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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 V 
 
 uSr
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 TO 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 AND 
 
 THE HOLY LAND.
 
 TRAVELS 
 
 TO 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 AND 
 
 THE HOLY LAND 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 BY THE VISCOUNT DE CHATEAUBRIAND. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 BY FREDERIC SHOBERL. 
 
 Cljtrtt iEfctttou. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PUBLISHED FOR HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 BY RICHARD BENTLEY ; BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH ; 
 AND JOHN CUMMING, DUBLIN. 
 
 1835.
 
 LONDON 
 
 Printed by J. L. Cox and Sons, 75. Great Que*!) Street, 
 
 Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.
 
 HL 
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PART THE FOURTH. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre— Description of it by Des- 
 hayes— Composed of Three Churches— Its Architecture 
 —Its Origin and History— Visit to the Chamber of the 
 Holy Sepulchre— Effect produced on the mind by the 
 Sacred Edifice— The Via Dolorosa— Pilate's House— The 
 Crown of Thorns — Sentence pronounced by Pilate — 
 Church of our Lady of Grief— Houses of the Rich Man 
 and of Lazarus— Veronica— Calvary — Other places of 
 Devotion in Jerusalem * 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Exterior of Jerusalem — Pool of Beersheba— Mount Sion — 
 David's Palace and Tomb— Fountain of Siloe— Valley of 
 Jehoshaphat— The brook Cedron— Tombs of Zachariah, 
 Jehoshaphat, and Absalom — Garden of Olivet — Gethse- 
 mane — Sepulchre of the Virgin Mary — Grotto where our 
 Saviour sweated blood — Rock where he foretold the 
 Destruction of Jerusalem — Burning of the Temple — 
 Tombs of the Prophets — Subterraneous meeting- place of 
 the Apostles — Olive-tree where Christ foretold the Last 
 Judgment— Spot of his Ascension to Heaven — Bossuet's 
 History of Christ's Passion and Death 26 
 
 203J/M2-
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Page 
 
 History of Jerusalem — Besieged and taken by Titus — New 
 City built by Adrian — Taken by the Mahometans— Cha- 
 racter of the Crusades — Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders 
 and erected into a Kingdom— Godfrey of Bouillon, the 
 first King — His Successors— Baldwin takes Jerusalem- 
 Crusade of Louis IX. — Account of the Kingdom of Jeru- 
 salem — Present state of the City— The Citadel — Street 
 of the Bazar— The Jews' Quarter — Ancient Christian 
 Hospital -The City Walls— Gates— Streets— The Greek 
 Convent— Visit to the Greek Patriarch— The Armenian 
 Convent and Patriarch — Second visit to the Church of the 
 Holy Sepulchre — Rencounter with two drunken Spahis. 4-7 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Monuments of Jerusalem — The Hebrew Monuments — Solo- 
 mon's Temple — The Pool of Bethesda — Grecian and 
 Roman Monuments — Sepulchres of Absalom and Zacha- 
 riah — Sepulchres of the Kings — Christian Monuments 
 prior to the Saracen Conquests — Arabic or Moorish Monu- 
 ments— Mosque of Omar -Origin of Moorish Architec- 
 ture — Gothic Monuments — Tombs of Godfrey and 
 Baldwin— Turkish Monuments— Racine's Athaliah 84 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Convent of the Latin Fathers — The Pilgrims' Room — Diet 
 — Prices of Eatables — Horses — The Pilgrims — Their 
 Expences — Statement of the Author's Expences at Jaffa 
 and Jerusalem — Poverty and Persecution of the Latin 
 Fathers — Their Library and Archives — Firmans granted 
 to them , 114 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Examination of the Fields of Battle around Jerusalem 
 described by Tasso — History of the Siege of Jerusalem 
 by Robert the Monk 132
 
 CONTENTS. VII 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Page 
 Government of Jerusalem — Abrlallah, Pacha of Damascus 
 — His Extortions — Order of the Holy Sepulchre con- 
 ferred on the Author — General Survey of the City — 
 Houses — Inhabitants — Communities of Christian Monks 
 — Jews — Departure from Jerusalem — Arrival at Jaffa. .. 151 
 
 PART THE FIFTH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Author embarks at Jaffa for Egypt — Gulf of Pelusium, 
 now Damietta — Death of Pompey — The Nile — Alex- 
 andria — M. Drovetti, the French Consul — Rosetta — 
 Albanian Soldiers — Appearance of the Delta — Voyage to 
 Cairo— Restraints imposed on the Kings of ancient Egypt 
 — The Pyramids 1 65 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cairo — French Mamelukes— The Pacha's Son — Plains of 
 Memphis — View of the Pyramids — Departure from Cairo 
 — Arab Camp — Attack on the Author's Vessel— Esme- 
 nard's Apostrophe to Egypt — Return to Alexandria — In- 
 scription on Pompey's Pillar — AH Bey and Atala — 
 Dreariness of Alexandria and its Environs — Embarkation 
 for Tunis — Tempestuous Weather — Island of Scarpanto 
 — Stampalia — A Hurricane— New Year's Day — The 
 Kerkeni Islands — Arrival at Tunis 185
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 PART THE SIXTH. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 M. Devoise, French Consul at Tunis — Fondness of the 
 French for Dancing — M. Violet and the Iroquois— Ac- 
 quaintances made by the Author at Tunis — Travels in 
 Barbary — Situation of Tunis — Its Population — Environs 
 — The Bey — History of Carthage— Regulus — Hannibal 
 — Scipio Africanus — Syphax and Masinissa — Sophonisba 
 — Interview between Scipio and Hannibal — Battle of 
 Zama— The Third Punic War— Scipio's Dream— Siege 
 of Carthage — Destruction of the City by Fire — Asdrubal's 
 Wife — Marius — Cato of Utica— Carthage rebuilt by Au- 
 gustus — St. Augustine — The Vandals conquer Carthage 
 — Genseric — The taking of the City by Belisarius — Its 
 Reduction by the Saracens 207 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Plan of Ancient Carthage — New Carthage — State of Carthage 
 under the Roman Emperors — Ruins of Carthage — An- 
 cient Port — Port described by Virgil — Aqueduct — Byrsa 
 
 — Crusade of Louis IX. — His attempt on Tunis — Fatal 
 Illness of the King — His last Instructions to his Son 
 
 — His Death — Departure from Tunis — Arrival at Cadiz 
 — Cordova— Grenada — Arrival at Madrid — The Escurial 
 
 — Bayonne — Conclusion 258
 
 TRAVELS TO JERUSALEM. 
 
 PART THE FOURTH. 
 
 JERUSALEM. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre — Description of it by Deshayes — 
 Composed of Three Churches — Its Architecture — Its Origin 
 and History — Visit to the Chamber of the Holy Sepulchre — 
 Effect produced on the mind by the Sacred Edifice — The Via 
 Dolorosa — Pilate's House — The Crown of Thorns — Sentence 
 pronounced by Pilate — Church of our Lady of Grief — Houses 
 of the Rich Man and of Lazarus — Veronica — Calvary — Other 
 places of Devotion in Jerusalem. 
 
 I was employed for some hours in noting- down 
 with pencil my remarks on the places which I had 
 just visited ; a practice which I followed during 
 the whole of my residence at Jerusalem, running 
 about all day, and writing at night. Very early in 
 the morning of the 7th of October, the procurator 
 entered my apartment, and informed me how 
 matters stood between the pacha and the superior. 
 We concerted our measures accordingly. My fir- 
 
 VOL. II. B
 
 2 JERUSALEM. 
 
 mans were sent to Abdallah, who flew into a pas- 
 sion, shouted, threatened, but at last thought fit 
 to lower his demands. I am sorry that I cannot 
 insert the copy of a letter written by Father Bona- 
 ventura de Nola to General Sebastiani, which copy 
 I received from Bonaventura himself. Besides 
 giving - a history of the pacha, it states facts not 
 less honourable to France than to General Sebas- 
 tiani. This letter I should not venture to publish 
 without the permission of the person to whom it 
 is addressed ; and, unfortunately, the General's 
 absence deprives me of the means of obtaining such 
 permission. 
 
 Nothing but the strong desire which I felt to be 
 of service to the fathers of Palestine, could for a 
 moment have diverted my attention from a visit to 
 the Holy Sepulchre. About nine the same morn- 
 ing I sallied from the convent, attended by two 
 friars, a drogman, my servant, and a janissary. I 
 repaired to the church which encloses the tomb of 
 Jesus Christ. All preceding travellers have de- 
 scribed this church, the most venerable in the 
 world, whether we think as philosophers or as 
 Christians. Here I am reduced to an absolute 
 dilemma. Shall I give an accurate delineation of 
 the sacred scenes ? If so, I can but repeat what 
 has been said before : never was subject less known 
 to modern readers, and never was subject more 
 completely exhausted. Shall I omit the descrip- 
 tion of those places ? In this case should I not 
 leave out the most important part of my travels, 
 and exclude what constitutes their object and their 
 end ? After long hesitation, I determined to de- 
 scribe the principal stations of Jerusalem from the 
 following considerations : 
 
 1. Nobody now reads the ancient pilgrimages to
 
 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 3 
 
 Jerusalem ; and what is very old will probably 
 appear quite new to the majority of readers. 
 
 2. The church of the Holy Sepulchre no longer 
 exists ; it was totally destroyed by fire since my 
 return from Judea. I am, I may say, the last tra- 
 veller by whom it was visited, and, for the same 
 reason, I shall be its last historian. 
 
 But as I have not the presumption to suppose 
 that I can excel the very able descriptions which 
 have already been given, I shall avail myself of the 
 works of my predecessors; taking care, however, 
 to elucidate them by my own observations. 
 
 Among these works, 1 should have chosen, in 
 preference, those of protestant travellers, as more 
 consonant with the spirit of the age : we are apt , 
 at the present day, to reject what springs, in our 
 opinion, from too religious a source. Unfortu- 
 nately, I found nothing satisfactory on the subject 
 of the Holy Sepulchre in Pococke, Shaw, Maun- 
 drell, Hasselquist, and some others. The scholars 
 and travellers who have written in Latin concerning 
 the antiquities of Jerusalem, as Adamannus, Bede, 
 Brocard, Willibald,Breydenbach, Sanuto,Ludolph, 
 Reland,* Adrichomius, Quaresmius, Baumgarten, 
 Fureri, Bochart, Arias Montanus, Reuwich, Hesse, 
 and Cotovic,t would impose the necessity of making 
 translations which, after all, would furnish the rea- 
 der with no new information.^ I have, therefore, 
 
 * His work, Palcestina ex Monumentis veteribus illustrata, is a 
 miracle of erudition. 
 
 f His description of the Holy Sepulchre is so circumstantial, 
 as to give the whole of the hymns sung by the pilgrims at every 
 station. 
 
 f There is also a description of Jerusalem in the Armenian 
 language, and another in modern Greek ; the latter I have seen. 
 The more ancient descriptions, as those of Sanuto, Ludolph, 
 Brocard, Breydenbach, Willibald, Adamannus, or rather Arculfe, 
 and the venerable Bede, are curious, because they afford the 
 
 y 2 means
 
 4 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 adhered to the French travellers,* and among' these 
 I have preferred the description of the Holy Sepul- 
 chre by Deshayes, for the following- reasons: 
 
 Belon (1550), of high celebrity as a naturalist, 
 savs scarcely a word concerning- the Holy Sepul- 
 chre; his style is, moreover, too antiquated. Other 
 authors, either of still older date, or cotemporary 
 with him, as Cachermois (1490), Regnault (1522), 
 Salignac (1522), le Huen (1525), Gassot (1536), 
 Renaud(l548)i Postel (1553), Giraudet (1575), 
 likewise employ a language too different from that 
 of the present day.t 
 
 Villamont (1588) overloads his work with mi- 
 nutiae, and he has neither order nor judgment. 
 Father Boucher (1610) is so extravagantly pious, 
 that it is impossible to quote him. Benard writes 
 with great sobriety, though no more than twenty 
 years of age at the period when he travelled ; but 
 he is diffuse, insipid, and obscure. Father Pacifico 
 (1622) is vulgar, and his narrative too concise, 
 Monconys (1647) pays attention to nothing but 
 medical recipes. Doubdan (1651) is clear, learned, 
 and well worthy of being consulted; but prolix, 
 and apt to lay too much stress on trivial objects. 
 Roger, the friar (1653), who was for five years 
 attached to the service of the holy places, possesses 
 erudition and judgment, and writes in a lively, 
 animated style; his description of the Holy Se- 
 
 means of judging what changes have since taken place in the 
 church of the Holy Sepulchre ; but in reference to the modern 
 edifice, they are wholly useless. 
 
 * De Vera, in Spanish, is very concise, and yet extremely 
 perspicuous. Zuallardo, who wrote in Italian, is vague and con- 
 fused- Pietro de la Valle charms by the peculiar elegance of his 
 style and his singular adventures ; but he is no authority. 
 
 t Some of these authors wrote in Latin, but there are old 
 French versions of their works.
 
 DESHAYES DESCRIPTION. 5 
 
 pulchre is too long, and on this account I have 
 excluded it. Thevenot (1056), one of the most 
 celebrated French travellers, has given an excel- 
 lent account of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
 and I would advise the reader to consult his work : 
 but he implicitly follows Deshayes. Father Nau, 
 a Jesuit (1674), added to a knowledge of the ori- 
 ental languages the advantage of visiting Jeru- 
 salem with the Marquis de Nointel, our ambas- 
 sador at Constantinople, and the same gentleman 
 to whom we are indebted for the first drawings of 
 Athens : but it is a pity that the learned Jesuit 
 is so insufferably prolix. Father Neret's letter, 
 in the Lettres Edifiantes, is excellent in every 
 respect, but omits too many things. The same 
 may be said of Du Loiret de la Roque (1688). As 
 to travellers of very recent date, such as Muller, 
 Vanzow, Korte, Bescheider, Mariti, Volney, Nie- 
 buhr, and Brown, they are almost totally silent 
 respecting the holy places. 
 
 The narrative of Deshayes (1621), who was sent 
 to Palestine by Louis XIII., appears therefore to 
 me the fittest to be followed : 
 
 1st, Because the Turks themselves were soli- 
 citous to shew this ambassador whatever was curious 
 at Jerusalem; and he might even have obtained 
 admission, had he pleased, into the mosque of the 
 Temple. 
 
 'idly, Because he is so clear and so precise, in 
 the style, now somewhat antiquated, of his secre- 
 tary, "that Paul Lucas has, according to his usual 
 custom, copied him, verbatim, without acknow- 
 ledging the plagiarism. 
 
 3dly, Because d' Anville (and this, indeed, is the 
 primary reason) has taken Deshayes' map for the 
 subject of a dissertation, which is, perhaps, the
 
 () THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 master-piece of that celebrated geographer.* Des- 
 hayes will, therefore, furnish us with the descrip- 
 tion of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, to which 
 I shall subjoin my observations. 
 
 " The Holy Sepulchre, and most of the sacred 
 places, are attended by Franciscan friars, who are 
 sent thither every three years ; and though they 
 are of all nations, yet they all pass for French or 
 Venetians, and they could not maintain their 
 ground were they not under the king's protection. 
 About sixty years ago, they had a habitation with- 
 out the city, on Mount Sion, on the spot where 
 our Saviour instituted the Lord's Supper with his 
 disciples ; but their church having been converted 
 into a mosque, they have since resided in the city 
 on Mount Gihon, upon which stands their con- 
 vent, called St. Saviour's. Here dwells their su- 
 perior, with the members of the family, which 
 supplies with monks all the places in the Holy 
 Land that stand in need of them. 
 
 " From this convent the church of St. Sepulchre 
 is but two hundred paces distant. It comprehends 
 the Holy Sepulchre, Mount Calvary, and several 
 other sacred places. It was partly built by direc- 
 tion of St. Helena, to cover the Holy Sepul- 
 chre ; but the Christian princes of succeeding ages 
 caused it to be enlarged so as to include Mount 
 Calvary, which is only fifty paces from the Sepul- 
 chre. 
 
 " In ancient times, Mount Calvary, as I have 
 already observed, was without the city; it was the 
 place where criminals, sentenced to suffer death, 
 were executed ; and that all the people might 
 attend on these occasions, there was a large vacant 
 
 * This dissertation, which is very scarce, is given in the 
 Appendix.
 
 ©ESHAYES 1 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 space between the eminence and the wall of the 
 city. The rest of the hill was surrounded with 
 gardens, one of which belonged to Joseph of Ari- 
 mathea, who was, in secret, a disciple of Jesus 
 Christ : here he had constructed a sepulchre for 
 himself, and in this the body of our Lord was de- 
 posited. The Jews were not accustomed to bury 
 their dead in the manner that we do. Each, ac- 
 cording to his ability, had a kind of little closet 
 excavated in some rock, where the body was laid 
 at length upon a table, also hewn out of the rock, 
 and this receptacle was closed by a stone placed 
 before the entrance, which was generally no more 
 than four feet in height. 
 
 " The church of the Holy Sepulchre is very 
 irregular, owing to the nature and situation of the 
 places which it was designed to comprehend. It is 
 nearly in the form of a cross, being one hundred 
 and twenty paces in length, exclusive of the descent 
 to the Discovery of the Holy Cross, and seventy 
 in breadth. It has three domes, of which that 
 covering the Holy Sepulchre serves for the nave of 
 the church. It is thirty feet in diameter, and is 
 covered at top like the Rotunda at Rome. There 
 is no cupola, it is true ; the roof being supported 
 only by large rafters, brought from Mount Leba- 
 non. This church had formerly three entrances, 
 but now there is but one door, the keys of which 
 are cautiously kept by the Turks, lest the pilgrims 
 should gain admittance without paying the nine 
 sequins, or thirty- six livres, demanded for this 
 indulgence : I allude to those from Christendom : 
 for the Christian subjects of the Grand Signor pay 
 no more than half that sum. This door is always 
 shut ; and there is only a small window, crossed 
 with an iron bar, through which the people with-
 
 8 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 out hand provisions to those within, who are of 
 eight different nations. 
 
 " The first is that of the Latins or Romans, 
 which is represented by the Franciscan friars. They 
 are the keepers of the holy sepulchre ; the place 
 on Mount Calvary, where our Lord was nailed to 
 the cross ; the spot where the sacred cross was 
 discovered ; the stone of unction, and the chapel 
 where our Lord appeared to the Blessed Virgin 
 after his resurrection. 
 
 " The second nation is that of the Greeks, who 
 have the choir of the church, where they officiate : 
 in the midst of it is a small circle of marble ; the 
 centre of which they look upon as the middle of 
 the globe. 
 
 " The third is the nation of the Abyssinians, to 
 whom belongs the chapel containing the pillar of 
 Impropere. 
 
 " The fourth nation is that of the Copts, who 
 are Egyptian Christians : these have a small ora- 
 tory near the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 " The fifth nation is the Armenian. They have the 
 chapel of St. Helena, and that where the soldiers 
 cast lots for, and divided the apparel of our Lord. 
 
 " The sixth nation is that of the Nestorians, or 
 Jacobites, who are natives of Chaldea and of Syria. 
 These have a small chapel near the spot where our 
 Lord appeared to Mary Magdalen, in the form of 
 a gardener, and which is on 'that account denomi- 
 nated Magdalen's Chapel. 
 
 " The seventh is the nation of the Georgians, 
 who inhabit the country between the Euxine and 
 the Caspian Sea. They keep the place on Mount 
 Calvary where the cross was prepared, and the 
 prison in which our Lord was confined till the hole 
 was made to set it up in.
 
 DESHAYEs' DESCRIPTION. 9 
 
 <( The eighth nation is that of the Maronites, 
 who inhabit Mount Lebanon. Like us, they 
 acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope. 
 
 " Exclusively of these places, which all who are 
 within are at liberty to visit, each nation has a par- 
 ticular spot allotted to it in the ailes and corners 
 of this church, where its members assemble and 
 perform their devotions, according to their respec- 
 tive rituals ; for the priests and religious who enter 
 this place are usually two months before they leave 
 it, that is, till others are sent from the convent in 
 the city to attend in their stead. It would be 
 scarcely possible to remain there long without being 
 ill, because the place has very little air, and the 
 vaults and walls produce a coldness that is ex- 
 tremely unwholesome ; nevertheless, we there found 
 a worthy hermit, who has assumed the habit of St. 
 Francis, and lived twenty years in the place without 
 ever leaving it. There is, moreover, such abun- 
 dant employment to keep two hundred lamps 
 burning, and to sweep and cleanse all the holy 
 places, that no more than four hours a night can 
 be allowed for sleep. 
 
 " On entering the church, you come to the stone 
 of unction, on which the body of our Lord was 
 anointed with myrrh and aloes, before it was laid 
 in the sepulchre. Some say that it is of the same 
 rock as Mount Calvary ; and others assert that it 
 was brought to this place by Joseph and Nicodemus, 
 secret disciples of Jesus Christ, who performed this 
 pious office, and that it is of a greenish colour. Be 
 this as it may, on account of the indiscretion of 
 certain pilgrims, who broke off pieces, it was found 
 necessary to cover it with white marble, and to 
 surround it with an iron railing, lest people should 
 walk over it. This stone is eight feet, wanting three 
 
 b3
 
 10 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 inches, in length, and two feet, wanting- one inch, 
 in breadth; and above it, eight lamps are kept 
 continually burning. 
 
 " The Holy Sepulchre is thirty paces from this 
 stone, and exactly in the centre of the great dome, 
 of which I have already spoken : it resembles a small 
 closet, hewn out of the solid rock. The entrance, 
 which faces the east, is only four feet high, and two 
 feet and a quarter broad, so that you are obliged 
 to stoop very much to go in. The interior of the 
 sepulchre is nearly square. It is six feet, wanting 
 an inch in length, and six feet, wanting two inches 
 in breadth, and from the floor to the roof, eight 
 feet one inch. There is a solid block of the same 
 stone, which was left in excavating the other part. 
 This is two feet four inches and a half high, and 
 occupies half of the sepulchre ; for it is six feet, 
 wanting one inch, in length, and two feet and five- 
 sixths wide. On this table the body of our Lord 
 was laid, with the head towards the west, and the 
 feet to the east: but on account of the superstitious 
 devotion of the Orientals, who imagine that, if they 
 leave their hair upon this stone, God will never for- 
 sake them, and also because the pilgrims broke off 
 pieces, it has received a covering of white marble, 
 on which mass is now celebrated. Forty -four 
 lamps are constantly burning in this sacred place, 
 and three holes have been made in the roof for the 
 emission of the smoke. The exterior of the sepul- 
 chre is also faced with slabs of marble, and adorned 
 with several columns, having a dome above. 
 
