of the Christian monuments in Jerusalem. Let us next visit the exterior of the holy city.

It took me two hours to get through the Via Dolorosa on foot. I made a point of daily revisiting this sacred road, as well as the church of Calvary, that no essential circumstance might escape my memory. It was, therefore, two o'clock on the 7th of October when I finished my first survey of the holy places. I then mounted my horse, with Ali Aga, Michael, the drogman, and my servants. We went out by the gate of Jaffa, to make the complete circuit of Jerusalem. · We were abundantly provided with arms, dressed in the French fashion, and fully determined not to submit to any insult. Thanks to the renown of our victories, the times are greatly altered; for, during the reign of Louis XIII. his ambassador, Deshayes, had the greatest difficulty in the world to obtain permission to enter Jerusalem with his sword.

Turning to the left as soon as we had passed the gate, we proceeded southward, and passed the Pool of Beersheba, a broad, deep ditch, but without water; and then ascended Mount Sion, part of which is now without the city.

The name of Sion doubtless awakens grand ideas in the mind of the reader, who is curious to hear something concerning this mount, so mysterious in Scripture, so highly celebrated in Solomon's Songthis mount, the subject of the benedictions or of the tears of the Prophets, and whose misfortunes have been sung by Racine.

This hill, of a yellowish colour and barren appearance, open in form of a crescent towards Jerusalem, is about as high as Montmartre at Paris, but rounder at the top. This sacred summit is distinguished by three monuments, or more properly by three ruins; the house of Caiaphas, the place where Christ celebrated his last supper, and the tomb or palace of David. From the top of the hill you see, to the south, the valley of Ben-Hinnon; beyond this the Field of Blood, purchased with the thirty pieces of silver given to Judas, the Hill of Evil Counsel, the tombs of the judges, and the whole desert towards Hebron and Bethlehem. To the north, the wall of Jerusalem, which passes over the top of Sion, intercepts the view of the city, the site of which gradually slopes from this place towards the valley of Jehoshaphat.

The residence of Caiaphas is now a church, the duty of which is performed by the Armenians. David's tomb is a small vaulted room, containing three sepulchres of dark-coloured stone; and on the spot where Christ held his last supper, stand a mosque and a Turkish hospital, formerly a church and monastery occupied by the fathers of the Holy Land. This last sanctuary is equally celebrated in the Old and in the New Testament. Here David built himself a palace and a tomb; here he kept for three months the Ark of the Covenant; here Christ held his last Passover, and instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist; 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 was transformed into the first Christian temple the world ever beheld, where St. James the Less was consecrated the first Christian bishop of Jerusalem, and St. Peter held 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.

Josephus, the historian, has left us a magnificent description of David's palace and tomb. On the subject of the latter, Benjamin of Tudela relates this curious story:

"Jerusalem is encompassed all round with lofty hills; but it is on Mount Sion that the sepulchres of David's family must be situated, though the exact spot is not known. About fifteen years ago, one of the walls of the Temple, which, as I have observed, stands on Mount Sion, fell down. Upon this the patriarch ordered a priest to repair it with such stones as were to be procured from the foundation of the walls of ancient Sion. To this end the latter hired about twenty workmen, between two of whom subsisted the closest friendship. One of these took the other home with him one morning to breakfast. Returning after their repast, the overseer enquired why they came so late they replied that they would make up for it, by working an hour over the regular time. Accordingly, while the rest

of the men were at dinner, and these were continuing their work as they had promised, they raised a stone which closed the mouth of a cavern, and said to one another: Let's see if there be not some treasure concealed here. Having entered, they went forward till they came to a palace supported by marble pillars and covered with plates of gold and silver. Before it was a table, on which lay a crown and sceptre. This was the sepulchre of David, king of Israel that of Solomon, with similar ornaments, was on the left; as were also the tombs of several other kings of Judah of the family of David, who were interred in this place. They saw likewise chests which were locked up; so that what they contained is not known to this day. The two men were proceeding to enter the palace, when a violent whirlwind, rushing in at the mouth of the cavern, threw them upon the ground, where they remained as if dead till night. Another blast of wind roused them from this situation, and they heard a voice, resembling that of a man, which said to them: "Arise, and be gone from this place." Overcome with terror, they precipitately departed, and related all that had befallen them to the Patriarch, who made them repeat the account in the presence of Abraham of Constantinople, the Pharisee, surnamed the Pious, who then resided at Jerusalem. He had sent for him, to inquire what he thought of the matter; on which he replied that this was the burial-place of the house of David, prepared for the kings of Judah. The following day, the two men were found con VOL. II.

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fined to their beds and very ill in consequence of the fright. They refused to return to the spot any reward whatever, declaring that it was vain for mortal to attempt to penetrate into a place the entrance of which was defended by God himself; so that it was stopped up by the command of the Patriarch, and it has thus been concealed from sight to this day." *

Having descended Mount Sion on the east side, we came at its foot to the fountain and pool of Siloe, where Christ restored sight to the blind man. The spring issues from a rock, and runs in a silent stream, according to the testimony of Jeremiah, which is contradicted by a passage of St. Jerome. It has a kind of ebb and flood, sometimes discharging its current like the fountain of Vaucluse, at others returning and scarcely suffering it to run at all. The Levites sprinkled the water of Siloe on the altar at the feast of Tabernacles, singing, Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Salvatoris. Milton mentions this spring, instead of Castalia's fount, in the beautiful invocation with which his poem opens:

Heav'nly muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb or of Sinai didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heav'ns and earth

*This story seems to be a revival of that related by Josephus concerning the same tomb. Herod the Great having attempted to open David's coffin, flames issued from it and prevented the accomplishment of his design.