volve upon us as Christians; the awful responsibility we are under as to a right use of all those gifts and talents with which we have been intrusted; and the necessity of becoming a more spiritually-minded people.

In turning our attention to the state of the Society, as it has been now laid before us, the proper employment of the first day of the week, the day more particularly set apart for public worship, is a subject that has claimed our serious attention. It is no small privilege to be living in a country where much regard is paid to this duty, and it highly becomes us to be careful that our example in this respect be consistent with the profession we make to the world. We desire that heads of families, and our younger friends also, may closely examine, whether they are sufficiently solicitous to improve that portion of this day which is not allotted to the great duty of meeting with their friends for the purpose of Divine worship. To those who are awakened to a due sense of the eternal interests of the soul and oh! that this were the case with all -we believe that these intervals have often proved times of much religious benefit. Many have derived great increase of strength, both at these and other times, from retiring to wait upon the Lord; from reading the Holy Scriptures with minds turned to their Divine Author, in desire that he would bless them to their comfort and edification; and from perusing the pious lives and experiences of those who have gone before them. But we avoid prescribing any precise line of conduct, believing that if the attention be sincerely turned unto the Heavenly Shepherd, his preserving help and guidance will not be withheld.

Those of the class whom we have just been addressing, may sometimes feel that their faith is low, when about to attend their meetings in the course of the week, it may be, under great outward difficulties. These sacrifices of time, and opportunities of withdrawing from worldly cares, have been blessed to many: they have proved, in seasons of deep trial and discouragement, times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. The waiting, dependent ́mind has thus been enabled to put on strength to persevere in the Christian course; and under the pressure of many troubles and perplexities, to experience an increase

of faith in the merciful and omnipotent care of our Great Creator. Be encour aged then, dear friends, not to neglect your meetings, however small; but to believe that by a diligent altendance of them, and a right engagement of mind therein, you will be strengthened to fill up your stations as faithful and devoted Christians.

In a well-ordered family, short opportunities of religious retirement frequently occur, in which the mind may be turned in secret aspiration to the Author of all our blessings; and which have often proved times of more thas transient benefit. It is our present concern, that no exception to this practice may be found amongst us; whether it take place on the reading of a portion of the sacred volume, or when we are assembled to partake of the provisions with which we are supplied for the sus tenance of the body. On these latter occasions, may the hearts of our young friends also be turned in gratitude to God, who thus liberally provides for them. May the experience of us all be such, that we can adopt the words of the Psalmist, Evening, and morning,

and at noon, will I pray.'

In our last year's epistle, we had to remark the failure of some of our members in paying their just debts. We have been again deeply pained on finding that some disgraceful cases of this kind have since occurred. Whilst . we lament the condition of such as have thus wounded their own peace, and brought condemnation on themselves, we also feel very tenderly both for the near relatives of these, and for their creditors who have suffered through them. In adverting to these cases, it is our solicitude that the misconduct of those to whom we allude may be a caution to others. At all times, but more particularly in the present depressed state of trade and commerce, it will be very useful for friends fre quently to inspect into the state of their own property, to keep their concerns within proper bounds, and so to confine their wants within the limits. of Christian contentment, that should. any unforeseen reverses be experienced. they may look back with feelings of conscious integrity. And we would especially recommend to friends of discrimination and sound judgment. in

Psalm lv. 17.

kindness and love, to watch over their brethren for good. Great advantages would result from early, repeated, and private advice to young tradesmen, who from temporary success and inexperience may be in danger of exceeding their capital, and of imprudently extending their business.

Our sympathy is much excited for those, who, after fair prospects, have, from a sudden depreciation of property, been subjected to many difficulties. We wish kindly to encourage such of these as have it still within their power, to a timely contraction of their domestic expenses. And we desire that their trials may be lightened by beholding in their offspring a disposition to industry and economy, and a willingness that their expectations should not exceed those limits which become a Christian character: this we believe would ultimately tend to their greatest good. Before we quit this subject, we would remind our friends of the former advice of this meeting, that where any have injured others in their property, the greatest frugality should be observed by themselves and their families and although they may have a legal discharge from their creditors, both equity and our Christian profession demand, that none, when they have it in their power, should rest satisfied, until a just restitution be made to those who have suffered by them.

