1.) * B,

(1.)* The 2d letter of the English alphabet, is pronounced as in most other European languages, by prefling the whole length of the lips together, and forcing them open with a ftrong breath. It has a near affinity with the other labial letters, and is confounded by the Germans with P, and by the Gafcons with V; from which an epigrammatift remarks, that bibere and vivere are in Gafcony the fame. The Spaniards, in molt words, ufe B or V indifferently.

(2.) B is ufed, 1. as a letter; 2. as a numeral; and 3. as an abbreviation. 1. As a LETTER it is the fecond of most alphabets, except the Abyffinian, and the ancient Irish; where it is the firft, and A the 17th. B is the firt confonant, and first mute, and in its pronunciation is fuppofed to refemble the bleating of a fheep; upon which account Pierius teils us, in his hieroglyphics, that the Egyptians reprefented the found of this letter by the figure of that animal. B is alfo one of thofe letters which the eastern grammarians call labial, because the principal organs employed in its pronunciation are the lips. It is often ufed for P by the Armenians and other orientals, as in Betrus for Petrus, aplens for absens, &c.; and by the Romans for V, as in amabit for amavit, berna for verna, &c. Hence that pun of Aurelian on the emperor Bonofus, Non ut vivat naus eft, fed ut bibat. Plutarch obferves, that the Macedonians changed into B, and pronounced Bilippos, Berenice, &c. for Philiptos, Pherenice, &c.: and thofe of Delphos ufed B instead of II, as ɓadin for wuluv, Ginger for wingos, &c.— The Latins faid fuppono, oppono, for subpono, obpono; and pronounced optinuit, though they wrote obtinuit, as Quintilian has obferved.-They alfo ufed B for F or PH: thus, in an ancient infeription mentioned by Gruter, Obrndario, is ufed for Ofrendario - The modern Greeks call the Beta, Vita. II. As a NUMERAL, B was ufed by the Greeks and Hebrews to denote 2; but among the Romans for 300; with a dash over it (thus B) for 3000; and with a kind of accent under it for 200. III. As an ABBREVIATION, B. A. ftands for bachelor of arts; B. LL. for bachelor of laws; and B. D. for bachelor of divinity. B. F. in the preface to the decrees, or fenatus confulta of the old Romans, fignified bonum fa&tum. In mufic, B ftands for the tone above A; as B'), or bB, does for B flat, or the femitone major above A. B alfo ftands for bafs; and B. C. for baffo continuo, or thorough bafs. B in chemistry denotes mercury.

(1.) BA, a town of the kingdom of Benin, in Africa, fituated near the river Popo. Lon. 3. 45. E. Lat 8. 20. N.

(2.) BA, a river of Scotland in Argyllshire. * BAA. n. f. [See the verb. The cry of a theep. -Therefore thou art a fheep

Such another proof would make me cry baa. Shakespeare. * To BAA. v. n. (bulo, Latin.] To cry like a fheep.

Or like a lamb, whofe dam away is fet, .He trebles baas for help, but norte can get. Si (1.) BAAL, [by, Lord, Syr.] The fame as B or BELUS; an idol of the Chaldeans, and Pho nicians, or Canaanites. The former worthipp Mars under this name, according to Jofeph who, fpeaking of Thurus the fucceffor of Nin fay, "To this Mars, the Alyrians erected t firft ftatue, and worfhipped him as a God, ca ing him Baal." It is probable from what is corded, I . Kings xxiii. 5, 11 that the Peni ans worshipped the fun under the name of B The temples confecrated to this god, are cal in Scripture Chamanim, which fignifies places closed with walls, in which was kept a perpet fire. Maundrel, in his journey from Aleppo Jerufalem, observed some traces of thefe inc fures in Syria. In most of them there were ftatues; in a few there were fome, but of no niform figure. As the word baal, in the Pu language, fignifies lord or mafter, it doubt meant the fupreme Deity, the Lord and Ma of the univerfe. It is often joined with the na of fome falfe god, as BAAL-BERITH, BAAL-PE BAAL-ZEPHON, &c. This deity pated from Phoenicians to the Carthaginians, who were a lony of Phoenicians; as appears from the thaginian names, Hannibal, Afdrubal, &c. acc ing to the cuftom of the eaft, where kings great men added to their own names those of t gods. This falfe deity is frequently mentione Scripture in the plural number, BAALIM: wi may fignify, either that the name, Baal, was ven to feveral different gods; or that there w many ftatues, bearing different appellations, c fecrated to this idol. Arnobius tells us, that E was of an uncertain fex; and that his vota when they called upon him, invoked him th Hear us, whether thou art a god or a godd Some learned men think, that the Baal of Phoenicians is the Saturn of the Greeks; wi is probable enough from the conformity the between the human facrifices offered to Sat and those which the Scripture tells us were o ed to Baal. Others are of opinion, that Baal the Phoenician or Tyrian Hercules, a god of g antiquity in Phœnicia.

