CHAPTER V.

_Description of Jerusalem_.

Pilgrimages to the Holy Land; Arculfus; Willibald; Bernard; Effect of

Crusades; William de Bouldessell; Bertrandon de la Broquiere; State of

Damascus; Breidenbach; Baumgarten; Bartholemeo Georgewitz; Aldersey;

Sandys; Doubdan; Cheron; Thevenot; Gonzales; Morison; Maundrell; Pococke;

Road from Jaffa to Jerusalem; Plain of Sharon; Rama or Ramla; Condition

of the Peasantry; Vale of Jeremiah; Jerusalem; Remark of Chateaubriand;

Impressions of different Travellers; Dr. Clarke; Tasso; Volney; Henniker;

Mosque of Omar described; Mysterious Stone; Church of Holy Sepulchre;

Ceremonies of Good Friday; Easter; The Sacred Fire; Grounds for Skepticism;

Folly of the Priests; Emotion upon entering the Holy Tomb; Description of

Chateaubriand; Holy Places in the City; On Mount Zion; Pool of Siloam;

Fountain of the Virgin; Valley of Jehoshaphat; Mount of Offence; The Tombs

of Zechariah, of Jehoshaphat, and of Absalom; Jewish Architecture; Dr.

Clarke's Opinion on the Topography of Ancient Jerusalem; Opposed by other

Writers; The Inexpediency of such Discussions.

Having described, as fully as the plan of our undertaking will admit, the

constitution, history, learning, and religion of the ancient Hebrews, we

now proceed to give an account of the present condition of the country

which they inhabited nearly 1500 years, interrupted only by short

intervals of captivity or oppression. The connexion which Christianity

acknowledges with the people and soil of Judea has, from the earliest

times, given a deep interest to travels in the Holy Land. The curiosity

natural to man in respect to things which have obtained celebrity, joined

to the conviction, hardly leas natural, that there is a certain merit in

enduring privation and fatigue for the sake of religion, has in every age

induced pilgrims to visit the scenes where our Divine Faith was originally

established, and to communicate to their contemporaries the result of

their investigations. It is to be regretted, indeed, that some of them

from ignorance, and others from a feeling of the weakest bigotry, have

omitted to notice those very objects which are esteemed the most

interesting to the general reader; thinking it their duty, as one of them

expresses it, to "quench all spirit of vain curiosity, lest they should

return without any benefit to their souls."

About the year 705, Jerusalem and its holy places were visited by

Arculfus, from whose report Adamnan composed a narrative, which was

received with considerable approbation. He describes the Temple on Mount

Calvary with some minuteness, mentioning its twelve pillars and eight

gates. But his attention was more particularly attracted by relics, those

objects which all Jerusalem flocked to handle and to kiss with the

greatest reverence. He saw the cup used at the last supper,--the sponge on

which the vinegar was poured,--the lance which pierced the side of our

Lord,--the cloth in which he was wrapped,--also another cloth woven by the

Virgin Mary, whereon were represented the figures of the Saviour and of

the Twelve Apostles.

Eighty years later, Willibald, a Saxon, undertook the same journey,

influenced by similar motives. From his infancy he had been distinguished

by a sage and pious disposition; and, on emerging from boyhood, he was

seized with an anxious desire to "try the unknown ways of

peregrination--to pass over the huge wastes of ocean to the ends of the

earth." To this erratic propensity he owed all the fame which a place in

the Romish calendar and the authorship of an indifferent book can confer.

In Jerusalem he saw all that Arculfus saw, and nothing more; but he had

previously visited the Tomb of the Seven Sleepers, and the cave in which

St. John wrote the Apocalypse.

Bernard proceeded to Palestine in the year 878. He travelled first in

Egypt, and from thence made his way across the Desert, the heat of which

called vividly to his imagination the sloping hills of Campania when

covered with snow. At Alexandria he was subjected to tribute by the

avaricious governor, who paid no regard to the written orders of the

sultan. The treatment which he received at Cairo was still more

distressing. He was thrown into prison, and in this extremity he asked

counsel of God; whereupon it was miraculously revealed to him, that

thirteen denari, such as he had presented to the other Mussulman, would

produce here an equally favourable result. The celestial origin of this

advice was proved by its complete success. The pilgrim was not only

liberated, but obtained letters from the propitiated ruler which saved him

from all farther exaction.

The Crusades threw open the holy places to the eyes of all Europe; and

accordingly, so long as a Christian king swayed the sceptre in the capital

of Judea, the merit of individual pilgrimage was greatly diminished. But

no sooner had the warlike Saracens recovered possession of Jerusalem than

the wonted difficulty and danger returned; and, as might be expected, the

interest attached to the sacred buildings, which the "infidel dogs" were

no longer worthy to behold, revived in greater vigour than formerly. In

1331, William de Bouldesell adventured on an expedition into Arabia and

Palestine, of which some account has been published. In the monastery of

St. Catharine, at the base of Mount Sinai, he was hospitably received by

the monks, who showed him the bones of their patron reposing in a tomb,

which, however, they appear not to have treated with much respect. By

means of hard beating, we are told, they brought out from these remains of

mortality a small portion of blood, which they presented to the pilgrim as

a gift of singular value. A circumstance which particularly astonished him

would probably have produced no surprise in a less believing mind; the

blood, it seems, "had not the appearance of real blood, but rather of some

thick oily substance;" nevertheless, the miracle was regarded by him as

one of the greatest that had ever been witnessed in this world.

A hundred years afterward Bertrandon de la Broquiere sailed from Venice to

Jaffa, where, according to the statistics of contrite pilgrims, the

"pardons of the Holy Land begin." At Jerusalem he found the Christians

reduced to a state of the most cruel thraldom. Such of them as engaged in

trade were locked up in their shops every night by the Saracens, who

opened the doors in the morning at such an hour as seemed to them most

proper or convenient. At Damascus they were treated with equal severity.

The first two persons whom he met in this city knocked him down,--an

injury which he dared not resent for fear of immediately losing his life.

About thirty years before the period of his visit, the destroying arms of

Timur had laid a large portion of the Syrian capital in ruins, though the

population had again increased to nearly one hundred thousand. During his

stay he witnessed the arrival of a caravan consisting of more than three

thousand camels. Its entry employed two days and two nights; the Koran

wrapped in silk being carried in front on the back of a camel richly

adorned with the same costly material. This part of the procession was

surrounded by a number of persons brandishing naked swords, and playing on

all sorts of musical instruments. The governor, with all the inhabitants,

went out to meet the holy cavalcade, and to do homage to the sacred

ensign, which at once proclaimed their faith, and announced the object of

the pious mission thus successfully concluded. Broquiere found the

greatest respect paid to every one who had performed the pilgrimage to

Mecca, and was gravely assured by an eminent Moulah, that no such person

could ever incur the hazard of everlasting damnation.

We merely mention the names of Breidenbach of Mentz, and of Martin

Baumgarten, who in the beginning of the sixteenth century achieved a

journey into the Holy Land. The latter of these, while passing through

Egypt, was most barbarously treated by the Saracen boys, who pelted him

with dirt, brickbats, stones, and rotten fruit. At Hebron he was shown the

field "were it is said, or at least guessed, that Adam was made;" but the

reddish earth of which it is composed is now used in the manufacture of

prayer-beads.

The work of Bartholemeo Georgewitz, who travelled in the same century,

gives a melancholy account of the miseries endured by such Christians as

were carried into slavery by the Turks in those evil days. The armies of

that nation were followed by slave-dealers supplied with chains, by means

of which fifty or sixty were bound in a row together, leaving only two

feet between to enable them to walk. The hands were manacled during the

day, and at night the feet also. The sufferings inflicted upon men of

rank, and those belonging to the learned professions, were almost beyond

description; extending not only to the lowest labours of the field, but

even to the work of oxen, being sometimes yoked like these animals in the

plough. Owing to the great rivers and arms of the sea, it was extremely

difficult for those who were sent into Asia to effect their escape;

whence, in many cases, the horrors of captivity had no other limits than

those of the natural life. No wonder that Bartholemeo recommends to every

one visiting those parts to make his will, "like one going not to the

earthly, but to the heavenly Jerusalem."

Laurence Aldersey, who set out from London in 1581, was the first

Protestant who encountered the perils of a voyage to Syria. In the Levant

a Turkish galley hove in sight, and caused great alarm. The master, "being

a wise fellow, began to devise how to escape the danger; but, while both

he and all of us were in our dumps, God sent us a merrie gale of wind." As

they approached Candia a violent storm came on, and the mariners began to

reproach the Englishman as the cause, "and saide I was no good Christian,

and wished I were in the middest of the sea, saying that they and the

shippe were the worse for me." He replied, "I think myself the worst

creature in the worlde, and do you consider yourselves also." These

remonstrances were followed by a long sermon, the tenor of which was,

"that they were not all good Christians, else it were not possible for

them to have such weather." A gentleman on board informed Aldersey, that

the suspicions respecting him originated in his refusal to join in the

prayers to the Virgin Mary,--a charge which he parried by remarking that

"they who praied to so many goe a wrong way to worke." The friars,

resolving to bring the matter to an issue, sent round the image of Our

Lady to kiss. On its approach the good Protestant endeavoured to avoid it

by going another way; but the bearer "fetched his course about," and

presented it. The proffered salutation being then positively rejected, the

affair might have become serious, had not two of the more respectable

monks interceded in his behalf, and enforced a more charitable procedure.

Of the people of Cyprus he remarks, that they "be very rude, and like

beasts, and no better: they eat their meat sitting upon the ground, with

their legs acrosse like tailors." On the 8th of August they arrived at

Joppa, but did not till the next day receive permission to land from the

great pasha, "who sate upon a hill to see us sent away." Aldersey had

mounted before the rest, which greatly displeased his highness, who sent a

servant to pull him from the saddle and beat him; "whereupon I made a long

legge, saying, Grand mercye, seignor." This timely submission seems to

have secured forgiveness; and accordingly, "being horsed upon little

asses," they commenced their journey towards Jerusalem. Rama he describes

as so "ruinated, that he took it to be rather a heape of stones than a

towne;" finding no house to receive them but such a one as they were

compelled to enter by creeping on their knees. The party were exposed to

the usual violence and extortion of the Arabs; "they that should have

rescued us stood still, and durst doe nothing, which was to our cost." On

reaching the holy city they knelt down and gave thanks; after which they

were obliged to enter the gate on foot, no Christian at that period being

allowed to appear within the walls mounted. The superior of the convent

received the pilgrims courteously into his humble establishment, where

Aldersey tells us, "they were dieted of free cost, and fared reasonable

well."[70]

The beginning of the seventeenth century witnessed a higher order of

travellers, who, from such a mixture of motives as might actuate either a

pilgrim or an antiquary, undertook the perilous tour of the Holy Land.

