651

681

681

and city, on the frontier of Spain, in Biscay, on the river Ridossa, near St. Sebastian. The French have frequently besieged it without

success.

that he ere long

Intended to create.

I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained.

What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?

Thou makest him lower than the angels: to crown him with glory and worship.

Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands; and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. Psalms, viii. 3, 4, 5, 6.

Mammon led them on.

Let the Gentiles, that know not God, perplex their minds with unworthy suspicions, or bow them down to the ignoble servitude of Mammon, that base rival of our living Jehovah; but we, far from desiring to share our hearts and our services between two such contrary masters, will cheerfully devote them to him, whose right to them is so infinitely beyond all room for any contest. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Matthew, vi. 6, 24.

The riches of heav'n's pavement, trodden gold. The street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. Rev. xxi. 21.

Glorious things are indeed spoken of thee, O thou city of God. Psalms, lxxxvii. 3.

684 In vision beatific.

The making happy or blessed.

694 Of Babel.

694

Fearing another flood, men begun to build a tower so high, that the top might not be overflowed, as if they would defend themselves in their wicked ways against the anger of the Almighty: but he stopped their work, by confusing their language, that they could not understand one another; so they desisted, and the tower was afterwards called Babel, that is, confusion.

and the works of Memphian kings. Memphis, a celebrated town of Egypt, on the western banks of the Nile, above the Delta. It once contained many beautiful temples, particularly those of the god Apis, whose worship was observed with the greatest ceremonies. It was in the neighbourhood of Memphis that those famous Pyramids were built, whose grandeur and beauty still astonish the modern traveller. These noble monuments of Egyptian vanity, which pass for one of the wonders of the world, are about twenty in number, three of which, by their superior size, particularly claim attention. place where Memphis formerly stood is not now known; the ruins of its former grandeur were conveyed to Alexandria, to beautify its palaces, or to adorn the neighbouring cities.

and Doric pillars overlaid.

The

Doric order, one of the five orders which took

E

its name from the Dorians; its columns are simple, without pilasters.

715 With golden architrave.

The moulding next above the capital of a column; also, the principal beam of a building. not Babylon.

A city on the Euphrates, built by Nimrod or Belus, the founder of the Assyrian monarchy, and became the capital of that monarchy, under the reign of Semiramis: it had one hundred brazen gates; and its walls, which were cemented with bitumen, and greatly enlarged and embellished by that queen, measured four hundred and eighty stadia in circumference, fifty cubits in thickness, and two hundred in height. It was taken by Cyrus, B. C. 538; after he had drained the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel, and marched his troops by night into the town, through the dried bed; and it is said, that the fate of the extensive capital was unknown to the inhabitants of the distant suburbs till late in the evening. Babylon became famous for the death of Alexander, and for the new empire which was afterwards established there under the Seleucidæ. At present the place were it once stood is unknown to travellers.

718 Nor great Alcairo.

Cairo, the capital of Egypt: Mr. Brown found here the ruins of an edifice which appeared to be the work of the ancient Egyptians, as the figures of Isis and Anubis were conspicuous among the sculptures. And Major Rennell seems to enter

719

tain no doubt, but that this is the true situation of the once famous temple of Jupiter Ammon.

to inshrine.

To bury. The tower of Belus and Pyramids ofs erapis were designed for the tombs or monuments of the Assyrian or Egyptian kings.

720 Belus or Seraphis, their gods.

721

Belus, one of the most ancient kings of Babylon, about 1800 before the age of Semiramis, was made a god after death, and worshipped, with much ceremony, by the Assyrians and Babylonians. This temple of Belus was the most ancient and most magnificent in the world. It was originally the Tower of Babel, which was converted into a temple. It had lofty towers, and it was enriched, by all the succeeding monarchs, till the age of Xerxes, who, after his unfortunate expedition against Greece, plundered and demolished it. Among the riches it contained, were many statues of massy gold, one of which was forty feet high. Serapis had a magnificent temple to his honour at Memphis, another at Alexandria, and a third at Canopus. The worship of Serapis was introduced at Rome, by the Emperor Antoninus Pius, A. D. 146, and the mysteries celebrated on the sixth of May; but with so much licentiousness, that the senate were soon after obliged to abolish it.

when Egypt with Assyria strove. Egypt, a country in Africa, it is a narrow vale on both sides of the Nile, bounded by ridges of mountains or hills: it is the most considerable part of Africa; and was once the seat, if not the

parent, of science. Dr. Young has immortalized it by the following lines:

If glorious structures and immortal deeds Enlarge the thought, and set the souls on fire, My tongue hath been to cold in Egypt's praise: The queen of nations and the boast of times, Mother of science and the house of gods! Assyria, a large country of Asia, whose boundaries have been different in its flourishing times. The Assyrian empire is the most ancient in the world. The country is now called Curdistan. 729 With Naphtha.

There are springs of Naphtha at Baku, a seaport town on that part of the Caspian Sea which is included in the territory of Persia: it is strongly fortified; and enjoys considerable trade in rock salt, sulphur, naphtha, cotton and saffron, which are produced in the surrounding country, and are exchanged for wine and silk stuffs. The everlasting fire and the Naphtha springs, in the neighbourhood, have been subjects of wonder to credulous travellers; some of whom have detailed exaggerated accounts of these natural appearances. In a dry and rocky soil, ten miles from Baku, a sulphureous and bituminons vapour issues from the earth, and, when set fire to, continues to burn for a long time. The votaries of superstition have taken advantage of this phenomenon, and have erected temples, in which the Indians perform certain religious ceremonies. A hollow cane is fixed in the ground, near the altar, in one of the temples, and a blue flame, which, it is said, has burned since the flood, and will continue so to the end of the world, issues