The amount of sufferings reported this year, for tithes and other ecclesiastical claims, and a few demands of a military mature, is upwards of fourteen thousand four hundred pounds. We have received epistles from all, except one, of the Yearly Meetings on the American continent. From these we observe with pleasure, that besides a watchful care to support the testimonies of our own Society, our brethren beyond the Atlantic are engaged in various acts of benevolence for the welfare of their fellow men.

Dear young friends, our hearts are warmed with love to you. We desire that it may be your frequent concern to seek for an establishment on the only sure foundation, and to wait in humble watchfulness for the teachings of the Heavenly Instructor. If conficts of mind should attend you, and

Europ. Mag. Fol LXXII. July 1817.

prove painful and humiliating in their nature, this is no cause for dismay. Those who steadily pursue the path of a true disciple, will, through the goodness of the Lord, at times be permitted indubitably to feel that they are the objects of his paternal regard. Thus they will have cause to acknow◄ ledge the great benefit of patient religious exercise. They will from their own experience know an increase of true faith in the power and perceptible support of the Holy Spirit. Ascribing this to the free gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, they will become firmly persuaded that the tendering power of Redeeming Love, though undervalued by too many, is above all things preCIOUS. We are consoled in the belief, that the feet of many of our beloved young friends have been turned into this path. And it is our earnest desire, that neither the fear of man, the offence of the cross, an aversion to the simplicity of the Truth, nor the activity of their own wills, may interrupt their progress; but that they may, through the unfoldings of Divine counsel, come to know an establishment in that faith which giveth the victory.*

And, dear friends, you who love the Truth, and who are in the vigour of life; feeling as you must the many blessings of which you have been partakers, and the privilege it is to be employed in the smallest degree in the service of the Lord, let it be your concern to offer your hearts to his disposal, and, under his sacred guidance, to become devoted to the support of his cause.

May our dear elder brethren and sisters, though often depressed on various accounts, be, by continued watchfulness unto prayer, endued with capacity to trust in God. May they receive that Divine support which will enable them acceptably to endure the remaining trials of time; and, being preserved in liveliness and meekness of spirit, be prepared to enter into rest everlasting.-Farewell.

Signed in and on behalf of the Meeting, by

WILLIAM DILLWORTH CREWPSON,
Clerk to the Meeting this Year.

(July

Observations connected with Astronomy and Ancient History, Sucred and Profane, on the Ruins of Babylon, as recently visited and described by Claudius James Rich, Esq. Resident for the East India Company at Bagdad; with illustrative Engravings. By the Rev. Thomas Maurice, A.M. Author of Indian Antiquities, and Assistant Librarian at the British Museum. Quarto, 11. 5s. 1816.

WHEN we opened the volume be

subject of it-the GREAT BABYLON that city, the very site of which, after the lapse of above three thousand years, has been doubted of, both our curiosity and our apprehensions were warmly excited; the former by that subject itself, the latter by doubts whether a judicious choice had been made for the exercise of his talents, by an author who had never visited those eastern regions, where the scene of his enquiry lies. Knowing, however, what, without that advantage, Mr. MAURICE had before accomplished, and turning over a few of the pages, we became gradually more and more convinced of his ability to do justice to that subject, vast as it is, and distant as its situation. By giving us the successive details of all preceding writers, from Herodotus and Strabo down to M. Beauchamp and Mr. Rich, we are made intimately acquainted with the history and antiquities of the spot, together with the sentiments of all preceding authors and travellers concerning it, aud the massy ruins which overspread it, and mark HELLA on the Euphrates

for the site of ancient BABYLON.

