due to men who are themselves making a perpetual sacrifice of their property and their lives. I might, moreover, have reconeiled the interest of the fathers, with my own safety, by relinquishing my design of visiting the Jordan; and it only depended on myself to set bounds to my curiosity.

While I was waiting for the moment of departure, the religious began to sing in the church of the monastery. I inquired the reason of this singing; and was informed, that they were celebrating the festival of the patron of their order. I then recollected that it was the 4th of October, St. Francis's day, and the anniversary of my birth. I hastened to the church, and offered up my prayers for the felicity of her, who on this day had brought me into the world. I deem it a happiness that my first prayer at Jerusalem was not for myself. I contemplated with respect those religious singing praises to the Lord, within three hundred paces of the tomb of Christ; I was deeply affected at the sight of the feeble but invincible band which has continued the only guard of the Holy Sepulchre since it was abandoned by kings.

The superior sent for a Turk named Ali Aga, to conduct me to Bethlehem. He was the son of an aga of Rama, who lost his head under the tyranny of Djezzar. Ali was born at Jericho, at present Rihha, and called himself the governor of that village. He was intelligent and courageous: and I had every reason to be satisfied with him. The first thing he did was to make my servant and myself relinquish our Arabian attire, and resume the French dress, that dress, once so despised by the orientals, now inspires respect and fear; French valour has regained the renown which it formerly acquired in this country. It was French chevaliers who established the kingdom of Jerusalem, as it was the soldiers of France that gathered the last palms in Idumea. The Turks point out to you at one and the same time, Baldwin's tower and the emperor's camp; and at Calvary you find the sword of Godfrey of Bouillon, which, in its ancient sheath, seems still to guard the Sacred Sepulchre.

At five o'clock in the evening, three good horses were brought, and we were joined by Michael, drogman to the convent: Ali put himself at our head, and we set out for Bethlehem, where we were to sleep, and to take forward an escort of six Arabs. I had read that the superior of St. Saviour's is the only Frank who en

joys the privilege of riding on horseback at Jerusalem, and I was somewhat surprised to find myself galloping on an Arabian steed; but I have since learned that any traveller may do the same for his money. We left Jerusalem by the Damascus gate, then turning to the left, and crossing the ravines at the foot of Mount Sion, we ascended a mountain, and found at the top of it a plain over which we proceeded for an hour. We left Jerusalem to the north, behind us; on the west, we had the mountains of Judea, and on the east, beyond the Red Sea, those of Arabia. We passed the convent of St. Elijah. The spot where that prophet rested on his way to Jerusalem, is sure to be pointed out to you, under an olive-tree that stands upon a rock by the side of the road. A league farther on we entered the plain of Rama, where you meet with Rachel's tomb. It is a square edifice, surmounted with a small dome: it enjoys the privileges of a mosque, for the Turks as well as the Arabs, honour the families of the patriarchs. The traditions of the Christians agree in placing Rachel's sepulchre on this spot; historical criticism favours this opinion; but in spite of Thevenot, Monconys, Roger, and many others, I cannot admit what is now denominated Rachel's tomb, to be an antique monument: it is evidently a Turkish edifice, erected in memory of a santon.

We perceived in the mountains, for night had come on, the lights of the village of Rama. Profound silence reigned around us. It was doubtless in such a night as this that Rachel's voice suddenly struck the ear: a voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted, because they were not." Here the mothers of Astyanax and Euryalus are outdone; Homer and Virgil must yield the palm of pathos to Jeremiah.

We arrived by a narrow and rugged road at Bethlehem. We knocked at the door of the convent; its inhabitants were thrown into some alarm, because our visit was unexpected, and Ali's turban at first excited terror; but matters were soon explained to their satisfaction.

