St. Stephen, keeping nobody but the janissary with me. Seating myself at the foot of the tomb of Jehoshaphat, with my face towards the temple, I took a volume of Racine from my pocket and read Athaliah. At these first verses: Oui, je viens dans son temple adorer l'Eternel, &c. it is impossible for me to express what I felt. I fancied that I could hear the song of Solomon and the voices of the prophets; ancient Jerusalem rose to my view; the shades of Joad, Athaliah, and Josabeth issued from the tomb; and it seemed as if I had been incapable till that moment of appreciating the genius of Racine. What poetry! since I thought it worthy of the place where I was. "Tis impossible to conceive the effect of Athalia', read upon the tomb of the "holy king Jehoshaphat," on the banks of the brook Cedron, and before the ruins of the temple. But what has become of this temple, "adorned in every part with magnificent festoons?" Comment en un plomb vil l'or pur s'est-il changé, Ou menez-vous ces enfans et ces femmes ? Quelle main en un jour t'a ravi tous tes charmes ? Izarias.--O saint temple! Josabeth.-O David! La Chaur-Dieu de Sion, rappelle, Rappelle en sa faveur tes antiques bontes. The pen drops from my fingers: one feels ashamed to scribble any more after a man has written such verses. I spent part of the 9th in the convent to collect some particulars respecting private life at Jerusalem; having seen every thing of consequence within and without the city, except Nehemiah's well, in which the sacred fire was concealed at the time of the captivity, the sepulchres of the judges, and some other places. These I visited in the evening of the 9th; but as there is nothing remarkable about them but their names, it is not worth while to detain the reader's attention with them. I shall therefore proceed to those little details which excite curiosity in proportion to the renown of the places that are treated of. Who could figure to himself, that people live at Athens and Sparta in the same manner as in his own country? Jerusalem, above all, whose name awakens the recollection of so many mysteries, overawes the imagination; it seems as if every thing must be extraordinary in that extraordinary city. Let us see how far this is really the case, and begin with the description of the convent of the Latin fathers. You reach it by a covered way, which leads to another passage of considerable length, and very dark. At the end of this passage you come to a court formed by the wood-house, cellar, and pantry of the convent. In this court you perceive to the right a flight of twelve or fifteen steps, ascending to a cloister which is immediately over the cellar, wood-house, and pantry, and consequently overlooks the court by which you enter. At the east end of this cloister opens a vestibule that communicates with the church, which is very pretty. It has a choir fitted up with stalls, a nave lighted by a dome, an altar, in the Roman style, and a small organ; but all comprised in a space only twenty feet by twelve. Another door at the west-end of the above mentioned cloister leads to the interior of the convent. "This convent," says a pilgrim (Doubdan) in his description, not less distinguished for accuracy than simplicity, "is very irregular, built in the antique style, consisting of several parts, high and low, the offices small, and concealed from view, the apartments poor and dark, several little courts, two small gardens, the largest of which may be about fifteen or sixteen perches, and adjoining to the ramparts of the city. Towards the west-end is another court, and some small rooms for pilgrims. All the recreation to be found in this place is to ascend to the terrace of the church, where you enjoy a view of the whole city, which goes down hill all the way to the valley of Jehoshaphat: you see the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the court of Solomon's Temple, and farther off, but likewise towards the east, the Mount of Olives; to the south, the castle of the city, and the road to Bethlehem; and to the north, the grotto of Jeremiah. Such, in a few words, is the plan and description of this convent which partakes very much of the simplicity and poverty of Him who, though he was rich, yet, on this very spot, for our sakes, became poor." The apartment which I occupied is called the Pilgrims' Great Room. It looks upon a solitary court, enclosed on all sides with walls. The furniture consisted of a hospital bed, with curtains of green serge, a table, and a box: my servants had two cells at a considerable distance from me. A pitcher of water, and a lamp in the Italian fashion, completed my establishment. The room, of large size, was dark, having but one window, which opened into the court that I have just mentioned. Thirteen pilgrims had inscribed their names on the door, in the inside of the room. The first was Charles Lombard, who was at Jerusalem in 1669, and the last, John Gordon, the date of whose visit is 1804*. I found only three French names among these thirteen travellers. The pilgrims do not eat with the fathers as at Jaffa. A separate provision is made for them, and they go to what expense they please. If the are poor, they are supplied with food; if rich, they pay for such things as are bought for them: so that the convent gets by them not one single farthing. Lodging, bed, linen, light, and