Among these, one of the most distinguished was George Sandys, who

commenced his peregrinations in the year 1610. He was succeeded by

Doubdan, Cheron, Thevenot, Gonzales, Morison, Maundrell, and Pococke, all

of whom have contributed many valuable materials towards a complete

knowledge of the localities, government, and actual condition of modern

Palestine. In our own days the number of works on these important subjects

has increased greatly, presenting to the historian of the Turkish

provinces in Asia a nearer and more minute view of society than could be

obtained by the earlier travellers, who, instead of yielding to the

characteristic bigotry of Moslem, usually opposed to it a prejudice not

less determined and uncharitable. We must not hazard a catalogue of the

enterprising authors to whom the European public are indebted for the

information: now enjoyed by every class of readers, in regard to the most

interesting of all ancient kingdoms,--the country inhabited by Israel and

Judah. In the description which we are about to give of the principal

towns, the buildings, the antiquities, the manners, the opinions, and the

religious forms which meet the observation of the intelligent tourist in

the Land of Canaan, we shall select the most striking facts from writers

of all nations and sects, making no distinction but such as shall be

dictated by a respect for the learning, the candour, and the opportunities

which are recorded in their several volumes.

Palestine is usually approached, either from the sea at the port of Jaffa

(the ancient Joppa), or from Egypt, by way of the intervening desert. In

both cases, the principal object is to obtain a safe and easy route to the

capital, which, even at the present hour, cannot be reached without much

danger, unless under the special protection of the native authorities. The

power of Mohammed Ali, it is true, extends almost to the very walls of

Gaza; and wherever his government is acknowledged no violence can be

committed with impunity on European travellers. But the Syrian pashas,

equally deficient in inclination and vigour, still permit the grossest

extortion, and sometimes connive at the most savage atrocities. Besides,

there is a class of lawless Arabs who scour the borders of the wilderness,

holding at defiance all the restrictions which a civilized people impose

or respect. Sir Frederick Henniker, who followed the unwonted track which

leads from Mount Sinai to the southern shore of the Dead Sea, narrowly

escaped with his life, after having been severely wounded and repeatedly

robbed by one of the most savage hordes of Bedouins.

The history of the crusades will draw our attention to Jaffa more minutely

than would be suitable at the present stage of our narrative; we shall

therefore proceed on the usual route to Jerusalem, collecting as we go

along such notices as may prove interesting to the reader. At a short

distance from this celebrated port the pilgrim enters the plain of Sharon,

celebrated in Scripture for its beautiful roses. The monk Neret informs

us, that in his time it was covered with tulips, the variety of whose

colours formed a lovely parterre. At present, the eye of the traveller is

delighted with a profusion of roses white and red, the narcissus, the

white and orange lily, the carnation, and a highly-fragrant species of

everlasting-flower. This plain stretches along the coast from Gaza in the

south to Mount Carmel on the north, being bounded towards the east by the

hills of Judea and Samaria. The whole of it is not upon the same level; it

consists of four platforms separated from each other by a wall of naked

stones. The soil is composed of a very fine sand, which, though mixed with

ravel, appears extremely fertile; but owing to the desolating spirit of

Mohammedan despotism, nothing is seen in some of the richest fields except

thistles and withered grass. Here and there, indeed, are scanty

plantations of cotton, with a few patches of doura, barley, and wheat. The

villages, which are commonly surrounded with olive-trees and sycamores,

are for the most part in ruins; exhibiting a melancholy proof that under a

bad government even the bounty of Heaven ceases to be a blessing.

The path by which the billy barrier is penetrated is difficult, and in

some places dangerous. But before you reach it, turning towards the east,

you perceive Rama, or Ramla, the ancient Arimathea, distinguished by its

charming situation, and well known as the residence of a Christian

community. The convent, it is true, had been plundered five years before

it was visited by Chateaubriand; and it was not without the most urgent

solicitation that the friars were permitted to repair their building, as

if it were a maxim among the Turks, who by their domination continue to

afflict and disgrace the finest parts of Palestine, that the progress of

ruin and decay should never be arrested. Volney tells us, that when he was

at Ramla a commander resided there in a serai, the walls and floors of

which were on the point of tumbling down. He asked one of the inferior

officers why his master did not at least pay some attention to his own

apartment. The reply was, "If another shall obtain his place next year,

who will repay the expense?"

In those days the aga maintained about one hundred horsemen and as many

African soldiers, who were lodged in an old Christian church, the nave of

which was converted into a stable, as also in an ancient khan, which was

disputed with them by the scorpions. The adjacent country is planted with

lofty olives, the greatest part of which are as large as the walnut-trees

of France, though they are daily perishing through age and the ravages of

contending factions. When a peasant is disposed to take revenge on his

enemy, he goes by night and outs his trees close to the ground, when the

wound, which he carefully covers from the sight, drains off the sap like

an issue. Amid these plantations are seen at every step dry wells,

cisterns fallen in, and immense vaulted reservoirs, which prove that in

ancient times this town must have been upwards of four miles in

circumference. At present it does not contain more than a hundred

miserable families. The houses are only so many huts, sometimes detached,

and sometimes ranged in the form of cells round a court, enclosed by a mud

wall. In winter, the inhabitants and their cattle may be said to live

together; the part of the building allotted to themselves being raised

only two feet above that in which they lodge their beasts. The peasants

are by this means kept warm without burning wood,--a species of economy

indispensable in a country absolutely destitute of fuel. As to the fire

necessary for culinary purposes, they make it, as was the practice in the

days of Ezekiel the prophet, of dung kneaded into cakes, which they dry in

the sun, exposing them to its rays on the walls of their huts. In summer,

their lodging is more airy; but all their furniture consists of a single

mat and a pitcher for carrying water. The immediate neighborhood of the

village is sown at the proper season with grain and watermelons; all the

rest is a desert, and abandoned to the Bedouin Arabs, who feed their

flocks on it. There are frequent remains of towers, dungeons, and even of

castles with ramparts and ditches, in some of which are a few Barbary

soldiers with nothing but a shirt and a musket. These ruins, however, are

more commonly inhabited by owls, jackals, and scorpions.[71]

The only remarkable antiquity at Ramla is the minaret of a decayed mosque,

which, by an Arabic inscription, appears to have been built by the Sultan

of Egypt. From the summit, which is very lofty, the eye follows the whole

chain of mountains, beginning at Nablous, and skirting the extremity of

the plain till it loses itself in the south.

A ride of two hours brings the traveller to the verge of the mountains,

where the road opens through a rugged ravine, and is formed in the dry

channel of a torrent. A scene of marked solitude and desolation surrounds

his steps as he pursues his journey in what is so simply described in the

gospel as the "hill country of Judea." He finds himself amid a labyrinth

of mountains, of a conical figure, all nearly alike, and connected with

each other at their base. A naked rock presents strata or beds resembling

the seats of a Roman amphitheatre, or the walls which support the

vineyards in the valleys of Savoy. Every recess is filled with dwarf oaks,

box, and rose-laurels. From the bottom of the ravines olive-trees rear

their heads, sometimes forming continuous woods on the sides of the hills.

On reaching the most elevated summit of this chain, he looks down towards

the south-west on the beautiful valley of Sharon, bounded by the Great

Sea; before him opens the Vale of St. Jeremiah; and in the same direction,

on the top of a rock, appears in the distance an ancient fortress called

the Castle of the Maccabees. It is conjectured that the author of the

Lamentations came into the world in the village which has retained his

name amid these mountains; so much is certain, at least, that the

melancholy of this desolate scene appears to pervade the compositions of

the prophet of sorrows.

The unvarying manners of the East exhibit to the view of the stranger, at

the present day, the same picture of rural innocence and simplicity which

might have met the eye of the mother of the Redeemer when she came into

this pastoral country to salute her cousin Elizabeth. Herds of goats, with

pendent ears, sheep with large tails, and asses which remind you, by their

beauty, of the onagra of Scripture, issue from the villages at the dawn of

day. Arab women are seen bringing grapes to dry in the vineyards; others

with their faces veiled, carrying pitchers of water on their heads, like

the daughters of Midian.

From the Valley of Jeremiah the traveller towards Zion descends into that

which bears the name of Turpentine, and is deeper and narrower than the

other. Here are observed some vineyards, and a few patches of doura. He

next arrives at the brook where the youthful David picked up the five

smooth stones, with one of which he slew the gigantic Goliath. Having

crossed the stream, he perceives the village of Heriet-Lefta on the bank

of another dry channel, which resembles a dusty road. El Bir_ appears in

the distance on the summit of a lofty hill on the way to Nablous, the

Shechem of the Israelites and the Neapolis of the Herods. He now pursues

his course through a desert, where wild fig-trees thinly scattered wave

their embrowned leaves in the southern breeze. The ground, which had

hitherto exhibited some verdure, becomes altogether bare; the sides of the

mountains, expanding themselves, assume at once an appearance of greater

grandeur and sterility. Presently all vegetation ceases; even the very

mosses disappear. The confused amphitheatre of the mountains is tinged

with a red and vivid colour. In this dreary region he keeps ascending a

whole hour to gain an elevated hill which he sees before him; after which

he proceeds during an equal space across a naked plain strewed with loose

stones. All at once, at the extremity of this plain, he perceives a line

of Gothic walls flanked with square towers, and the tops of a few

buildings peeping above them;--he beholds Jerusalem, once the joy of the

whole earth!