(2.) BAAL. See BAALATH-BEER.

BAALAH, I. a city transferred from the 1 of Judah to the Simeonites: 2. the original of Kirjath-jearim, in Judah.

BAALATH, a city in the tribe of Dan. BAALATH-BEER, or BAAL, a city of the meonites, on the SW. border.

S

BAAL-BECK, or the VALLEY OF BAAL, a tile country of Alia, between Lebanon and A libanus, about 30 miles from Damafcus; w there was formerly a magnificent temple of fun, the ruins of which are ftill vifible. geographers make it a part, and others the w of Cælofyria; but all agree, that it was one o moft pleasant spots on the earth. The rui the temple are fill admired by travellers. BA

joined themselves unto Baal-peor, and eat the offere ings of the dead; though by the offerings of the dead, in this paffage, may be only meant facrifices made to idols, who are very properly called the dead, in contradiftinction to the true God, who is juftly and emphatically ftyled the living God.

BAAL-BERITH, the god of the Shechemites. Bochart conjectures, that Berith is the fame as Berce, the daughter of Venus and Adonis, who was given in marriage to Bacchus; and that the gave her name to the city of Berith in Phoenicia, and became afterwards the goddefs of it. Baalberith fignifies Lord of the covenant, and may be taken for the god who prefides over alliances and otas, in like manner as the Greeks had their Z

, and the Romans their Deus Fidius, or JuPiftius. The idolatrous Ifraelites made Baalbenith their god. Judges viii. 33.

BAAL-GAD, BAGAD, or BEGAD, in ancient mythology, an idol of the Syrians whofe name was compofed of baal, lord, and gad, chance or fortune the god of chance or fortune. After the god of thunder, the god of chance was one of the first worthipped by mankind.

BAAL-HAMON, a place where Solomon had a vineyard, and where probably he facrificed to Bial, in his dotage, to please his idolatrous wives. BAAL-HANAN, the fon of Achbor, and the 7th king of the Edomites. From his name it appears probable, that the worship of Baal, had at that early period taken place among the defcendants of Efau.

BAAL-HAZOR, a city near Ephraim, about 8 miles NE. of Jerufalem, between Bethel and Jericho. In this city Abfalom held his treacherous festival for murdering his incestuous brother Amnon.

BAAL-HERMON, a part of Mount HERMON. BAALIM, in antiquity, inferior deities among the Phoenicians. See BAAL.

BAALIS, a king of the Ammonites, who fent Ishmael, the fon of Nethaniah, to murder the brave Gedaliah, the viceroy appointed by Nebuchadnezzar over the remnant of the Jews, whom be had left in Jerufalem. (Jer. xi. 17.) For this he was juftiy punished by Nebuchadnezzar, who fon after invaded his country and reduced it to a defert.

BAAL-MEON, BEON, OF BETHBAAL-MEON, a ety of Canaan, which was taken from the Amorites and given to the Reubenites. (Num. xxxii. 3) It was afterwards taken by the Moabites, and at last destroyed by the Chaldeans. It had been rebuilt, however, for it was inhabited in the time of the Maccabees.