 " At the entrance of the sepulchre there is a 
 stone about a foot and a-half square, and a foot 
 thick, which is of the same rock, and served to sup- 
 port the large stone that closed the access to the 
 sepulchre. Upon this stone was seated the angel
 
 DESHAYES 1 DESCRIPTION. 11 
 
 when lie spoke to the two Marys ; and as well on 
 account of this mystery, as to prevent the sepulchre 
 from being - entered, the first Christians erected 
 before it a little chapel, which is called the Angel's 
 Chapel. 
 
 " Twelve paces from the Holy Sepulchre, turning 
 towards the north, you come to a large block of grey 
 marble, about four feet in diameter, placed there to 
 mark the spot where our Lord appeared to Mary 
 Magdalen in the form of a gardener. 
 
 '* Farther on is the Chapel of the Apparition, 
 where, as tradition asserts, our Lord first appeared 
 to the Virgin Mary after his resurrection. This 
 is the place where the Franciscans perform their 
 devotions, and to which they retire; and hence 
 they pass into chambers with which there is no 
 other communication. 
 
 " Continuing your progress round the church, 
 you find a small vaulted chapel seven feet long and 
 six wide, otherwise denominated the Prison of our 
 Lord, because he was here confined while the hole 
 was made for erecting- the cross. This chapel is 
 opposite to Mount Calvary, so that these two 
 places form what may be termed the transept of the 
 church, the hill being to the south, and the chapel 
 to the north. 
 
 " Very near to this is another chapel, five paces 
 long - and three broad, standing on the very spot 
 where our Lord was stripped by the soldiers before 
 he was nailed to the cross, and where they cast lots 
 for his apparel, and divided it among - them. 
 
 " Leaving- this chapel, you find on the left a 
 great staircase, which pierces the wall of the 
 church; and descends into a kind of cellar dug- out 
 of the rock. Having gone down thirty steps, you 
 come to a chapel on the left hand; which is com-
 
 12 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 monl y called the Chapel of St. Helena, because she 
 prayed there while she caused search to be made 
 for the sacred cross. You descend eleven more 
 steps to the place where it was discovered, together 
 with the nails, the crown of thorns, and the head 
 of the spear, after lying- buried in this place up- 
 wards of three hundred years. 
 
 " Near the top of this staircase, turning" towards 
 Mount Calvary, is a chapel, four paces long and 
 two and a half broad, under the altar of which is 
 a pillar of grey marble spotted with black, two feet 
 in height, and one in diameter. It is called the 
 pillar of Impropere, because our Lord was there 
 forced to sit down in order to be crowned with 
 thorns. 
 
 " Ten paces from this chapel you come to a very 
 narrow staircase, the steps of which are of wood at 
 the beginning, and of stone at the end. There are 
 twenty in all, by which you ascend to Mount Cal- 
 vary. This spot, once so ignominious, having been 
 sanctified by the blood of our Lord, was an object 
 of the particular attention of the first Christians. 
 Having removed every impurity, and all the earth 
 which was upon it, they surrounded it with walls, 
 so that it is now like a lofty chapel enclosed within 
 this spacious church. It is lined in the interior 
 with marble, and divided by a row of arches into 
 two parts. That towards the north is the spot 
 where our Lord was nailed to the cross. Here 
 thirty-two lamps are kept continually burning: 
 they are attended by the Franciscans, who daily 
 perform mass in this sacred place. 
 
 " In the other part, which is to the south, the 
 Holy Cross was erected. You still see the hole 
 dug in the rock, to the depth of about a foot and 
 a half, besides the earth which was above it. Near
 
 THREE CHURCHES. 13 
 
 this is the place where stood the crosses of the two 
 thieves. That of the penitent thief was to the north, 
 and the other to the south ; so that the first was 
 on the right hand of our Saviour, who had his face 
 turned towards the west, and his back to Jerusa- 
 lem, which lay to the east. Fifty lamps are kept 
 constantly burning in honour of this holy spot. 
 
 " Below this chapel are the tombs of Godfrey 
 de Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, on which you 
 read these inscriptions : 
 
 HIC JACET INCLYTUS DUX GODEFRIDUS DE 
 
 BULION, QUI TOTAM ISTAM TERRAM AC- 
 
 QUISIVIT CULTU1 CHRISTIANO, CUJUS AN1MA 
 
 REGNET CUM CHRIS TO. AMEN. 
 
 REX BALDUINUS, JUDAS ALTER MACHABEUS 
 SPES PATRIyE, VIGOR ECCLESLE, VIRTUS UTRIUSQUE, 
 QUEM FORMIDABANT, CU1 DONA TRIBUTA FEREBANT 
 CiEDAR ET jEGYPTUS, DAN AC HOMICIDA DAMASCUS, 
 PROH DOLOR! IN MOD1CO CLAUDITUR HOC TUMULO.* 
 
 " Mount Calvary is the last station of the 
 church of the Holy Sepulchre ; for twenty paces 
 from it, you again come to the Stone of Unction, 
 which is just at the entrance of the church." 
 
 Deshayes having thus described in order the sta- 
 tions of all these venerable places, I have now 
 nothing to do but to exhibit to the reader a general 
 view of the whole together. 
 
 It is obvious, in the first place, that the church 
 of the Holy Sepulchre is composed of three 
 churches : that of the Holy Sepulchre, properly 
 
 * Besides these tombs, four others are to be seen, half demo- 
 lished. On one of them may still be read, but not without great 
 difficulty, an epitaph given by Cotovic.
 
 14 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 so called ; that of Calvary ; and the church of the 
 Discovery of the Holy Cross. 
 
 The first is built in the valley at the foot of 
 Calvary, on the spot where it is known that the 
 body of Christ was deposited. This church is in 
 the form of a cross, the chapel of the Holy Sepul- 
 chre constituting in fact the nave of the edifice. It 
 is circular, like the Pantheon at Rome, and is 
 lighted only by a dome, beneath which is the 
 sepulchre. Sixteen marble columns adorn the cir- 
 cumference of this rotunda : they are connected by 
 seventeen arches, and support an upper gallery 
 likewise composed of sixteen columns and seven- 
 teen arches, of smaller dimensions than those of the 
 lower range. Niches corresponding with the arches 
 appear abov£ the frieze of the second gallery, and 
 the dome springs from the arch of these niches. 
 The latter were formerly decorated with mosaics, 
 representing the twelve apostles, St. Helena, the 
 emperor Constantine, and three other portraits 
 unknown. 
 
 The choir of the church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 is to the east of the nave of the tomb : it is double, 
 as in the ancient cathedrals ; that is to say, it has, 
 first, a place with stalls for the priests, and beyond 
 that a sanctuary raised two steps above it. Round 
 this double sanctuary run the ailes of the choir, 
 and in these ailes are situated the chapels described 
 by Deshayes. 
 
 It is likewise in the aile on the right, behind 
 the choir, that we find the two flights of steps 
 leading, the one to the church of Calvary, the 
 other to the church of the Discovery of the Holy 
 Cross. The first ascends to the top of Calvary, 
 the second conducts you down underneath it : for 
 the Cross was erected on the summit of Golgotha^
 
 ITS ARCHITECTURE. 15 
 
 and found again under that hill. To sum up then 
 what we have already said, the church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre is built at the foot of Calvary ; its east- 
 ern part adjoins that eminence, beneath and upon 
 which have been constructed two other churches, 
 connected by walls and vaulted staircases with the 
 principal edifice. 
 
 The architecture of the church is evidently of 
 the age of Constantine : the Corinthian order pre- 
 vails throughout. The columns are either too 
 heavy or too slender, and their diameter is almost 
 always disproportionate to their height. Some 
 double columns which support the frieze of the 
 choir are, however, in a very good style. The 
 church being lofty and spacious, the profile of the 
 cornices displays a considerable degree of gran- 
 deur ; but as the arches which separate the choir 
 from the nave were stopped up about sixty years 
 ago, the horizontal line is broken, and you no 
 longer enjoy a view of the whole of the vaulted 
 roof. 
 
 The church has no vestibule, nor any other en- 
 trance than two side doors, only one of which is 
 ever opened. Thus this structure appears to have 
 never had any exterior decorations. It is besides 
 concealed by shabby buildings, and by the Greek 
 convents erected close to its walls. 
 
 The small structure of marble which covers the 
 Holy Sepulchre is in the figure of a canopy, 
 adorned with semi-gothic arches ; it rises with ele- 
 gance under the dome, by which it receives light, 
 but is spoiled by a massive chapel which the Ar- 
 menians have obtained permission to erect at one 
 end of it. The interior of this canopy presents to 
 the view a very plain tomb of white marble, which 
 adjoins on one side to the wall of the monument,
 
 16 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 and serves the Catholic religious for an altar. This 
 is the tomb of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The origin of the church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 is of high antiquit} 7 . The author of the Epitome 
 of the Holy Wars ( Epitome Bellorum sacrorum) 
 asserts, that, forty-six years after the destruction 
 of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus, the Chris- 
 tians obtained permission of Adrian to build, or 
 rather to rebuild, a church over the tomb of their 
 God, and to enclose in the new city the other 
 places venerated by the Christians. This church, 
 he adds, was enlarged and repaired by Helena, 
 the mother of Constantine. Quaresmius contests 
 this opinion, " because," says he, " the believers 
 were not allowed till the reign of Constantine to 
 erect such churches." This learned monk forgets 
 that, anterior to the persecution by Dioclesian, the 
 Christians possessed numerous churches, and pub- 
 licly celebrated the mysteries of their religion. 
 Lactantius and Eusebius boast of the opulence and 
 prosperity of the believers at this period. 
 
 Other writers worthy of credit, Sozomenes, in 
 the second book of his History ; St. Jerome, in his 
 Letters to Paulina and Ruffinus ; Severus, in his 
 second book ; Nicephorus, in his eighteenth ; and 
 Eusebius, in the Life of Constantine, inform us 
 that the Pagans surrounded the sacred places with 
 a wall ; that they erected a statue of Jupiter on the 
 tomb of Jesus Christ, and another of Venus on 
 Mount Calvary ; and that they consecrated a grove 
 to Adonis on the spot where our Saviour was born. 
 These testimonies not only demonstrate the anti- 
 quity of the true worship at Jerusalem, by this 
 very profanation of the sacred places, but prove 
 that the Christians had sanctuaries on those 
 sites.
 
 ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 17 
 
 Be this as it may, the foundation of the church 
 of the Holy Sepulchre dates at least as far back 
 as the time of Constantine. A letter of that prince 
 is yet extant, in which he commands Macarius, 
 bishop of Jerusalem, to erect a church on the place 
 where the great mystery of salvation was accom- 
 plished. This letter Eusebius has preserved. The 
 bishop of Ca3sarea then describes the new church, 
 the dedication of which occupied eight days. If 
 the account of Eusebius required confirmation 
 from other testimonies, we might adduce those of 
 Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem {Catechism 1, 10, 13,) 
 of Theodoret, and even of the Itinerary fromBour- 
 deaux to Jerusalem, in 333, which says: Ibidem, 
 jitssu Constantini imperatoris, basilica facta est 
 miras pidcltritudinis. 
 
 This church was ravaged by Cosroes II. king of 
 Persia, about three hundred years after its erection 
 by Constantine. Heraclius recovered the genuine 
 Cross; and Modest us, bishop of Jerusalem, rebuilt 
 the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Some time 
 afterwards, the caliph Omar made himself master 
 of Jerusalem, but he allowed the Christians the free 
 exercise of their religion. About the year 1009, 
 Hequem, or Hakem, who then reigned in Egypt, 
 spread desolation around the tomb of Christ. 
 Some will have it, that this prince's mother, who 
 was a Christian, caused the church to be again re- 
 built ; while others assert, that the son of the 
 Egyptian caliph, at the solicitation of the emperor 
 Argyropilus, permitted the believers to enclose 
 the sacred places with a new structure. But as 
 the Christians of Jerusalem possessed, in Hakem's 
 time, neither the resources nor the skill requisite 
 for the erection of the edifice which now covers
 
 18 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 Calvary;* as, notwithstanding a very suspicious 
 passage of William of Tyre, we find no indication 
 that the Crusaders ever built any church for the 
 Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem ; it is probable that 
 the church founded by Constantine has always sub- 
 sisted in its present form, at least as far as regards 
 the walls of the structure. The mere inspection of 
 the architecture of this building would suffice to 
 demonstrate the truth of what I advance. 
 
 The Crusaders having gained possession of Je- 
 rusalem the 15th of July 1099, wrested the tomb 
 of Christ from the hands of the Infidels. It re- 
 mained eighty-eight years in the power of the suc- 
 cessors of Godfrey of Bouillon. When Jerusalem 
 again fell under the Mahometan yoke, the Syrians 
 ransomed the church of the Holy Sepulchre with 
 a considerable sum of money, and monks repaired 
 to defend with their prayers a spot entrusted in 
 vain to the arms of kings. Thus, amid a thousand 
 revolutions, the piety of the early Christians pre- 
 served a church of which the present age was des- 
 tined to witness the destruction. 
 
 The ancient travellers were extremely fortunate : 
 they were not 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 coun- 
 try as it is, must be to see it with all its traditions 
 and recollections. It is, in fact, with the Bible in his 
 hand that a traveller ought to visit the Holy Land. 
 If we are determined to carry with us a spirit of 
 
 * It is said that Mary, wife of Hakem, and mother of his suc- 
 cessor, defrayed the expence of it, and that in this pious under- 
 taking she was assisted by Constantine Monomachus.
 
 EFFECT ON THE MIXD. 19 
 
 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 
 modern travellers ; evidently the effect of our va- 
 nity, which would excite a high idea of our own 
 abilities, and at the same time fill us with disdain 
 for those of other people. 
 
 Christian readers will perhaps inquire, what 
 were my feelings on entering this awful 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 near half 
 an hour upon my knees in the little chamber of the 
 Holy Sepulchre, with my eyes rivetted on the 
 stone, from which I had not the power to turn them. 
 One of the two religious 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. Between each verse 
 he repeated a prayer : Domine Jcsu Christe, qui 
 in kord diet vespertind de cruce depositus, in 
 bracltiis dulcissimce Matris tuce reclinatus fuisti, 
 hordque ultima in hoc sanctissimo monumento 
 corjnts tuum exanime contidisti, &c. All I can 
 say is, that when I beheld this triumphant sepul- 
 chre, I felt nothing but my own weakness ; and 
 that when my guide exclaimed with St. Paul, " O 
 death, where is thy victory ! O grave, where is thy 
 sting !" I listened as if death were about to reply 
 that he was conquered, and enchained in this mo- 
 nument. 
 
 We visited all the stations till we came to the 
 summit of Calvary. Where shall we look in anti-
 
 20 THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
 
 quity for any thing 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 the 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 sensations which they 
 excited, to those which I felt at the sight of the 
 places commemorated in the Gospel ! 
 
 The church of the Holy Sepulchre, composed of 
 several churches, erected upon an unequal surface, 
 illumined by a multitude of lamps, is singularly 
 mysterious ; it is pervaded by a sombre light, fa- 
 vourable 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 concerts proceed; 
 you inhale the perfume of incense, without per- 
 ceiving the hand that burns it; you merely per- 
 ceive 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. 
 
 I did not leave the sacred structure without stop- 
 ping at the monuments of Godfrey and Baldwin. 
 They face the entrance of the church, and stand
 
 THE CROWN OF THORNS. 21 
 
 against the wall of the choir. I saluted the ashes 
 of these royal chevaliers, who were worthy of re- 
 posing near the sepulchre which they had rescued. 
 These ashes are those of Frenchmen, and they are 
 the only mortal remains interred beneath the sha- 
 dow of the tomb of Christ. What an honourable 
 distinction for my country ! 
 
 I returned to the convent at eleven o'clock, and 
 an hour afterwards I again left it to follow the Via 
 Dolorosa. This is the name given to the way by 
 which the Saviour of the world passed from the 
 residence of Pilate to Calvary. 
 
 Pilate's house* is a ruin, from which you survey 
 the extensive site of Solomon's Temple, and the 
 mosque erected on that site. 
 
 Christ, having been scourged with rods, crowned 
 with thorns, and dressed in a purple robe, was 
 presented to the Jews by Pilate. Ecce Homo ! 
 exclaimed the judge ; and you still see the window 
 from which these memorable words were pro- 
 nounced. 
 
 According to the tradition current among the 
 Latins at Jerusalem, the crown of Jesus Christ was 
 taken from the thorny tree, called Lycium spino- 
 sum. Hasselquist, a skilful botanist, is, however, 
 of opinion, that the nabka of the Arabs was 
 employed for that purpose. The reason which 
 lie gives for this conjecture deserves to be men- 
 tioned. 
 
 " It is highly probable," says he, " that the 
 nabka furnished the crown which was put on the 
 head of our Saviour. It. is common in the east. 
 A plant better adapted for this purpose could not 
 have been selected ; for it is armed with thorns, 
 
 * The governor of Jerusalem formerly resided in this building, 
 but at present these ruins serve only for stabling for his horses.
 
 22 OUR LADY OF GRIEF. 
 
 its branches are supple and pliant, and its leaf is 
 of a dark green, like that of ivy. Perhaps, in 
 order to add insult to punishment, the enemies 
 of Christ chose a plant nearly resembling' that made 
 use of to crown the emperors and the generals of 
 armies." 
 
 Another tradition at Jerusalem preserves the 
 sentence pronounced by Pilate on the Saviour of 
 the World, in these words: 
 
 Jesum Nazarenum, snbversorem gentis, con- 
 temptorem Ccesaris, et falsvm Messiam, ut ma- 
 jorum suce gentis testimonio probation est, ducite 
 ad communis supplicii locum, et eum ludibriis 
 regice majestatis in medio duorum latronum cruci 
 affigite. I, lictor, expedi cruces. 
 
 A hundred paces from the arch of the Ecce 
 Homo, I was shewn, on the left, the ruins of a 
 church formerly dedicated to Our Lady of Grief . 
 It was on this spot that Mary, who had been at 
 first driven away by the guards, met her son bend- 
 ing 1 beneath the weight of the cross. This circum- 
 stance is not recorded by the Evangelists ; but it 
 is generally believed, on the authority of St. Bo- 
 niface and St. Anselm. The former says, that 
 the Virgin sunk to the ground as if lifeless, and 
 could not utter a single word : — nee verbum dicere 
 potuit. St. Anselm asserts that Christ saluted her 
 in these words: Salve, Mater! As John relates 
 that Mary was at the foot of the cross, this 
 account of the Fathers is highly probable. Re- 
 ligion is not disposed to reject these traditions, 
 which shew how profoundly the wonderful and 
 sublime history of the Passion is engraven on the 
 memory of man. Eighteen centuries of persecu- 
 tions without end, of incessant revolutions, of con- 
 tinually increasing ruins, have not been able to
 
 THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 23 
 
 erase or to hide the traces of a mother going to 
 weep over her son. 
 
 Fifty paces farther we came to the spot where 
 Simon, the Cyrenean, assisted Jesus to bear his 
 cross. — " And as they led him away, they laid 
 hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenean, coming out 
 of the country, and on him they laid the cross, 
 that he might bear it after Jesus."* 
 
 Here the road, which before ran east and west, 
 makes an angle, and turns to the north. I saw 
 on the right the place where dwelt the indigent 
 Lazarus, and on the opposite side of the street, the 
 residence of the obdurate rich man. — " There was 
 a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and 
 fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And 
 there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, which 
 was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to 
 be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich 
 man's table : moreover, the dogs came and licked 
 his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar 
 died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
 bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried. 
 And in hell, he lift up his eyes, being in great 
 torments."! 
 
 St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, and St. Cyril, 
 have looked upon the history of Lazarus and the 
 rich man, as not merely a parable, but a real and 
 well-known fact. The Jews themselves have pre- 
 served the name of the rich n.an, whom they call 
 Nabal. 
 
 Having passed the house of the rich man, you 
 turn to the right, and again proceed in a westerly 
 direction. At the entrance of the street which 
 leads up to Calvary, Christ was met by the holy 
 women, who deplored his fate. — " And there fol- 
 * Luke, xxiii. '26. f Luke, xvi. 19—23.
 
 24 CALVARY. 
 
 lowed him a great company of people, and of 
 women, which also bewailed and lamented him. 
 But Jesus, turning unto them, said : Daughters of 
 Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for your- 
 selves and for your children."* 
 
 One hundred and ten paces farther is shewn the 
 site of the house of Veronica, and the spot where 
 that pious woman wiped the face of the Lord. 
 The original name of this female was Berenice ; by 
 the transposition of two letters, it was afterwards 
 altered into Vera-icon, true image ; besides, the 
 change of b into v is very frequent in the ancient 
 languages. 
 
 Proceeding about another hundred paces, you 
 come to the Judicial Gate, by which criminals were 
 led to be executed on Golgotha. That hill, now 
 inclosed within the new city, was without the walls 
 of ancient Jerusalem. 
 
 The distance from the Judicial Gate to the sum- 
 mit of Calvary, is about two hundred paces. Here 
 terminates the Via Dolorosa, which may be in the 
 whole about a mile in length. We have seen that 
 Calvary is at present comprised in the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre. If those who read the history 
 of the Passion in the gospels are overcome with 
 sacred melancholy and profound admiration, what 
 must be his feelings who traces the scenes them- 
 selves at the foot of Mount Sion, in sight of the 
 Temple, and within the very walls of Jerusalem? 
 
 After this description of the Via Dolorosa, and 
 the church of the Holy Sepulchre, I shall say very 
 little concerning the other places of devotion in the 
 city. I shall merely enumerate them in the order 
 in which they were visited by me, during my stay 
 at Jerusalem. 
 
 * Luke xxiii. 27, 28.
 
 PLACES OF DEVOTION. 25 
 
 1. The house of Anna, the priest, near David's 
 Gate, at the foot of Mount Sion, within the wall 
 of the city. The Armenians possess the church 
 erected on the ruins of this house. 
 
 2. The place where our Saviour appeared to 
 Mary Magdalen, Mary, the mother of James, and 
 Mary Salome, between the castle and the gate of 
 Mount Sion. 
 
 3. The house of Simon the Pharisee, where 
 Magdalen confessed her sins. Here, in the eastern 
 part of the city, is a church totally in ruins. 
 
 4. The monastery of St. Anne, the mother of 
 the Blessed Virgin, and the grotto of the immacu- 
 late Conception, under the church of the monas- 
 tery. This convent has been turned into a mosque, 
 but admission may be obtained for a trifling sum. 
 
 5. The prison of St. Peter, near Calvary. This 
 consists of nothing but old walls, in which are yet 
 shewn some iron staples. 
 
 6. Zebedee's house, situated very near St. Peter's 
 prison; now a spacious church belonging to the 
 Greek Patriarch. 
 
 7. The house of Mary, the mother of John 
 Mark, where St. Peter took refuge when he had 
 been set at liberty by the angel. It is a church, 
 the duty of which is performed by the Syrians. 
 