fire, are always furnished gratis, as a tribute due to hospitality. A cook was placed at my disposal. I scarcely ever dined before dark, on my return from my excursions. Lentil soup, dressed with oil, was the first dish; then came veal, stewed with cucumbers or onions, broiled kid, or mutton boiled with rice. Beef is never eaten here, and buffalo's flesh has a strong taste. Of roast I had pigeons, and sometimes partridges, of the white species, calFed partridges of the desert. Game is very common in the plain of Ramah, and in the mountains of Judea: it consists of partridges woodcocks, hares, wild boars, and antelopes. The quail of Arabia, which feed the Isrealites, is almost unknown in Jerusalem; though it is sometimes met with in the valley of the Jordan. The Probably the same Mr. Gordon whose analysis of a bottle of the water of the Dead Sea is noticed in the preceding part of this work. only vegetables ever brought to my table, were lentils, beans, cucumbers, and onions. The wine of Jerusalem is excellent; it has the colour and taste of the wines of Rousillon. It is still furnished by the hills of Engaddi, near Bethlehem. As to fruits, I ate as at Jaffa, large grapes, dates pomegranates, water-melons, apples, and figs, of the second season; those of the sycamore, or Pharaoh's figtree, were over. The bread made at the convent was good, and well tasted. Let us now proceed to the prices of these different eatables. The quintal of Jerusalem is composed of one hundred rolts; the rolt of nine hundred drachms. The rolt is equal to two oques and a quarter, which make very near eight French pounds. Mutton sells at two piastres ten paras the rolt. The Turkish piastre, the value of which is continually fluctuating at the pleasure of the beys and pachas of Egypt, does not amount in Syria to more than thirty-three sous four deniers, and the para to more than ten deniers:* consequently, the rolt being very near eight pounds, a pound of mutton sells at Jerusalem for nine sous four deneirs and a half (between fourpence-halfpenny and fivepence English.) Veal costs only a piastre the rolt, a large sheep ten or fifteen piaitres, a goat six or eight. The price of a measure of wheat varies from eight to nine piastres. Oil sells for three piastres the roit. Vegetables are very dear: they are brought to Jerusalem, from Jaffa and the neighbouring villages.. This year (1806) grapes for making wine sold for twenty-seven piastres per quintal. A person who would not choose to put up at the kans, or to live with the fathers of the Holy Land, might hire one or more rooms in a private house at Jerusalem, but there his life would not be safe. According to the small or large size, the wretchedness or the opulence of the house, each room would cost from two or twenty piastres per month. A whole house, containing • According to this calculation a piastre is equivalent to between one shilling and fourpence half-penny, and one shilling and fivepence, and a para tó nőt quite a farthing in English money.➡Translater. one pretty large apartment, and twelve or fifteen holes, called rooms, would let for five thousand piastres a year. A master workman, a mason, a cabinet-maker, a carpenter, receives two piastres a day, and his food; but a journeyman is paid only one piastre a day. There is no fixed measure for land: it is most commonly bought from personal inspection of the piece you wish to purchase; and the value of it is calculated by the quantity of fruit, corn or grapes, which it is capable of producing. The plough has no wheels; the share, which is very small, scarcely grazes the ground; it is drawn by oxen. The crops raised are barley, wheat, doura, maize, and cotton. Sesamum is sown in the same field in which cotton is cultivated. A mule costs from one to two hundred piastres, according to its beauty an ass is worth from fifteen to fifty. Eighty or one hundred piastres are given for an ordinary horse, which is in general less valued than an ass or a mule: but a horse, of a well known Arabian breed, will fetch any price. Abdallah, pacha of Damascus, had just given three thousand piastres for one. The history of a horse is frequently the topic of general conversation. When I was at Jerusalem, the feats of one of these wonderful steeds made a great noise. The Bedouin, to whom the animal, a mare, belonged, being pursued by the governor's guards, rushed with her from the top of the hills that overlook Jericho. The mare scoured at full gallop down an almost perpendicular declivity, without stumbling, and left the soldiers lost in admiration and astonishment. The poor creature, however, dropped down dead on entering Jericho, and the Bedouin, who would not quit her, was taken, weeping over the body of his companion. This mare has a brother in the desert, who is so famous, that the Arabs always know where he has been, where he is, what he is doing, and how he does. Ali Aga religiously showed me in the mountains near Jericho the footsteps of the mare that died in the attempt to save her master: a Macedonian could not have beheld those of Bucephalus with greater respect. Let us now say something concerning the pilgrims. The modern accounts have rather exaggerated the wealth which the pilgrims, are supposed to diffuse in their travels in the Holy Land, But, in the first place, to what pilgrims do they allude? Not to |