a term principally used for the garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed immediately upon their creation.

As to this terrestrial paradise, there have been many inquiries about its situation. It has been placed in the third heaven, in the orb of the moon, in the moon itself, in the middle region of the air, above the earth, under the earth, in the place possessed by the Caspian sea, and under the arctic pole. The learned Huetius places it upon the river that is produced by the conjunction of the Tigris and Euphrates, now called the river of the Aral, between this conjunction and the division made by the same river before it falls into the Persian sea. Other geographers have placed it in Armenia, between the sources of the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Araxis, and the Phasis, which they suppose to be the four rivers described by Moses. But concerning the exact place we must necessarily be very uncertain, if indeed it can be thought at all to exist at present, considering the many changes which have taken place on the surface of the earth since the creation.

"Learned men (says Mr Miln *) have laboured to find out the situation of Paradise, which seems to be but a vague and uncertain inquiry; for the Mosaic description of it will not suit any place on the present globe. He mentions two rivers in its vicinity, viz. Pison and Gihon, of which no vestiges can now be found. The other two still remain, viz. the Hiddekel, supposed to be the Tigris, and the Euphrates, whose streams unite together at a considerable distance above the Persian gulf; in some part of which, it is highly probable the happy garden once lay (a). This gulf

(a) "God (we are told) placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned..." Paradise is eastward both of the land of Midian and the wilderness of Sinai; in one of which places Moses wrote his history. But since the formation of this earth, it has undergone great changes from earthquakes, inundations, and many other causes. The garden, however, seems to have been a peninsula, for the way or entrance into it is afterwards mentioned. We are told that a 'river went out of it,' which, according to some, should be rendered 'run on the outside of it,' and thus gave it the form of a horde-floe; for had the Euphrates run through the middle of the garden, one half of it would have been useless to Adam, without a bridge or boat wherewith to have crossed it."

The learned authors of the Universal History, in their account of rarities natural and artificial in Syria, mention "a spot which is still known as the place where once stood the garden of Eden, or Terrestrial Paradise. And indeed it is in all respects so beautiful and rich, and yields so delightful a prospect from the adjacent hills, that there is hardly another place in the world that has a fairer title to the name it bears. Its proximity to Damascus, the capital of Syria, near the fountain head of the Jordan; its situation between the Tigris or Hiddekel, the Euphrates, the Phasis or Phison, the Araxes or Gibon (which last has those names from its vast rapidity above all other known rivers), its bordering upon the land of Chus, famed for its fine gold; all these and many other marks specified by Moses, together with its charming and surprising fruitfulness, and constant verdure, have induced a great number of commentators to settle that celebrated and so much sought after spot here, and to deem it the most valuable of all the natural rarities of this country."

Christians, however, need not be told, that however curious or amusing this inquiry may be, the determination of it is of no importance, since we are all well assured that the celestial paradise is that place of pure and refined delight in which the souls of the blessed enjoy everlasting happiness.

It may not be improper, however, in this place to give a description of the paradise of the Mohammedans. The futility and absurdity of that impostor must be apparent to all men. Their religion has no consistency in its parts, and the descriptions of the future enjoyment of the faithful are miserable instances of human weakness and folly.

"The paradise of the Mohammedans is said by them to be situated above the seven heavens, or in the seventh, and next under the throne of God; and to express the amenity of the place, they tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or of saffron; and that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver, and the trunks of all its trees of gold, amongst which the most remarkable is the tree tuba, or tree of happiness. They pretend that this tree stands in the palace of Mohammed, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer, loaded with pomegranates, dates, grapes, and other fruits of surprising bigness, and delicious tastes, unknown to mortals. If a man refuses to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented to him; or if he chooses flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, and such as he may wish for. They add, that this tree will supply the blessed, not only with fruit, but with silk garments also, and beasts to ride on, adorned with rich trappings, all which will burst forth from the fruit; and that the tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in 100 years. Plenty of water being one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Alcoran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as the principal ornament. Some of these rivers are said to flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey: all of them have their sources in the root of this tree of happiness; and, as if these rivers were not sufficient, we are told that the garden of this paradise is also watered by a great number of lesser springs and fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of camphor, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron. But all these glories will be eclipsed by the splendid and exquisite beauty of the girls of paradise, the enjoyment of whose company will constitute the principal felicity of the faithful. These (they say) are not formed of clay, as mortal women, but of pure musk; and are, as their prophet often affirms in his Alcoran, free from all the natural defects and inconveniences incident to the sex. Being also of the strictest modesty, they keep themselves secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large, that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than 16, or, as others say, 60 miles long, and as many broad. With these the inhabitants of paradise may taste pleasures in their height; and for this purpose will be endowed with extraordinary abilities, and enjoy a perpetual youth."

Paradise Lost, the name of a modern epic poem, the first and finest of those composed by Milton.

The subject of this poem is extraordinary; it had never before been attempted, and seemed to be above the efforts of human genius. Angels and devils are not the machinery, but the principal actors in it; so that what would appear marvellous in any other composition, is in this only the natural course of events.—The poet's intention was, as he expresses it himself, to vindicate the ways of God to men. How far Milton was happy in the choice of his subject, may be questioned.

In Scripture, the extraordinary judgments of God are said to be executed by his angels, who are sometimes compared to flames of fire. Therefore the cherubim and the flaming sword may probably mean nothing more than that a large portion of ground on the eastward of Paradise was set on fire during the above awful occasion, and continued burning with such violence, that the flame thereof at a distance appeared like a brandished sword, turning every way with the wind. Now if the soil of Eden was bituminous, like that of Gomorrah (which was once so fertile as to be compared to the "garden of the Lord"), the fire would continue burning till it produced the same effect in the one place as it did in the other, and turned a great part of that tract into sea: which seems to countenance the opinion of those who place the situation of Paradise in some part of the Persian Gulf." questioned. It has led him into difficult ground, though it certainly suited the daring sublimity of his genius. It is a subject for which he alone was fitted; and, in the conduct of it, he has shown a stretch both of imagination and invention which is perfectly wonderful.

Bird of PARADISE. See the following article.