 8. The place of the martyrdom of St. James the 
 Great. This is the Armenian convent, the church 
 of which is very rich and elegant. Of the Arme- 
 nian Patriarch I shall speak hereafter. 
 
 The reader has now before him a complete view 
 of the Christian monuments in Jerusalem. Let us 
 next visit the exterior of the holy city. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Exterior of Jerusalem — Pool of Beersheba — Mount Sion — David's 
 Palace and Tomb — Fountain of Siloe — Valley of Jehoshaphat 
 — The brook Cedron — Tombs of Zachariah, Jehoshaphat, and 
 Absalom— Garden of Olivet — Gethsemane — Sepulchre of the 
 Virgin Mary — Grotto where our Saviour sweated blood — Rock 
 where he foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem — Burning of 
 the Temple — Tombs of the Prophets — Subterraneous meeting, 
 place of the Apostles — Olive-tree where Christ foretold the 
 Last Judgment — Spot of his Ascension to Heaven — Bossuet's 
 History of Christ's Passion and Death. 
 
 It took me two hours to get through the Via 
 Dolorosa on foot. I made a point of daily revisit- 
 ing' this sacred read, as well as the church of Cal- 
 vary, 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 abun- 
 dantly 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 permis- 
 sion to enter Jerusalem with his sword.
 
 MOUNT SION. 27 
 
 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 with- 
 out 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 Song — 
 this 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 ap- 
 pearance, open in form of a crescent towards Jeru- 
 salem, is about as high as Montmartre at Paris, 
 but rounder at the top. This sacred summit is 
 distinguished by three monuments, or more pro- 
 perly 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 
 
 c 2
 
 28 david's palace. 
 
 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 hal- 
 lowed by the last supper was transformed into the 
 first Christian temple the world ever beheld, where 
 St. James the Less was consecrated the first Chris- 
 tian 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 reli- 
 gion 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 foun- 
 dation 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
 
 TOMB OF DAVID. 29 
 
 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 sup- 
 ported 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 re- 
 plied that this was the burial-place of the house of 
 David, prepared for the kings of Judah. The fol- 
 lowing day, the two men were found confined to 
 their beds and very ill in consequence of the fright. 
 They refused to return to the spot for any reward 
 whatever, declaring that it was vain for mortal to
 
 SO FOUNTAIN OF SILOE. 
 
 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 discharg- 
 ing 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 : 
 
 Heavenly muse, that on the secret top 
 
 Of Orel) or of Sinai didst inspire 
 
 That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed 
 
 In the beginning how the heav'ns and earth 
 
 Rose out of chaos: or if Sion hill 
 
 Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd 
 
 Fast by the oracle of God ; I thence 
 
 Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song. 
 
 Lines which M. Delille has thus magnificently 
 rendered : 
 
 Toi done qui, celebrant les merveilles des cieux, 
 Prends loin de 1' Helicon un vol audacieux ; 
 Soit que te retenant sous ses palmiers antiques, 
 Sion avec plaisir repete tes cantiques ; 
 
 * 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.
 
 MOUNT MORIA. 31 
 
 Soit que chantant ou Dieu donna sa loi, 
 
 Le Sina sous tes pieds tressaille encor d'effroi ; 
 
 Soit que pres du saint lieu d'ou partent tes oracles 
 
 Les flots de Siloe te disent ses miracles : 
 
 Muse sainte, soutiens mon vol presomptueux ! 
 
 Some relate that this spring- suddenly issued 
 from the ground to allay the thirst of Isaiah when 
 the prophet was sawed in two with a wooden saw 
 by the command of Manasses ; while others assert 
 that it first appeared during the reign of Heze- 
 kiah, by whom we have the admirable song begin- 
 ning : " I said in the cutting off my days I shall 
 go to the gates of the grave." 
 
 According to Josephus, this miraculous spring 
 flowed for the army of Titus, and refused its waters 
 to the guilty Jews. The pool, or rather the two 
 pools of the same name, are quite close to the 
 spring. They are still used for washing linen as 
 formerly ; and we there saw some women, who 
 ran away abusing us. The water of the spring 
 is brackish, and has a very disagreeable taste ; 
 people still bathe their eyes with it, in memory 
 of the miracle performed on the man born blind. 
 
 Near this spring is shewn the spot where Isaiah 
 was put to death, in the manner above mentioned. 
 Here you also find a village called Siloan : at the 
 foot of this village is another fountain, denomi- 
 nated in Scripture Rogel. Opposite to this foun- 
 tain is a third, which receives its name from the 
 Blessed Virgin. It is conjectured that Mary came 
 hither to fetch water, as the daughters of Laban 
 resorted to the well from which Jacob removed the 
 stone. The virgin's fountain mingles its stream 
 with that of the fountain of Siloe. 
 
 Here, as St. Jerome remarks, you are at the 
 foot of Mount Moria, under the walls of the 
 Temple, and nearly opposite to the Sterquiline
 
 32 VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. 
 
 Gate. We advanced to the eastern angle of the 
 wall of the city, and entered the valley of Jeho- 
 shaphat. It runs from north to south between 
 the Mount of Olives and Mount Moria ; and the 
 brook Cedron flows through the middle of it. 
 This stream is dry the greatest part of the year, 
 but after storms, or in rainy springs, a current of 
 red colour rolls along- its channel. 
 
 The valley of Jehoshaphat is also called in 
 Scripture the Valley of Shaveh, the King's Valley, 
 the Valley of Melehisedeck.* It was in the 
 valley of Melchisedeck that the king of Sodom 
 went to meet Abraham, to congratulate him on 
 his victory over the five kings. Moloch and Beel- 
 phegor were worshipped in the same valley. It 
 was afterwards distinguished by the name of Jeho- 
 shaphat, because that king caused his tomb to be 
 constructed there. The valley of Jehoshaphat 
 seems to have always served as a burial-place for 
 Jerusalem : there you meet with monuments of 
 the most remote ages, as well as of the most 
 modern times : thither the Jews resort from the 
 four quarters of the globe to die ; and a foreigner 
 sells them, at an exorbitant rate, a scanty spot 
 of earth to cover their remains in the land of 
 their forefathers. The cedars that Solomon plant- 
 ed in this valley, t the shadow of the Temple by 
 which it was covered, the stream flowing through 
 the midst of it,£ the mournful Songs composed 
 
 * On this subject different opinions are entertained. The 
 King's Valley was probably towards the mountains of Jordan ; 
 and that situation would be more consonant with the history of 
 Abraham. 
 
 f Josephus relates that Solomon caused the mountains of 
 Judea to be covered with cedars. 
 
 t Cedron is a Hebrew word, which signifies darkness and 
 sorrow. It is remarked that there is an error in the Gospel of 
 
 St.
 
 MOUNT OF OLIVES. 33 
 
 there by David, and the Lamentations there 
 uttered by Jeremiah, rendered it an appropriate 
 situation for the melancholy and the silence of the 
 tombs. Christ, by commencing his passion in this 
 sequestered place, consecrated it anew to sorrow. 
 Here this innocent David shed tears to wash 
 away our crimes, where the guilty David wept to 
 expiate his own sins. Few names awaken in the 
 imagination ideas at the same time more affecting 
 and more awful than that of the valley of Jeho- 
 shaphat, a valley so replete with mysteries, that, 
 according to the prophet Joel, all mankind shall 
 there appear before a formidable judge : " I will 
 gather all nations, and will bring them down into 
 the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them 
 there." — " It is reasonable," says father Nau, 
 " that the honour of Christ should be publicly 
 retrieved in the place where it was taken from him 
 by such opprobrious and ignominious treatment, 
 and that he should judge men with justice, where 
 they judged him so unjustly." 
 
 The valley of Jehoshaphat exhibits a desolate 
 appearance : the west side is a high chalk cliff, 
 supporting the walls of the city, above which 
 you perceive Jerusalem itself ; while the east side 
 is formed by the Mount of Olives and the Mount 
 of Offence, Mons Offensionis, thus denominated 
 from Solomon's idolatry. These two contiguous 
 hills are nearly naked, and of a dull red colour. 
 On their desolate sides are seen here and there a 
 few black and parched vines, some groves of wild 
 olive-trees, wastes covered with hyssop, chapels, 
 oratories, and mosques in ruins. At the bottom 
 
 St. John, who calls this stream the Brook of Cedars. The error 
 arises from an omega being put instead of an omicron : xi\™ 
 for Ktogiv. 
 
 c 3
 
 34 
 
 BKOOK CEDRON. 
 
 of the valley you discover a bridge of a single 
 arch, thrown across the channel of the brook 
 Cedron. The stones in the Jews' cemetery look 
 like a heap of rubbish at the foot of the Mount of 
 Offence, below the Arabian village of Siloan, the 
 paltry houses of which can scarcely be distinguished 
 from the surrounding sepulchres. Three antique 
 monuments, the tombs of Zachariah, Jehoshaphat, 
 and Absalom, appear conspicuous amid this scene 
 of desolation. From the dulness of Jerusalem, 
 whence no smoke rises, 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 trump had already 
 sounded, and that the valley of Jehoshaphat was 
 about to render up its dead. 
 
 On the brink and near the source of Cedron, we 
 entered the garden of Olivet. It belongs to the 
 Latin fathers, who purchased it at their own ex- 
 pence, and contains eight large and extremely 
 ancient olive-trees. The olive may be said to be 
 immortal, since a fresh tree springs up from the old 
 stump. In the citadel of Athens was preserved an 
 olive-tree, whose origin dated as far back as the 
 foundation of the city. Those in the garden of 
 Olivet, at Jerusalem are, at least, of the time of the 
 Eastern Empire, as is demonstrated by the follow- 
 ing circumstance. In Turkey, every olive-tree found 
 standing by the Mussulmans when they conquered 
 Asia, pays one medine to the treasury ; while each 
 of those planted since the conquest, is taxed half 
 its produce by the Grand Signior.* Now the eight 
 
 * This law is as absuid as most of the other laws of Turkey. 
 How ridiculous to make a shew of sparing the vanquished in the 
 moment of conquest, when violence, going hand in hand with 
 injustice, can overwhelm the subject in time of profound peace !
 
 SEPULCHRE OF THE VIRGIN. 3-5 
 
 olive-trees of which we are speaking are charged 
 only eight medines. 
 
 At the entrance of this garden we alighted from 
 our horses, and proceeded on foot to the stations 
 of the Mount. The village of Gethsemane was at 
 some distance from the garden of Olivet. It is at 
 present confounded with this garden, according to 
 the remark of Thevenot and Roger. The tirst 
 place we visited was the sepulchre of the Virgin 
 Mary ; it is a subterraneous church, to which you 
 descend by a handsome flight of fifty steps ; it is 
 shared by all the Christian sects, nay, even the 
 Turks have an oratory in this place ; but the Catho- 
 lics possess the tomb of the Virgin. Though Mary 
 did not die at Jerusalem, yet, according to the 
 opinion of several of the fathers, she was miracu- 
 lously buried at Gethsemane by the apostles. 
 Euthymius relates the history of this marvellous 
 funeral. St. Thomas having caused the coffin to 
 be opened, nothing was found in it but a virgin 
 robe, the simple and mean garment of that queen 
 of glory, whom the angels had conveyed to heaven. 
 
 The tombs of St. Joseph, St. Joachim, and St. 
 Anne, are also to be seen in this subterraneous 
 church. 
 
 On leaving the Virgin's sepulchre, we went to 
 see the grotto in the garden of Olivet, where our 
 Saviour sweated blood as he uttered the words : 
 " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
 
 me." 
 
 This grotto is irregular ; altars have been erected 
 in it. A few paces from it is shewn the place 
 where Judas betrayed his master with a kiss. To 
 what multifarious sufferings was Christ pleased to 
 submit ! He experienced those most painful cir- 
 cumstances of life, which virtue itself is scarcely
 
 36 GROTTO OF THE CUP OF BITTERNESS. 
 
 able to surmount. At the moment when an angel 
 is obliged to descend from heaven to support the 
 Deity, sinking beneath the weight of human woe, 
 this gracious and compassionate Redeemer is be- 
 trayed by one of those for whom he suffers ! 
 
 " No sooner," says Massillon, " has the spotless 
 soul of the Saviour undertaken the arduous task of 
 our reconciliation, than the justice of his Father 
 begins to consider him as a sinful man. He ceases 
 to regard him as his beloved son, in whom he is 
 well pleased; he sees in him nought but a victim 
 of wrath, laden with the iniquities of the world, 
 which eternal justice compels him to sacrifice to 
 the utmost rigour of his vengeance. Here all the 
 weight of that justice begins to fall on his pure and 
 innocent soul ; here Christ, like the real Jacob, has 
 to struggle all night against the wrath of God him- 
 self ; and here his sacrifice is consummated before- 
 hand, but in a manner so much the more painful, 
 as his sacred soul is ready to expire, as it were, 
 under the strokes of the justice of an offended God, 
 whereas on Calvary it was doomed to be consigned 
 only to the power and the fury of men. 
 
 " The sacred soul of the Saviour, full of grace, 
 of truth, and of light, beholds sin in all its horrors ; 
 beholds its excesses, injustice, and everlasting stain; 
 beholds all its deplorable consequences, pride, cor- 
 ruption, all the passions that have sprung from this 
 fatal source, and inundated the world. In this 
 agonizing moment, all the ages of time marshal 
 themselves in dread array against him ; from the 
 blood of Abel to the final consummation of all 
 things, he beholds an uninterrupted succession of 
 crimes ; he peruses this frightful history of the 
 universe, and nothing escapes that can aggravate 
 the secret horrors of his sufferings. He there ob-
 
 our saviour's agony. 37 
 
 serves the most enormous superstitions established 
 amongf men : the knowledge of his Father effaced : 
 infamous crimes erected into divinities ; temples 
 and altars raised to adultery, incest, abominations 
 of every kind ; impiety and irreligion embraced 
 by the wisest and the most moderate. If he turns 
 to the ages of Christianity, he there discerns the 
 future calamities of his church ; the schisms, the 
 errors, the dissensions, destined to rend asunder 
 the exquisite mystery of its unity ; the profanation 
 of his altars ; the unworthy use of the sacraments ; 
 the extinction almost of his faith ; and the polluted 
 manners of Paganism re-established among his dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 " His sacred soul, unable to endure the weight 
 of his sufferings, but yet retained in his body by 
 the rigour of divine justice ; sorrowful unto death, 
 yet not permitted to die ; incapable alike of termi- 
 nating his woes, and of supporting them ; seems to 
 struggle in the excess of his agony both with death 
 and with life ; and sweat, like drops of blood, fall- 
 ing down upon the ground, is the fearful effect of 
 his excruciating pangs. Just Father ! and was it 
 necessary that blood should be added to the inward 
 sacrifice of thy son ? was it not enough that it was 
 destined to be spilt by his enemies ? but must thy 
 justice, to be satisfied, accelerate its effusion ?" 
 
 On leaving the grotto of the Cup of Bitterness, 
 and ascending by a rugged winding path, the drog- 
 man stopped us near a rock, where it is said that 
 Christ, surveying the guilty city, bewailed the 
 approaching desolation of Sion. Baronius observes, 
 that Titus pitched his tents on the very spot where 
 our Saviour had predicted the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem. Doubdan, who contests this opinion, with- 
 out mentioning Baronius, conjectures that the sixth
 
 38 DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Roman Legion encamped on the top of the Mount 
 of Olives, and not on the side of the hill. This 
 criticism is too rig-id, and the remark of Baronins is 
 not the less excellent, or the less just. 
 
 The destruction of Jerusalem, foretold and la- 
 mented by Jesus Christ, is a subject of sufficient 
 importance to demand some notice. Let us hear 
 what is said by Josephus, who was an eye-witness 
 of this event. The city being taken, a soldier set 
 fire to the Temple. " While the flames were thus 
 consuming this magnificent structure, the soldiers, 
 eager after plunder, put to death all that fell in 
 their way. They spared neither age nor rank : 
 the old as well as the young, priests as well as 
 laymen, were put to the edge of the sword. All 
 were involved in the general carnage, and those 
 who had recourse to supplication, were not more 
 humanely treated than such as had the courage to 
 defend themselves to the last extremity. The 
 groans of the dying were intermingled with the 
 crackling of the flames, which continued to gain 
 ground ; and the conflagration of so vast an edifice, 
 together with the height of its situation, led those 
 who beheld it at a distance to suppose that the 
 whole city was on fire. 
 
 " It is impossible to conceive any thing more 
 dreadful than the noise which rent the air in every 
 quarter : for how tremendous was that alone raised 
 by the Roman legions in their fury ! what shrieks 
 did the rebels set up when they found themselves 
 surrounded on all sides with fire and sword ! what 
 lamentations escaped those miserable wretches, 
 who happened just then to be in the Temple, and 
 were so terrified as to throw themselves, in their 
 flijrht, into the midst of their enemies ! and how was 
 the air rent by the discordant shouts of the multi-
 
 CONFLAGRATION OF THE TEMPLF-. 39 
 
 tude, who, from the hill opposite to the Temple, 
 beheld this awful spectacle ! Even those whom 
 famine had reduced to such extremity, that the 
 hand of death was ready to close their eyes for ever, 
 on perceiving- this conflagration of the Temple, 
 mustered their remaining strength, to deplore so 
 extraordinary a calamity; and the echoes of the 
 neighbouring hills, and of the country beyond the 
 Jordan, augmented this horrible uproar. But, 
 frightful as it was, the miseries which it occasioned 
 were infinitely more so. Such was the magnitude 
 and violence of the conflagration, that the hill upon 
 which the Temple stood, seemed to be on fire to its 
 very foundation. The blood flowed in such abun- 
 dance, that it appeared to dispute with the flames 
 which should extend farthest. The number of the 
 slain surpassed that of those who sacrificed them to 
 their vengeance and indignation; the ground was 
 covered with carcases, and the soldiers walked over 
 them to pursue by so hideous a path those who 
 fled. 
 
 " Four years before the commencement of the 
 war, when Jerusalem yet enjoyed profound peace 
 and abundance, Jesus, the son of Ananias, who 
 was but a peasant, having come to the feast of 
 Tabernacles, held every year in the Temple in 
 honour of God, cried : " A voice from the east ; a 
 voice from the west ; a voice from the four winds; 
 a voice against Jerusalem, and against the Temple; 
 a voice against the bridegroom and against the 
 bride; a voice against all the people!" And he 
 never ceased, night and day, to run through the 
 whole city, repeating- the same thing-. Some per- 
 sons of rank, unable to endure words of such bad 
 omen, caused him to be apprehended, and severely 
 scourged. But, at every stroke that was inflicted,
 
 40 TOMBS OF THE PUOPIIETS. 
 
 he repeated, in a plaintive and doleful voice : 
 " Woe ! woe to Jerusalem !" When Jerusalem 
 was besieged, his predictions were found to be 
 verified. He then went round the walls of the city, 
 and again began to cry : " Woe ! woe to the city ! 
 woe to the people! woe to the Temple!" on which, 
 having added, " Woe to myself!" a stone, dis- 
 charged by a machine, struck him to the ground, 
 and uttering the same words, he gave up the 
 ghost." 
 
 From the rock of the Prediction, we ascended to 
 some grottoes on the right of the road. They are 
 called the Tombs of the Prophets ; they have no- 
 thing worthy of notice, neither, indeed, is it known 
 exactly what prophets they were whose remains are 
 here deposited. 
 
 A little above these grottoes we found a kind of 
 reservoir, consisting of twelve arches. Here it was 
 that the apostles composed the first symbol of our 
 faith. While the whole world adored in the face 
 of heaven a thousand scandalous divinities, twelve 
 sinners, secreted in the bowels of the earth, drew 
 up the profession of faith for mankind, and acknow- 
 ledged the unity of God, the creator of those orbs 
 in whose light they durst not yet proclaim his 
 existence. Had some Roman of the court of 
 Augustus, passing near this subterraneons retreat, 
 espied the twelve Jews composing this sublime 
 piece, what profound contempt he would have 
 expressed for this superstitious assembly ! with 
 what disdain would he have spoken of these first 
 believers ! And yet these were destined, by the 
 divine wisdom, to overthrow the temples of this 
 haughty Roman, to destroy the religion of his fore- 
 fathers, to change the laws, the politics, the morals, 
 the reason, nay, even the very thoughts of mankind.
 
 MEETING OF THE APOSTLES. 41 
 
 Let us, then, never despair of the conversion of 
 nations ! The Christians of the present day deplore 
 the lukewarmness of the faith ; but who knows 
 whether God may not have sown, in some un- 
 known recess, the grain of mustard-seed destined 
 to spread over the face of the earth ? Perhaps this 
 hope of salvation may be at this moment before our 
 eyes, without attracting our notice. Perhaps it 
 may appear to us equally absurd and ridiculous. 
 Who could ever have been expected to believe in 
 the foolishness of the cross ? 
 
 You now ascend a little higher, and come to the 
 ruins, or rather to the naked site, of a chapel. An 
 invariable tradition records that in this place Christ 
 recited the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 " And it came to pass, that as he was praying 
 in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his dis- 
 ciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray as 
 John also taught his disciples. And he said unto 
 them, When ye pray, say: " Our Father which art 
 in heaven," &c* 
 
 Thus the profession of faith of all mankind, and 
 the universal prayer, were composed nearly on the 
 same spot. 
 
 Thirty paces farther, bearing a little towards 
 the north, is an olive-tree, at the foot of which 
 the Son of the Eternal Arbiter foretold the general 
 judgment. 
 
 " Then," says Massillon, whom I have already 
 quoted, " will be seen the Son of Man, aloft in 
 the air, overlooking the nations of the earth inter- 
 mingled and assembled at his feet ; surveying, in 
 this spectacle, the history of the universe, that is, 
 of the passions or the virtues of men. Then will 
 he call together his elect from the four winds ; he 
 * St. Luke, ix. 1.
 
 42 DAY OF JUDGMENT. 
 
 will choose them from all tongues, and kindreds, 
 and nations; collect the children of Israel, scat- 
 tered over the universe ; display the secret history 
 of a new and holy people ; and crown with glory 
 heroes of the faith before unknown to the world. 
 Then will he no longer distinguish ages by the vic- 
 tories of conquerors, by the creation or the decline 
 of empires, by the civilization or the barbarism of 
 the times, by the great men who have made their 
 appearance in each ; but by the various triumphs 
 of his grace, by the silent victories of the righteous 
 over their passions, by the establishment of his 
 reign in a heart, by the heroic fortitude of a per- 
 secuted believer. 
 
 " The universe being thus arranged ; all the 
 nations of the earth being thus separated ; each 
 being immovably fixed in his allotted place : sur- 
 prise, terror, confusion, despair, will be stamped 
 on the faces of some ; on those of others, joy, 
 serenity, and confidence. The eyes of the righteous 
 will be raised towards the Son of Man, from whom 
 they expect their deliverance ; those of the wicked 
 frightfully ri vetted on the earth, and almost pene- 
 trating its abysses, as if in quest of the place 
 assigned for their future residence." 
 