Bethlehem received its name, which signifies the House of Bread, from Abraham; and was surnamed Ephrata, the Fruitful, after Caleb's wife, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem, in the tribe of Zebulun. It belonged to the tribe of Judah, and also

went by the name of the City of David, that monarch having there been born, and tended sheep in his childhood. Abijah, the seventh judge of Israel, Elimelech, Obed, Jesse, and Boaz, were like David, natives of Bethlehem, and here must be placed the scene of the admirable eclogue of Ruth. St. Matthias, the apostle, also received life in the same town where the Messiah came into the world.

The first Christians built an oratory over the manger of our Saviour. Adrian ordered it to be demolished, and a statue of Adonis erected in its stead. St. Helena destroyed the idol, and built a church on the same spot. The original edifice is now blended with the various additions made by the Christian princes. St. Jerome, as every reader knows, retired to the solitude of Bethle hem. Conquered by the Crusaders, Bethlehem returned with Jerusalem under the yoke of the Infidels; but it has always been the object of the veneration of the pilgrims. Pious monks, devoting themselves to perpetual martyrdom, have been its guardians for seven centuries. With respect to modern Bethlehem, its soil, productions, and inhabitants, the reader is referred to the work of Volney. I have not, however, remarked in the vale of Bethlehem the fertility which is ascribed to it: under the Turkish government, to be sure, the most productive soil, will, in a few years, be transformed into a desert.

At four in the morning of the 5th of October, I commenced my survey of the monuments of Bethlehem. Though these structures have frequently been described, yet the subject is in itself so interesting that I cannot forbear entering into some particulars.

The convent of Bethlehem is connected with the church by a court enclosed with lofty walls. We crossed this court, and were admitted by a small side door into the church. The edifice is certainly of high antiquity, and though often destroyed and as often repaired, it still retains marks of its Grecian origin. It is built in the form of a cross. The long nave, or if you please, the foot of the cross, is adorned with forty-eight columns of the Corinthian order, in four rows. These columns are two feet six inches in diameter at the base, and eighteen feet high, including the base and capital. As the roof of this nave is wanting, the columns support nothing but a frieze of wood, which occupies the place of the architrave and of the whole entablature. Open timber-work

rests upon the walls, and rises into the form of a dome, to support the roof that no longer exists, or that perhaps was never finished. The wood-work is said to be of cedar, but this is a mistake. The windows are large, and were formerly adorned with Mosaic paintings, and passages from the bible in Greek and Latin characters, the traces of which are yet visible. Most of these inscriptions are given by Quaresmius. The abbé Miriti notices with some acrimony, a mistake of that learned friar in one of the dates: a person of the greatest abilities is liable to error, but he who blazons it without delicacy or politeness, affords a much stronger proof of his vanity than of his knowledge.

The remains of the Mosaics to be seen here and there, and some paintings on wood, are interesting to the history of the arts; they in general exhibit figures in full face, upright, stiff, without motion, and without shadows; but their effect is majestic, and their character dignified and austere.

nave.

The Christian sect of the Arminians is in possession of the nave which I have just described. This nave is separated from the three other branches of the cross by a wall, so that the unity of the edifice is destroyed. When you have passed this wall, you find yourself opposite to the sanctuary, or the choir, which occupies the top of the cross. This choir is raised two steps above the Here is seen an altar dedicated to the Wise Men of the East. On the pavement at the foot of this altar, you observe a marble star, which corresponds, as tradition asserts, with the point of the heavens where the miraculous star that conducted the three kings became stationary. So much is certain, that the spot where the Saviour of the world was born, is exactly underneath this marble star in the subterraneous church of the manger, of which I shall presently have occasion to speak. The Greeks occupy the choir of the Magi, as well as the two other naves formed by the transom of the cross. These last are empty, and without altars.

Two spiral staircases, each composed of fifteen steps, open on the sides of the outer church, and conduct to the subterraneous church situated beneath the choir. This is the ever-to-be revered place of the nativity of our Saviour. Before I entered it, the superior put a taper into my hand, and repeated a brief exhortation. This sacred crypt is irregular, because it occupies the irregular site of the stable and the manger. It is thirty-seven feet six inches