BAAL-PEOR, or EEL-PHEGOR, an idol of BAAL-PHEGOR, the Moabites and Midianites. We are told, that Ifrael joined himself to Baalpor; and that Solomon erected an altar to this idol upon the mount of Olives. Baal-poor has been Juppofed a Priapus, and that the worthip of him confifted in the moft obfcene practices. Others hive thought, that, as Baal is a general name figaitying Lord, Peor may be the name of fone great prince deified after his death. Mede fuppotes, that Peor being the name of a mountain in the country of Moab, on which the mple of Bal was built, Baal-peor may be only another Lame of that deity, taken from the fituation of his temple; as Jupiter is ftyled Olympus from his temple built on Mount Olympus. Selden, who 1s of this opinion, conjectures likewife, that Baalpeor is the fame with Pluto; which he grounds upon these words of the Pfalmift, Pfal. evi. They

VOL. III. PART 1.

BAAL-PERAZIM, aplace in the valley of Rephair, about 3 miles SW. of Jerufalem, where David routed the Philiftines.

BAAL'S BAY, and a bay and river in Weft BAAL'S RIVER, 5 Greenland, fituated bes tween Bear's Sound and Delft's Point, oppolite Hudfon's Strait

BAAL-SHALISHA, a place belonging to Saina, ria, probably near Gilgal, the birth place of a prophet, whofe name is not recorded, who, in a time of famine, miraculously fed 100 men with 20 barley loaves. See II. Kings, iv 42-44.

BAAL-TAMAR, a place near Gibeah, where the tribe of Benjamin, was almost extirpated by the other 11 tribes. See Judg. xx. 33.

BAALTIS, a goddess among the Phoenicians, Some fuppofe that the was the fame with the Diana of the Greeks.

BAAL ZEBUB, BEEL-ZEBUB, or BELZEBUB, [aby, i. e. the lord of flies,] the idol, or god of the Ekronites. In Scripture he is called the Prince of Devils. His name, the God-fly, fome think was a mock appellation bestowed on him by the Jews. But this feems not very probable, as his ,worshipper, Ahaziah, called him by this name. Perhaps Belzebub was characterifed like the god Achor, who was worshipped at Cyrene, as the preferver from flies. See ACHOR, No 4. He had a famous temple and oracle at Ekron. Ahaziab king of Ifrael, being dangerously hurt, fent to this deity, to inquire if he fhould be cured. The worthip of this falfe god must have prevailed in our Saviour's time, fince the Jews accufd him of driving out devils in the name of Belzebub their prince. Scaliger derives the name of this deity from Baalim-zebahim, which signifies the Lord of facrifices.

BAAL-ZEPHON is mentioned in Exodus xiv. z. as oppofite to Pihihiroth, during the peregrinations of the Ifraelites in the wilderness; but whether it was a fortifed place, built to guard the frontier of Egypt, at the N. point of the Red Sea, or an idol erected in that ftation, comincatators are not agreed. Perhaps both parties may be right. An idol of Baal might be fet up in the fort, which would naturally take its name from the deity.

(1.) BAANAH, the fon of Rimmon, a Benjamite, who, with his brother Recheb, being oilcers under Ifhbotheth, treacherously murdered the young monarch, and carried his head to David, in hopes of a handfome reward; but received from him the reward juftly due to their villainy, being both inftantly executed for the murder, and their hands and feet cut c. See If Sam. vi. 3--12.

(2.) BAANAH, the fon of Ahilud, and

(3.) BAANAH, the fon of Hufhai, probably the Archite, governors of provinces in Tirol under Solomon.

BAANITES, the followers of one Baaner, who adopted and diffeminated the Manichean notions in the 9th century, about the year 819. (1.) BAAR,

T

(2.) BAAR, mountains in the duchy of Wirtemburg, which are a part of that long range cailed ABENOW or ABNOBA.

(1.) BAARAS, a valley near Macheron and mount Lebanon.