 Lastly, proceeding about fifty paces farther on 
 the mountain, you come to a small mosque, of an 
 octagonal form, the relic of a church formerly 
 erected on the spot from which Christ ascended to' 
 heaven after his resurrection. On the rock may be 
 discerned the print of a man's left foot ; the mark 
 of the right also was formerly to be seen : most of 
 the pilgrims assure us that the Turks removed the 
 latter, and placed it in the mosque of the Temple, 
 but Father Roger positively declares that it is not 
 there. I am silent, out of respect, without how-
 
 spot of Christ's ascension. 43 
 
 ever being- convinced, before authorities of consi- 
 derable weight- St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. 
 Paulina, Sulpicius Severus, the venerable Bede, all 
 travellers, ancient and modern, assure us that this 
 is a print of the foot of Jesus Christ. From an 
 examination of this print, it has been concluded 
 that our Saviour had his face towards the north, 
 at the moment of his ascension, as if to renounce 
 the south, involved in errors, and to call to the 
 faith barbarians destined to overthrow the temples 
 of false gods, to create new nations, and to plant 
 the standard of the cross on the walls of Jerusalem. 
 
 Several fathers of the church were of opinion, 
 that Christ ascended to heaven, attended by the 
 souls of the patriarchs and prophets, delivered by 
 him from the chains of death: his mother, and one 
 hundred and twenty disciples, witnessed his ascen- 
 sion. He stretched out his arms like Moses, says 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen, and commended his dis- 
 ciples to his Father; he then crossed his almighty 
 hands, holding them down over the heads of his 
 beloved friends,* in the same attitude that Jacob 
 blessed his son Joseph : then rising from earth 
 with inexpressible majesty, he slowly ascended 
 towards the eternal mansions, till he was enveloped 
 by a brilliant cloud.f 
 
 St. Helena caused a church to be erected on the 
 spot where now stands the octagonal mosque. St. 
 Jerome informs us that it was found impossible to 
 cover in that part of the roof through which Christ 
 pursued his heaven-ward route. The venerable 
 Bede declares that in his time, on the eve of the 
 Ascension, the Mount of Olives was all night seen 
 covered with flames. Nothing obliges us to jrive 
 
 • Tertull. f Ludolph.
 
 44 bossuet's history of 
 
 credit to these traditions, which I record merely in 
 illustration of history and manners; but if Des- 
 cartes and Newton had doubted of these miracles 
 as philosophers, Racine and Milton would not have 
 rejected them as poets. 
 
 Such is the gospel history explained by monu- 
 ments. We have seen it commence at Bethlehem, 
 proceed to the denouement at the mansion of 
 Pilate, arrive at the catastrophe on Calvary, and 
 conclude on the Mount of Olives. The very spot 
 of the Ascension is not quite on the top of the 
 Mount, but two or three hundred paces below 
 its highest summit. Bossuet has comprised this 
 whole history in a few pages, but those pages are 
 sublime. 
 
 " Meanwhile, the jealousy of the Pharisees and 
 priests hurries him on to an ignominious death ; he 
 is forsaken by his disciples, betrayed by one of 
 them, and thrice denied by the first and most 
 zealous of their number. Beins: accused before 
 the council, he to the last pays respect to the 
 sacerdotal office, and replies in precise terms to the 
 high priest, who judicially interrogates him. The 
 pontiff and the whole council condemn Jesus, 
 because he declares that he is the Christ, the Son 
 of God. He is delivered to Pontius Pilate, the 
 Roman o-overnor: his innocence is acknowledged 
 by his judge, who is induced by policy and interest 
 to act against his conscience. The just is con- 
 demned to die ; and the greatest of crimes gives 
 occasion to the most perfect obedience that ever 
 was. Jesus, though master over his own life and 
 all things that exist, voluntarily consigns himself 
 to the fury of wicked men, and offers this sacrifice 
 which is to atone for mankind. When on the 
 cross, he consults the prophets what he has yet left
 
 Christ's passion and death. 45 
 
 to do ; he fulfils it, and at length says, It is 
 finished ! 
 
 " At these words, the whole face of things is 
 changed in the world ; the law ceases, types become 
 obsolete, and sacrifices are abolished by a more 
 perfect oblation. This done, Christ expires with a 
 loud cry ; all nature is convulsed ; the Centurion 
 who guards him, astonished at such a death, 
 exclaims: Verily, this is the Son of God! — and 
 the spectators return, smiting their breasts. On 
 the third day he rises again ; he appears to his 
 disciples, who had forsaken him, and who obsti- 
 nately refused to believe the account of his resur- 
 rection. They see him, they converse with him, 
 they touch him, and are convinced. 
 
 " On this foundation, twelve sinners undertake 
 to convert the whole world, which they find so 
 hostile to the laws which they have to prescribe, 
 and the truth which they have to announce to it. 
 They are enjoined to begin with Jerusalem, and 
 thence to proceed to all the world, to instruct all 
 nations, and to baptize them in the name of the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus pro- 
 mises to be with them always, even unto the end 
 of the world, and by this expression assures the 
 perpetual duration of the ecclesiastical ministry. 
 Having said this, he ascends to heaven in their 
 presence." 
 
 We descended the Mount of Olives, and again 
 mounting our horses, continued our excursion. 
 We left the valley of Jehoshaphat behind us, and 
 proceeded by a steep road to the northern angle of 
 the city : then turning to the west, and keeping 
 along the wall that faces the north, we reached the 
 grotto where Jeremiah composed his Lamentations. 
 We were not far from the Sepulchres of the Kings,
 
 46 GATK OF JAFFA. 
 
 but we relinquished our intention of seeing them 
 that day, because it was too late ; and returned to 
 the gate of Jaffa, by which we had set out from 
 Jerusalem. It was exactly seven o'clock when we 
 arrived at the convent. Our excursion had lasted 
 five hours. On foot, if you keep close to the walls, 
 it takes scarcely an hour to make the circuit of 
 Jerusalem.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 History of Jerusalem — Besieged and taken by Titus— New City 
 built by Adrian — Taken by the Mahometans— Character of the 
 Crusades — Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders and erected into 
 a Kingdom— Godfrey of Bouillon, the first King— His Suc- 
 cessors—Baldwin takes Jerusalem— Crusade of Louis IX. — 
 Account of the Kingdom of Jerusalem — Present state of the 
 City— The Citadel— Street of the Bazar— The Jews' Quarter 
 —Ancient Christian Hospital -The City Walls — Gates- 
 Streets— The Greek Convent— Visit to the Greek Patriarch — 
 The Armenian Convent and Patriarch— Second visit to the 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre — Rencounter with two drunken 
 Spahis. 
 
 On the 8th of October, at five in the morning, 
 attended by Ali Aga, and Michael, the drogman, 
 I commenced my survey of the interior of the city. 
 Let us here pause, and take a rapid view of its 
 history. 
 
 Jerusalem was founded in the year of the world 
 2023, by the royal priest Melchisedeck, who called 
 it Salem, which signifies peace. At that time it 
 occupied only the two hills of Moria and Acra. 
 
 Fifty years after its foundation it was taken by 
 the Jebusites, the descendants of Jebus, a son of 
 Canaan. They erected on Mount Sion a fortress, 
 to which they gave the name of Jebus, their father. 
 The whole city then received the appellation of 
 Jerusalem, which signifies vision of peace. In 
 Scripture it is always spoken of in very magnificent 
 terms.
 
 48 HISTORY OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Joshua made himself master of the lower town 
 of Jerusalem, in the first year after his arrival in 
 the Land of Promise: he put to death king Ado- 
 nisedeck, and the four kings of Hebron, Jerimol, 
 Lachis, and Eglon. The Jebusites still retained 
 possession of the upper town, or citadel of Jebus, 
 and kept it till they were driven out by David, 
 824 years after their entrance into the city of Mel- 
 chisedeck. 
 
 David made additions to the fortress of Jebus, 
 and gave it his own name. He erected also on 
 Mount Sion a palace and a tabernacle for the re- 
 ception of the Ark of the Covenant. 
 
 Solomon enlarged the Holy City. He built the 
 first Temple, the grandeur of which is described in 
 Scripture, and by Josephus the historian, and for 
 which Solomon himself composed such beautiful 
 hymns. 
 
 Five years after Solomon's death, Sesac, king 
 of Egypt, attacked Rehoboam, and took and plun- 
 dered Jerusalem. 
 
 It was again pillaged one hundred and fifty years 
 afterwards by Joas, king of Israel. 
 
 Conquered once more by the Assyrians, Manas- 
 seh, king of Judah, was carried away captive to 
 Babylon. At last, during the reign of Zedekiah, 
 Nebuchadnezzar razed the city to its very founda- 
 tions, burned the Temple, and transported the 
 Jews to Babylon. " Sion was ploughed like a 
 field," says Jeremiah ; and St. Jerome, to describe 
 the solitude of this desolated city, says " that not 
 a single bird was to be seen flying about it." 
 
 The first Temple was destroyed four hundred 
 and seventy years six months and ten days after 
 its foundation by Solomon, in the year of the 
 world 3513, about six hundred years before Christ.
 
 HISTORY OF JERUSALEM. 49 
 
 Four hundred and seventy-seven years had elapsed 
 from the time of David to Zedekiah, and the city 
 had been governed by seventeen kings. 
 
 After the seventy years' captivity. Zerubbabel 
 began to rebuild the Temple and the city. This 
 work, after an interruption of some years, was 
 successively prosecuted and completed by Esdras 
 and Nehemiah. 
 
 Alexander visited Jerusalem in the year of the 
 world 3583, and offered sacrifices in the Temple. 
 
 Ptolemy, the son of Lagus,made himself master 
 of Jerusalem : but it was treated with great kind- 
 ness by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who made some 
 magnificent presents to the Temple. 
 
 Antiochus the Great retook Jerusalem from the 
 Egyptian monarchs, and afterwards ceded it to 
 Ptolemy Evergetes. Antiochus Epiphanes again 
 plundered the city and erected in the Temple a 
 statue to the Olympian Jupiter. 
 
 The Maccabees restored liberty to their country 
 and defended it against the kings of Asia. 
 
 In an unlucky dispute for the crown between 
 Aristobulus and Hircanus, they had recourse to 
 the Romans, who, by the death of Mithridates, 
 had become masters of the East. Pompey hastened 
 to Jerusalem, and being admitted into the city, he 
 besieged and took the Temple. Crassus abstained 
 not from plundering this august monument, which 
 the victorious Pompey had respected. 
 
 Hircanus, under the protection of Caesar, ob- 
 tained the supreme authority. Antigonus, the sou 
 of Aristobulus, who had been poisoned by Pom- 
 pey 's partisans, made war upon his uncle Hircanus, 
 and applied to the Parthians for assistance. The 
 latter invaded Judea, entered Jerusalem, and car- 
 ried away Hircanus into captivity. 
 
 VOL. II. D
 
 50 BESIEGED AND TAKEN BY TITUS. 
 
 Herod the Great, the son of Antipater, a distin- 
 guished officer of the court of Hircanus, seated 
 himself, by the favour of the Romans, upon the 
 throne of Judea. Antigonus, thrown by the for- 
 tune of war into Herod's hands, was sent to An- 
 thony. The last descendant of the Maccabees, the 
 rightful sovereign of Jerusalem, was bound to a 
 stake, scourged with rods, and put to death by 
 the command of a Roman citizen. 
 
 Herod, now left in undisputed possession o£ 
 Jerusalem, filled it with splendid edifices, of which 
 I shall speak in another place. It was during the 
 reign of this prince that Christ came into the world. 
 
 Archelaus, son of Herod and Mariamne, suc- 
 ceeded his father, while Herod Antipas, another 
 son of Herod the Great, became tetrarch of Galilee 
 and Pereea. It was the latter who ordered St. John 
 Baptist to be beheaded, and sent Christ to Pilate. 
 This Herod the tetrarch was exiled to Lyons by 
 Caligula. 
 
 Agrippa, a grandson of Herod the Great, ob- 
 tained the kingdom of Judea; but his brother 
 Herod, king of Calcis, possessed all the power 
 over the Temple, the sacred treasures and the 
 priesthood. 
 
 On the death of Agrippa, Judea was reduced into 
 a Roman province. The Jews having revolted 
 against their masters, Titus besieged and took 
 Jerusalem. During this siege, two hundred thou- 
 sand Jews perished by famine. From the 14th of 
 April to the 1st of July in the year 71 of the 
 Christian era, one hundred and fifteen thousand 
 one hundred and eighty dead bodies were carried 
 out of Jerusalem by one single gate. They ate 
 the leather of their shoes and shields; and were at 
 length reduced to such extremity as to feed upon
 
 FAMINE AND MASSACRE. 51 
 
 hay and filth which they picked up in the common 
 sewers : a mother devoured her child. The be- 
 sieged swallowed their gold ; the Roman soldiers, 
 who perceived the action, put to death the pri- 
 soners, and then sought the treasure concealed in 
 the bowels of these unfortunates. Eleven hundred 
 thousand Jews perished in the city of Jerusalem, 
 and two hundred thirty-eight thousand four hun- 
 dred and sixty in the rest of Judea. In this cal- 
 culation I comprehend neither the women and 
 children, nor the aged destroyed by famine, sedi- 
 tions, and the flames. Lastly, there were ninety- 
 nine thousand two hundred prisoners of war, some 
 of whom were doomed to labour at the public 
 w-orks, and others reserved for the triumph of 
 Titus; they appeared in the amphitheatres of Europe 
 and Asia, and butchered one another for the 
 amusement of the populace of the Roman empire. 
 Such as had not attained the age of seventeen 
 years were put up to auction with the women ; and 
 thirty of them were sold for a denarius. The 
 blood of the just Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of 
 silver at Jerusalem, and the people had cried: 
 " His blood be upon ourselves and upon our 
 children!" God heard this wish of the Jews, and 
 for the last time he granted their prayer : after 
 which he turned away his face from the Land of 
 promise, and chose for himself another people. 
 
 The temple was burned thirty-eight years after 
 the death of Christ ; so that many of those who 
 had heard the prediction of our Saviour, might 
 also have witnessed its fulfilment. 
 
 The remnant of the Jewish nation having again 
 rebelled, Adrian completed the destruction of 
 what Titus had left standing in ancient Jerusalem. 
 On the ruins of the citv of David he erected ano- 
 
 d2
 
 52 NEW CITY BUILT BY ADRIAN. 
 
 ther town, to which he gave the name of JEUa, 
 Capitolina : he forbade the Jews to enter it upon 
 pain of death, and caused the figure of a hog, in 
 sculpture, to be placed upon the gate leading to 
 Bethlehem. St. Gregory Nazianzen nevertheless 
 relates that the Jews were permitted to enter vElia 
 once a-year to give vent to their sorrows ; and St. 
 Jerome adds, that they were forced to purchase, 
 at an exorbitant price, the right of shedding tears 
 over the ashes of their country. 
 
 Five hundred and eighty-five thousand Jews, 
 according to the account of Dio, perished by the 
 sword in this war under Adrian. Prodigious num- 
 bers of slaves, of either sex, were sold at the fairs 
 of Gaza and Membre ; and fifty castles and nine 
 hundred and eighty-five villages were destroyed. 
 
 Adrian built the new city precisely on the spot 
 which it occupies at this day ; and by a particular 
 providence, as Doubdan observes, he included 
 Mount Calvary within the walls. At the time of 
 Dioclesian's persecution, the very name of Jeru- 
 salem was so totally forgotten, that a martyr 
 having said, in reply to the question of a Roman 
 governor, that he was a native of Jerusalem, the 
 latter imagined it to be some factious town, se- 
 cretly erected by the Christians. Towards the 
 conclusion of the seventh century, the city still re- 
 tained the name of ^Elia, as may be seen from the 
 account of the travels of Arculfe, given by Ada- 
 mannus, or that of the venerable Bede. 
 
 Some commotions appear to have taken place 
 in Judea under the emperors Antoninus, Septimus 
 Severus, and Caracalla. Jerusalem, transformed 
 in her old age into a Pagan city, at length ac- 
 knowledged the God whom she had rejected. 
 Constantiue and his mother overthrew the idols
 
 TAKEN BY THE MAHOMETANS. 53 
 
 erected upon the Sepulchre of our Saviour, and 
 consecrated the sacred stations bv the edifices that 
 are still seen upon them. 
 
 In vain did Julian, thirty-seven years afterwards, 
 assemble the Jews at Jerusalem for the purpose of 
 rebuilding- the Temple. The men employed in this 
 undertaking worked with hods, pick-axes, and 
 shovels of silver ; while the women carried away 
 the earth in the skirts of their best garments : but 
 globes of fire issuing from the half-excavated 
 foundations, dispersed the labourers, and pre- 
 vented the accomplishment of the design. 
 
 We find a revolt of the Jews under Justinian, in 
 the year of Christ 501. It was also during the 
 reign of this emperor that the church of Jerusalem 
 was elevated to the patriarchal dignity. 
 
 Still destined to struggle with idolatry, and to 
 vanquish false religions, Jerusalem was taken by 
 Cosroes, king of the Persians, in the year of Christ 
 613. The Jews scattered over Judea purchased 
 of that prince ninety thousand Christian prisoners,, 
 whom they put to death. 
 
 Heraclius defeated Cosroes in 627, recovered 
 the true cross which the Persian monarch had 
 taken away, and carried it back to Jerusalem. 
 
 Nine years afterwards the caliph Omar, the 
 third iu succession from Mahomet, took Jerusalem 
 after a siege of four months ; and Palestine, as 
 well as Egypt, passed under the yoke of the con- 
 queror. 
 
 Omar was assassinated at Jerusalem in 643. 
 The establishment of several caliphats in Arabia 
 and in Syria, the fall of the dynasty of the Om- 
 miades, and the elevation of that of the Abassides, 
 involved Judea in troubles and calamities for more 
 than two hundred years.
 
 54 CTTY TAKEN AND RETAKEN. 
 
 Ahmed, a Turk, who from being- governor had 
 made himself sovereign of Egypt, conquered Jeru- 
 salem in 868 ; but his son having been defeated 
 by the caliphs of Bagdad, the Holy City again 
 returned under their dominion in the year 905 of 
 our era. 
 
 Mahomet Ikschid, another Turk, having in his 
 turned seized the sovereignty of Egypt, carried his 
 arms abroad, and subdued Jerusalem in the year 
 of Christ 936. 
 
 The Fatimites, issuing from the sands of Cyrene, 
 expelled the Ikschidites from Egypt in 968, and 
 conquered several towns in Palestine. 
 
 Another Turk, named Ortok, favoured by the 
 Seljucides of Aleppo, made himself master of Je- 
 rusalem in 984, and his children reigned there after 
 his death. 
 
 Mostali, caliph of Egypt, drove the Ortokides 
 out of Jerusalem. 
 
 Hakem or Haquem, the successor of Aziz, the 
 second Fatimite caliph, persecuted the Christians 
 at Jerusalem about the year 996, as I have already 
 related in the account of the church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre, and died in 1021. 
 
 Meleschah, a Seljucide Turk, took the Holy 
 City in 1076, and ravaged the whole country. The 
 Ortokides, who had been expelled from Jerusalem 
 by the caliph Mostali, returned thither, and main- 
 tained possession of the city against Redouan, 
 prince of Aleppo. They were again driven out in 
 1076 by the Fatimites, who were masters of the 
 place when the Crusaders appeared on the frontiers 
 of Palestine. 
 
 The writers of the eighteenth century have taken 
 pains to represent the Crusades in an odious light. 
 I was one of the first to protest against this igno-
 
 CHARACTER OF THE CRUSADES. 55 
 
 ranee or injustice.* The Crusades were not mad 
 expeditions, as some writers have affected to call 
 them, either in their principle or in their results. 
 The Christians were not the aggressors. It' the 
 subjects of Omar, setting out from Jerusalem, and 
 making- the circuit of Africa, invaded Sicily, Spain, 
 nay, even France, where they were exterminated 
 by Charles Mattel ; why should not the subjects of 
 Philip I. quitting France, make the circuit of Asia, 
 to take vengeance on the descendants of Omar in 
 Jerusalem itself? It was certainly a grand spec- 
 tacle exhibited by these two armies of Europe and 
 Asia, marching in opposite directions round the 
 Mediterranean, and proceeding under the banner 
 of their respective religions, to attack Mahomet 
 and Christ in the midst of their votaries. Those 
 who perceive in the Crusades nothing- but a mob 
 of armed pilgrims running to rescue a tomb in 
 Palestine, must take a very limited view of history. 
 The point in question was not merely the deliver- 
 ance of that sacred tomb, but likewise to decide 
 which of the two should predominate in the world, 
 a religion hostile to civilization, systematically 
 favourable to ignorance, despotism, and slavery, or 
 a religion which has revived among the moderns 
 the spirit of learned antiquity and abolished servi- 
 tude. Whoever reads the address of Pope Urban 
 II. to the Council of Clermont, must be convinced 
 that the leaders in these military enterprizes had 
 not the petty views which have been ascribed to 
 them, and that they aspired to save the world from 
 a new inundation of barbarians. The spirit of 
 Islamism is persecution and conquest ; the Gospel, 
 on the contrary, inculcates only toleration and 
 peace. Accordingly, the Christians endured for 
 * In the Genie du Christianisme.
 
 56 CHARACTER OF THE CRUSADES. 
 
 seven hundred and sixty-four years all the oppres- 
 sions which the fanaticism of the Saracens impelled 
 them to exercise. They merely endeavoured to 
 interest Charlemagne in their favour ; for neither 
 the conquest of Spain, the invasion of France, the 
 pillage of Greece and the two Sicilies, nor the 
 entire subjugation of Africa, could for near eight 
 centuries rouze the Christians to arms. If at last 
 the shrieks of numberless victims slaughtered in the 
 East, if the progress of the barbarians, who had 
 already reached the gates of Constantinople, 
 awakened Christendom, and impelled it to rise in 
 its own defence, who can say that the cause of the 
 Holy Wars was unjust ? Contemplate Greece, if 
 you would know the fate of a people subjected to 
 the Mussulman yoke. Would those who at this 
 day so loudly exult in the progress of knowledge, 
 wish to live under a religion which burned the 
 Alexandrian Library, and which makes a merit of 
 trampling mankind under foot, and holding litera- 
 ture and the arts in sovereign contempt ? 
 
 The Crusades, by weakening the Mahometan 
 hordes in the very centre of Asia, prevented our 
 falling a prey to the Turks and Arabs : they did 
 more, they saved us from our own revolutions ; 
 they suspended, by the peace of God, our intes- 
 tine wars ; and opened an outlet to that excess of 
 population, which sooner or later occasions the 
 ruin of states. 
 