"I can now account," says M. Chateaubriand, "for the surprise expressed by

the crusaders and pilgrims at the first sight of Jerusalem, according to

the reports of historians and travellers. I can affirm that whoever has,

like me, had the patience to read nearly two hundred modern accounts of

the Holy Land; the Rabbinical compilations, and the passages in the

ancient writers respecting Judea, still knows nothing at all about it. I

paused with my eyes fixed on Jerusalem, measuring the height of its walls,

reviewing at once all the recollections of history from the patriarch

Abraham to Godfrey of Bouillon, reflecting on the total change

accomplished to the world by the mission of the Son of Man, and in vain

seeking that Temple, not one stone of which is left upon another. Were I

to live a thousand years, never should I forget that desert, which yet

seems to be pervaded by the greatness of Jehovah and the terrors of

death."[72]

On this occasion a camp of Turkish horse, with all the accompaniments of

oriental pomp, was pitched under the walls. The tents in general were

covered with black lambskins, while those belonging to persons of

distinction were formed of striped cloth. The horses, saddled and bridled,

were fastened to stakes. There were four pieces of horse-artillery, well

mounted on carriages, which appeared to be of English manufacture. These

fierce soldiers are stationed near the capital, as well for the purpose of

checking the savage Bedouins, who acknowledge no master, as for enforcing

the tribute demanded from all strangers who enter the holy city. The

recollections of the Mussulman, no less than those of the Christian,

inspire a reverential feeling for the town in which David dwelt; and

hence, although the European pilgrim be oppressed by the present laws of

Palestine, his motives are usually respected, and even praised.

The reader who has perused with attention some of the more recent works on

Palestine must have been struck with the diversity, and even the apparent

contradiction, which prevail in their descriptions of Jerusalem. According

to one, the magnificence of its buildings rivals the most splendid

edifices of modern times, while another could perceive nothing but filth

and ruins, surmounted by a gaudy mosque and a few glittering minarets. The

greater number, it must be acknowledged, have drawn from their own

imagination the tints in which they have been pleased to exhibit the

metropolis of Judea; trusting more to the impressions conveyed by the

brilliant delineations of poetry, than to a minute inspection of what they

might have seen with their own eyes.

Dr. Clarke, for example, has allowed his pen to be guided by the ardent

muse of Tasso, rather than by the cool observation of an unbiassed

traveller. "No sensation of fatigue or heat," says he, "could

counterbalance the eagerness and zeal which animated all our party in the

approach to Jerusalem; every individual pressed forward, hoping first to

announce the joyful intelligence of its appearance. We passed some

insignificant ruins, either of ancient buildings or of modern villages;

but had they been of more importance they would have excited little notice

at the time, so earnestly bent was every mind towards the main object of

interest and curiosity. At length, after about two hours had been passed

in this state of anxiety and suspense, ascending a hill towards the

south--Hagiopolis! exclaimed a Greek in the van of our cavalcade; and,

instantly throwing himself from his horse, was seen upon his knees,

bare-headed, facing the prospect he surveyed. Suddenly the sight burst

upon us all. The effect produced was that of total silence throughout the

whole company. Many of our party, by an immediate impulse, took off their

hats as if entering a church, without being sensible of so doing. The

Greeks and Catholics shed torrents of tears; and, presently beginning to

cross themselves with unfeigned devotion, asked if they might be permitted

to take off the covering from their feet, and proceed, barefooted to the

Holy Sepulchre. We had not been prepared for the grandeur of the spectacle

which the city alone exhibited. Instead of a wretched and ruined town, by

some described as the desolated remnant of Jerusalem, we beheld, as it

were, a flourishing and stately metropolis, presenting a magnificent

assemblage of domes, towers, palaces, churches, and monasteries; all of

which, glittering in the sun's rays, shone with inconceivable splendour.

As we drew nearer, our whole attention was engrossed by its noble and

interesting appearance."[73]

The effect produced upon the Christian army when they obtained the first

view of the holy city is beautifully described by the Italian poet,

thereby supplying, it may be suspected, the model which has been so

faithfully copied by the English tourist. We avail ourselves of the

translation of Hoole.

"Now from the golden East the zephyrs borne,

Proclaimed with balmy gales the approach of morn;

And fair Aurora decked her radiant head

With roses cropp'd from Eden's flowery bed;

When from the sounding camp was heard afar

The noise of troops preparing for the war:

To this succeed the trumpet's loud alarms,

And rouse, with shriller notes, the host to arms.

"With holy zeal their swelling hearts abound,

And their wing'd footsteps scarcely print the ground.

When now the sun ascends the ethereal way,

And strikes the dusty field with warmer ray;

Behold, Jerusalem in prospect lies!

Behold, Jerusalem salutes their eyes!

At once a thousand tongues repeat the name,

And hail Jerusalem with loud acclaim!

"At first, transported with the pleasing sight,

Each Christian bosom glowed with full delight;

But deep contrition soon their joy suppressed,

And holy sorrow saddened every breast;

Scarce dare their eyes the city walls survey,

Where clothed in flesh their dear Redeemer lay,

Whose sacred earth did once their Lord enclose,

And when triumphant from the grave he rose!

"Each faltering tongue imperfect speech supplies;

Each labouring bosom heaves with frequent sighs.

Each took the example as their chieftains led,

With naked feet the hallowed soil they tread.

Each throws his martial ornaments aside,

The crested helmets with their plumy pride;

To humble thoughts their lofty hearts they bend,

And down their cheeks the pious tears descend."[74]

No city assuredly presents a more striking example of the vicissitude of

human affairs than the capital of the Jews. When we behold its walls

levelled, its ditches filled up, and all its buildings embarrassed with

ruins, we scarcely can believe we view that celebrated metropolis which

formerly withstood the efforts of the most powerful empires, and for a

time resisted the arms of Rome itself; though, by a whimsical change of

fortune, its mouldering edifices now receive her homage and reverence. "In

a word," says Volney, "we with difficulty recognize Jerusalem." Still more

are we astonished at its ancient greatness, when we consider its

situation, amid a rugged soil, destitute of water, and surrounded by the

dry channels of torrents and steep hills. Remote from every great road, it

seems not to have been calculated either for a considerable mart of

commerce, or for the centre of a great consumption. It overcame, however,

every obstacle, and may be adduced as a proof of what patriotism and

religion may effect in the hands of a good government, or when favoured by

happy circumstances from without. The same principles, in some degree

modified, still preserve to this city its feeble existence. The renown of

its miracles, perpetuated in the East, invites and retains a considerable

number of inhabitants within its walls.[75]

As a contrast to the description of Dr. Clarke, the reader may not be

displeased to peruse the notes of Sir Frederick Henniker on the same

subject:--"Jerusalem is called, even by the Mohammedans, the Blessed

City,--the streets of it are narrow and deserted,--the houses dirty and

ragged,--the shops few and forsaken,--and throughout the whole there is

not one symptom of either commerce, comfort, or happiness. Is this the

city that men call the Perfection of Beauty, the Joy of the whole

Earth?--The town, which appears to me not worth possession, even without

the trouble of conquest, is walled entirely round, is about a mile in

length and half a mile in width, so that its circumference may be

estimated at three miles. In three quarters of an hour I performed the

circuit. It would be difficult to conceive how it could ever have been

larger than it now is; for, independent of the ravines, the four outsides

of the city are marked by the brook of Siloam, by a burial-plate at either

end, and by the Hill of Calvary; and the Hill of Calvary is now within the

town, so that it was formerly smaller than it is at present. The best view

of it is from the Mount of Olives; it commands the exact shape, and nearly

every particular, namely, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Armenian

Convent, the Mosque of Omar, St. Stephen's Gate, the round-topped houses,

and the barren vacancies of the city. The Mosque of Omar is the St.

Peter's of Turkey. The building itself has a light, pagoda appearance; the

garden in which it stands occupies a considerable part of the city, and

contrasted with the surrounding desert is beautiful; but it is forbidden

ground, and Jew or Christian entering within its precincts must, if

discovered, forfeit either his religion or his life."[76]

The observation made by Sir Frederick, in regard to the difficulty and

danger of entering the Mosque of Omar, has been verified on more than one

occasion. But the obstacles, apparently insurmountable, were overcome by

Dr. Richardson, who, in return for the successful exercise of his

professional skill, was rewarded by a clandestine visit to the shrine of

the Mussulman saint. It will appear, from the few details which we are

about to select from his volume, that the veil of mystery does not conceal

anything really worth seeing. Like Pompey in the Temple, the Christian

visiter, whose presence, in like manner, profanes the holy place, feels no

other surprise than is occasioned by the fact, that men have agreed to

excite curiosity by prohibiting an imaginary gratification.

"On our arrival at the door, a gentle knock brought up the sacristan, who,

apprized of our intention, was within waiting to receive us. He demanded,

rather sternly, who we were, and was answered by my black conductor in

tones no less consequential than his own. The door immediately edged up,

to prevent as much as possible the light from shining out, and we squeezed

ourselves in with a gentle and noiseless step, although there was no

person near who could be alarmed by the loudest sound of our bare feet

upon the marble floor. The door was no sooner shut than the sacristan,

taking a couple of candles in his hand, showed us all over the interior of

the building, pointing, in the pride of his heart, to the elegant marble

walls, the beautifully-gilded ceiling, the well where the true worshippers

drink and wash,--with which we also blessed our palates and moistened our

beards,--the paltry reading-desk with the ancient Koran, the handsome

columns, and the green stone with the wonderful nails. As soon as we had

completed this circuit, pulling a key from his girdle, he unlocked the

door of the railing that separates the outer from the inner part of the

mosque, which, with an elevation of two or three steps, let us into the

sacred recess. Here he pointed out the patches of mosaic in the floor, the

round flat stone which the Prophet carried on his arm in battle, directed

us to introduce our hand through the hole in the wooden box, to feel the

print of the Prophet's foot, and, through the posts of the wooden rail, to

feel as well as to see the marks of the angel Gabriel's fingers (into

which I carefully put my own) in the sacred stone that occupies the centre

of the mosque, and from which it derives the name of Sakhara or Locked-up,

and over which is suspended a fine cloth of green and red satin. It was so

covered with dust that, but for the information of my guide, I should not

have been able to tell the composing colours. Finally, he pointed to the

door that leads into the small cavern below, of which he had not the key.