(2.) BAARAS, BAHARAS, or BACHARAS, an extraordinary kind of root, faid to grow in the valley BAARAS, whence the name. By the account which Jofephus gives, it feems to be a fort of vegetable phosphorous; for he reprefents it as of a flame colour, emitting rays of light in the night, and difappearing by day.

BAARD, in old records, a transport ship. BAASHA, (NTT), Heb. i. e. preffing together,] the fon of Ahijah, and the 3d king of Ifrael, after its separation from Judah ; one of the many monarchs who have waded through blood to a throne. His murder of his predeceffor, Nadab, about A. M. 2090; his extirpation of the whole family of Jeroboam; his wars with king Afa; his idolatries and the judgments denounced and executed against his houfe, are recorded in 1 Kings xv. and xvi. He died A. M. 3013, in the 24th year of his reign.

I

BAAT, in the language of the Siamefe, anfwering to TICAL in that of the Chinefe, denotes a weight and coin cument in those kingdoms. weighs about half an ounce.

It

BAB. See BABEL-MANDEL, N° 2. & 3. (1. & 2.) BABA, 1. a river, and 2. a province or lieutenancy of S. America, in Guayaquil. The cocoa tree abounds in this diftrict.

(3 & 4.) BABA, I. a town, and 2. a gulf of European Turkey, in Bulgaria, on the Black Sea, NE of Siliftria.

(5.) BABA, an impoftor, who appeared among the Turks in 1245. He maintained that there is is but one God, and that he was his meffenger. He drew confiderable attention, and with a num ber of followers over-ran Natolia. His fuccefs, however, was fhort-lived, for he was defeated, and his fect funk into obscurity.

BABADAGI, a town of European Turkey, in Bulgaria. Lon. 28. 38. E. Lat. 44. 46. N.

BABAHOYO, a village of Peru, where there is a custom-house, feated on the river Guayaquil. * BABBLE. n.f. [babil, Fr. Idle talk; fenfelefs prattle.-The babble, impertinence, and folly, I have taken notice of in difputes. Glanville.

* To BABBLE. v. n. [babbelen, Germ. babiller, Fr.] 1. To prattle like a child; to prat imperfectly.-

My babbling praises I repcat no more, But hear, rejoice, stand silent, and adore. Prior. 2. To talk idly, or irrationally.-John had conned over a catalogue of hard words; thefe he uted to babble indifferently in all companies. Arbuthnot. 3. To talk thoughtlef ly; to tell fecrets.-There is more danger in a referved and fiient friend, than in a noily bubbling enemy. L'Etrange. 4. To talk much.

And had I pow'r to give that knowledge birth, In all the fpeeches of the babbling earth. Prir. * BABBLÉMENT n.f. [from babble.] Septeles prate; empty words.-Deluded all this while

*

BABE. n. ƒ [baban, We'ch; babbaerd, Dutch. An infant; a child of either fex.-

The babe had all that infant care beguiles, And early knew his mother in her fmiles. Dr BABEL, a city and tower undertaken to b built by the whole human race foon after the floo and remarkable for the miraculous fruftration the attempt by the confufion of languages. A to the fituation of ancient Babel, most authe are of opinion that it was exactly in the plac where the celebrated city of Babylon afterward ftood. That it was in the fame country, appea indisputably from Scripture; but that it was e actly in the fame place cannot be proved, nor it a matter of any confequence. Authors ha been much divided about the motive by whi the whole race of mankind were induced to ic in fuch an undertaking. Some have imagined th it was out of fear of a fecond deinge; othe that they knew before hand, that they w to be difperfed through all the different cou tries of the world, and built this tower in on to defeat the defign of the Deit", becaufe havi a tower of such vaft height as they propofed, the who were at a diftance could easily find their w back again. Had either of thefe been their d fign, however, it is probable they would ha chofen an eminence rather than a plain for the tuation of their tower; or indeed that they wo have chofen fome high mountain fuch as Ara for their mark, rather than any tower at all: 1 though it is faid, that they defigned the top their tower to reach heaven, we can fearce fupp them to have been fuch fools as to imagine t poffible, in the literal fenfe of the words. But deed when we confider their ignorance of the t figure and motions of the earth and celeftial i dics; and reflect on the many abfurdities in ligion and science believed by the ancients, e this abfurd idea is not improbable to have b. entertained by them. But it appears most ratic to take the word, in the limited tense, in which is often uted by Mofes and his countrymen, wh they speak of cities walled up to heaven. Oth imagine that the top of this tower was not reach up to heaven, but to be confecrated to heavens, i. e. to the worship of the fun, mo and flars; of the fire, air, &c. and other n ral powers as deities; and therefore that the t Deity interpofed in order to prevent a total irrecoverable defection Certain it is, that fpecies of idolatry, which takes for the obje's its worthip thofe natural agents, as it is the m