 With regard to the other results of the Crusades, 
 people begin to admit that these military enter- 
 prizes were favourable to the progress of science and 
 civilization. Robertson has admirably discussed 
 this subject in his Historical Disquisition con- 
 cerning the Knowledge which the Ancients had of 
 India. I shall add, that in this estimate we must
 
 JERUSALEM TAKEN BY CRUSADERS. 57 
 
 not omit the renown gained by the European arms 
 in these distant expeditious. The time of these 
 expeditions is the heroic period of our history, the 
 period which gave birth to epic poetry. Whatever 
 diffuses a tinge of the marvellous over a nation, 
 ought not to be despised by that very nation. In 
 vain should we attempt to deny that there is a 
 something implanted in our hearts which excites in 
 us a love of glory : man is not absolutely made up 
 of positive calculations of profit and loss ; it would 
 be debasing him too much to suppose so. It was 
 by impressing upon the Romans the eternity of 
 their city, that their chiefs led them on to the 
 conquest of the world, and spurred them forward 
 to achievements which have gained them everlast- 
 ing renown. 
 
 Godfrey appeared on the frontiers of Palestine 
 in the year of Christ 1099. He was accompanied 
 by Baldwin, Eustace, Tancred, Raimond de Tou- 
 louse, the counts of Flanders and Normandy, 
 l'Etolde, who was the first to scale the walls of 
 Jerusalem ; Guicher, already celebrated for having 
 cut a lion in two; Gaston de Foix, Gerard de 
 Roussillon, Rambaud d'Orange, St. Paul, and 
 Lambert. At the head of these knights went Peter 
 the hermit with his pilgrim's staff. They first made 
 themselves masters of Rama ; they next entered 
 Emmaus, while Tancred and Baldwin du Bourg 
 penetrated to Bethlehem. Jerusalem was soon 
 besieged, and at three in the afternoon of the 15th, 
 or according to others the 12th of July 1099, the 
 standard of Christ waved upon its walls. 
 
 I shall treat of the siege of this city when I come 
 to examine the theatre of the Jerusalem Deliver ed. 
 Godfrey was, by his brothers in arms, elected king 
 of the conquered city. These were the times in 
 
 d3
 
 58 GODFREY, THE FIKST KING. 
 
 which mere knights sprung- from the breach upon 
 the throne ; when the helmet learned to bear die 
 diadem, and the wounded hand which wielded the 
 pike, was nobly wrapped in the regal purple. God- 
 frey refused to put on his head the brilliant crown 
 that was offered him, declaring that " he would 
 not wear a crown of gold where Christ had worn a 
 crown of thorns." 
 
 Naplusia opened its gates ; the army of the 
 sultan of Egypt was defeated at Ascalon. Robert, 
 the monk, in his description of this defeat, makes 
 use of the very same comparison which has been 
 employed by J. B. Rousseau, and which, by the 
 bye, is borrowed from the Bible : 
 
 Now Palestine, her cruel suff' rings past, 
 Beholds the Paynim legions scour v the plain, 
 As scud the clouds before the northern blast. 
 
 It is probable that Godfrey died at Jaffa, the 
 walls of which he had rebuilt. He was succeeded 
 by his brother Baldwin, Count of Edessa. The 
 latter expired in the midst of his victories, and in 
 1118 left the throne to his nephew, Baldwin du 
 Bourg. 
 
 Melisandra, eldest daughter of Baldwin II. mar- 
 ried Foulqes d'Anjou, and conveyed the kingdom 
 of Jerusalem into her husband's family about the 
 year 1130. Foulques dying in consequence of a 
 fall from his horse, was succeeded in 1 140 by his 
 son Baldwin III. The second Crusade, preached 
 up by St. Bernard, and conducted by Louis VII. 
 and the emperor Conrad, took place during the 
 reign of this third Baldwin, who filled the throne 
 twenty years, and left it to his brother Amaury. 
 After a reign of eleven years, Amaury was suc- 
 ceeded by his son Baldwin IV.
 
 SALADIN TAKES JERUSALEM. 59 
 
 Saladin now appeared. Unfortunate at first, 
 but afterwards victorious, he finally wrested the 
 Holy Land from its new masters. 
 
 Baldwin had given his sister Sybilla, widow of 
 William Longue-Epee, in marriage to Guy de 
 Lusignan. The grandees of the kingdom, jealous 
 of this choice, divided into parties. Baldwin IV. 
 dying in 1184, left as his heir his nephew Baldwin 
 V. the son of Sybilla and William Longue-Epee. 
 The young king, only eight years of age, sunk in 
 1186 under a fatal disease. His mother Sybilla 
 caused the crown to be conferred on Guy de 
 Lusignan, her second husband. The count of Tri- 
 poli betrayed the new monarch, who fell into 
 Saladin's hands at the battle of Tiberias. 
 
 Having completed the conquest of the maritime 
 towns of Palestine, the sultan laid siege to Jeru- 
 salem, and took it in 1188. Every man was 
 obliged to pay ten gold besants ; and, from ina- 
 bility to raise this sum, fourteen thousand of the 
 inhabitants were made slaves. Saladin would not 
 enter the mosque of the Temple, which had been 
 converted into a church by the Christians, till he 
 had caused the walls to be washed with rose- 
 water; and we are told by Sanuto that five hundred 
 camels were scarcely able to carry all the rose- 
 water employed on this occasion — a story worthy 
 of the East. The soldiers of Saladin pulled down 
 a gold cross erected above the Temple, and dragged 
 it through the streets to the top of Mount Sion, 
 where they broke it in pieces. One church only 
 was spared, and this was the church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre: it was ransomed by the Syrians for a 
 large sum of money. 
 
 The crown of this kingdom, thus shorn of its lus- 
 tre, devolved to Isabel, daughter of Baldwin, sister
 
 60 CRUSADE OF LOUIS IX. 
 
 to the deceased Sybilla, and wife of Eufroy de 
 Turenne. Philip Augustus and Richard Cceur-de- 
 Lion arrived too late to save the Holy City, but 
 they took Ptolemais, or St. John d'Acre. The 
 valour of Richard struck such terror into his ene- 
 mies, that, long after his death, when a horse 
 trembled without any visible cause, the Saracens 
 were accustomed to say that he had seen the 
 ghost of the English monarch. Saladin died soon 
 after the taking of Ptolemais : he directed that, 
 on the day of his funeral, a shroud should be car- 
 ried on the point of a spear, and a herald proclaim 
 in a loud voice : " Saladin, the conqueror of Asia, 
 out of all the fruits of his victories, carries with 
 him only this shroud." 
 
 Richard, Saladin's rival in glory, on leaving 
 Palestine, contrived to get himself imprisoned in 
 a tower in Germany. His confinement gave rise 
 to adventures, which history has rejected, but 
 which the Troubadours have preserved in their 
 ballads. 
 
 In 1242, Saleh Ismael, emir of Damascus, who 
 was at war with Nedjmeddin, sultan of Egypt, and 
 had gained possession of Jerusalem, restored the 
 city to the Latin princes. The sultan sent the 
 Karismians to besiege the capital of Judea. They 
 retook it, and slaughtered the inhabitants. They 
 plundered it once more the following year, before 
 they delivered it up to Saleh Ayub, the successor 
 of Nedjmeddin. 
 
 During these events, the kingdom of Jerusalem 
 had been transferred from Isabel to her new hus- 
 band, Henry, Count of Champagne, and from him 
 to Amaury, brother of Lusignan, to whom she 
 was married, for the fourth time. By him she 
 had a son, who died while an infant. Mary,
 
 CRUSADE OF LOUIS IX. 61 
 
 daughter of Isabel and her first husband, Conrad, 
 Marquis of Montferrat, now became heiress to 
 an imaginary kingdom. She married John, Count 
 de Brienne, by whom she had a daughter, Isabel, 
 or Yolante, afterwards the wife of the emperor 
 Frederic II. The latter arriving at Tyre, made 
 peace with the sultan of Egypt. The conditions 
 of the treaty stipulated that Jerusalem should 
 belong jointly to the Christians and the Mussul- 
 mans. Frederic, in consequence, assumed the 
 crown of Godfrey, at the altar of the Holy Sepul- 
 chre, placed it on his head, and returned to Europe. 
 It is probable that the Saracens did not long keep 
 the eng-agfement which they had contracted with 
 Frederic, since we find that twenty years after- 
 wards Jerusalem was pillaged by Nedjmeddin, as 
 I have mentioned above. St. Louis arrived in the 
 East seven years after this last calamity. It is 
 remarkable, that this prince, while a prisoner in 
 Egypt, beheld the last heirs of Saladin's family 
 butchered before his face. 
 
 " The king," says the Sire de Joinville, " who 
 was seized with the disease of the East, like those 
 whom he had left, might have escaped, if he had 
 pleased, in his great ships ; but he said that he 
 chose rather to die than to desert his men : he 
 therefore began to shout, and call to us to stay. 
 And he pulled us stoutly by the saddle-bows to 
 make us stop, till he gave us leave to swim. Now 
 I will tell you the manner in which the king was 
 taken, as he related to me himself. I have heard 
 him say that he had loft his guards and his division 
 of the army, and that he and Messire Geffroy de 
 Sergine had joined Messire Gualtier de Chatillon, 
 who commanded the rear-guard. And the king 
 was mounted on a low horse, covered with a silk
 
 62 CRUSADE OF LOUIS IX. 
 
 horse-cloth; and, as I have since heard him tell, 
 he had none left of all his men at arms but the 
 brave knight Messire Geffroy de Sergine, who at- 
 tended him to a little village, named Casel, where 
 the king was taken. But before the Turks could 
 see him, as I have heard him say, Messire Geffroy 
 de Sergine defended him in the same manner as a 
 good servant defends his master's face from the flies. 
 For every time the Saracens approached, Messire 
 Geffroy laid about him with lusty cuts and thrusts, 
 so that he, seemed to exert double his usual strength 
 and bravery. And in every attack he drove them 
 away from the king. In this manner he brought 
 him to Casel, and there took him into the house of 
 a woman who was a native of Paris. And they 
 fully expected to see him expire, and had no hopes 
 of his living over that day." 
 
 By a freak of fortune not a little astonishing, she 
 had delivered one of the greatest monarchs that 
 France ever had into the hands of a young sultan 
 of Egypt, the only remaining heir of the great 
 Saladin. But this fortune, which disposes of em- 
 pires, determined, as it would appear, to display, 
 in one day, her unbounded power and caprice, 
 caused the conqueror to be murdered before the 
 face of the vanquished king. 
 
 " The Sultan, who was yet young, seeing this, 
 and perceiving the mischief that had been plotted 
 against his person, fled to the high tower which he 
 had near his chamber, and of which I have spoken 
 already. For his own people had already over- 
 thrown all his pavilions, and surrounded the tower 
 in which he had taken refuge. And within the 
 tower there were three of his bishops, who had 
 eaten with him, and who wrote to desire that he 
 would come down. And he said to them '.hat he
 
 CRUSADE OF LOUIS IX. 63 
 
 would willingly come down, if they would insure 
 his safety. They replied they would make him 
 descend by force, and against his will. And pre- 
 sently they threw Greek fire into the tower, which 
 was only made of deal and linen cloth, as I have 
 said before ; and immediately the tower was all in 
 a blaze. So fine and so sudden a fire I can assure 
 you I never beheld. When the sultan saw that he 
 was pressed by the flames, he went down by way of 
 the meadow, which I have already mentioned, and 
 fled towards the river ; and one of the chevaliers 
 of the Haulequa struck at him on the bank with a 
 great sword, on which he threw himself into the 
 river. After him jumped about nine chevaliers, 
 who killed him in the river quite close to our gal- 
 ley. And when the sultan was dead, one of the 
 said chevaliers, whose name was Faracataie, ripped 
 up his body, and cut out his heart. Then he came 
 to the king, his hand all covered with blood, and 
 said to him : " What wilt thou give me for killing 
 thine enemy, who would have put thee to death if 
 he had lived V And to this question the good 
 king St. Louis, replied not a single word." 
 
 It is certain that the Babarite Mamelukes, after 
 they had embrued their hands in the blood of their 
 master, entertained, for a moment the idea of 
 breaking the fetters of their prisoner and making 
 him their sultan ; such was the impression pro- 
 duced upon them by his virtues! St. Louis told the 
 Sire de Joinville that he would have accepted this 
 crown, had it been decreed him by the Infidels. 
 Nothing, perhaps, can afford a better insight into 
 the character of this prince, whose greatness of soul 
 equalled his piety, and in whose bosom religion had 
 not stifled the sentiments worthy of a king 1 . 
 
 The Mamelukes changed their mind. Moas,
 
 G4< CRUSADE OF LOUIS IX. 
 
 Almansor Nuradin Ali, and Sefeidin Modfar, suc- 
 cessively ascended the throne of Egypt, and the 
 famous Bibars Bondoc Dari became sultan in 1263. 
 He ravaged that part of Palestine which was not 
 under his dominion, and repaired Jerusalem. 
 Kelaoun, the heir of Bondoc Dari, in 1281, drove 
 the Christians from place to place ; and his son, 
 Khalil, took from them Tyre and Ptolemais. At 
 length, in 1291, they were entirely expelled from the 
 Holy Land, after they had maintained themselves 
 one hundred and ninety- two years in their con- 
 quests, and reigned eighty-eight at Jerusalem. 
 
 The empty title of king of Jerusalem was trans- 
 ferred to the house of Sicily, by Charles, Count of 
 Provence and Anjou, brother to St. Louis, who 
 united in his person the rights of the king of Cy- 
 prus and of the princess Mary, daughter of Fre- 
 deric, prince of Antioch. The knights of St. John 
 of Jerusalem, since denominated knights of Rhodes 
 and Malta, and the Teutonic knights, the con- 
 querors of the north of Europe and founders of the 
 kingdom of Prussia, are now the only remains of 
 those Crusaders who struck terror into Africa and 
 Asia, and seized the thrones of Jerusalem, Cyprus, 
 and Constantinople. 
 
 There are yet persons who believe, on the autho- 
 rity of certain trite sarcasms, that the kingdom of 
 Jerusalem was a miserable little valley, wholly 
 unworthy of the pompous name with which it was 
 dignified. The whole of the sacred Scripture; the 
 Pagan authors, as Hecateus of Abdera, Theophras- 
 tus, Strabo himself, Pausanias, Dioscorides, Pliny, 
 Tacitus, Solinus, and Ammianus Marcellinus ; the 
 Jewish writers, as Josephus, and the compilers of 
 the Talmud and Mischna ; the Arabian historians 
 and geographers, Massudi, Ibn Haukal, Ibn el
 
 KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 65 
 
 Quadi, Hamdoullah, Abulfeda, Edrisi ; the tra- 
 vellers in Palestine, from the earliest times down 
 to the present day, unanimously bear testimony to 
 the fertility of Judea. The Abbe Guenee has dis- 
 cussed these authorities with admirable perspicuity 
 and critical skill.* Could it appear surprising-, 
 however, if so fruitful a country had become barren 
 after such repeated devastations ? Seventeen times 
 has Jerusalem been taken and pillaged ; millions of 
 men have been slaughtered within its walls, and 
 this massacre may be said still to continue. No 
 other city has experienced such a fate. This pro- 
 tracted and almost supernatural punishment an- 
 nounces unexampled guilt — guilt winch no chastise- 
 ment is capable of expiating. In this country, 
 consigned to the ravages of fire and sword, the 
 uncultivated land has lost that fertility which it 
 derived from human toil ; the springs have been 
 buried beneath heaps of rubbish ; the soil of the 
 mountains being no longer kept up by the industry 
 of the vine-dresser, has been hurried down into the 
 vallies ; and the eminences, once covered with 
 woods of sycamores, now present to view nought 
 but parched and barren hills. 
 
 The account of the kingdom of Jerusalem by the 
 Abbe Guenee is worthy of being repeated here. It 
 would be presumption to attempt to recompose a 
 performance whose only fault consists in voluntary 
 omissions. The author, doubtless perceiving it 
 impossible to comprehend every thing, confined 
 himself to the most important particulars. 
 
 " This kingdom," says he, " extended, from west 
 to east, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Desert 
 of Arabia, and, from south to north, from the for- 
 tress of Darum beyond the river of Egypt, to the 
 * In four Memoirs, of which I shall speak presently.
 
 66 KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 river that runs between Berith and Biblos. It there- 
 fore included, in the first plaee, the three Palestines, 
 the first of which had for its capital Jerusalem, the 
 second maritime Cresarea, and the third Bethsan, 
 afterwards Nazareth. It comprehended, moreover, 
 all the country of the Philistines, all Phoenicia, 
 withlhe second and third Arabia, and some parts 
 of the first. 
 
 " This state had two chief lords, the one spiritual, 
 the other temporal ; the patriarch was the spiritual 
 head and the king the temporal ruler. 
 
 " The jurisdiction of the patriarch extended over 
 the four archbishoprics of Tyre, Csesarea, Naza- 
 reth, and Krak. He had for suffragans the bishops 
 of Lydda and Hebron ; on him were dependent also 
 the six abbeys of Mount Sion, of the Latin Church, 
 the Temple, Mount Olivet, Jehoshaphat, and St. 
 Samuel ; the prior of the Holy Sepulchre, and the 
 three abbesses of Our Lady the Great, St. Anne, 
 and St. Ladre. 
 
 iC The archbishops had for their suffragans the 
 following bishops ; that of Tyre, the bishops of 
 Berith, Sidon, Paneas, and Ptolemais ; that of 
 Cassarea, the bishop of Sebaste ; that of Nazareth, 
 the bishop of Tiberias and the prior of Mount 
 Tabor ; that of Krak, the bishop of Mount Sinai. 
 
 " The bishops of St. George, Lydda, and Acre 
 had under their jurisdiction — the first, the two 
 abbeys of St. Joseph of Arimathea and St. Hab- 
 bakuk, the two priors of St. John the Evangelist 
 and St. Catherine of Mount Gisart, with the 
 abbess of the Three Shades ; the second, the Tri- 
 nity and the Penitents. 
 
 " All these bishoprics, abbeys, chapters and 
 convents of monks and nuns appear to have en- 
 joyed very large possessions, if we may judge from
 
 KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. G7 
 
 the number of troops which they were obliged to 
 furnish for the service of the state. Three orders 
 in particular, at the same time military and reli- 
 gious, were distinguished for their opulence ; they 
 had in the country extensive lands, castles and 
 towns. 
 
 " Besides the domains which were the property 
 of the king, as Jerusalem, Naplusia, Acre, Tyre 
 and their dependencies, the kingdom contained 
 four great baronies. The first of these comprised 
 the counties of Jaffa and Ascalon, with the lord- 
 ships of Ramah, Mirabel, and Ybelin ; the second, 
 the principality of Galilee ; the third, the lordships 
 of Sidon, Ceesarea, and Bethsan ; the fourth, the 
 lordships of Krak, Montreal, and Hebron. The 
 county of Tripoli formed a separate principality, 
 dependent indeed on the kingdom of Jerusalem, 
 but distinct from it. 
 
 " One of the first cares of the kings was to give 
 a code to their subjects. Wise men were commis- 
 sioned to collect the principal laws of the different 
 countries from which the Crusaders came, and to 
 form them into a body of legislation, according to 
 which all matters civil and criminal should be de- 
 cided. Two courts of justice were established ; 
 the upper for the nobles, and the lower for the 
 commonalty. The Syrians obtained the privilege 
 of being judged by their own laws. 
 
 " The different lords, as the counts of Jaffa, 
 the lords of Ybelin, Caesarea, Caiaphas, Krak, 
 the archbishop of Nazareth, &e. had their courts 
 of justice ; and the principal cities, as Jerusalem, 
 Naplusia, Acre, Jaffa, Ca?sarea, Bethsan, Hebron, 
 Gadres, Lydda, Assur, Paneas, Tiberias, Naza- 
 reth, &c. had their municipal courts. These seig- 
 norial aud municipal courts, to the number at first
 
 68 KIXGDOM OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 of twenty or thirty of each kind, increased in pro- 
 portion to the aggrandizement of the state. 
 
 " The baronies and their dependencies were 
 obliged to furnish two thousand horse ; and the 
 cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Naplusia, six hun- 
 dred and sixty-six horse, and one hundred and 
 thirteen foot ; the towns of Ascalon, Tyre, Caesa- 
 rea, and Tiberias, a thousand foot. 
 
 " The churches, bishoprics, abbeys, chapters, 
 &c. had to find about seven thousand ; that is to 
 say, the patriarch, the church of the Holy Sepul- 
 chre, the bishop of Tiberias, and the abbot of 
 Mount Tabor, five hundred each ; the archbishop 
 of Tyre and the bishop of Tiberias, five hundred 
 and fifty each ; the bishops of Lydda and Bethle- 
 hem, two hundred each ; and the others in pro- 
 portion to their domains. 
 
 " The troops of the state altogether formed at 
 first an army amounting to ten or twelve thousand 
 men ; the number was afterwards increased to 
 fifteen thousand ; and when Lusignan was de- 
 feated by Saladin, his army comprehended near 
 twenty-two thousand men, all troops of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the expenses and losses occa- 
 sioned by almost incessant wars, the imposts were 
 moderate, abundance reigned in the country, the 
 people multiplied, and the lords found in their fiefs 
 an indemnification for what they had left behind 
 in Europe ; so that Baldwin du Bourg himself did 
 not long regret his rich and beautiful county of 
 Edessa." 
 
 The Christians having lost this kingdom in 1291, 
 the Baharite sultans of Egypt remained in posses- 
 sion of their conquest till 1382. At this period the 
 Circassian Mamelukes usurped the supreme autho-
 
 PRESENT STATE OF THE CITY. 69 
 
 rity in Egypt, and gave Palestine a new form of 
 government. If it was these Circassian sultans that 
 established a post by means of pigeons, and relays 
 for carrying the snow of Mount Lebanon to Cairo, 
 it must be allowed that, for barbarians, they were 
 tolerably well acquainted with the luxuries of life. 
 Selim put an end to all these revolutions in 1517, 
 by the reduction of Egypt and Syria. 
 
 It is this Jerusalem of the Turks, this seven- 
 teenth shadow of the primitive city, that we are 
 now about to examine. 
 
 On leaving the convent we proceeded to the 
 citadel. No person was formerly permitted to 
 enter : but now that it is in ruins, you may obtain 
 admittance for a few piastres. D'Anville proves 
 that this casfle, called by the Christians the Castle 
 or Tower of the Pisans, is erected upon the ruins of 
 an ancient fortress of David, and occupies the site 
 of the tower of Psephina. It has nothing remark- 
 able : it is one of those Gothic fortresses of which 
 specimens are to be found in every country, with 
 interior courts, ditches, covered ways, &c. I was 
 shewn a forsaken hall full of old helmets. Some 
 of these had the shape of an Egyptian cap. 1 
 remarked also some iron tubes, about the length 
 and thickness of a gun-barrel, but am ignorant of 
 their use. I bargained secretly for two or three of 
 these antiques, but some accident or other frus- 
 trated the negociation. 
 