"I looked up to the interior of the dome; but, there being few lamps

burning, the light was not sufficient to show me any of its beauty farther

than a general glance. The columns and curiosities were counted over again

and again, the arches were specially examined and enumerated, to be sure

that I had not missed nor forgotten any of them. Writing would have been

an ungracious behaviour, calculated to excite a thousand suspicions, that

next day would have gone to swell the current of the city gossip, to the

prejudice both of myself and of my friend. Having examined the adytum, we

once more touched the footstep of the Prophet and the finger-prints of the

angel Gabriel, and descended the steps, over which the door was

immediately secured."[77]

Dr. Richardson was afterward permitted to visit this splendid mosque

during the day, when he found that the dimensions of the enclosure in

which it stands is about fifteen hundred feet in length, and a thousand in

breadth. In the sacred retirement of this charming spot, the followers of

the Prophet delight to saunter, or repose, as in the elysium of their

devotions; and, arrayed in the gorgeous costume of the East, add much to

the interest, the beauty, and solemn stillness of the scene, from which

they seem loath to retire. The Sakhara itself is a regular octagon of

about sixty feet a side, and is entered by four spacious doors, each of

which is adorned with a porch projecting from the line of the building and

rising considerably on the wall. All the sides of it are paneled. The

centre stone of one panel is square, of another it is octagonal, and thus

they alternate all round; the sides of each running down the angles like a

plain pilaster, and giving an appearance as if the whole were set in a

frame. The marble is white, with a considerable tinge of blue; square

pieces of the latter colour being introduced in different places, so as to

confer upon the exterior a very pleasing effect. The upper story is faced

with small tiles painted of different colours, white, yellow, green, and

blue; some of them are also covered with sentences from the Koran. At this

height there are seven elegant windows on each side, except where the

porches interfere, and then there are only six; the general appearance of

the edifice being extremely light and beautiful, more especially from the

mixture of the soft colours above and the delicate tints of the marble in

the main body of the structure.

The interior fully corresponds to the magnificence and beauty just

described. There are twenty-four marble columns, placed parallel to the

eight sides of the building, three opposite to each side, so as still to

preserve the octagonal form. Eight of them are large plain pillars

belonging to no particular order of architecture, and all standing

opposite to the eight entering angles of the edifice, and deeply indented

on the inner side; so that they furnish an acute termination to the

octagonal lines within. Between every two of the square columns there are

two of a round figure, well proportioned, and resting on a base. They are

from eighteen to twenty feet high, with a sort of Corinthian capital. A

large square plinth of marble extends from the top of the one column to

the other, and above it there is constructed a number of arches all round,

which support the inner end of the roof or ceiling, the outer end resting

upon the walls of the building. This is composed of wood, or plaster,

highly ornamented with a species of carving, and richly gilt.

But this gorgeous temple owes both its name and existence to a large

irregular mass of stone, having an oblong shape, which still occupies the

centre of the mosque. It is a portion of the calcareous rock on which the

city is built, and which prevails in the other mountains in the

neighbourhood of Jerusalem, having very much the appearance of being a

part of the bed that might have been left when the foundation of the

building was levelled. It rises highest towards the south-west corner, and

falls abruptly at the end, where are the prints of the Prophet's foot. It

is irregular on the upper surface, the same as when it was broken from the

quarry. It is enclosed all round with a wooden rail about four feet high,

and which in every place is nearly in contact with the stone. We have

already mentioned that there is a cover or canopy of variously-coloured

silk suspended over it; and nothing, we are assured can be held in higher

veneration than the Hadjr-el-sakhara, the Locked-up Stone.[78]

But this fragment of limestone has more weighty pretensions to the

veneration of the Moslem than the mere print of the angel Gabriel's

fingers or of the Prophet's foot; for, like the Palladium of ancient Troy,

it is said to have fallen from heaven on this very spot, at the time when

prophecy commenced in Jerusalem. It was employed as a seat by the

venerable men to whom that gift was communicated; and, as long as the

spirit of vaticination continued to enlighten their minds, the slab

remained steady for their accommodation. But no sooner was the power of

prophecy withdrawn, and the persecuted seers compelled to flee for safety

to other lands, than the stone is declared to have manifested the

profoundest sympathy in their fate, and even to have resolved to accompany

them in their flight. On this occasion Gabriel the archangel interposed

his authority, and prevented the departure of the prophetical chair. He

grasped it with his mighty hand, and nailed it to its rocky bed till the

arrival of Mohammed, who, horsed on the lightning's wing, flew thither

from Mecca, joined the society of seventy thousand ministering spirits,

and, having offered up his devotions to the throne of God, fixed the stone

immovably in this holy site, around which the Caliph Omar erected his

magnificent mosque.

Within the same enclosure there is another house of prayer called El Aksa,

which, though a fine building, is greatly inferior to El Sakhara. Between

the two there is a beautiful fountain, which takes its name from a clump

of orange-trees overshadowing its water. The mosque is composed of seven

naves supported by pillars and columns, and at the head of the centre nave

is a fine cupola. Two others branch off at right angles to the principal

body of the edifice. Before it is a portico of seven arches in front and

one in depth, supported by square pillars. Ali Bey, who in his character

of Mussulman was permitted to examine the holy fane at leisure, describes

the great central nave of the Aksa as about 162 feet long and 32 broad. It

is supported on each side by seven arches lightly pointed, resting upon

cylindrical pillars, in the form of columns, but without any architectural

proportion, with foliaged capitals which do not belong to any order. The

fourth pillar to the right of the entrance is octangular, and enormously

thick. It is called the pillar of Sidi Omar. The walls rise 13 feet above

the tops of the arches, and contain two rows of twenty-one windows each.

The roof is of timber, without being vaulted. The cupola is supported by

four large arches resting upon four square pillars. It is spherical, with

two rows of windows, and is ornamented with arabesque paintings and

gilding of exquisite beauty. Its diameter is equal to that of the central

nave.

M. Burckhardt describes the Holy House in Jerusalem as a union of several

buildings erected at different periods of Islamism, bearing upon them

demonstrative proofs of the prevailing taste of the various ages in which

they were successively constructed. It is not precisely one mosque, but a

group of mosques. Its name in Arabic, El Haram, strictly signifies a

temple or place consecrated by the peculiar presence of the Divinity. The

profane and the infidel are forbidden to enter it. The Mussulman religion

acknowledges but two temples, those, namely, of Mecca and of Jerusalem;

both are called El Haram; both are equally prohibited by law to

Christians, Jews, and every other person who is not a believer in the

Prophet. The mosques, on the other hand, are considered merely as places

of meeting for certain acts of worship, and are not held so especially

consecrated as to demand the total exclusion of all who do not profess the

true faith. Entrance into them is not denied to the unbeliever by any

statute of the Mohammedan law; and hence it is not uncommon for Christians

at Constantinople to receive from the government a written order to visit

even the Mosque of St. Sophia. But the sultan himself could not grant

permission to an infidel either to pass into the territory of Mecca, or to

enter the Temple of Jerusalem. A firman granting such privileges would be

regarded as a most horrid sacrilege: it would not be respected by the

people; and the favoured object would inevitably become the victim of his

own imprudent boldness.[79]

In the interior of the rock whereon the Sakhara stands there is a cave,

into which Dr. Richardson could not obtain admittance. He was four times

in the mosque, and went twice thither under the express assurance that its

doors should be thrown open to him. But when he arrived the key was always

wanting, and when the keeper of it was sought he could never be found. Ali

Bey, who encountered no obstacle, reveals all the mystery of this

subterranean mansion. It is a room forming an irregular square of about

eighteen feet surface, and eight feet high in the middle. The roof is that

of a natural vault, quite irregular. In descending the staircase, there is

upon the right-hand, near the bottom, a little tablet of marble, bearing

the name of El Makam Souleman, the Place of Solomon. A similar one upon

the left is named El Makam Daoud, the Place of David. A cavity or niche on

the south-west side of the rock is called El Makam Ibrahim, the Place of

Abraham. A similar concave step at the north-west angle is described as El

Makam Djibrila, the Place of Gabriel; and a sort of stone table at the

north-east angle is denominated El Makam el Hoder, the Place of Elias. In

the roof of the apartment, exactly in the middle, there is an aperture

almost cylindrical through the whole thickness of the rock, about three

feet in diameter. This is the Place of the Prophet.

M. Burckhardt observed a copy of the Koran, the leaves of which were four

feet long, and more than two feet and a half broad. Tradition reports that

it belonged to the Caliph Omar; but he saw a similar one in the grand

mosque at Cairo, and another at Mecca, to both of which the same origin is

assigned. The drawings supplied by this enterprising traveller give a very

distinct notion of the extent and magnificence of the great Mussulman

temple,--the most prominent object in the modern Jerusalem, and occupying

the site of the still more interesting edifice erected by Solomon in the

proudest period of Jewish history.

But the Christian pilgrim, who walks about the holy city "to tell her

towers and mark her bulwarks," is more readily attracted by less splendid

objects, the memorials of his own more humble faith. Among these the most

remarkable is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is built on the

lower part of the sloping hill distinguished by the name of Acre, near the

place where it is joined to Mount Moriah. The Turkish government, aware of

the veneration which all Christians entertain for relics in any way

connected with the sufferings of the great Author of their religion, have

converted this feeling into a source of revenue; every person not subject

to the Sublime Porte, who visits the shrine of Jesus Christ, being

compelled to pay a certain sum of money for admittance. But the church,

nevertheless, is opened only on particular days of the week, and cannot be

seen at any other time without an order from the two convents, the Latin

and the Greek, with the sanction of the governor of the city. On such

occasions the pressure at the doors is very great; the zeal of the

pilgrims checked by the insolence of the Turks, who delight to insult and

disappoint their anxiety, leading sometimes to scenes of tumult not quite

in harmony with their pious motives. We shall give an account of the

effect produced by the local and historical associations of the place on a

sober spirit, in the words of a traveller to whom we have been already

indebted:--

"The mind is not withdrawn from the important concerns of this hallowed

spot by any tasteful decorations or dignified display of architecture in

its plan or in its walls; but having cleared the throng, the religion of

the place is allowed to take full possession of the soul, and the visiter

feels as if he were passing into the presence of the great and immaculate

Jehovah, and summoned to give an account of the most silent and secret

thoughts of his heart. Having passed within these sacred walls, the

attention is first directed to a large flat stone in the floor, a little

within the door; it is surrounded by a rail, and several lamps hang

suspended over it. The pilgrims approach it on their knees; touch and kiss

it, and prostrating themselves before it, offer up their prayers in holy

adoration. This is the stone on which the body of our Lord was washed and

anointed and prepared for the tomb. Turning to the left and proceeding a

little forward, we came into a round space immediately under the dome,

surrounded with sixteen large columns which support the gallery above. In

the centre of this space stands the Holy Sepulchre; it is enclosed in an

oblong house, rounded at one end with small arcades or chapels for prayer,

on the outside of it. These are for the Copts, the Abyssinians, the Syrian

Mareonites, and other Christians, who are not, like the Roman Catholics,

the Greeks, and Armenians, provided with large chapels in the body of the

church. At the other end it is squared off and furnished with a platform

in front, which is ascended by a flight of steps, having a small

parapet-wall of marble on each hand, and floored with the same material.