feen. It feeds black cattle, but is peculiarly well adapted for fheep, being verdant the greater part of the year. It belongs to Mr Ferguson of Raith. BABILIUS, an aftrologer in the time Nero, who advised the emperor to put all the leading men of Rome to death, that he might aveit the danger which feemed to hang over his head, from the appearance of a hairy comet. Nero ftrictly followed this advice.

ancient, fo it is by far the most rationa!, and most difficult to be difproved. It is much more difficult, for instance, to prove that the fun, which by his enlivening beams gives vigour to the whole teation, is not a diety, than that a log of wood is not one; and hence, if such a system of religion became univerfally established among mankind, it would be almost impoffible ever afterwards to endicate it. Indeed that the scheme of Babel, whatever it was, could have been put in execu ten by min, seems evident from the interpofition the Deity on the occasion; for we cannot fuppole that he would have wrought a miracle on pupole to defeat that, which would have defeat. elinelf, if he had let it alone. Agreeably to this hypothefis, Dr Tennison fuppofes, that the tower was of a pyramidal form, in imitation of the fpires flame; and that it was erected in honour of the fun, as being the most probable caufe of drying up the flood. As to the materials ufed in building this tower, the fcripture informs that they were bricks and flime or bitumen. According to an eikern tradition, 3 years were taken up in making the bricks, each of which was 13 cubits long, 10 broad, and 5 thick. Oriental writers fay, that the city was 313 fathoms in length, and 151 in bidth; that the walls were 5533 fathoms high, and 33 in breadth; and that the tower itself was ofs than 10,000 fathoms, or 12 miles high. St Jerome affirms from the teftimony of eyeweffes, who, as he fays, had examined the re Mins of the tower, that it was 4 miles high; bat Ado makes the height to be no lefs than 500 The only account of its dimenfions which can be at all depended upon, fuppofing it to have be the fune which afterwards flood in the midft of the city of Babylon, and round which NebuCladnezzar built the temple of Belus, is that given under the article BABYLON, § 3.

1) BABEL-MANDEL, i. e. the GATE OF MOURNING, a famous ftrait in the Indian ocean, between the coaft of Arabia Felix in Afia, and that of Adel and Zeila in Africa, at the entrance into Red Sea. By fome it is alfo called the Straits of Moka. It is narrow, and difficult to fail through, on account of fand banks.

2.& 3.) BABEL-MANDEL, OF BAB, a final and, at the mouth of the ftraits, which is little effe than a barren rock: alfo a mountain in the iland. Lon. 44. 30. E. Lat. 12. 40. N.

BABENHAUSEN, a town of Germany in Suabra, in the duchy of Wirtemburg, 5 miles N. of Tabingen. Lon. 9. 41. E. Lat. 48. 35. N. BABERHAM-HALL, a fmall town, 6 miles from Cambridge, S. of Gog-Magog Hills. BABERTON, an eftate in the parish of Curne in Mid Lothian, the lands of which have lately creafed very much in their value. About 20 years ago it was fold for L.4000. It now brings L450 of yearly rent.

*BABÉRY. n. f. [from babe.] Finery to pleafe babe or child.

