must arise in the breast of every traveller who has seen these temples before and since their late dilapidation! Nor have I any hesitation in declaring that the Athenians in general, nay, even the Turks themselves, did lament the ruin that was committed, and loudly and openly blamed their sovereign for the permission he had granted! I was on the spot at the time, and had an opportunity of observing, and, indeed, of participating in the sentiment of indignation which such conduct universally inspired. The whole proceeding was so unpopular in Athens, that it was necessary to pay the labourers more than their usual profits before any one could be prevailed upon to assist in this work of profanation."

"Such rapacity is a crime against all ages and all generations," says Mr. Eustace; "it deprives the past of the trophies of their genius and the titledeeds of their fame; the present of the strongest inducements to exertion, the noblest exhibitions that curiosity can contemplate; and the future of the masterpieces of art, the models of imitation. To guard against the repetition of such depredations is the wish of every man of genius, the duty of every man in power, and the common interest of every civilized nation."

"That the Elgin marbles will contribute to the improvement of art in England,” says Mr. Williams, "cannot be doubted. They must certainly open the eyes of the British artists, and prove that the true and only road to simplicity and beauty is the study of Nature. But had we a right to diminish the interest of Athens for selfish motives, and prevent successive generations of other nations from seeing those admirable structures? The temple of Minerva was spared as a beacon to the world, to direct it to the knowledge of purity and of taste. What can, we say to the disappointed traveller, who is now deprived of the rich satisfaction that would have com

pensated his travel and his toil? It will be little consolation to him to say he may find the sculpture of the Parthenon in England."

BABYLON.

BABYLON and Nineveh appear to have resembled each other, not only in form, but in extent and populousness. Quintus Curtius asserts that Babylon owed its origin to Semiramis. In the Bible, however, it is stated that one of the chief cities of Nimrod was Babel, and hence many authors have supposed that Babylon was built by Nimrod. But if we attend strictly to the words of Moses, we shall find that to have been an impossible circumstance.

Moses states that Nimrod had four large cities: Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneth.* Now Nimrod was a descendant of Ham; but the temple of Babel, on the establishment of which depends the origin of Babylon, was built by the descendants of Shem-at least, we have a right to believe so; for Moses mentions the descendants of Shem last, and then goes on to say, "The whole earth was of one language and of one speech; and it came to pass, as they journeyed from the East, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there."

When they had dwelt there for some time, they said to one another, "Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar." At length they said to themselves, "Let us build a city and a tower; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." They were interrupted in their design, and "left off building the city" but there is no account of its having

* Gen., c. x., v. 10.

been destroyed, nor of the destruction of the temple; the people, however, were scattered.

This city was subsequently called Babel; and the temple of Belus being the oldest recorded in history, it has been generally supposed that it was no other than the tower which the family of Shem had endeavoured to build. This, however, is far from being certain; for Josephus, who in this case is not without his weight, relates that the tower was thrown down by an impetuous wind or violent hurricane, and that it never was rebuilt.

The fact is, that the real origin of Babylon is lost in the depths of history; and all that can be stated with any degree of certainty is, that Nineveh and Babylon were founded much about the same time, and that Ninus, Semiramis, Ninyas, and Sardanapalus were sovereigns, though not during their whole lives, of both cities. This appears to us to be the only way in which we can understand the history of the first Assyrian empire.

Having given some account of the origin of this celebrated city, we proceed to describe the height of grandeur to which it rose. “The Assyrians,” says Herodotus," are masters of many capital towns, but their place of greatest strength and fame is Babylon, where, after the destruction of Nineveh, was the royal residence. It is situated on a large plain, and is a perfect square; each side, by every approach, is one hundred and twenty furlongs; the space therefore occupied by the whole is four hundred and eighty furlongs; so extensive is the ground on which Babylon stands. Its internal beauty and magnificence exceed whatever has come within my knowledge. It is surrounded by a trench, very wide, deep, and full of water; the wall beyond this is two hundred royal cubits high and fifty wide: the royal exceeds the common cubit by three digits." "It will

"It must be confessed, indeed," says Montfaucon," that, in

not be foreign to my purpose," continues the historian, "to describe the use to which the earth dug out of the trench was converted, as well as the particular manner in which they constructed the wall. The earth from the trench was first of all laid in heaps, and, when a sufficient quantity was obtained, made into square bricks, and baked in a furnace. They used as cement a composition of heated bitumen, which, mixed with the tops of reeds, was placed between every thirtieth course of bricks. Having thus lined the sides of the trench, they proceeded to build the wall in a similar manner; on the summit of which, and fronting each other, they erected small watchtowers of one story, leaving a space between them through which a chariot and four horses might pass and turn. In the circumference of the wall, at different distances, were a hundred massy gates of brass, whose hinges and frames were of the same metal. Within eight days' journey from Babylon is a city called Is, near which flows a river of the same name, which empties itself into the Euphrates. With the current of this river particles of bitumen descend towards Babylon, by means of which its walls are constructed. The great river Euphrates, which, with its deep and rapid streams, rises in the Armenian mountains, and pours itself into the the comparison of ancient and modern measures, nothing certain has been concluded. According to vulgar computation, a cubit is a foot and a half; and thus the ancients also reckoned it; but then we are not certainly agreed about the length of their foot." To which Beloe replies:

"The doubt expressed by Montfaucon appears unnecessary; these measures, being taken from the proportions of the human body, are more permanent than any other. The foot of a moderately-sized man and the cubit (that is, the space from the end of the fingers to the elbow), have always been twelve and eighteen inches respectively." This makes the height of the walls of Babylon, as given by Herodotus, three hundred feet, and their breadth seventy-five feet.

*Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, I will go be. fore thee; I will break in pieces the gates of brass.-Isaiah.

Red Sea,* divides Babylon into two parts. The walls meet and form an angle at the river at each extremity of the town, where a breastwork of burned bricks begins, and is continued along each bank. The city, which abounds in houses from three to four stories in height, is regularly divided into streets. Through these, which are parallel, there are transverse avenues to the river opened through the wall and breastwork, and secured by an equal number of little gates of brass."

The historian then proceeds to describe the fortifications and the temple of Belus. "The first wall is regularly fortified; the interior one, though less in substance, is of about equal strength. Besides these, in the centre of each division of the city there is a circular space surrounded by a wall. In one of these stands the royal palace, which fills a large and strongly-defended place. The temple of Jupiter Belus occupies the other,† whose huge gates of brass may still be seen. It is a square building, each side of which is of the length of two furlongs. In the midst a tower rises of the solid depth and height of one furlong, resting upon which, as a base, seven other turrets are built in regular succession. The ascent is on the outside, which, winding from the ground, is continued to the highest tower; and in the middle of the whole structure there is a convenient resting-place. In the last tower is a large

* "The original Erythræan, or Red Sea, was that part of the Indian Ocean which forms the peninsula of Arabia; the Persian and Arabian gulfs being branches of it."-BELOE.

"It is necessary to bear in mind that the temples of the ancients were altogether different from our churches. A large space was enclosed by walls, in which were courts, a grove, pieces of water, apartments sometimes for the priests, and, lastly, the temple, properly so called, and where, most frequently, it was permitted the priests alone to enter. The whole enclosure was named rò lepov: the temple, properly so called, or the residence of the Deity, was called vaós (naos), or the cell.". HARVEY.