In the middle of this small platform stands a block of polished marble

about a foot and a half square; on this stone sat the angel who announced

the blessed tidings of the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and

Mary the mother of James. Advancing, and taking off our shoes and turbans

at the desire of the keeper, he drew aside the curtain, and stepping down,

and bending almost to the ground, we entered by a low narrow door into

this mansion of victory, where Christ triumphed over the grave, and

disarmed Death of all his terrors. Here the mind looks on Him who, though

he knew no sin, yet entered the mansions of the dead to redeem us from

death, and the prayers of a grateful heart ascend with a risen Saviour to

the presence of God in heaven."[80]

The tomb exhibited is a sarcophagus of white marble, slightly tinged with

blue, being fully six feet long, three feet broad, and two feet two inches

deep. It is but indifferently polished, and seems as if it had at one time

been exposed to the action of the atmosphere, by which it has been

considerably affected. It is without any ornament, made in the Greek

fashion, and not like the more ancient tombs of the Jews, which we see cut

in the rock for the reception of the dead. There are seven lamps

constantly burning over it, the gifts of different sovereigns in a

succession of ages. It occupies about one-half of the sepulchral chamber,

and extends from one end of it to the other. A space about three feet wide

in front of it is all that remains for the accommodation of visiters, so

that not more than three or four can be conveniently admitted at a time.

Leaving this hallowed spot, the pilgrim is conducted to the place where

our Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene, and next to the Chapel of Apparition,

where he presented himself to the Blessed Virgin. The Greeks have an

oratory opposite to the Holy Sepulchre, in which they have set up a globe,

representing, as they are pleased to imagine, the centre of the earth;

thus transferring from Delphi to Jerusalem the absurd notions of the pagan

priests of antiquity relative to the figure of the habitable world. After

this he enters a dark narrow staircase, which, by about twenty steps,

carries him to Mount Calvary. "This," exclaims Dr. Richardson, "is the

centre, the grand magnet of the Christian church: from this proceed life

and salvation; thither all hearts tend and all eyes are directed; here

kings and queens cast down their crowns, and great men and women part with

their ornaments; at the foot of the cross all are on a level, equally

needy and equally welcome."[81]

On Calvary is shown the spot where the Redeemer was nailed to the cross,

the hole into which the end of it was fixed, and the rent in the rock. All

these are covered with marble, perforated in the proper places, so that

they may be seen and touched. Near at hand a cross is erected on an

elevated part of the ground, and a wooden body stretched upon it in the

attitude of suffering. Descending from the Mount, the traveller enters the

chapel of St. Helens, the mother of Constantine, in which is the vault

where the true cross is said to have been found,--an event that continues

to be celebrated every year on the third of May by an appropriate mass.

The place is large enough to contain about thirty or forty individuals,

and on that annual solemnity it is usually crowded to the door.

The spirit in which these commemorations are sometimes performed is by no

means honourable to the Christian character. An ancient rivalry between

the members of the Greek and those of the Roman communion continues to

imbitter their disputes in regard to their respective privileges and

procedure. Maundrell informs us that in his time each fraternity had their

own altar and sanctuary, at which they had a peculiar right to celebrate

divine services and to exclude all other nations. But, says he, that which

has always been the great prize contended for by the several sects, is the

command and appropriation of the holy Sepulchre; a privilege contested

with so much unchristian fury and animosity, especially between the Greeks

and Latins that, in disputing which party should go in to celebrate their

mass, they have sometimes proceeded to blows and wounds, even at the very

door of the sepulchre, mingling their own blood with their sacrifices. The

King of Franca interposed about the end of the seventeenth century, and

obtained an order for the grand vizier to put that holy place into the

possession of the Western Church; an arrangement which was accomplished in

the year 1690, and secured to the Latins the exclusive privilege of saying

mass in it. "And though it be permitted to Christians of all nations to go

into it for their private devotions, yet none other may solemnize any

public office of religion there."[82]

The daily employment of these recluses is to trim the lamps, and to make

devotional visits and processions to the several sanctuaries in the

church. Thus they spend their time, many of them for four or six years

together; nay, so far are some transported with the pleasing contemplation

in which they here entertain themselves, that they will never come out to

their dying day; burying themselves, as it were, alive in our Lord's

grave.

It was at the holy season of Easter that Mr. Maundrell visited Jerusalem,

when he witnessed the annual service performed by the monks; rather too

minutely descriptive, perhaps, of the great event to which it refers.

"Their ceremony begins on Good Friday night, which is called by them the

_Nox Tenebrosa_, and is observed with such an extraordinary solemnity that

I cannot omit to give a particular description of it:--As soon as it grew

dark, all the friars and pilgrims were convened in the chapel of the

Apparition, in order to go in a procession round the church. But before

they set out one of the friars preached a sermon in Italian: He began his

discourse thus:--_In questa notte tenebrosa_,--at which words all the

candles were instantly put out, to yield a livelier image of the occasion:

and so we were held the preacher for nearly half an hour very much in the

dark. Sermon being ended, every person present had a large lighted taper

put into his hand, as if it were to make amends for the former darkness;

and the crucifixes and other utensils were disposed in order for beginning

the procession. Among the other crucifixes there was one of a very large

size, which bore upon it the image of our Lord as big as the life. The

image was fastened to it with great nails, crowned with thorns, and

besmeared with blood; and so exquisitely was it formed, that it

represented, in a very lively manner, the lamentable spectacle of our

Lord's body as it hung upon the cross. This figure was carried all along

in the head of the procession; after which the company followed to all the

sanctuaries in the church, singing their appointed hymn at every one.

"The first place they visited was that of the pillar of Flagellation, a

large piece of which is kept in a little cell just at the door of the

chapel of the Apparition. There they sang their proper hymn; and another

friar entertained the company with a sermon in Spanish, touching the

scourging of our Lord. From hence they proceeded in solemn order to the

prison of Christ, where they pretend he was secured while the soldiers

made things ready for his crucifixion; here likewise they sang their hymn,

and a third friar preached in French. From the prison they went to the

altar of the Division of our Lord's garments, where they only sang their

hymn without adding any sermon. Having done here, they advanced to the

chapel of the Division; at which, after their hymn, they had a fourth

sermon, as I remember, in French.

"From this place they went up to Calvary, leaving their shoes at the

bottom of the stairs. Here are two altars to be visited; one where our

Lord is supposed to have been nailed to the cross, another where his cross

was erected. At the former of these they laid down the great crucifix upon

the floor, and acted a kind of resemblance of Christ's being nailed to the

cross; and after the hymn another friar preached a sermon in Spanish upon

the crucifixion. From hence they removed to the adjoining altar, where the

cross is supposed to have been erected, bearing the image of our Lord's

body. At this altar is a hole in the natural rock, said to be the very

same individual one in which the foot of our Lord's cross stood. Here they

set up their cross with the bloody crucified image upon it; and leaving it

in that posture, they first sang their hymn, and then the father guardian,

sitting in a chair before it, preached a passion sermon in Italian.

"At about one yard and a half distant from the hole in which the foot of

the cross was fixed is seen that memorable cleft in the rock, said to have

been made by the earthquake which happened at the suffering of the God of

nature; when, as St. Matthew witnesseth, the rocks rent and the very

graves were opened. This cleft, or what now appears of it, is about a span

wide at its upper part, and two deep; after which it closes. But it opens

again below, as you may see in another chapel contiguous to the side of

Calvary, and runs down to an unknown depth in the earth. That this rent

was made by the earthquake that happened at our Lord's passion there is

only tradition to prove; but that it is a natural and genuine breach, and

not counterfeited by any art, the sense and reason of every one that sees

it may convince him; for the sides of it fit like two tallies to each

other, and yet it runs in such intricate windings as could not well be

counterfeited by art, nor arrived at by any instruments.

"The ceremony of the passion being over, and the guardian's sermon ended,

two friars, personating, the one Joseph of Arimathea, the other Nicodemus,

approached the cross, and with a most solemn, concerned air, both of

aspect and behaviour, drew out the great nails, and took down the feigned

body from the cross. It was an _effigies_ so contrived that its limbs were

soft and flexible, as if they had been real flesh; and nothing could be

more surprising that to see the two pretended mourners bend down the arms

which were before extended, and dispose them upon the trunk in such a

manner as is usual in corpses. The body being taken down from the cross

was received in a fair large winding-sheet, and carried down from Calvary;

the whole company attending as before to the stone of Unction. This is

taken for the very place where the precious body of our Lord was annointed

and prepared for the burial. Here they laid down their imaginary corpse;

and casting over it several sweet powders and spices, wrapped it up in the

winding-sheet. While this was doing they sang their proper hymn, and

afterward one of the friars preached in Arabic a funeral-sermon. These

obsequies being finished, they carried off their fancied corpse and laid

it in the Sepulchre, shutting up the door till Easter morning. And now,

after so many sermons, and so long, not to say tedious, a ceremony, it may

well be imagined that the weariness of the congregation, as well as the

hour of the night, made it needful to go to rest."[83]

Easter-eve passed without any remarkable observance,--a period of leisure

which was employed by many of the pilgrims in having their arms marked

with the usual ensigns of Jerusalem. "The artists who undertake the

operation do it in this manner; they have stamps of wood of any figure

that you desire, which they first print off upon your arm with powder of

charcoal, then taking two very fine needles tied close together, and

dipping them often, like a pen, in certain ink compounded, as I was

informed, of gun-powder and ox-gall, they make with them small punctures

all along the lines of the figure which they have printed; and then,

washing the part in wine, conclude the work. The punctures they make with

great quickness and dexterity, and with scarce any smart, seldom piercing

so deep as to draw blood. In the afternoon of this day the congregation

was assembled in the area before the holy grave; where the friars spent

some hours in singing over the Lamentations of Jeremiah; which function,

with the usual procession to the holy places, was all the ceremony

required by the ritual of the place."