 The keep of the castle overlooks Jerusalem from 
 west to east, as the Mount of Olives commands a 
 view of it from east to west. The scenery sur- 
 rounding the city is dreary : on every side are seen 
 naked mountains, with circular or flat tops, several 
 of which, at great distances, exhibit the ruins of 
 towers, or dilapidated mosques. These mountains
 
 70 THE CITADEL. 
 
 are not so close as not to leave intervals through 
 which the eye wanders in quest of other prospects ; 
 but these openings display only a back-ground of 
 rocks just as bare and barren as the foreground. 
 
 It was from the top of this tower that the royal 
 prophet descried Bathsheba bathing in the garden 
 of Uriah. The passion which he conceived for this 
 woman, afterwards inspired him with those mag- 
 nificent psalms of repentance. 
 
 " O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath : neither 
 
 chasten me in thy hot displeasure ! Have pity 
 
 upon me, according to the extent of thy mercy ! 
 — My days are consumed like smoke. — I am like a 
 pelican of the wilderness. — Out of the depth have 
 I cried to thee, O Lord !" 
 
 For what reason the castle of Jerusalem is 
 denominated the castle of the Pisans, is not known. 
 D' Anville, who forms various conjectures on this sub- 
 ject, has overlooked a very curious passage in Belon. 
 
 " Whoever would obtain admittance into the 
 sepulchre," observes that writer, " is obliged to 
 pay nine ducats, and from this demand, no person, 
 whether rich or poor, is exempted. The farmer 
 of the tax upon the sepulchre pays eight thousand 
 ducats to the sovereign ; which is the reason why 
 he lays this charge upon the pilgrims, who are not 
 allowed to enter unless it be paid. The Turks 
 have a great reverence for this place, and enter it 
 with profound devotion. It is said that the Pisans 
 imposed this tax of nine ducats when they were 
 masters of Jerusalem, and that it has been con- 
 tinued ever since " 
 
 The citadel of the Pisans* was guarded, when 
 
 * From a passage in Brocard, it appears that towards the 
 conclusion of the thirteenth century, it was also denominated 
 Neblosa.
 
 STREET OF THE BAZAR. 71 
 
 I saw it, by a sort of half-negro aga. He kept 
 his women shut up in it, and he acted wisely, to 
 judge from the eagerness to shew themselves in 
 this dreary ruin. Not a gun was to be seen, and 
 1 am doutful whether the recoil of a single piece 
 would not shake all these ancient battlements into 
 ruins. 
 
 - Having examined the cast ? e for an hour, we left 
 it, and took a street which runs eastward, and is 
 called the street of the Bazar : this is the princi- 
 pal street, and the best quarter of Jerusalem. 
 But what wretchedness, what desolation ! We 
 will not encroach upon the general description. 
 We met with not a creature, for most of the in- 
 habitants had fled to the mountains on the pacha's 
 arrival. The doors of some forsaken shops stood 
 open ; through these we perceived small rooms, 
 seven or eight feet square, where the master, then 
 a fugitive, eats, lies, and sleeps, on the single 
 mat that composes his whole stock of furniture. 
 
 On the right of the Bazar, between the Temple 
 and the foot of Mount Sion, we entered the Jews' 
 quarter. Fortified by their indigence, these people 
 had withstood the attack of the pacha. Here 
 they appeared covered with rags, seated in the 
 dust of Sion, seeking the vermin which devoured 
 them, and keeping their eyes fixed on the Temple. 
 The drogman took me into a kind of school : I 
 would have purchased the Hebrew Pentateuch, 
 in which a rabbi was teaching a child to read ; 
 but he refused to dispose of the book. It has 
 been observed that the foreign Jews, who fix their 
 residence at Jerusalem, live but a short time. 
 As to those of Palestine, they are so poor as to 
 be obliged to send every year to raise contributions 
 among their brethren in Egypt and Barbary.
 
 72 ABBE DE GUENJEE 1 S MEMOIRS. 
 
 I had commenced a long inquiry concerning the 
 state of the Jews of Jerusalem, from the destruc- 
 tion of that city by Titus till the present time ; and 
 had entered into an important discussion respecting 
 the fertility of Judea ; but on the publication of the 
 last volumes of the Memoirs of the Academy of 
 Inscriptions, I desisted from my undertaking. In 
 these volumes may be found four Memoirs by the 
 Abbe Guenee, which leave nothing more to be 
 wished for on the two subjects of which I purposed 
 to treat. These Memoirs are real master-pieces of 
 perspicuity, criticism, and erudition. The author 
 of the Letters of some Portuguese Jews is one of 
 those writers whose fame, during his life, was stifled 
 by literary cabals, but whose reputation will increase 
 with posterity. To these excellent Memoirs I refer 
 the inquisitive reader ; he will easily find them, 
 since they have been recently published, and are 
 preserved in a collection which is not scarce. I 
 pretend not to surpass such masters : I have learned 
 to throw into the fire the fruits of my studies, and 
 to acknowledge the superiority of the performances 
 of others.* 
 
 I cannot, however, forbear giving in this place a 
 
 * I might have pillaged the Abbe de Guenee's Memoirs with- 
 out saying a word about the matter, after the example of number- 
 less writers, who pretend to have derived their information from 
 the original sources, when they have merely plundered scholars 
 whose names they keep to themselves. These frauds are now-a- 
 days extremely easy; for in this age of knowledge, ignorance is 
 great. People begin to write before they have read any thing, 
 and this method they pursue as long as they live. The genuine 
 scholar heaves a sigh when he beholds this swarm of young 
 authors, who would perhaps have possessed talents, had they 
 taken the pains to study. It should be recollected that Boileau 
 read Longinus in the original, and that Racine knew the Greek 
 Sophocles and Euripides by heart. God give us back the age of 
 pedants! Thirty Vadiuses will not do so much injury to letters as 
 one school-boy in a doctor's cap.
 
 NCMI1ER OF THE JEWS. 73 
 
 Calculation which formed part of my work : it is 
 made from the Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. 
 This Spanish Jew travelled in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, to ascertain the state of the Hebrew nation 
 in the known world.* On extracting - the numbers 
 given by that writer, I find the sum total of Jews 
 in Africa, Asia, and Europe, to be seven hundred 
 sixty-eight thousand one hundred and sixty-five. 
 Benjamin, it is true, mentions the Jews of Ger- 
 many, without stating - their number, and he is 
 wholly silent respecting those of London and Paris. 
 Let us take the total amount at one million of men ; 
 let us add to this million of men, one million 
 women, and two million children; we shall then 
 have four millions of souls of Jewish race in the 
 thirteenth century. According to the most pro- 
 bable computation, Judea, properly so called 
 Galilee, Palestine, or Idumea, contained in Vespa- 
 sian's time, about six or seven millions of men, 
 though some authors state the number much 
 higher : at the siege alone of Jerusalem, by Titus, 
 eleven hundred thousand Jews perished. The 
 Jewish population, therefore, in the thirteenth cen- 
 tury, was reduced to one-sixth of what it was 
 before the dispersion. 
 
 Though Benjamin has not specified the number 
 of the Jews in Germany, he mentions the towns 
 containing their principal synagogues. These are: 
 Cobleniz, Andernache, Caub, Creutznach, Bengen, 
 Germersheim, Munster, Strasburg, Manheim, 
 Freising, Bamberg, Tsor, and Reguespurch. 
 Speaking of the Jews of Paris, he says: In qua 
 
 * It is not, however, perfectly clear that Benjamin visited all 
 the places mentioned by him ; nay, it is evident, from certain pas- 
 sages of the Hebrew text, that the Jewish traveller has, in various 
 instances, only followed other works. 
 
 VOL. II. K
 
 74 THE JEWS 1 QUAUTEH. 
 
 sapientum discipuli sunt omnium qui hodie in 
 omni regione sunt doctissimi. 
 
 Let us continue our survey of Jerusalem. From 
 the Jews' quarter we repaired to Pilate's house, to 
 view the mosque of the Temple through one of the 
 windows ; all Christians being- prohibited, on pain 
 of death, from entering the court that surrounds 
 this mosque. The description of it I shall reserve 
 till I come to treat of the buildings of Jerusalem. 
 At some distance from the Praetorium of Pilate 
 we found the pool of Bethesda, and Herod's palace. 
 This last is a ruin, the foundations of which belong 
 to antiquity. 
 
 An ancient Christian hospital, now appropriated 
 to the relief of the Turks, drew our attention. We 
 were here shewn an immense cauldron, denomi- 
 nated the Cauldron of St. Helena. Formerly, 
 every Mussulman who applied at this hospital re- 
 ceived two small loaves and a portion of vegetables 
 dressed with oil ; to which, on Fridays, was added 
 rice sweetened with honey, or grape syrup. This 
 practice is no longer kept up ; scarcely is any 
 trace now left of this evangelical charity, whose 
 emanations were in some measure attached to the 
 walls of this structure. 
 
 Traversing the city once more, we went towards 
 the gate of Sion, when Ali Aga invited me to 
 mount with him upon the walls : the drogman durst 
 not venture to follow us. I found some old twenty- 
 four pounders fixed upon carriages without wheels, 
 and placed at the embrasures of a Gothic bastion. 
 A sentry, who was smoking his pipe in a corner, 
 was going to raise an alarm ; Ali threatened to 
 tumble him into the ditch if he did not hold his 
 tongue. He remained quiet, and I gave him a 
 piastre.
 
 THE CITY WALLS. 75 
 
 The walls of Jerusalem, which I have gone thrice 
 round, form an oblong square, the four sides facing 
 the four winds, and the longest running from west 
 to east, two points of the compass to the south : 
 D'Anville has proved by the measures and local 
 positions that ancient Jerusalem was not much 
 more extensive than the modern city ; it occupied 
 nearly the same site, except that it comprehended 
 the whole of Mount Sion, but excluded Calvary. 
 We must not take in a literal sense the text of 
 Josephus, when the historian asserts that the walls 
 of the city advanced, to the north, as far as the 
 Sepulchres of the Kings: the number of stadia 
 forbids such an interpretation ; though the walls 
 may still be said to be contiguous to those sepul- 
 chres, the distance between them being only five 
 hundred paces. 
 
 The exterior wall, now standing, is the work of 
 Solyman, the son of Selim*, as is proved by the 
 Turkish inscriptions placed in this wall. It is re- 
 ported that it was Solyman's design to enclose 
 Mount Sion within the circumvallation of Jeru- 
 salem, and that he caused the architect to be put 
 to death for having deviated from his orders. These 
 walls, flanked wit ft square towers, may be, on the 
 platform of the bastions, about thirty feet thick, 
 and one hundred and twenty feet high: they have 
 no other ditches than the vallies surrounding the 
 city. By merely throwing up a few gabions, with- 
 out opening any trenches, you might with six 
 twelve-pounders effect a practicable breach in one 
 night ; but it is well known that the Turks defend 
 themselves extremely well behind a wall by means 
 of epaulements. Jerusalem is commanded from all 
 sides ; to render it tenable against a regular army, 
 
 • In 1534. 
 
 e2
 
 76 GATES OF THE CITY. 
 
 it would be necessary to construct considerable 
 works,, projecting - to the west and north, and to 
 build a citadel on the Mount of Olives. 
 
 In this heap of rubbish, denominated a city, the 
 people of the country have thought fit to give the 
 appellation of streets to certain desert passages. 
 These divisions are extremely curious, and are so 
 much the more worthy of notice as they have not 
 been mentioned by any traveller ; though the Fa- 
 thers Roger, Nau, &c. name some of the gates in 
 Arabic. I shall begin with these latter. 
 
 Bab-el- Kzalil, the Gate of the Beloved, opens to 
 the west. You leave the city by this gate to go to 
 Bethlehem, Hebron, and St. John's in the Desert. 
 Nau writes Bab-el Khalil, which he renders Abra- 
 ham's Gate. By Deshayes it is called the Jaffa 
 Gate, and by other travellers, the Gate of Pilgrims, 
 and sometimes the Gate of Damascus. 
 
 Bab-el-Nabi-Dahoud, the Gate of the Prophet 
 David, is to the south, on the top of Mount Sion, 
 nearly opposite to David's Tomb, and the scene 
 of the Last Supper. Nau writes Bab-Sidi-Daod. 
 It is termed the Gate of Sion by Deshayes, Doub- 
 dan, Roger, Benard, &c. 
 
 Bab el-Maugrabe, the Gate of the Maugrabins, 
 or people of Barbary. It is situated between the 
 east and south, towards the valley of Annon, 
 nearly at the corner of the Temple, and opposite to 
 the village of Siloan. Nau writes Bab-el-Mega- 
 rebe. This is the Porta Stcrquilinaria, through 
 which the Jews led Jesus Christ to Pilate, after 
 they had seized him in the Garden of Olives. 
 
 Bab-el-Derahie, the Dorean Gate : this is to 
 the east, and contiguous to the court of the Tem- 
 ple. The Turks have walled it up : they have a 
 prediction that the Christians will some time or
 
 GATES OF THK CITY. 77 
 
 other take the city by this gate. It is conjectured 
 that Christ entered Jerusalem by this same gate on 
 the day when the people strewed palm branches 
 before him. 
 
 Bab-el-Sidi-Mariam, the gate of the Blessed 
 Virgin, to the east, opposite to the Mount of 
 Olives. Nau calls it in Arabic Heutta. All the 
 accounts of the Holy Laud give to this gate the 
 name of St. Stephen, or Mary, because it witnessed 
 the Martyrdom of St. Stephen, and leads to the 
 Sepulchre of the Blessed Virgin. Iu the time of 
 the Jews it was denominated the Gate of Flocks, 
 or the Sheep- Gate. 
 
 Bab-el-Zahara, the Gate of the Dawn, or of the 
 Circle, Cerchiollno. It looks towards the north, 
 and leads to the grotto of the Lamentations of 
 Jeremiah. The best plans of Jerusalem agree in 
 giving to this gate the name of Ephraim' s or 
 Herod's Gate. Cotovic suppresses it entirely, and 
 confounds it with the Gate of Damascus. He 
 writes : Porta Damascena sive Effralm ; but his 
 plan, too small and very defective, cannot be com- 
 pared with that of Deshayes, and still less witli 
 Shaw's. The plan in the Travels of De Vera the 
 Spaniard, is very fine, but too crowded and inac- 
 curate. Nau has not given the Arabic name of the 
 Gate of Ephraim, and is perhaps the only traveller 
 who calls it the Gate of the Turcomans. The 
 Gate of Ephraim, and the Porta Sterquilinaria, 
 or Dun" - Gate, are the two smaller gates of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 Bab-el-Hamond, or Bab-el-Cham, the Gate of 
 the Column, or of Damascus, looks towards the 
 north-west, and leads to the Sepulchres of the 
 Kings, to Naplusiaor Sichem, to St. John D'Acre, 
 and to Damascus. Nau writes Bab-el-Amond.
 
 78 STREETS. 
 
 When Simon, the Cyrenian, met Christ bearing 
 the cross, he was coming from the Gate of Damas- 
 cus. The Pilgrims formerly entered by this gate, 
 but now they enter by that of Jaffa or Bethlehem ; 
 and to this cause it is owing 1 that the name of the 
 Gate of Damascus has been transferred to the Gate 
 of Jaffa, or the Pilgrims' Gate. This observation 
 has not yet been made, and I here insert it to 
 clear up a confusion of places, which sometimes 
 creates much perplexity in the accounts of travellers. 
 
 •Let us now proceed to the detail of the streets. 
 The three principal are : 
 
 Harat-bab-el-Hamond, the street of the Gate 
 of the Column : it crosses the city from north to 
 south. 
 
 Souk-el- Kebiz, the street of the Great Bazar, 
 which runs from east to west. 
 
 Harat-el-Allam, the Via Dolorosa, commences 
 at the Virgin's Gate, passes the Prsetorium of 
 Pilate, and terminates at Calvary. 
 
 Besides these, you find seven other small streets ; 
 
 Harat-el-Muslmin, the street of the Turks. 
 
 Harat-el-Nassara, the street of the Christians, 
 leading from the Holy Sepulchre to the Latin Con- 
 vent. 
 
 Harat-el-Asman, the street of the Armenians, 
 to the east of the castle. 
 
 Harat-el-Youd, the street of the Jews, in which 
 are the shambles of the city. 
 
 Harat-bab-Hotta, the street near the Temple. 
 
 Harat-el-Zahara. My drogman translated these 
 words by Strada Compafita. I know not exactly 
 what this means. He assured me, moreover, that 
 this street was inhabited by rebels and wicked 
 people. 
 
 Harat-el-Magrabe, street of the Magrabins.
 
 NAMES OF ANCIENT GATES. 79 
 
 These Magrabins, as I have observed, are the 
 people of the West, or of Barbary. Among them 
 are included some descendants of the Moors driven 
 from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. These 
 exiles were charitably received in the Holy City ; a 
 mosque was built for their use, and bread, fruit, 
 and money are yet distributed among them. The 
 heirs of the proud Abencerrages, the elegant ar- 
 chitects of the Alhambra, are become porters at 
 Jerusalem, who are sought after on account of 
 their intelligence, and couriers esteemed for their 
 swiftness. What would Saladin and Richard say, 
 if suddenly returning to the world, they were to 
 find the Moorish champions transformed into the 
 door-keepers of the Holy Sepulchre, and the 
 Christian knights represented by brethren of the 
 Mendicant Order ? 
 
 At the time of the visit of Benjamin of Tudela, 
 that is to say, under the French kings of Jerusa- 
 lem, the city had three parts enclosed by walls, 
 and four gates, which Benjamin denominates Porta 
 Somnus Abraha*,, Porta David, Porta Sion, 
 Porta Jehoshaphat. As to the three enclosures, 
 they by no means agree with what we know re- 
 specting the localities of Jerusalem at the time 
 when that city was taken by Saladin. Benjamin 
 found several Jews resident in the quarter of the 
 Tower of David, where they enjoyed the exclusive 
 privilege of dyeing wool and woollen cloth, for 
 which they paid a yearly sum to the king. 
 
 Such readers as are desirous of comparing mo- 
 dern with ancient Jerusalem, may refer to D'An- 
 ville's Dissertation, to Reland, and to Father 
 Lami, De Sancta Civ it ate et Templo. 
 
 We returned to the convent about nine o'clock. 
 After breakfast I went to pay a visit to the Greek
 
 80 THE GREEK CONVENT. 
 
 and Armenian patriarchs, who had sent their salu- 
 tations by their drogmaus. 
 
 The Greek convent adjoins the church of the 
 Holy Sepulchre. From the terrace of this convent 
 you see a spacious enclosure, in which grow two 
 or three olive-trees, a palm-tree, and a few cy- 
 presses. The house of the Knights of St. John of 
 Jerusalem formerly occupied this deserted spot. 
 The Greek patriarch seemed to me be an excellent 
 man. He was at this moment as much harassed 
 by the pacha as the superior of St. Saviour's. We 
 conversed about Greece : I inquired if he possessed 
 any manuscripts, and was shewn some Rituals and 
 Treatises of the Fathers. Having- taken coffee, 
 and received three or four chaplets, I proceeded 
 to the Armenian patriarch. 
 
 The latter, named Arsenios, was a native of 
 Csesarea in Cappadocia ; he was metropolitan of 
 Scythopoli, and patriarchal procurator of Jerusa- 
 lem. He wrote down himself his name and titles 
 in Syriac characters on a card, which I still pos- 
 sess. I did not perceive in him that look of suf- 
 fering and oppression which I had remarked in the 
 unfortunate Greeks, who are every where slaves. 
 The Armenian convent is agreeable, the church 
 delightful, and uncommonly clean. The patriarch, 
 who resembled a rich Turk, was wrapped in silken 
 robes, and seated on cushions. Here I drank 
 some excellent Mocha coffee : sweetmeats, cold 
 water, and clean napkins were brought me ; aloe 
 wood was burned, and I was perfumed with essence 
 of roses to such a degree as to be incommoded by 
 it. Arsenios spoke of the Turks with contempt. 
 He assured me that all Asia was anxiously waiting 
 the coming of the French ; and that if but a single 
 soldier of my nation were to appear in his country,
 
 CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 81 
 
 the insurrection would be general. It is impos- 
 sible to conceive the ferment that subsists in the 
 minds of the people of the East.* I saw Ali Aga 
 highly exasperated at Jericho against an Arab, 
 who laughed at him, and told him, that if the 
 emperor had chosen to take Jerusalem, he might 
 have entered with the same ease as a camel enters 
 a field of doura. The nations of the East are 
 much more familiar than we are with the ideas of 
 invasion. They have seen among them all those 
 celebrated men who have changed the face of the 
 globe : Sesostris, Cyrus, Alexander, Mahomet, 
 and the last conqueror of Europe. Accustomed 
 to follow the destinies of a master, they have no 
 law that attaches them to ideas of political order 
 and moderation : to kill appears to them to be a 
 lawful right of the strongest, and they submit to 
 or exercise it with equal indiiFerence. They essen- 
 tially belong to the sword ; they are fond of all 
 the prodigies which it performs ; it is with them 
 the fairy-wand which erects and overthrows em- 
 pires. To liberty they are strangers: property 
 they have none : power is their God. When they 
 have been long without witnessing the appearance 
 of those conquering executors of the high decree* 
 of heaven, they resemble soldiers without a com- 
 mander, citizens without a legislator, and a family 
 without a head. 
 
 My two visits lasted near an hour. I then went 
 to the church of the Holy Sepulchre : the Turk 
 who opens the door had received intimation to be 
 in readiness to receive me. I again paid Mahomet 
 
 • M. Seetzen, who passed through Jerusalem a few months 
 before me, and who is yet travelling in Arabia, says, in a letter 
 to M. von Zach, that the inhabitants of the country did nothing 
 but talk to him concerning the French armies. 
 
 k3
 
 82 RENCONTRE WITH 
 
 for the right to adore Jesus Christ. I studied a 
 second time, and more at my leisure, the monu- 
 ments of this venerable church. I went up to the 
 gallery, where I met the Coptic monk and the 
 Abyssinian bishop : they are extremely poor, and 
 their simplicity reminds you of the early ages of 
 the Gospel. These priests, half savages, with a 
 complexion burned by a tropical sun, having no 
 other mark of their dignity than a robe of blue 
 cloth, and no other shelter than the Holy Sepul- 
 chre, touched me much more than the chief of the 
 Greek papas and the Armenian patriarch. I would 
 defy any imagination, however insensible to reli- 
 gious impressions, not to be affected on thus meet- 
 ing with individuals of so many nations at the 
 tomb of Christ ; on hearing those prayers pro- 
 nounced in a hundred different languages, on the 
 very spot where the apostles received from the 
 Holy Ghost the gift of speaking in all the tongues 
 of the earth. 
 