So have I feen trim books in velvet dight, With golden leaves and painted habery Of feely boys, please unacquainted fight. Sidney. BABEWRIES, ftrange antic works. Bailey. BABIE,

a hill in the parish of Burntifland, in chire, where feveral ancient tumuli are to be

(1.) BABINĄ, a village of Poland, near LUBLIN. (2.) BABINA, COMMONWEALTH OF, a fociety ludicrously so called, which was founded in Poland in the reign of Sigifmund-Auguftus, in the 16th century. It took its rife from a fet of gentlemen, inhabitants of Lublin, who had agreed to meet at BABINA, merely for the purpote of mirth and jollity. In time their number in safed, and t-y formed then felves into a regu'r government, under the prefidency of a king, fenate, and chief magiftrates. The magidrates were elected from fome thing which appeared ridiculous in the character or conduct of any of the members For inftance, if any perfon was meddling or officious, he was immediately created an archbifhub; a blundering or difputatious member was promoted to the Speaker's chair; a boaster of his own courage was honoured with the commiffion of generaiifimo, which was prefented him with great ceremony by the fubordinate heroes. Those who declined the office for which they were declared qualified, were perfecuted with hirings, and abandoned by the fociety. Thus every vice and every foible was attacked with ridicule; and Babina became in a thort time the terror, the admiration, and the reformer of the Polish nation: genius flourished, wit was cultivated, and the abufes which had crept into government and fociety were corrected by the judicious application of good humoured fatire. Never did any inftitution of this nature become fo general and fo useful; but at length it degenerated into a fet of buffoons, and banterers of every thing facred or profane. For feveral years it was patronifed by the kings of Poland, and Sigifmuɛd himself became a meniber; the starosta of Babina telling him jocularly, That "His majefly had certain qualities which intitled him to the firft dignity of the commor - v-alth.” Not the leaft remnant of this fociety now remains, though it was honoured with extraordinary privi. leges by kings and emperors.

(1.) BABINGTON, a fmall town in Somersetfire, near Kilmarfdon.

(2.) BABINGTON, Gervafe, bishop of Worcef ter, was born in Nottinghamshire; and was fent to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he was made fellow; and, in 1578, was incorporated A. M. at Oxford. He however, made Cambridge the place of his refidence, where he became an eminent preacher; and being now D. D. was made domeftic chaplain to Henry earl of Pembroke. In 128 he was inftalled prebend of Hereford, and in 1591 bishop of Landaff. In 1594 he was tranflated to the fee of Exeter, and thence to Worcester in 1997. About this time, he was made queen's counfel for the marices of

Wales. He was a confiderable benefactor to the library of the cathedral of Worcester, where he was buried in May 1610 without a nonament 1 2 Lifterians

Hiftorians who have mentioned this prelate agree that he was a learned and pious man. His writings, like thofe of moft of his cotemporaries, abound with puns and quaint expreffions. His works were printed both in folio and 4t0, in 1615 and 16.7, under this title: "The works of Gervafe Babington, late bishop of Worcester, containing mfortable notes upon the five books of Mofis, &c. Alfo an expofition upon the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer; with a con rance betwixt man's frailtie and faith, and three formons," &c.

(3.) BAEINGTON, Anthony, one of the fufferers in the caufe of the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scotland. He was born of a good family in Derbyshire, and inherited a plentiful fortune. Having diftinguished himself by his learning and talents, he was recomended by the Archbishop of Glafrow to Queen Mary; and being naturally of an ardent temper, he refolved to devote hin felf to her fervice. Accordingly, he not only entered into the fcheme of an enthufiaftic priest named Ballard, for dethraning Elizabeth, but when one Savage, undertook to alfafinate the English queen, he agreed in the defign, and engaged other five gcnJemer emen as accomplices. But after their design was ripe for execution, Polly, one of the aociates; having difcovered the whole to Walfingham, fcretary of state, they were arrested, condemned, and executed, in 1586.

* BABISH. ij. (from babe. Childish.-If he be bathful, and will foon bluh, they call him a batiß and ill brought up thing. Afcham,

BABUF, Francis Noel, an active man in the French revolution. From a footman he had rifen to a lowyer's clerk, and afterwards became attorpey. When the revolution commenced, he affumed the name of Gracchus, and engaged in conducting an incendiary journal, entitled The Tribun of the People; but his concern in a confpiracy being difcovered, he was condemned to be guillotined, and the execution was only prevented by his killing himfelf in prifon, in 1797.