On Easter-day the scene was changed from gloom to the most lively

congratulation. "The clouds of the former morning were cleared up; and the

friars put on a face of joy and serenity, as if it had been the real

juncture of our Lord's resurrection. Nor doubtless was this joy feigned,

whatever their mourning might be; this being the day on which their Lenten

disciplines expired, and they were now come to a full belly again. The

mass was celebrated this morning just before the Holy Sepulchre, being the

most eminent place in the church; where the father guardian had a throne

erected, and being arrayed in episcopal robes, with a mitre on his head,

in the sight of the Turks he gave the Host to all that were disposed to

receive it; not refusing it to children of seven or eight years old. This

office being ended, we made our exit out of the Sepulchre, and returning

to the convent, dined with the friars."[84]

The latest travellers in Palestine witnessed similar observances on the

same solemn occasion, none of which were in the least calculated to edify

an enlightened mind, and many of them such as could not be contemplated

without feelings of just indignation, mingled with contempt.

There is no greater obstacle to the propagation of Christianity among the

Syrian tribes, and more especially among the Turks and Jews, than the

foolish exhibitions which disgrace the return of the principal festivals

in the Holy Land. The mummeries already described could not fail to be

sufficiently revolting to a people who permit not any image or

representation of created things, even in the uses of ordinary life.

Still, the sincerity and apparent devotion with which the ceremony of the

crucifixion was performed might, in some degree, atone for the unseemly

method adopted by the monks to commemorate an event at once so solemn and

important. But what shall be said in defence of the manifest fraud which

is annually practised in Jerusalem on Easter-eve by the Greek church, when

the credulous multitude are taught to believe that fire descends from

heaven into the Holy Sepulchre to kindle their lamps and torches?

Upon comparing the description given by Maundrell with the accounts of the

latest travellers, we perceive that nearly a century and a half has passed

away without producing any improvement, and that the friars of the present

age are probably not less ignorant or dishonest than their predecessors

five hundred years ago. "They began their disorders by running round the

Holy Sepulchre with all their might and swiftness, crying out as they went

_huia_, which signifies _this is he_, or _this is it_,--an expression by

which they assert the verity of the Christian religion. After they had by

these religious circulations and clamours turned their heads and inflamed

their madness, they began to act the moat antic tricks and postures in a

thousand shapes of distraction. Sometimes they dragged one another along

the floor all round the Sepulchre; sometimes they set one man upright upon

another's shoulders, and in this posture marched round; sometimes they

tumbled round the Sepulchre after the manner of tumblers on the stage. In

a word, nothing can be imagined more rude or extravagant than what was

acted upon this occasion."[85]

"The Greeks first set out in a procession round the Holy Sepulchre, and

immediately at their heels followed the Armenians. In this order they

compassed the Holy Sepulchre thrice, having produced all their gallantry

of standards, streamers, crucifixes, and embroidered habits. Towards the

end of this procession there was a pigeon came fluttering into the cupola

over the Sepulchre, at sight of which there was a greater shout and

clamour than before. This bird, the Latins told us, was purposely let fly

by the Greeks to deceive the people into an opinion that it was a visible

descent of the Holy Ghost. The procession being over, the suffragan of the

Greek patriarch and the principal Armenian bishop approached to the door

of the Sepulchre, and, cutting the string with which it is fastened and

sealed, entered in, shutting the door after them, all the candles and

lamps within having been before extinguished in the presence of the Turks

and other witnesses. The exclamations were doubled as the miracle drew

nearer to its accomplishment; and the people pressed with such vehemence

towards the door of the Sepulchre that it was not in the power of the

Turks to keep them off. The cause of their pressing in this manner is, the

great desire they have to light their candles at the holy flame as soon as

it is first brought out of the Sepulchre, it being esteemed the most

sacred and pure as coming immediately from heaven. The two miracle-mongers

had not been above a minute in the Holy Sepulchre when the glimmering of

the holy fire was seen, or imagined to appear, through some chinks in the

door; and, certainly, Bedlam itself never saw such an unruly transport as

was produced in the mob at this sight.

"Immediately after, out came two priests with blazing torches in their

hands, which they held up at the door of the Sepulchre; while the people

thronged about with inexpressible ardour, every one striving to obtain a

part of the first and purest flame. The Turks, in the mean time, with huge

clubs laid on without mercy; but all this could not repel them, the excess

of their fury making them insensible of pain. Those that got the fire

applied it immediately to their beards, faces, and bosoms, pretending that

it would not burn like an earthly flame. But I plainly saw none of them

could endure this experiment long enough to make good that pretension. So

many hands being employed, you may be sure it could not be long before

innumerable tapers were lighted. The whole church, galleries, and every

place seemed instantly to be in a flame; and with this illumination the

ceremony ended.

"It must be owned that those two within the Sepulchre performed their part

with great quickness and dexterity; but the behaviour of the rabble

without very much discredited the miracle. The Latins take a great deal of

pains to expose this ceremony as a most shameful imposture and a scandal

to the Christian religion,--perhaps out of envy that others should be

masters of so gainful a business. But the Greeks and Armenians pin their

faith upon it; such is the deplorable unhappiness of their priests, that

having acted the cheat so long already, they are forced now to stand to it

for fear of endangering the apostacy of their people. Going out of church

after the rant was over, we saw several people gathered about the Stone of

Unction, who, having got a good store of candles lighted with the holy

fire, were employed in daubing pieces of linen with the wicks of them and

the melting wax, which pieces of linen were designed for winding-sheets.

And it is the opinion of these poor people, that if they can but have the

happiness to be buried in a shroud smutted with this celestial fire, it

will certainly secure them from the flames of hell."[86]

Dr. Richardson, who witnessed the same pitiful ceremony, is not inclined

to give much honour to the performers in respect to skill or dexterous

manipulation. On the contrary, he is of opinion that there is not a

pyrotechnist in London who could not have improved the exhibition. From

the station which he occupied in the church, being the organ-loft of the

Roman Catholic division, he distinctly saw the flame issuing from a

burning substance placed within the tomb, and which was raised and lowered

according to circumstances. The priests meant to be very artful, but were

in reality very ignorant. Like the Druids of old, no one, under the pain

of excommunication, dared to light his torch at that of another; every

individual was bound to derive his flame from the miraculous spark that

descended from above, and which could only be conveyed by the hands of the

chief priest.[87]

Having seen the exhibition of this vile and infamous delusion, the

traveller naturally inquires what credit he ought to give to the

historical statements and local descriptions derived from the Christians

who now occupy Jerusalem. Are the honoured spots within these walls really

what the guardians of the metropolitan church declare them to be? Is the

Mount Calvary shown at this day in the holy city the actual place where

Christ expired upon the cross to redeem the human race? Is the Sepulchre

there exhibited really that of the just man Joseph of Arimathea, in which

the body of the blessed Jesus was laid? Or are all these merely convenient

spots, fixed on at random, and consecrated to serve the interested views

of a crafty priesthood?[88]

We agree in the conclusion, that it is of no consequence to the Christian

faith in what way these questions shall be determined. The great facts on

which the history of the gospel is founded are not so closely connected

with particular spots of earth or sacred buildings as to be rendered

doubtful by any mistake in the choice of a locality. Nor is there any

material discrepancy between the opinions of Chateaubriand, which we are

inclined to adopt, and those of Dr. Clarke, who treats with contempt all

the traditions respecting holy places; for the outline may be correct,

although the minuter details are open to a just suspicion. For example, it

is now extremely difficult to trace the boundaries of Calvary; the effects

of time and the operations of the siege under the Roman prince have

obliterated some of the features by which that remarkable scene was

distinguished; it has even ceased to present the appearance of a mount--an

appellation, by-the-way, which is nowhere given to it in Scripture. But it

does not follow that the Christians who returned from Pella to inhabit the

ruins of the sacred metropolis should have been equally ignorant of its

extent and situation; nor is it at all probable that places so interesting

to the affections of the infant church would be allowed to fall into a

speedy oblivion.

The main error of the modern priests at Jerusalem arises from an anxiety

to exhibit every thing to which any allusion is made by the evangelical

historians; not remembering that the lapse of ages and the devastation of

successive wars have destroyed much, and disguised more, which the early

disciples could most readily identify. The mere circumstance that almost

all the events which attended the close of our Saviour's ministry are

crowded into one scene, covered by the roof of a single church, might

excite a very justifiable doubt as to the exactness of the topography

maintained by the friars of Mount Moriah. "This edifice," says Mr.

