and obliged some of the offspring of Noah to disperse themselves and replenish the world.  The tower of Babel was in sight from the great city of Babylon.  Nimrod was a hunter and monarch of vast ambition.  When he rose to be king of Babylon he re-peopled Babel, which had been desolate since the confusion of tongues, but did not dare to attempt the finishing of the tower.  The Scriptures inform us, he became “mighty upon earth;” but the extent of his conquests is not known. (MALCOM’S Bible Dictionary.)

The private houses, in most of the ancient cities, were simple in external appearance, but exhibited, in the interior, all the splendor and elegance of refined luxury.  The floors were of marble; alabaster and gilding were displayed on every side.  In every great house there were several fountains, playing in magnificent basins.  The smallest house had three pipes,—­one for the kitchen, another for the garden, and a third for washing.  The same magnificence was displayed in the mosques, churches, and coffee houses.  The environs presented, at all seasons of the year, a pleasing verdure, and contained extensive series of gardens and villas.

THE GREAT AND SPLENDID CITY OF BABYLON.—­This city was founded by Nimrod, about 2,247 years B.C., in the land of Shinar, or Chaldea, and made the capital of his kingdom.  It was probably an inconsiderable place, until it was enlarged and embellished by Semiramis; it then became the most magnificent city in the world, surpassing even Nineveh in glory.  The circumference of both these cities was the same, but the walls which surrounded Babylon were twice as broad as the walls of Nineveh, and having a hundred brass gates.  The city of Babylon stood on the river Euphrates, by which it was divided into two parts, eastern and western; and these were connected by a cedar bridge of wonderful construction, uniting the two divisions.  Quays of beautiful marble adorned the banks of the river; and on one bank stood the magnificent Temple of Belus, and on the other the Queen’s Palace.  These two edifices were connected by a passage under the bed of the river.  This city was at least forty-five miles in circumference; and would, of course, include eight cities as large as London and its appendages.  It was laid out in six hundred and twenty five squares, formed by the intersection of twenty-five streets at right angles The walls, which were of brick, were three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty-seven feet broad.  A trench surrounded the city, the sides of which were lined with brick and waterproof cement.  This city was famous for its hanging gardens, constructed by one of its kings, to please his queen.  She was a Persian, and was desirous of seeing meadows on mountains, as in her own country.  She prevailed on him to raise artificial gardens, adorned with meadows and trees.  For this purpose, vaulted arches were raised from the ground, one above another, to an almost inconceivable height, and of