the glory of having cut that branch of the Euphrates which falls into the river Tigris at Seleucia.

The Euphrates itself has its source from the Armenian mountains, whence it flows, dividing Arabia and Babylon from Mesopotamia, till, mixing with its fellow traveller the Tigris, it falls at length into the Persian gulf. The course of this river is not rapid; in many parts it is not navigable but to very small vessels; its water is naturally turbid and foul, but when passed! through a proper strainer, it is lighter, and preferable to any other in those regions, and from its excellence it obtained a name signifying the water of desire.

The vessels formerly used upon this river were round, without distinction of head or stern, and no better than great wicker baskets coated over with hides, which were guided with long oars These vessels were of different sizes, some of them: being capable of carrying a burden of palm-wine, to the weight of 5000 talents, besides a number of asses. At Babylon, the great mart of trade, they used to unload their cargo, sell their vessels, but kept the hides, which they brought home by land on their asses.

This country is remarkable for having enclosed, according to the most rational opinions, within its limits, at least great part of Paradise. Here also was the plain of Shinar, or Senjar, where the whole race of mankind were gathered toge de in one body after the flood, from whence thevi dispersed themselves over the face of the earth.

Nimrod was the founder of Babel; but, many ages, it evidently appears to have remaine a petty royalty, till the Assyrians paved the way the empire it attained. Its government was,

in its infancy, tyrannical and despotic, but at the death of Nimrod it fell to a level with other neighbouring states, till the Assyrians, in process of time, laid the foundations whereon it afterwards exalted itself as the queen of the east. The government, then, of Babylon, like that of Assyria, was strictly despotical, and its sceptre he reditary. The whole centered in the person of the king; all decrees issued from his mouth; he even affected the power, and claimed the worship, which belonged only to the Divinity. This was, perhaps, the most effectual means of intimidating not only his own subjects, but surrounding nations, who might otherwise have become rivals of his greatness, and have attempted to dispossess him of his kingdom. Upon a prin ciple of this kind, the great conquerors of the east have always affected retirement, as too glo. rious to be beheld by vulgar eyes; thus contriving to keep in subjection a number of nations of different languages, complexions, and manners, to a person who must be a stranger to almost all of them.

The first monarchs of Babylon, however, administered their government by officers of several sorts, civil and military; and accordingly we find them divided into three classes, supposed to be selected from among the most grave and noble persons in the empire: the first had the charge of the virgins, and their disposal in marriage; and to judge of all matters relating to the connubial state: the second took cognizance of theft: and the third of all other crimes. We find the subordinate powers under this mighty emperor divided into princes, governors, captains, judges, and counsellors, so that nothing was wanting to keep the peace and good order of the empire.

This great king of kings had an household equal to the sublimity of his station, the chief officers of which were, the captain of his guard, the prince of the eunuchs, and the prime minister. The first had the execution of his arbitrary commands; the second had the charge of the education and subsistence of the youth of the palace, and the last sat in the king's gate to hear com plaints, and to pass judgments. Besides these, there was the master of the magicians always at hand to satisfy the king upon any thing he might want to know, with regard to futurity and prognostication.

Though these kings seem to have claimed. such high honours, and to have considered the whole world as created for their use and service, yet we understand, that they sometimes condescended to banquet with their great lords and chief men of their dominions, of whom we read in the book of Daniel, that a thousand were at one time entertained by Beltshazzar. The common style of salutation to this sovereign was, O King, live for ever! and the man who was so happy as in a particular manner to gain his favor, was clothed with purple or scarlet, adorned with a chain of gold about his neck, and invested with some government.

The laws of the empire were in general vague and uncertain, depending wholly upon the will of the monarch, but one was fixed and irrevo cable, which obliged all, especially the poorer sort of the people, to marry. By this law the daughters of every man were bestowed in marriage according to the will of the king or his of ficers, in a manner to be related hereafter.

As the laws were changeable, so also the

punishments unfixed, arbitrary, and rigorous in proportion to the dispositions of the sovereign. Beheading, cutting to pieces, turning the criminals' house into a dunghill, and burning in a fiery furnace, are punishments which were executed by order of the kings of Babylon.

It is difficult to separate the religion and learning of the Babylonians into distinct heads. The Chaldæans, properly so called, were not only the priests, but the literati of the country. They were devoted to the business of religion, pretended to prophecy, to predict by the rules of augury, by the flight of birds, and the inspection of slaughtered victims:-they explained dreams, and all the extraordinary phenomena of nature, as portending good or evil to men or nations, and it was thought by the vulgar, that these priests could by their incantations and invocations affect the future welfare of mankind. Having, by their situations, been early attentive to celestial observations, they concluded that the invisible Deity had created the heavenly bodies as the subordinate agents of his power, and as ministers of his will to govern the world.

Persuaded of this, they began to build temples. to the stars, to sacrifice to them, to praise them, and to bow down in religious homage before them, expecting through their means to obtain the favor and good-will of God; so that they esteemed them as mediators between God and themselves. In process of time, impostors arose, and gave out that they had it enjoined from God himself, that some particular star should be worshiped in a certain manner, and that none of any age or degree should be exempt from this

duty.

duty. Hence men began to erect temples, with images, under trees, upon the summit of hills or mountains, and to assemble in them for the purposes of divine worship. Other impostors, improving on the first, pretended to have been honored with particular instructions from particular stars, concerning the exact mode of wor ship due to them, and what ought, and what ought not, to be done to please them.

Such was the rise of idolatry, which taking root among the Chaldæans, spread its branches so far as to keep in darkness all the nations of the east. It is certain that the first image worshippers did not pretend to pay adoration to the uninformed wood, stone or metal, and that in their transition from planet-worship to image. worship, they pretended to have infused the virtues of the planets into the image that it was meant to represent, which they thought might be : affected by forms of consecration; and by va. ↑ rious incantations, they pretended to draw down: from the stars their several intelligences into their respective idols; herce came all the superstition of the talismans, together with the various branches of magic and sorcery.

It is evident that this was the origin of image. worship, since the names of the principal Gods of the heathen in general, are those of the sun, moon and five primary planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus.

This was the state of the old Babylonian religion, till they came to deify mortal men, as well as the celestial bodies, a practice, for which two reasons have been assigned; first, the grief of a parent for a child untimely snatched away,

whose