Maundrell, "is less than one hundred paces long, and not more than sixty

wide; and yet it is so contrived, that it is supposed to contain under its

roof twelve or thirteen sanctuaries, or places consecrated to a more than

ordinary veneration, by being reputed to have some particular actions done

in them relating to the death and resurrection of Christ."[89]

All that can now be affirmed, observes Dr. Clarke, with any show of

reason, is this, "that if Helena had reason to believe she could identify

the spot where the Sepulchre was, she took especial care to remove every

trace of it, in order to introduce the fanciful and modern work which now

remains. The place may be the same pointed out to her; but not a remnant

of the original Sepulchre can now be ascertained. Yet, with our skeptical

feelings thus awakened, it may prove how powerful the effect of sympathy

is, if we confess, that when we entered into the supposed Sepulchre, and

beheld, by the light of lamps there continually burning, the venerable

figure of an aged monk, with streaming eyes and a long white beard,

pointing to 'the place where the Lord lay,' and calling upon us to kneel

and experience pardon for our sins,--we did kneel, and we participated in

the feelings of more credulous pilgrims. Captain Culverhouse, in whose

mind the ideas of religion and of patriotism were inseparable, with firmer

emotion, drew from its scabbard the sword he had so often wielded in the

defence of his country, and placed it upon the tomb. Humbler comers heaped

the memorials of an accomplished pilgrimage; and while their sighs alone

interrupted the silence of the sanctuary a solemn service was begun."[90]

It is observed by the author of the Itinéraire, that the ancient

travellers were extremely fortunate in not being obliged to enter into all

these critical disquisitions; in the first place, because they found in

their readers that religion which never contends against truth; and,

secondly, because every mind was convinced that the only way of seeing a

country as it is must be to see it with all its traditions and

recollections. It is, in fact, with the Bible as his guide that a

traveller ought to visit the Holy Land. If we are determined to carry with

us a spirit of cavil and contradiction, Judea is not worth our going so

far to examine it. What should we say to a man who, in traversing Greece

and Italy, should think of nothing but contradicting Homer and Virgil?

Such, however, is the course adopted by too many modern travellers;

evidently the effect of our vanity, which would excite a high idea of our

own abilities, and at the same time fill us with disdain for those of

other people.[91]

A short time after M. Chateaubriand visited Jerusalem, the church of the

Holy Sepulchre was destroyed by fire; and although it has been since

repaired, it is admitted that both the architecture and the internal

decorations are much inferior to those of the original edifice. The

general plan of the whole building, however, as well as the arrangement of

the holy stations, are so exactly preserved, that the descriptions of the

earliest writers apply as correctly to its present as to its former state.

It is true, that the tombs of Godfrey de Bouillon and of Baldwin his

brother, which called forth the enthusiastic admiration of the French

author just named, have been annihilated by the malignant Greeks, so that

not a vestige remains to mark the spot whereon they stood. The Corinthian

columns of fine marble which formerly adorned the interior being rendered

useless by the fire, the dome is now supported by tall slender pillars of

masonry, plastered on the outside, and so closely grouped together as to

produce the worst effect. We are told, indeed, that the meanness of every

thing about the architecture of the central dome, and of the whole rotunda

which surrounds the Sepulchre itself, can only be exceeded by the wretched

taste of its painted decorations.[92]

It was of the older building that the Vicomte made the following

remarks:--"The church of the Holy Sepulchre, composed of several churches

erected upon an unequal surface, illumined by a multitude of lamps, is

singularly mysterious; a sombre light pervades it, favourable to piety and

profound devotion. Christian priests of various sects inhabit different

parts of the edifice. From the arches above, where they nestle like

pigeons, from the chapels below and subterraneous vaults, their songs are

heard at all hours both of the day and night. The organ of the Latin

monks, the cymbals of the Abyssinian priest, the voice of the Greek

caloyer, the prayer of the solitary Armenian, the plaintive accents of the

Coptic friar, alternately, or all at once, assail your ear. You know not

whence these accents of praise proceed; you inhale the perfume of incense

without perceiving the hand that burns it: you merely observe the pontiff,

who is going to celebrate the most awful of mysteries on the very spot

where they were accomplished, pass quickly by, glide behind the columns,

and vanish in the gloom of the temple.

"Christian readers will perhaps inquire what were my feelings upon

entering this sacred place. I really cannot tell. So many reflections

rushed at once upon my mind, that I was unable to dwell upon any

particular idea. I continued nearly half an hour upon my knees in the

little chamber of the Holy Sepulchre, with my eyes riveted upon the stone,

from which I had not the power to turn them. One of the two monks who

accompanied me remained prostrate on the marble by my side, while the

other, with the Testament in his hand, read to me by the light of the

lamps the passages relating to the sacred tomb. All I can say is that when

I beheld this triumphant Sepulchre, I felt nothing but my own weakness;

and that when my guide exclaimed with St. Paul, O death, where is thy

sting? O grave, where is thy victory? I listened, as if death were about

to reply that he was conquered and enchained in this monument. Where shall

we look in antiquity for anything so impressive, so wonderful, as the last

scenes described by the Evangelists? These are not the absurd adventures

of a deity foreign to human nature: it is a most pathetic history,--a

history which not only extorts tears by its beauty, but whose

consequences, applied to the universe, have changed the face of the earth.

I had just beheld the monuments of Greece, and my mind was still

profoundly impressed with their grandeur; but how far inferior were the

sentiments which they excited to those I felt at the sight of the places

commemorated in the gospel!"[93]

We must not presume to follow the ardent pilgrim along the _Via Dolorosa_,

the name given to the way which the Saviour passed from the house of

Pilate to the Mount of Calvary, nor can we stop to revere the arch, called

_Ecce Homo_, where, we are told, the window may still be seen from which

the Roman judge exclaimed to the vindictive Jews, "Behold the Man!" We

cannot resign our belief to the minute description which recognises the

house of Simon the Pharisee, where Mary Magdalene confessed her sins; the

prison of St. Peter, and the dwelling of Mary the mother of Mark, in which

the same apostle took refuge when he was set at liberty by the angel; and

the mansion of Dives, the rich man at whose gate the mendicant Lazarus was

laid, full of sores.

On crossing the small ravine which divides the modern city from Mount

Zion, the attention of the traveller is drawn to three ancient monuments,

or more properly ruins. Covered with buildings comparatively modern,--the

house of Caiaphas,--the place where Christ held his Last Supper,--and the

tomb or palace of David. The first of these is now a church, the duty of

which is performed by the Armenians; the second, consecrated by the

affecting solemnity, with the memory of which it is still associated,

presents a mosque and a Turkish hospital; while the third, a small vaulted

apartment, contains only three sepulchres formed of dark-coloured atone.

This holy hill is equally celebrated in the Old Testament and in the New.

Here the successor of Saul built a city and a royal dwelling,--here he

kept for three months the Ark of the Covenant;--here the Redeemer

instituted the sacrament which commemorates his death,--here he appeared

to his disciples on the day of his resurrection,--and here the Holy Ghost

descended on the apostles. The place hallowed by the Last Supper, if we

may believe the early Fathers, was transformed into the first Christian

temple the world ever saw, where St. James the Less was consecrated the

first bishop of Jerusalem, and where he presided in the first council of

the church. Finally, it was from this spot that the apostles, in

compliance with the injunction to go and teach all nations, departed,

without purse and without scrip, to seat their religion upon all the

thrones of the earth.

Descending Mount Zion on the east side, you perceive in the valley the

Fountain and Pool of Siloam, so celebrated in the history of our Saviour's

miracles. The brook itself is ill supplied with water, and, compared with

the ideas formed in the mind by the fine invocation of the poet, usually

creates disappointment. Going a few paces to the northward, you come to

the source of the scanty rivulet, which is called by some the Fountain of

the Virgin, from an opinion that she frequently came hither to drink. It

appears in a recess about twenty feet lower than the surface, and under an

arched vault of masonry tolerably well executed. The rock had been

originally hewn down to reach this pool; and a small crooked passage, of

which only the beginning is seen, is said to convey the water out of the

Valley of Siloam, and to supply the means of irrigating the little gardens

still cultivated in that spot. Notwithstanding the dirty state of the

water, and its harsh and brackish taste, it is still used by devout

pilgrims for diseases of the eye.[94]

It is said to have a kind of ebb and flow, sometimes discharging its

current like the Fountain of Vaucluse, at others retaining and scarcely

suffering it to run at all. The Levites, we are likewise told, used to

sprinkle the water of Siloam on the altar at the Feast of Tabernacles,

saying, "Ye shall draw water with joy from the wells of salvation." The

reader will find on the opposite page a representation of the Fountain or

Pool of Siloam, as it appeared to the eye of an able traveller; a

considerable part of the arch having fallen down, or been destroyed by the

barbarians who continue to hold Jerusalem in subjection.

The Valley of Jehoshaphat stretches between the eastern walls of the city

and the Mount of Olives, containing a great variety of objects, to which

allusion is made in the Sacred Writings. It was sometimes called the

King's Dale, from a reference to an event recorded in the history of

Abraham, and was afterward distinguished by the name of Jehoshaphat,

because that sovereign erected in it a magnificent tomb. This narrow vale

seems to have always served as a burying-place for the inhabitants of the

holy city: there you meet with monuments of the most remote ages, as well

as of the most modern times: thither the descendants of Jacob resort from

the four quarters of the globe, to yield up their last breath; and a

foreigner sells to them, for its weight in gold, a scanty spot of earth to

cover their remains in the land of their forefathers. Observing many Jews,

whom I could easily recognise by their yellow turbans, quick dark eyes,

black eyebrows, and bushy beards, walking about the place, and reposing

along the Brook Kedron in a pensive mood, the pathetic language of the

Psalmist occurred to me, as expressing the subject of their

meditation--'By the rivers we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.'

Upon frequently inquiring the motive that prompted them in attempting to

go to Jerusalem, the answer was, 'To die in the land of our fathers.'[95]

This valley or dale still exhibits a very desolate appearance. The western

side is a high chalk-cliff supporting the walls of the city; above which

you perceive Jerusalem itself; while the eastern acclivity is formed by

the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Offence, so called from the idolatry

which oppresses the fame of Solomon. These two hills are nearly naked, and

of a dull red colour. On their slopes are seen, here and there, a few

bleak and parched vines, some groves of wild olive-trees, wastes covered

with hyssop, chapels, oratories, and mosques in ruins. At the bottom of

the valley you discover a bridge of a single arch, thrown across the

channel of the Brook Kedron. The stones in the Jewish cemetery look like a

heap of rubbish at the foot of the Mount of Offence, below the Arab

village of Siloane, the paltry houses of which are scarcely to be

distinguished from the surrounding sepulchres. From the stillness of

Jerusalem, whence no smoke arises and no noise proceeds,--from the

solitude of these hills, where no living creature is to be seen,--from the

ruinous state of all these tombs, overthrown, broken, and half-open, you

would imagine that the last trumpet had already sounded, and that the

Valley of Jehoshaphat was about to render up its dead.