 Atone o'clock I left the Holy Sepulchre, and we 
 returned to the convent. The pacha's soldiers had 
 taken possession of the hospital, as I have already 
 related, and were living there at free quarters. 
 Going along a corridor with Michael the drogman 
 to my cell, I met two young spahis armed cap-a- 
 pee, and making an uncommon noise: they were 
 not indeed very formidable, for, to the disgrace of 
 Mahomet, they were so intoxicated that they could 
 scarcely stand. As soon as they perceived me 
 they obstructed my passage, at the same time 
 laughing heartily. I stood still to wait for the con- 
 clusion of this frolic. So far no harm had been 
 done ; but presently one of these Tartars step- 
 ping behind me, drew my head forcibly back, 
 while his comrade, turning down the collar of my
 
 TWO SPAHIS. 83 
 
 coat, struck me on the neck with the back of his 
 drawn sabre. The drogman began to stammer. I 
 disengaged myself from the hands of the spahis, 
 and catching at the throat of him who had seized 
 me by the head, with one hand I pulled his beard, 
 and with the other throttled him against the wall, 
 till he was as black as my hat ; on which I let him 
 go, having returned joke for joke, and insult for 
 insult. The other spahi was too full of liquor, and 
 too much astonished at my behaviour, to think of 
 revenging the greatest affront that, can be offered 
 to a Turk, that of taking him by the beard. I 
 retired to my chamber, and prepared myself for 
 the worst. The superior was not displeased that 
 I had bestowed a little correction on his persecu- 
 tors ; but he was fearful of some catastrophe. An 
 humbled Turk is never dangerous, and we heard 
 no more of the matter.
 
 84 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Monuments of Jerusalem — The Hebrew Monuments — Solomon's 
 Temple — The Pool of Bethesda — Grecian and Roman Monu- 
 ments—Sepulchres of Absalom and Zachariah — Sepulchres of 
 the Kings — Christian Monuments prior to the Saracen Con- 
 quests — Arabic or Moorish Monuments — Mosque of Omar — 
 Origin of Moorish Architecture — Gothic Monuments — Tombs 
 of Godfrey and Baldwin — Turkish Monuments — Racine's 
 Athaliah. 
 
 I dined at two o'clock, and went out again at 
 three with the same little retinue as usual. 1 
 visited the Sepulchres of the Kings, and proceed- 
 ing - thence on foot to make the circuit of the city, 
 1 stopped at the tombs of Absalom, Jehoshaphat, 
 and Zachariah, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I 
 have observed, that the Royal Sepulchres were 
 without the Gate of Ephraim towards the north, 
 at the distance of three or four musket-shot from 
 the grotto of Jeremiah. Let us now consider the 
 monuments of Jerusalem. 
 
 These I divide into six classes: 1. the monu- 
 ments purely Hebrew ; 2. the Greek and Roman 
 monuments of pagan times ; 3. the Greek and 
 Roman monuments of the Christian ages ; 4. the 
 Arabic or Moorish ; 5. the Gothic monuments 
 under the French kings; 6. the Turkish monu- 
 ments.
 
 HEBREW MONUMENTS. 85 
 
 We will begin with the first. Of these no traces 
 are now discoverable at Jerusalem, unless it be at 
 the Pool of Bethesda ; for I reckon the Sepulchres 
 of the Kings, and the tombs of Absalom, Jehosha- 
 phat, and Zachariah, among the Greek and Roman 
 monuments erected by the Jews. 
 
 It is difficult to form any precise idea of the first 
 or even of the second Temple, from the account 
 given in the Old Testament, or the description of 
 Josephus ; but we may perceive two things — that 
 the Jews had a taste for the sombre and the grand 
 in their edifices, like the Egyptians ; and that they 
 were fond of minute details, and highly-finished 
 decorations, both in the engravings on stones, and 
 in the ornaments of wood, bronze, and gold. 
 
 Of the first Temple Josephus speaks in the fol- 
 lowing terms : " The length of the Temple was 
 sixty cubits, its height the same, and its breadth 
 twenty cubits. Upon this edifice was erected ano- 
 ther of the like dimensions, and thus the total 
 height of the Temple was one hundred and twenty 
 cubits. It faced the east, and its porch was of the 
 same height of one hundred and twenty cubits, 
 twenty long-, and six broad. Round about the 
 Temple were thirty chambers in the form of gal- 
 leries, and these served externally as buttresses to 
 support it. You passed out of one into another, 
 and each was twenty cubits in length, the same in 
 breadth, and twenty in height. Above these apart- 
 ments were two stories of others, similar in all 
 respects to those beneath. Thus the height of the 
 three stories together, amounting to sixty cubits, 
 was exactly equal to the height of the lower 
 edifice of the Temple just mentioned, and there 
 was nothing above. AH these apartments were 
 covered with cedar, and each had a separate roof,
 
 88 SOLOMONS TEMPLE. 
 
 in the mariner of a pavilion : but they were con- 
 nected by long- and thick beams, to give them 
 greater solidity ; so that they formed altogether 
 but one single body. Their ceilings were of cedar, 
 highly polished, and enriched with gilded foliage, 
 carved in the wood. The rest was likewise covered 
 with cedar, so exquisitely wrought and gilded, that 
 it was impossible to enter without being dazzled 
 by its lustre. The whole of this magnificent edifice 
 was of hewn stones, so smooth and so admirably 
 fitted together, that the joinings could not be per- 
 ceived ; but it seemed as if nature had formed them 
 thus of a single piece, without any assistance from 
 art, or the instruments employed by skilful masters 
 to embellish their works. In the body of the wall, 
 on the east side, where there was no grand portal, 
 but only two doors, Solomon caused a spiral 
 staircase, of his own invention, to be constructed, 
 for the purpose of ascending to the top of the 
 Temple. Both within and without the building 
 were vast planks of cedar, fastened together with 
 great and strong chains, for the purpose of giving 
 it the greater firmness and solidity. 
 
 " When the whole of this extensive structure 
 was finished, Solomon caused it to be divided into 
 two parts ; one of these, denominated the Holy of 
 Holies, or Sanctuary, was twenty cubits in length; 
 it was consecrated, in an especial manner, to God; 
 and no person was permitted to enter this place. 
 The other division, being forty cubits long, was 
 called the Holy Temple, and appropriated to the 
 priests. These two parts were separated by large 
 doors of cedar, of curious workmanship, and 
 highly gilt, upon which hung veils of linen covered 
 with various flowers of a purple, blue, and scarlet 
 colour.
 
 Solomon's temple. 87 
 
 " Solomon employed in all that I have described 
 an admirable workman, particularly skilful in 
 works of gold, silver, and copper, named Chiram, 
 whom he brought from Tyre. His father, of the 
 name of Ur, though a native of Tyre, was of Is- 
 raelitish extraction, and his mother was of the 
 tribe of Naplhali. This same man also made him 
 two columns of brass, which were four inches 
 thick, eighteen cubits high, and twelve in circum- 
 ference, at the top of which were cornices of brass, 
 in the form of lilies, five cubits in height. These 
 lilies were covered with foliage of gold, which en- 
 twined the columns, and from which hung, in two 
 rows, two hundred pomegranates, also of brass. 
 These columns were placed at the entrance of the 
 porch of the Temple ; that on the right hand 
 being called Jachin, and the other on the left, Boaz. 
 
 " Out of this inclosure, Solomon built another 
 kind of temple, of a quadrangular form; sur- 
 rounded with large galleries, having four entrances, 
 facing the east, west, north, and south, with great 
 doors, gilt all over; but only those who were puri- 
 fied according to the law, and were resolved to 
 observe the commandments of God, had permission 
 to enter. The construction of this other temple 
 was a work so worthy of admiration, as to be a 
 thing scarcely credible : for in order to obtain a 
 level of sufficient magnitude on the top of the hill 
 on which the Temple is seated, it was necessary to 
 fill up, to the height of four hundred cubits, a val- 
 ley of such depth, that it could not be looked at 
 without fear. He caused this temple to be encom- 
 passed with a gallery supported by a double range 
 of stone columns, each of one single piece, and these 
 galleries, all the doors of which were silver, had 
 ceilings of cedar."
 
 88 POOL OF BETHESDA. 
 
 From this description it is evident that the He- 
 brews, when they built the first temple, were un- 
 acquainted with the orders of architecture. The 
 two columns of brass afford a sufficient proof of 
 this ; the capitals and the proportions of these co- 
 lumns have no resemblance to the early Doric, the 
 only order, perhaps, at that time invented in 
 Greece ; but these same pillars, adorned with fo- 
 liage, lilies, and pomegranates, remind you of the 
 capricious decorations of the Egyptian column. 
 Besides, the apartments in the form of pavilions, 
 the ceilings of cedar gilt, and all those details im- 
 perceptible in large masses, demonstrate the truth 
 of my observations respecting the taste of the first 
 Hebrews. 
 
 Solomon's Temple having been destroyed by the 
 Syrians, the second temple built by Herod the 
 Ascalonile, belonged to the class of those half 
 Jewish and half Grecian works, of which I shall 
 presently speak. 
 
 We have, therefore, now nothing left of the pri- 
 mitive architecture of the Jews at Jerusalem, except 
 the Pool of Bethesda. This is still to be seen near 
 St. Stephen's Gate. It bounded the Temple on 
 the north, and is a reservoir one hundred and fifty 
 feet long, and forty wide. The sides are walled, 
 and these walls are composed of a bed of large 
 stones joined together by iron cramps; a wall of 
 mixed materials run up on these large stones ; a 
 layer of flint stuck upon the surface of this wall ; 
 and a coating laid over these flints. The four beds 
 are perpendicular to the bottom and not horizontal ; 
 the coating was on the side next to the water, and 
 the large stones rested, as they still do, against the 
 ground. 
 
 This pool is now dry and half filled up. Here
 
 SEPULCHRES. 89 
 
 grow some pomegranate trees, and a species of 
 wild tamarind of a bluish colour ; the western angle 
 is quite full of nopals. On the west side may also 
 be seen two arches, which probably led to an aque- 
 duct that carried the water into the interior of the 
 Temple. 
 
 Josephus calls this pool Stagnum Salomonis ; 
 in Scripture it is called Bethesda. Here the lambs 
 destined for sacrifice were washed ; and it was on 
 the brink of this pool that Christ said to the para- 
 lytic man: " Rise, take up thy bed and walk." 
 Such is now all that remains of the Jerusalem of 
 David and Solomon. 
 
 The monuments of Grecian and Roman Jeru- 
 salem are more numerous ; they form a class per- 
 fectly new, and very remarkable in the arts. I shall 
 begin with the tombs in the valley of Jehoshaphat 
 and in the valley of Siloe. 
 
 Having passed the bridge over the brook Cedron, 
 you come to the Sepulchre of Absalom at the foot 
 of the Mount of Offence. It is a square mass, 
 measuring eight feet each way ; composed of a 
 single rock hewn from the neighbouring' hill, from 
 which it stands only fifteen feet detached. The 
 ornaments of this sepulchre consist of twenty-four 
 semi-columns of the Doric order, not fluted, six on 
 each front of the monument. These columns form 
 an integral part of the block, having been cut out 
 of the same mass with it. On the capital is the 
 frieze, with the triglyph, and above the frieze rises 
 a socle, which supports a triangular pyramid too 
 lofty for the total height of the tomb. The pyra- 
 mid is not of the same piece as the rest of the 
 monument. 
 
 The sepulchre of Zachariah very nearly resembles 
 that just described. It is hewn out of the rock
 
 90 SEPULCHRES. 
 
 in the same manner, and terminates in a point, 
 bending a little back, like the Phrygian cap, or a 
 Chinese monument. The sepulchre of Jehosha- 
 phat is a grot, the door of which, in a very good 
 style, is its principal ornament. Lastly, the sepul- 
 chre in which St. James the Apostle concealed 
 himself has a handsome portico. The four columns 
 which compose it do not rest upon the ground, but 
 are placed at a certain height in the rock, in the 
 same manner as the colonnade of the Louvre rises 
 from the first story of that palace. 
 
 Tradition, as the reader may see, assigns names 
 to these tombs. Arculfe, in Adamannus (De Locis 
 Sanctis, lib. i. c. 10); Villalpandus (Antiques 
 Jerusalem Descriptio) ; Adrichomius (Sententia 
 de Loco Sepulchri Absalon) ; Quaresmius (tom.ii. 
 c. 4, 5.), and several others, have treated of these 
 names and exhausted historical criticism on the 
 subject. But though tradition were not in this 
 instance contradicted by facts, the architecture of 
 these monuments would prove that their origin 
 cannot date so far back as the earliest period of 
 Jewish antiquity. 
 
 If I were required to fix precisely the age in 
 which these mausoleums were erected, I should 
 place it about the time cf the alliance between the 
 Jews and the Lacedaemonians, under the first 
 Maccabees. The Doric order was still prevalent 
 in Greece ; the Corinthian did not supplant it till 
 a century later, when the Romans began to over- 
 run the Peluponnese and Asia.* 
 
 But in naturalizing at Jerusalem the architecture 
 of Corinth and Athens, the Jews intermixed with 
 
 * Thus we find at this latter period a Corinthian portico in the 
 Temple rebuilt by Herod, columns with Greek and Latin inscrip- 
 tions, gates of Corinthian brass, &c. — {Joseph, book vi. c. 14 )
 
 SEPULCHRES. 91 
 
 it the forms of their peculiar style. The tombs in 
 the valley of Jehoshaphat, and particularly those 
 of which 1 shall presently speak, display a manifest 
 alliance of the Egyptian and Grecian taste. From 
 this alliance resulted a heterogeneous kind of mo- 
 numents, forming, as it were, the link between 
 the Pyramids and the Parthenon ; monuments in 
 which you discover a sombre, bold and gigantic 
 genius, and a pleasing, sober and well-regulated 
 imagination.* A beautiful illustration of this truth 
 will be seen in the Sepulchres of the Kings. 
 
 Leaving Jerusalem by the Gate of Ephraiin, and 
 proceeding for about half a mile along the level 
 surface of a reddish rock, with a few olive-trees 
 growing upon it, you arrive in the middle of a field 
 at an excavation which bears a great resemblance 
 to the neglected works of an old quarry. A broad 
 road conducts you by an easy descent to the further 
 end of this excavation, which you enter by an 
 arcade. You then find yourself in an uncovered 
 hall cut out of the rock. This hall is thirty feet 
 long by twenty broad, and the sides of the rock 
 may be about twelve or fifteen feet in height. 
 
 In the centre of the 3011th wall you perceive a 
 large square door, of the Doric order, sunk to the 
 depth of several feet in the rock. A frieze, rather 
 whimsical, but exquisitely delicate, is sculptured 
 above the door: it consists, first, of a triglyph; then 
 comes a metope adorned with a simple ring, and 
 afterwards a bunch of grapes between two crowns 
 and two palm branches. The triglyph is repre- 
 sented, and the line was doubtless carried in the 
 same manner along the rock; but it is now effaced. 
 At the distance of eighteen inches from this frieze 
 
 * Thus under Francis I. the Greek architecture, blended with 
 the Gothic style, produced some exquisite works.
 
 92 SEPULCHRES OF 
 
 runs a wreath of foliage intermixed with pine-apples 
 and another fruit which I could not make out, but 
 which resembles a small Egyptian lemon. This 
 last decoration followed parallel to the frieze, and 
 afterwards descended perpendicularly down both 
 sides of the door. 
 
 In the recess, and in the angle to the left of this 
 great portico, opens a passage in which people 
 formerly walked erect, but where you are now 
 obliged to crawl on your hands and knees. Like 
 that in the great pyramid, it leads, by a very steep 
 descent, to a square chamber, hewn out of the 
 rock. Holes six feet Ions' and three broad are 
 made in the walls, or rather in the sides of this 
 chamber, for the reception of coffins. Three 
 arched doors conduct from this first chamber into 
 seven other sepulchral apartments of different di- 
 mensions, all excavated out of the solid rock ; but 
 it is a difficult matter to seize their plan, especially 
 by the light of torches. One of these grots, which 
 is lower than the others, having a descent of six 
 steps, seems to have contained the principal coffins. 
 These were generally ranged in the following man- 
 ner: the most distinguished personage was deposited 
 at the farther end of the grot, facing the entrance, 
 in the niche or case prepared for the purpose : and 
 in either side of the door a small vault was reserved 
 for the less illustrious dead, who thus seemed to 
 guard those kings who had no further occasion for 
 their services. The coffins, of which only fragments 
 are to be seen, were of stone and ornamented with 
 elegant arabesques. 
 
 Nothing is so much admired in these tombs, as 
 the doors of the sepulchral chambers. These, as 
 well as the hinges and pivots on which they turned, 
 were of the same stone as the grot. Almost all
 
 THE KIXGS. 93 
 
 travellers have imagined that they were cut out of 
 the rock itself, but this is evidently impossible, as 
 Father Nau has clearly demonstrated. Thevenot 
 assures us, that " upon scraping 1 away the dust a 
 little, you may perceive the joinings of the stones, 
 placed there after the doors with their pivots were 
 fixed in the holes." Though I scraped away the 
 dust, I could perceive none of these marks at the 
 lower part of the only door that remains standing; 
 all the others being - broken in pieces and thrown 
 into the grots. 
 
 On entering these palaces of death, I was tempted 
 to take them for baths of Roman architecture, such 
 as those of the Sibyl's Cave, near Lake A vermis. 
 I here allude only to the general effect, in order to 
 make myself understood ; for I well knew the pur- 
 pose to which they had been appropriated. Arculfe 
 (apud Adaman. ) , who has described them with 
 great accuracy, saw bones in the coffins. Several 
 centuries afterwards Villamant found in them 
 remains of the same kind, that are now sought in 
 vain. Three pyramids, one of which still existed 
 in the time of Villalpandus, marked externally the 
 situation of this subterraneous monument. I know 
 not what to think of Zuellard and Appart, who 
 describe exterior buildings and vestibules. 
 
 One question occurs concerning these tombs 
 denominated the Sepulchres of the Kings — what 
 kings are meant ? From several passages of 
 Scripture, we find that the tombs of the kings of 
 Judah were in the city of Jerusalem : " And Ahaz 
 slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the 
 city, even in Jerusalem.*" David had his sepul- 
 
 • The auth r seems to have been particularly unfortunate in 
 his choice of this passage for the purpose of supporting the preced- 
 ing assertion ; since it is immediately added : " but they brought 
 him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel." — T.
 
 94 TOMB OF THE MACCABEES. 
 
 chre on Mount Sion : besides, traces of the Greek 
 chisel are discernible in the ornaments of the 
 Sepulchres of the Kings. 
 
 Josephus, to whom we must have recourse, men- 
 tions three celebrated mausoleums. The first was 
 the tomb of the Maccabees, erected by their brother 
 Simon. " It was," says Josephus, in his Jewish 
 Antiquities, " of white and polished marble, so 
 lofty that it could be seen at a very great distance. 
 All around are vaults in the form of porticoes ; 
 each of the columns which support them is of a 
 single stone: and in commemoration of these seven 
 persons he added seven pyramids of very great 
 height and wonderful beauty." 
 
 The first book of the Maccabees gives nearly the 
 same particulars concerning this tomb; adding 
 that it was built at Modin, and " might be seen 
 of all that sail on the sea." Modin was a town 
 situated near Diospolis, on a hill of the tribe of 
 Judah. In the time of Eusebius, and even in that 
 of St. Jerome, the monument of the Maccabees 
 was still in existence. The Sepulchres of the Kings 
 at the gate of Jerusalem, notwithstanding their 
 seven sepulchral chambers and the pyramids with 
 which they were crowned, cannot have belonged 
 to the Asmonean princes. 
 
 Josephus afterwards informs us that Helena, 
 queen of Adiabene, caused three funeral pyramids 
 to be erected at the distance of two stadia from 
 Jerusalem, and that her remains and those of her 
 son Izates were there deposited by the care of 
 Monabazes. The same historian, in his narrative 
 of the Jewish war, tracing the limits of the Holy 
 City, says that the walls passed to the north oppo- 
 site to the sepulchre of Helena. All this exactly 
 applies to the Sepulchres of the Kings, which,
 
 TOMB OF HELENA. 95 
 
 according to Villalpandus, were adorned with three 
 pyramids, and which are yet to be seen to the 
 north of Jerusalem, at the distance specified by 
 Josephus. St. Jerome also speaks of this mau- 
 soleum. The writers who have bestowed their 
 attention on the monument under examination, 
 have overlooked a curious passage in Pausanias :* 
 but who would think of Pausanias in treating of 
 Jerusalem ! This passage is as follows : 
 
 " The second tomb was at Jerusalem. It was 
 the burial-place of a Jewess named Helena. The 
 door of the tomb, which was of marble, as well 
 as all the rest, opened of itself, on a certain day 
 of the year and at a certain hour, by means 
 of a mechanical contrivance, and shut again 
 soon after. At any other time, had you tried, 
 you would sooner have broken it in pieces than 
 opened it." 
 
 This door, which opened and shut of itself by a 
 mechanical contrivance, might, setting aside the 
 touch of the marvellous, almost apply to the extra- 
 ordinary doors of the Sepulchres of the Kings. 
 Suidas and Stephen of Byzantium speak of an 
 Itinerary of Phoenicia and Syria, published by 
 Pausanias. If we had this work we should doubt- 
 less find it of great assistance in elucidating the 
 subject before us. 
 
 The passages of the Jewish historian and the 
 Greek traveller, taken together, would therefore 
 seem to afford satisfactory evidence that the 
 Sepulchres of the Kings are no other than the 
 tomb of Helena ; but in this conjecture we are 
 
 * I have since found that it is mentioned by the Abbe Guenee, 
 in the excellent Memoirs of which I have already spoken. He 
 says that he purposes to examine this passage in another memoir : 
 tie has not done so, which is much to be regretted.
 
 \ 
 
 96 ROYAL CAVERNS. 
 
 checked by the knowledge of the existence of a 
 third monument. 
 
 Josephus mentions certain grottoes, which, ac- 
 cording to the literal translation, he denominates 
 the Royal Caverns ; but, unfortunately, he gives 
 no description of them. He places them to the 
 north of the Holy City, quite close to the tomb of 
 Helena. 
 
 It remains then to be ascertained what prince it 
 was who caused these caverns of death to be exca- 
 vated, how they were decorated, and the remains 
 of what monarchs were there deposited. Josephus, 
 who enumerates with such care the works under- 
 taken or completed by Herod the Great, has not 
 included among these works the Sepulchres of the 
 Kings. He evSn informs us that Herod, having 
 died at Jericho, was interred with great magnifi- 
 cence at Herodium ; consequently the Royal 
 Caverns were not the burial-place of that prince. 
 An expression, however, which has elsewhere 
 dropped from the historian, may throw some light 
 on this discussion. 
 