Our author begins with observing, that scarcely any district of Asia could boast of the erection of so many superb cities within its limits, as this favoured

made it the chosen seat of princely do mination. When properly irrigated and cultivated by human industry, this Mesopotamian region, which is now, for the most part, a barren desert full of lakes and morasses, and inhabited by 'savage Arabian hordes, must have been uncommonly productive. But the exactions of an eastern despotic government have paralyzed the labours of the husbandman, and will probably long prevent the return of that abundance which was indispensably necessary, when its population was immense, and its cities extensive and numerous. Among those that once raised their august summits on these plains, may justly be mentioned SELEUCIA, built by Seleucus Nicator as the rival of Babylon; CTESI PHON, memorable for the magnificent palace called TAUK-KE9RA, throne of the mighty Chosroes, built by Nushirvan in the 6th century; and the more modern, but far-famed, cities of Bagdad and Bassora. The greater part of the massy materials with which these cities were constructed were, it is evident, brought from the ruined towers and plundered palaces of Babylon: the bricks being of the exact size, imprinted with the same characters, and having undergone the operation

or the

of an intense fire. It ought, therefore, to excite our wonder, that such ample, rather than such scanty, remains of that proud capital at this day exist."

A description of Babylon, from the classical writers of antiquity, now follows, with which most of our readers are too well acquainted to need insertion here. With respect to the amazing extent of the wALLS, as given by Herodotus, Mr. M. supposes, with Major Rennel and D'Anville, that the exaggeration must be the consequence of some mistaken notion concerning the length of the Greek stadium, which, instead of being computed at 600 feet, he contends should be only 500 feet; and, even on this reduced scale, he contends that so vast an area as seventy or eighty square miles, which it yields, "could never have been filled up with houses closely built, and fully stocked with inhabitants, as European cities are; but must have been laid out in the way in which most Asiatic cities are planned-in large gardens, public squares, and reservoirs of water, and inhabited by a population very disproportionate to so extensive an inclosure. Nature herself has fixed boundaries to the extent of great capitals. The wants of a people as numerous as such limits would admit (amounting to some millions) could not be provided for in a situation like that of Babylon, which could command no supplies by sea, and was neither acquainted with the best modes of land conveyance, nor possessed any very commodious inland navigation. Consequently the price of provisions and necessaries of all kinds must, in such a place, have been raised to an extravagant pitch, and that price, increasing with the increasing multitude of inhabitants, must have given birth to incalculable evils." P. 7.

But what have become of these MIGHTY WALLS? Such masses of brickwork, in some places sixty feet thick, have surely left some traces behind them! Let us hear the author, quoting Mr. RICH, the last visitant of these celebrated ruins-

"I have not been fortunate enough to discover the least trace of them (the walls) in any part of the ruins at Hellah which is rather an unaccountable circumstance, considering that they survived the final ruin of the town, long after which they served as an inclosure for a park; in which comparatively perfect state, St. Jerome informs us, they

remained in his time. Nor can the depredations subsequently committed upon them in the building of Hellah, and other similar places, satisfactorily account for their having totally dis appeared."

Upon this Mr. M. observes, that, "The accumulation of soil from perpetual inundations of the river, when its embankments had once been suffered to go to decay, and the Euphrates itself having doubtless altered its course during the revolution of so many ages, may, in some degree, account for this disappearance of the walls in a country, which originally was little better than a vast morass. What indefatigable labour, therefore, what unwearied toil, must the fabricators of these stupendous works have undergone, to construct, on such a soil, such immense edifices? To such toil the labour of erecting the pyramids appears trifling-but I will not anticipate the reflections which will naturally and more forcibly suggest themselves after a perusal of their unequalled efforts in architecture, detailed in the following pages."

Mr. M. now commences his account of the more modern explorers and historians of these majestic Ruins, the most conspicuous among whom was the.celebrated PETRO DELLA VALLE, who, in 1616, visited them, and thus describes them.

"In the midst of a vast and level plain, about a quarter of a league from the Euphrates, appears a heap of ruined buildings, like a huge mountain, the materials of which are so confounded together, that one knows not what to make of it. Its figure is square, and it rises in form of a tower or pyramid, with four fronts, which answer to the four quarters of the compass, but it seems longer from north to south than from east to west, and is, as far as I could judge by my pacing it, a large quarter of a league. Its situation and form correspond with that pyramid which Strabo calls the tower of Belus."