Amid this scene of desolation three monuments arrest the eyes of the

intelligent pilgrim,--the tombs of Zachariah, of Absalom, and of the king

whose name still distinguishes the valley. The first-mentioned of these is

a square mass of rock, hewn down into form, and isolated from the quarry

out of which it is cut by a passage of twelve or fifteen feet wide on

three of its sides; the fourth or western front being open towards the

valley and to Mount Moriah, the foot of which is only a few yards distant.

This huge stone is eight paces in length on each side, and about twenty

feet high in the front, and ten feet high at the back; the hill on which

it stands having a steep ascent. It has four semicolumns cut out of the

same rock on each of its faces, with a pilaster at each angle, all of a

mixed Ionic order, and ornamented in bad taste. The architraves, the full

moulding, and the deep overhanging cornice which finishes the square, are

all perfectly after the Egyptian manner; and the whole is surmounted by a

pyramid, the sloping aides of which rise from the very edges of the square

below, and terminate in a finished point.

The body of this monument, we have already stated, is one solid mass of

rock, as well as its semicolumns on each face; but the surmounting pyramid

appears to be of masonry. Its sides, however, are perfectly smooth, like

the coated pyramids of Sahara and Dashour, and not graduated by stages

like those of Dijzeh in lower Egypt.

Inconsiderable in size and paltry in its ornaments, this monument, as Mr.

Buckingham observes, is eminently curious. There is no appearance of an

entrance into any part of it; so that it seems; if a tomb, to have been as

firmly closed as the Egyptian pyramids, and, perhaps, for the same respect

for the repose of the dead. It is probable, indeed, that the original

style and plan of the building are derived from the country of the

Pharaohs; while the Grecian columns and pilasters may be the work of a

much later period, when the Jews had learned to combine with the massy

piles of their more ancient architecture the elegant lightness which

distinguished the times of the Seleucidae.[96]

In the immediate vicinity is the tomb of Jehoshaphat,--a cavern which is

more commonly called the Grotto of the Disciples, from an idea that they

went frequently thither to be taught by their Divine Master. The front of

this excavation has two Doric pillars of small size, but of just

proportions. In the interior are three chambers, all of them rude and

irregular in their form, in one of which were several gravestones,

removed, we may suppose, from the open ground for greater security. Like

all the rest, they were flat slabs of an oblong shape, from three to six

inches in thickness, and evidently a portion of the limestone rock which

composes the adjoining hills.

Opposite to this, on the east, is the reputed tomb of Absalom, resembling

nearly in the size, form, and decoration of its square base that of

Zachariah already described; except that it is sculptured with the metopes

and triglyphs of the Doric order. This is surmounted by a sharp conical

dome, having large mouldings running round its base, and on the summit

something like an imitation of flame. There is here again so strange a

mixture of style and ornament, that one knows not to what age to attribute

the monument as a whole. The square mass below is solid, and the Ionic

columns which are seen on each of its faces are half-indented in the rock

itself. The dome is of masonry, and on the eastern side there is a square

aperture in it. Generally speaking, the sight of this monument rather

confirms the idea suggested by the tomb of Zachariah, that the hewn mass

of solid rock, the surmounting pyramid and dome of masonry, and the

sculptured frieze and Ionic columns wrought on the faces of the square

below were works of different periods; being probably ancient sepulchres,

the primitive character of which had been changed by the subsequent

addition of foreign ornaments. There is, besides, every reason to believe

that this monument, represented below, really occupies the site of the one

which was set up by him whose name it bears. "Now Absalom in his lifetime

had reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the King's Dale: for he

said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance; and he called the

pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day Absalom's

Place."[97]

Chateaubriand is of opinion, that except the Pool of Bethesda at

Jerusalem, we have no remains of the primitive architecture of its

inhabitants. This reservoir, a hundred and fifty feet long and forty

broad, is still to be seen near St. Stephen's Gate, where it bounded the

Temple on the north. The sides are walled by means of large stones joined

together by iron cramps, and covered with flints imbedded in a substance

resembling plaster. Here the lambs destined for sacrifice were washed; and

it was on the brink of this pool that Christ said to the paralytic man,

"Arise, take up thy bed and walk." It receives a melancholy interest from

the fact that it is probably the last remnant of Jerusalem as it appeared

in the days of Solomon and of his immediate successors.

It cannot be denied that the tombs in the Valley of Jehoshaphat display an

alliance of Egyptian and Grecian taste; and, in naturalizing in their

capital the architecture of Memphis and of Athens, it is equally certain

that the Jews mixed with it the forms of their own peculiar style. From

this combination resulted a heterogeneous kind of structure, forming, as

it were, the link between the Pyramids and the Parthenon,--monuments in

which you discover a sombre, yet bold and elevated genius, associated with

a pleasing and cultivated imagination.

Our limits forbid us to follow the footsteps of the pilgrim in his minute

survey of the "Sepulchres of the Kings," which, it is acknowledged, cannot

be traced back to a remoter era than that of the Grecian dynasty at

Antioch and Damascus. There are several other tombs and grottoes, to which

tradition has attached venerable names, and even consecrated them as the

scene of important events; but as they are not remarkable on any other

account, we shall not extend to an undue length our description of the

holy places under the walls of Jerusalem.

We shall simply remark, that a difference of opinion exists among modern

travellers in regard to the extent of the ancient city, the ground which

it actually covered, the changes that it has since undergone in point of

locality, and hence, in respect to the position of some of the more

prominent objects which attract the attention of the inquisitive tourist

in our own days. Dr. Clarke has distinguished himself by some bold

speculations on this head, the effect of which is to derange all the

received notions relative to the scene of the crucifixion and the place of

the Holy Sepulchre. It will indeed be readily granted, that it is a matter

of very small importance to the faith of a Christian to determine whether

the decease which was accomplished at Jerusalem took place on the

north-western or the south-eastern extremity of that metropolis. But as

the history and tradition of many ages have fixed the spot where the cross

was erected and where the new tomb in the rock had its situation, it is

requisite that the arguments of a writer who himself pays so little

respect to authority should be examined with attention. In this case, it

is obvious, an inspection of the ground candidly and distinctly reported

is of much more weight than the most ingenious reasoning if destitute of

facts; on which account, we are happy to have it in our power to refer to

the journal of a learned gentleman hitherto unpublished, who about three

years ago travelled in Syria and Palestine.

"We passed by the place of St. Stephen's martyrdom down into the Valley of

Jehoshaphat. This valley, independently of associations, is highly

picturesque. It is deep and narrow; the lower part is green with scattered

olives. The slope up towards the city is also smooth and green, and

crowned by the towers and battlements. On ascending the Mount of Olives,

which we did towards the south, we had a splendid view of Jerusalem. The

chief ornaments are the two domes of the Holy Sepulchre, the mosque of

Omar, and another large mosque with a smaller dome; but the white houses

make a good show, and the walls are picturesque. On looking at Jerusalem

from this place, the great features seemed to me to agree entirely with

the established maps, and Dr. Clarke's theory appeared quite untenable.

The only difficulty is, that there is no valley which _runs up all the

way_ so as to divide entirely Mount Zion from Mount Moriah. A ravine does

run far enough to cut off the Temple, but no more. The extent of this

difficulty must depend on the description left us of the Tyropaeum and

Millo. Was there a deep valley such as time and change might not have

obliterated? The people of the convent gave the name of the Mount of

Offence to a low hill on the south of the Mount of Olives; but Clarke

seems to think that the real Mount of Offence is that divided by Jehinnom

from Zion, and called by our guide Monte de Mal Consiglio. We visited the

Mohammedan chapel over the place of the Ascension, and saw the alleged

print of Christ's foot. We next went to the place called Viri Galilaei (ye

men of Galilee), and, after looking in vain for Dr. Clarke's pagan

remains, descended towards the Cave of the Prophets. We saw the well where

Nehemiah found the fire of the altar, and then went up the Valley of

Hinnom; first to the tomb called the Crypt of the Apostles, close to the

Aceldama, or Field of Blood. We saw many other grottoes; one had [Greek:

taes hagias Sion] inscribed upon it, as had another much farther up. Near

this last was that which Clarke maintained to be the Holy Sepulchre. We

saw one which would do very well for it; but so would many others. This

one was a cave, with a place for a body cut out in the back part of it,

but raised like a stone trough, not sunk in the floor. There is, of

course, not a shadow of reason for thinking Clarke's cave to be the real

one, and very little that I can see for doubting that the nominal Holy

Sepulchre is so in fact, or, rather, that it is _on the site_ of the real

one, which must have been destroyed when Adrian erected his temple to

Venus on the spot. From these caves we went by the Pool of Bathsheba to

the Bethlehem Gate, and so along the west side of the town to the Tombs of

the Judges and Kings, which lie north or north-west of the city. I

observed large foundations of ancient walls and heaps of rubbish west of

the modern town, where Clarke seems to assume that there was anciently no

part of the city. There and on the north I also observed wells opening

into large covered reservoirs for water. We entered only one of the Tombs

of the Judges, the rest being insignificant. That one was large, with a

pediment which had dentiles and other Greek ornaments. Inside there were

at least three chambers, surrounded by receptacles for bodies. In

returning we went to the Tombs of the Kings, which, like the others, are

cut out of the rock, and, like them too, have Grecian ornaments. There is

one large cave; the front has a handsome entablature, the upper part

ornamented with alternate circular garlands, bunches of grapes, and an

ornament of acanthus leaves; the lower with a rich band of foliage

disposed with much elegance."[98]

Hence, it appears that the weight of evidence preponderates decidedly in

favour of the common opinions in regard to the form of the ancient city

and the places which are usually denominated holy. Why, then, should any

one attempt to disturb the belief or acquiescence of the Christian world

on a subject concerning which all nations have hitherto found reason to

agree? The members of the primitive church had better means than we have

of being fully informed respecting the scenes of the evangelical history;

and it is manifest that amid all the changes which ensued in Jerusalem,

either from conquest or superstition, nothing was more unlikely than that

the faithful should forget the sacred spot where their redemption was

completed, or that they should consent to transfer their veneration to any

other.[99]