From Egyptian and Jewish history, we learn that gardens [p264] were an appendage of the palaces of their princes, and other great men, for personal solace and gratification; but how far the art was systematized, either in knowledge or practice, history is silent. Throughout the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Macedonian empires, we learn but little more than that ornamental gardening was carried to an extravagant height in their artificial formation; insomuch that one of the Babylonian princes built what were called “hanging gardens,” that is, a vast and lofty pyramidal structure on arches, arcades with terraces surmounted by other arcades, and carried up in gradations to a great height. The terraces being planted with the choicest trees, presented to the distant spectator a verdant hill of foliage in the midst of a large city, and lifted the sovereign proprietor far above the noise and intrusive notice of his vassals below; at the same time, yielding him all the sweets, seclusion, and quiet of the country, even in the purlieu of his palace! The idea of such an ornamented and elevated structure for a mighty sovereign was certainly sublime, and far surpassing all that has been yet done (though it has been suggested by Mr. Loudon) in the western world; and though only a monument of wealth and personal pride, prompted by conjugal regard, and entirely artificial, was certainly proper for the place where it stood, worthy of the prince who erected, and the extensive empire to which it belonged. Throughout a long-following period, and up to the time of the Romans, we learn nothing particular respecting gardens, only, that among the Jews, they had gardens for herbs, vineyards, and even gardens for cucumbers: but as frequent allusions are made to them, it is probable that gardening had then become a distinct calling, as we find it was among the Romans, as soon as their extensive conquests were secured.