“The height of this mountain of ruins is not in every part equal, but exceeds the highest palace in Na ples; it is a mis-shapen mass, wherein there is no appearance of regularity: in some places it rises in sharp points, craggy, and inaccessible; in others it is smoother and of easier ascent; there are also traces of torrents from the summit to the base, caused by violent raius." "It is built with large

and thick bricks, as I carefully observed, having caused excavations to be made in several places for that purpose; but they do not appear to have been burned, but dried in the sun, which is extremely hot in those parts. These sun-baked bricks, in whose substance were mixed bruised reeds and straw, and which were laid in clay mortar, compose the great mass of the building, but other bricks were also perceived at certain intervals, especially where the strongest buttresses stood, of the same size, but burned in the kiln, and set in good lime and bitumen."

Della Valle had taken drawings of these ruins, but for some reason unknown they were never finished, and the plate that stands first in this volume is a sketch from Kircher, into whose hands his writings and drawings fell, as nearly as possible accommodated to the above description. The next traveller of note to the banks of the Euphrates was the celebrated M. Niebuhr; and, Mr. M. observes, "from that gentleman's acknowledged erudition, and his acuteness in examining subjects of Asiatic antiquity, it is to be regretted that he passed so rapidly, in his route to Bagdad, through those celebrated remains of Babylonian grandeur. It is well known, however, with how many obstacles, from the jealous suspiéion as well as open hostility of the present possessors of those renowned regions, the European traveller, when unattended by a proper escort, has to contend. Such was the case with the learned Dane, whose description of the ruins is of a very general nature; although he confirms all that Della Valle has related respecting the immensity of the piles of ruin scattered over the wide plain of Hella, and the continual excavation of the ground for the bricks, of a font square, which formed the foundation of the walls and structures of ancient Babylon."

The next traveller, in person, through these regions was M. Otter; and after him, in his study, the famous M. D'Anville; but the latter, in his study, has thrown more light upon the subject than M. Otter in person. Next follows M. Beauchamp, Vicar-general of BabyJon; and his very satisfactory account having been translated from the French original, and exclusively inserted in our review of books for May, 1792, to that review we, with pleasure, refer our readers for the interesting particulars.

They have still more recently, viz. in 1812, been visited and explored by Mr. Rich, resident for the East India Company at Bagdad; and his work, according to Mr. Maurice, containing a by far more exact and detailed description of them than in any preceding writer, having never been reviewed by us, as being only a part of an investigation of some extent, we now proceed to give an abridged account of his interesting "Memoir" on the subject in the words of our author.

"Mr. Rich describes the whole country between Bagdad and Hella, a distance of 48 miles, as a perfectly flat and, for the most part, uncultivated waste; though it is evident, from the number of canals by which it is traversed, and the immense ruins that covers its sur face, that it must formerly have been both well peopled and cultivated. For the accominodation of the traveller, at convenient distances throughout the whole track, there have been erected khans or caravanserais, and to each is attached a small village. About two miles above Hella, the more prominent ruins commence, among which, at iatervals, are discovered, in considerable quantities, burnt and unburnt bricks and bitumen; two vast mounds in particular attract attention from their size, and these are situated on the earstern bank of the Euphrates. There are scarcely. any remains of ruins visible, imme diately opposite on the western bank, but there are some of a stupendous magnitude on that side, about six miles to the south-west of Hella, which will be noticed hereafter. He describes the first ruin which he visited on these plains, called Amran, as extending one thousand one handred yards in length, and eight hundred in its greatest breadth, its figure nearly resembling that of a quadrant; its height is irregular; but the most elevated part may be about fifty or sixty feet above the level of the plain, and it has been dug into for the purpose of procuring bricks.”

"On the north is a valley of five hundred and fifty yards in length, the area of which is covered with tussocks of rank grass, and crossed by a line of ruins of very little elevation. To this succeeds the second grand heap of rains, the shape of which is nearly a square, of seven hundreds yards length and breadth, and its S. W. angle is connected with the N. W. angle of the mounds of Amran, by a ridge of consider