BABOLIZA, called alfo a town of IiunBABOLITZMA CARITHNA, S gary, or rather of Sclavorin; feated near the river Drave, between Polega and Zygeth.

(1.) * BABOON. n. f. [babouin, Fr. It is fupposed by Skimer to be the augmentation of babe, and to import a great babe. A monkey of the fargoft kind. You had looked through the grate like a geniny of biboons. Shakespeare.

(2.) BABOON, in zoology. See SIMIA. BABWORTHI, a village in Nottinghamshire, peat Bedford,

* BABY. ». f. [See BABE.] I A child; an infant, -The child muft have fugar plums, rather than make the poor Lab, cry. Locke. 2. A fmail image in imitation of a child, which girls play with.The arch duke faw that Perkin would prove a runregate; and it was the part of children to fall out cout babies. Bacon-Since no image can reprejent the great Creator, never think to honour him by your foolih puppets, and babies of dirt and clay, Salling feet.

(1. 1.) BABYLON, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Babylonia or Chaldæa, and fuppofed to day food in Lon. 44. c. E. Lat. 33. c. N.

Semiramis is faid by fome, and Belus by others to have founded this city. But, by whomfover it was founded, Nebuchadnezzar embellished it and made it one of the wonders of the world The most famous works in and about it were th walls of the city, the temple of Belus, Nebuchad nezzar's palace, the hanging gardens, the bank of the river, the artificial lake, and the canals.

(2.) BABYLON, ANCIENT DIMENSIONS, WALLS &c. OF. This city was furrounded with wal's in thickness 87 feet, in height 350 feet, and t compafs 480 furlongs or 60 of our miles; accord ing to Herodotus, who was himself at Babylon and most writers give us the fame dimenfions Diodorus Siculus, however, diminishes the ci cumference of these walls very confiderably, an takes fomewhat from the height of them; theng he feems to add to their breadth, by faying, ti fix chariots might drive abreaft thereon; wh Herodotus writes, that one chariot only gi turn upon them; but then he places buildings o each fide of the top of thefe walls, which, accor ing to him, were but one flory high; which ma pretty well reconcile them together. Thofe, wh give the height of these walls but at go cubit fpeak of them only as they were after the time Darius Hyftafpis, who had caufed them to beaten down to that level. Thefe walls formed exa& fquare, each fide of which was 120 furlong or 15 miles, in length; and were all built of lar bricks cemented together with bitumen, which a thort time grows harder than the brick a floe which it cements. The city was encomp fed, without the walls, with a vaft ditch fil with water, and lined with bricks on both fide and, as the earth that was dug out of it ferved make the bricks, we may judge of the depth a largenefs of the ditch from the height and thi nefs of the walls. In the whole compass of t wall there were Ico gates, that is, 25 on each the 4 fides, all of folid brass. Between eve two of thefe gates, at proper distances, were towers; 4 more at the 4 corners of this gu fquare, and 3 between each of thefe corners a the next gate on either fide; and each of the towers was ten feet higher than the walls, in th parts where towers were needful for deftr For fome parts of the walls, being upon a n rafs, and inacceflible by an enemy, they food no need of towers. And thus the whole nun) of thefe towers amounted to no more than a From the 25 gates in each fide of this fqua there was a straight freet, extending to the c reipording gate in the oppofite wall; whence whole number of the freets must have been l 50; but they were each about 15 miles long, of them crofing the other 25 cxactly at right fles. Befides thefe whole ftrects, we must reck four half freets, which were but rows of h fs facing the four inner fides of the wa Thele four half freets were properly the f fides of the city within the walls, and were e of them aco feet broad, the whole ftreets ing about 150 of the fame. By this interfe of the 50 freets, the city was divided into t fquares, each of 4 furlongs and an half on fide, or two miles and a quarter in comp Round thefe fquares on every side towards