 Speaking of the wall which Titus erected to 
 press Jerusalem still more closely than before, he 
 says that this wall, returning toward the north, 
 enclosed the sepulchre of Herod. Now this is the 
 situation of the Royal Caverns : these must, there- 
 fore, have been indiscriminately called the Royal 
 Caverns and the Sepulchre of Herod. In this case, 
 this Herod could not be Herod the Ascalonite, 
 but Herod the tetrarch. The latter prince was 
 almost as magnificent as his father: he built two 
 towns, Sephoris and Tiberias ; and though he was 
 exiled to Lyons by Caligula, he might nevertheless 
 have prepared a tomb for himself in his native 
 land. His brother Philip had furnished a model 
 for these sepulchral edifices.
 
 TOMBS OF THE HERODS. 97 
 
 We know nothing- of the monuments with which 
 Agrippa embellished Jerusalem. 
 
 Such are the most satisfactory particulars that I 
 have been able to meet with relative to this ques- 
 tion. I have thought it right to enter into the dis- 
 cussion, because the subject has been rather ob- 
 scured than elucidated by preceding critics. The 
 ancient pilgrims, who saw the sepulchre of Helena, 
 have confounded it with the Royal Caverns. The 
 modern travellers, being unable to find the tomb of 
 the queen of Adiabeue, have given the name of that 
 tomb to the sepulchres of the princes of the house 
 of Herod. From all these accounts has resulted 
 a strange confusion — a confusion increased by the 
 erudition of the pious writers, who will have it that 
 the Royal Grots are the burial-place of the kings 
 of Judah, and have not wanted authorities to pro- 
 duce in support of their opinion. 
 
 A critical consideration of the state of the arts, 
 as well as historical facts, obliges us to class the 
 Sepulchres of the Kings among the Greek monu- 
 ments at Jerusalem. These Sepulchres were ex- 
 tremely numerous, and the posterity of Herod very 
 soon became extinct, so that many of these recep- 
 tacles waited in vain for their tenants. Nothing- 
 more was wanting to convince me of all the vanity 
 of our nature, than to behold the tombs of persons 
 who were never born. For the rest, nothing can 
 form a more singular contrast than the charming 
 frieze wrought by the Grecian chisel over the door 
 of these awful mansions, where once reposed the 
 ashes of the Herods. The most tragic ideas are 
 connected with the memory of these princes ; we 
 know little of them, except from the murder of 
 Mariamne, the massacre of the Innocents, the death 
 of St. John Baptist, and the condemnation of Jesus 
 
 vol. n. f
 
 98 CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS. 
 
 Christ. Little would you then expect to find their 
 tombs embellished with light garlands in the midst 
 of the terrific site of Jerusalem, not far from that 
 Temple where Jehovah issued his tremendous 
 oracles, and near the grotto where Jeremiah com- 
 posed his Lamentations. 
 
 The other edifices of the time of the Romans at 
 Jerusalem, such as the theatre and amphitheatre, 
 the towers of Antonia, Hippicos, Phasael, and 
 Spephima, no longer exist, or at least are nothing 
 but shapeless masses of ruins. 
 
 We now proceed to the third class of the monu- 
 ments of Jerusalem, to the monuments of Chris- 
 tianity prior to the invasion of the Saracens. Of 
 these I have nothing more to say, since I have 
 described them in my account of the sacred sta- 
 tions. I shall make but this remark, that as these 
 monuments owe their origin to Christians who were 
 not Jews, they display nothing of that half-Egyp- 
 tian, half-Grecian character, which I have observed 
 in the works of the Asmonean princes, and of the 
 Herods: they are merely Greek churches of the 
 time of the decline of the arts. 
 
 The fourth class of monuments at Jerusalem 
 consists of those that belong to the period of the 
 taking of the city by the caliph Omar, the successor 
 of Abubeker, and the head of the race of the Om- 
 miades. The Arabs, who had followed the banners 
 of the caliph, made themselves masters of Egypt ; 
 thence advancing along the coast of Africa, they 
 passed over into Spain, and occupied the enchanted 
 palaces of Grenada and Cordova. It is, then, from 
 the reign of Omar that we must date the origin of 
 that Arabian architecture, of which the Alhambra 
 is the master-piece, as the Parthenon is the miracle 
 of the genius of Greece. The mosque of the Tern-
 
 THE SECOND TEMPLE. 99 
 
 pie, begun at Jerusalem by Omar, enlarged by 
 Abd-el-Malek, and rebuilt on a new plan by El 
 Oulid, is a very curious monument for the history 
 of the arts among the Arabs. It is not yet known 
 after what model were erected those fairy man- 
 sions of which Spain exhibits the ruins. Perhaps 
 the reader will not be displeased if I introduce a 
 few words on a subject so new and hitherto so little 
 studied. 
 
 The first temple erected by Solomon having been 
 destroyed six hundred years before the birth of 
 Christ, it was rebuilt after the seventy years' cap- 
 tivity, by Joshua the son of Josedek, and Zerub- 
 babel the son Salathiel. Herod the Ascalonite 
 wholly rebuilt this second temple. On his edifice 
 he employed eleven thousand labourers for nine 
 years ; the works were prodigious, and were not 
 completed till long after Herod's death. The Jews 
 having filled up precipices, and cut down the top 
 of the mountain, at length formed that magnificent 
 esplanade on which the Temple was erected to the 
 east of Jerusalem, above the vallies of Siloe and 
 Jehoshaphat. 
 
 Forty days after his birth, Christ was presented 
 in this second Temple, and here the Virgin was 
 purified : here, too, at the age of twelve years, the 
 Son of Man instructed the doctors ; and hence he 
 expelled the dealers. Here he was in vain tempted 
 by the devil ; here he remitted the sins of the 
 adulteress ; here he delivered the parables of the 
 <rood shepherd, the two sons, the labourers in the 
 vineyard, and the marriage- feast. It was this same 
 Temple into which he entered amidst branches of 
 palms and olive-trees : lastly, here he pronounced 
 the words: " Render unto Cscsar the things that 
 are Ceesar's, and unto God the things that are 
 
 f 2
 
 100 MOSQUE OF OMAR. 
 
 God's," and bestowed an encomium on the widow's 
 mite. 
 
 Titus having taken Jerusalem in the second year 
 of Vespasian's reign, not one stone was left upon 
 another of that Temple where Christ had done 
 such glorious things, and the destruction of which 
 he had predicted. When Omar took Jerusalem,, 
 it appears that the site of the Temple, with the 
 exception of a very small part, had been abandoned 
 by the Christians. Said-Eben Batrik, an Arabic 
 historian, relates that the caliph applied to the 
 patriarch Sophronius, and enquired of him what 
 would be the most proper place at Jerusalem for 
 building a mosque. Sophronius conducted him to 
 the ruins of Solomon's Temple. 
 
 Omar, delighted with the opportunity of erecting 
 a mosque on so celebrated a spot, caused the 
 ground to be cleared, and the earth to be removed 
 from a large rock where God is said to have con- 
 versed with Jacob. From that rock the new 
 mosque took its name of Gameat-el-Sakhra, and 
 became almost as sacred an object to the Mussul- 
 mans as the mosques of Mecca and Medina. The 
 caliph Abd-el-Malek made additions to its build- 
 ings, and enclosed the rock with walls. His suc- 
 cessor, the caliph El Oulid, contributed still more 
 to the embellishment of El Sakhra, and covered it 
 with a dome of copper, gilt, taken from a church 
 at Balbek. In the sequel, the Crusaders converted 
 the Temple of Mahomet into a sanctuary of Christ; 
 but when Saladin retook Jerusalem, he restored 
 this edifice to its original use. 
 
 But of what nature is the architecture of this 
 mosque, the type, or primitive model, of the ele- 
 gant architecture of the Moors ? This is a question 
 which is very difficult to resolve. The Arabs, in
 
 THE GAMEAT-EL-SAKHRA. 101 
 
 consequence of their despotic and jealous habits, 
 have reserved their decorations for the interior of 
 their monuments; and, the penalty of death was 
 denounced against every Christian who should not 
 only enter the Gameat-el-Sakhra, but merely set 
 foot in the court by which it is surrounded. It 
 is much to be regretted, that Deshayes, the ambas- 
 sador, out of a vain diplomatic scruple, refused to 
 see this mosque, into which the Turks offered to 
 introduce him. I shall describe the exterior as it 
 appeared to me, and give such particulars of the 
 interior as we have learned from various travellers 
 and historians. 
 
 The great square of the mosque, formerly the 
 great square of the Temple, may be seen from a 
 window in Pilate's house. This square forms a 
 court, about five hundred paces in length, and four 
 hundred and sixty in breadth. On the east and 
 south this court is bounded by the wall of the 
 city, on the west by Turkish houses, and on the 
 north by the ruins of the Praetorium of Pilate and 
 Herod's palace. 
 
 Twelve porticoes, placed at unequal dis'ances, 
 and perfectly irregular, like the cloisters of the 
 Alhambra, form the entrances to this court. They 
 are composed of three or four arches, and these, in 
 some instances, support a second row, producing, 
 as nearly as possible, the effect of a double aque- 
 duct. The most considerable of these porticoes 
 corresponds with the ancient Porta Speciosa, 
 known to the Christians by a miracle wrought by 
 St. Peter. There are lamps under these porches. 
 
 In the midst of this court is a smaller, raised 
 like a terrace, without balustrade, six or seven feet 
 above the former. This second court is, according 
 to the general opinion, two hundred paces long a. I
 
 102 MOSQUE OF THE ROCK. 
 
 one hundred and fifty broad ; on each of the four 
 sides there is an ascent to it by a flight of eight 
 marble steps. 
 
 In the centre of this upper court stands the 
 famous mosque of the Rock. Close to the mosque 
 is a cistern, which receives its water from the ancient 
 Fons Signatus, and at which the Turks perform 
 their ablutions before they go to prayer. Some 
 aged olive-trees and cypresses are thinly scattered 
 over both courts. 
 
 The temple itself is an octagon : a lantern, which 
 has likewise eight sides and a window in each, 
 crowns the edifice. This lantern is covered with a 
 dome, formerly of copper guilt, but now of lead : 
 a pinnacle, in a very good style, terminated by a 
 crescent, rises at the top of the whole structure, 
 which resembles an Arabian tent pitched in the 
 middle of a desert. Father Roger gives thirty- two 
 paces for the measure of each side of the octagon, 
 two hundred and fifty-two for the external circum- 
 ference of the mosque, and eighteen or twenty 
 fathoms for the total height of the building. 
 
 The walls are lined externally with small tiles or 
 bricks, painted with different colours: these bricks 
 are covered with arabesques, and verses from the 
 Koran, inscribed in letters of gold. The eight 
 windows of the lantern are adorned with circular 
 panes of stained glass. Here we already discover 
 some original features of the Moorish edifices in 
 Spain : the light porticoes of the court, and the 
 painted bricks of the mosque, remind you of dif- 
 ferent parts of the Generalif, the Alhambra, and 
 the cathedral of Cordova. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the interior of this 
 mosque, which I have not seen, and which it was 
 impossible for me to see. I was strongly tempted
 
 MOSQUE OF THE ROCK. 103 
 
 to run every risk in order to gratify my love of the 
 arts ; but was deterred by the fear of involving all 
 the Christians at Jerusalem in destruction. 
 
 The most ancient author that has described the 
 mosque of the Rock is William of Tyre,, who could 
 not fail to be well acquainted with it, since it had 
 but just been wrested out of the hands of the 
 Christians at the period when the sagacious arch- 
 bishop wrote his history. He speaks of it in the 
 following terms : 
 
 " We have said, at the beginning of this book, 
 that Omar, the son of Caled, erected this temple ; 
 a circumstance which is evidently proved by the 
 ancient inscriptions engraven both within and with- 
 out this edifice." The historian then proceeds to 
 the description of the court, and adds : " In the 
 angles of this court were extremely lofty towers, 
 from the top of which the priests of the Saracens 
 were accustomed at certain hours to summon the 
 people to prayers. Some of these towers remain 
 standing to this day, but the others have beeu 
 destroyed by various accidents. No person was 
 allowed to enter or remain in this court otherwise 
 than with his feet uncovered and washed. 
 
 " The temple is built in the middle of the upper 
 court ; it is octagonal, and adorned both internally 
 and externally with squares of marble and mo- 
 saic work. The two courts, both the upper and 
 the lower, are paved with white flag-stones to 
 catch in winter the rain-water, which falls in great 
 abundance from the buildings of the temple, and 
 runs very clear, and without any mixture of mud, 
 into the cisterns below. In the middle of the 
 temple, between the inner range of columns, is a 
 rock of no great height, and at the foot of it a 
 grotto hewn out of the same stone. Upon this
 
 104 MASQUE OF THE ROCK. 
 
 rock sat the angel, who, as a punishment for 
 David's inconsiderate numbering' of the people, 
 slaughtered them till God commanded him to 
 return his sword into the scabbard. This rock, 
 previously to the arrival of our armies, was naked 
 and uncovered, and in this state it remained for 
 fifteen years ; but those to whose care this place was 
 afterwards entrusted covered it again, and erected 
 upon it a chapel and an altar for the performance 
 of divine worship." 
 
 These details are curious, because it is almost 
 eight hundred years since they were written ; but 
 we learn from them very little respecting the in- 
 terior of the mosque. The most ancient travel- 
 lers, Arculfe in Adamannus, Willibald, Bernard 
 the monk, Ludolph, Breydenbach, Sanuto, and 
 others, speak of it only from hearsay, and ap- 
 parently not always from the best authorities. 
 The fanaticism of the Mussulmans was much 
 greater in those remote ages than it is at present ; 
 and nothing could induce them to reveal to a 
 Christian the mysteries of their temples. We 
 must therefore pass on to modern travellers, and 
 pause once more at Deshayes. 
 
 This ambassador of Louis XIII. to Palestine, 
 refused, as I observed, to enter the mosque of the 
 Rock ; but the Turks gave him a description of 
 this temple. 
 
 " It has," says he, " a great dome, supported 
 within by two ranges of marble columns ; in the 
 middle is a large stone, upon which, as the Turks 
 believe, Mahomet ascended when he went to 
 heaven. On this account they hold it in high 
 veneration ; and those who possess the ability, 
 leave money to keep a person after their death, 
 to read the Koran near this stone on their behalf.
 
 DESCRIPTION BY DESHAYES. 105 
 
 ** The interior of this mosque is quite white, 
 except in certain places, where the name of God 
 is inscribed in large Arabic characters." 
 
 This account differs not much from that given 
 by William of Tyre. Father Roger will furnish us 
 with more information, for he seems to have found 
 means to obtain admission into the mosque, at least 
 we may judge from the following explanation : 
 
 " If a Christian were to gain access into the 
 court of the temple, whatever prayers he might 
 offer up in this place (according to the notion of 
 the Turks) God would not fail to grant, were he 
 even solicited to put Jerusalem into the hands of 
 the Christians. For this reason, besides the pro- 
 hibition issued against Christians, not only to 
 enter the temple, but even the court, upon pain 
 of being burned alive or turning Mahometans, 
 they keep a vigilant guard : that was, however, 
 gained in my time by a stratagem, which I am 
 not at liberty to mention, on account of the con- 
 sequences which might attend the disclosure. I 
 shall therefore confine myself to a notice of the 
 remarkable things to be seen there." 
 
 From the description of the court he proceeds to 
 that of the temple. " To enter the mosque, there 
 are four doors, situated to the east, west, north, 
 and south, each having its portal highly orna- 
 mented with mouldings, and six columns, with 
 their pedestals and capitals, all of marble and por- 
 phyry. The interior is wholly of white marble ; 
 the pavement itself is formed of large slabs of 
 marble of different colours, the greater part of 
 which, as well of the columns as of the marble 
 and the lead, was taken by the Turks either from 
 the church of Bethlehem, or from that of the Holy 
 Sepulchre, and others which they demolished. 
 
 f3
 
 106 MOSQUE OF THE ROCK. 
 
 " In the temple there are thirty-two columns 
 of grey marble in two rows : of these, sixteen 
 large ones support the first vault, and the others 
 the dome, each having - its pedestal and. capital. 
 All round the columns are very beautiful works in 
 iron and copper, gilt, made in the form of chande- 
 liers, upon which are placed seven thousand lamps, 
 that burn from sun- set on Friday till Saturday 
 noon, amd every year for a month together, that 
 is, at the season of Ramadan, which is their Lent. 
 
 " In the midst of the temple there is a small 
 tower of marble, to which they ascend on the out- 
 side by eighteen steps. Here the cadi takes his 
 station every Friday from twelve till two o'clock, 
 the time occupied by their ceremonies, as well 
 their prayers, as the exposition which he gives of 
 the principal points of the Koran. 
 
 " Besides the thirty-two columns which support 
 the vault and dome, there are two of smaller 
 dimensions very near the west door, which are 
 shewn to foreign pilgrims, who are made to be- 
 lieve that if they can pass with ease between these 
 columns they are predestined to share the joys of 
 Mahomet's paradise. It is likewise said, that if a 
 Christian were to pass between these columns, 
 they would close upon him and crush him to 
 death. I know, however, persons to whom this 
 accident did not happen, though they were very 
 good Christians. 
 
 ' ' At the distance of three paces from these two 
 columns there is a stone in the pavement, which 
 appears to be black marble, about two feet and a 
 half square, and raised a little above the pave- 
 ment. In this stone are twenty- three holes, in 
 which it seems as if there had formerly been nails, 
 and indeed two are yet remaining. For what pur-
 
 DESCRIPTION BY DESHAYES. 107 
 
 pose these could be designed, I know not : the 
 Mahometans themselves cannot tell, though they 
 believe that it was on this stone the prophets set 
 their feet when they alighted from their horses to 
 go into the Temple, and that Mahomet also 
 alighted upon it when he arrived from Arabia 
 Felix, on his journey to Paradise to hold consul- 
 tation with God." 
 
 This description is very circumstantial, and pro- 
 bably very faithful ; it displays all the characteristics 
 of truth. It suffices not, however, to prove that the 
 interior of the mosque of Jerusalem bears any re- 
 semblance to the interior of the Moorish monuments 
 in Spain. This absolutely depends on the manner 
 in which the columns are arranged ; and on that 
 subject Father Roger is silent. Do they support 
 small arches ? are they coupled, clustered, de- 
 tached, as at Cordova and Grenada? But if the 
 exterior of this mosque exhibits so striking a resem- 
 blance to some parts of the Alhambra, may we 
 not presume that the interior also displays the same 
 style of architecture ? I should be the more dis- 
 posed to admit this conclusion, as the marble and 
 columns of this edifice have been taken from Chris- 
 tian churches, and must present that mixture of 
 orders and proportions observable in the cathedral 
 of Cordova. 
 
 To these conjectures let us subjoin one observa- 
 tion. The deserted mosque which is to be seen 
 near Cairo appears to be of the same style as the 
 mosque of Jerusalem : now this mosque at Cairo is 
 evidently the original of the mosque of Cordova. 
 The latter was built by the last descendants of the 
 family of the Ommiades ; and Omar, the head of 
 that family, was the founder of the mosque of 
 Jerusalem.
 
 108 ARCHITECTUKE. 
 
 The genuine Arabian monuments belong then to 
 the first dynasty of the caliphs and to the genius of 
 the nation in general. They are not therefore, as 
 has been hitherto believed, the result of a skill pe- 
 culiar to the Moors of Andalusia, since I have dis- 
 covered the models of these structures in the East. 
 
 This being proved, I shall go still farther. I 
 think I can perceive in the Egyptian architecture, 
 so heavy, so majestic, so vast, so durable, the 
 germ of this Saracenic architecture, so light, so 
 cheerful, so delicate, and so frail : the minaret is 
 an imitation of the obelisk : the arabesques are 
 raised hieroglyphics, instead of engraved hiero- 
 glyphics. As to those forests of columns which 
 compose the interior of the Arabic mosques and 
 support a flat roof, the temples of Memphis, 
 Dendera, Thebes, Meroue, still exhibit patterns 
 of this kind of building. Placed on the fron- 
 tiers of Metzraim, the imagination of the descen- 
 dants of Ishmael could not help being struck 
 by the wonders of the Pharaohs: they borrowed 
 nothing of the Greeks, with whom they were unac- 
 quainted, but they strove to copy the arts of a 
 celebrated nation which they had continually before 
 their eyes. Whether vagabonds, conquerors, or 
 travellers, they imitated immutable Egypt in their 
 course ; they made themselves obelisks of gilded 
 wood and hieroglyphics of plaster, which they 
 could remove with their tents upon the backs of 
 their camels. 
 
 I am aware that this system, if it be one, is liable 
 to some objections, and even to historical objections. 
 I know that the palace of Zehra, built by Abdoul- 
 rahman, near Cordova, was erected after the plan 
 of an architect of Constantinople, and that the 
 columns of this palace were hewn in Greece ; I know
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 109 
 
 that there is an architecture which sprung up in 
 the corruption of the art, and may aptly be deno- 
 minated the Justinian, and that this architecture 
 bears some resemblance to the works of the Moors. 
 I know, moreover, that men of excellent taste and 
 extensive knowledge, such as the worthy M. d' Agin- 
 court, and M. de la Borde, author of the magnifi- 
 cent Travels in Spain, look upon every species of 
 architecture as the offspring of Greece ; but, be 
 these difficulties ever so great, these authorities 
 ever so powerful, I must confess that they are not 
 capable of changing my opinion. A plan sent by 
 an architect from Constantinople, columns hewn 
 on the shores of the Bosphorus, Greek workmen 
 rearing a mosque, prove nothing whatever ; no 
 oeneral consequence can be deduced from a parti- 
 cular fact. I have seen the Justinian architecture 
 at Constantinople : it has, I admit, some resem- 
 blance to the Saracenic monuments, as in the 
 pointed arch ; and at the same time it retains a 
 regularity, a coldness, a solidity that is not to be 
 found in the Arabian imagination. Besides, this 
 Justinian architecture itself seems to me to be no- 
 thing more than the re-introduction of the Egyp- 
 tian architecture into that of Greece. This new 
 invasion of the art of Memphis was produced by 
 the establishment of Christianity : the recluses who 
 peopled the deserts of Thebais, and whose opinions 
 governed the world, introduced into churches, 
 monasteries, and even palaces, those degenerate 
 porticoes, called cloisters, in which breathes the 
 genius of the East. Let us remark, in support of 
 this, that the real decline of the arts among the 
 Greeks, begins precisely at the period of the trans- 
 lation of the seat of the Roman empire to Con- 
 stantinople ; which proves that Grecian architec-
 
 110 EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 ture was not the parent of the Oriental, but that 
 the latter insinuated itself into Grecian architecture 
 in consequence of the vicinity of places. 
 
 I am therefore inclined to consider all kinds of 
 architecture, not excepting- the Gothic, as being- of 
 Egyptian origin ; for nothing ever came from the 
 North but the sword and devastation. This Egyp- 
 tian architecture has indeed been modified accord- 
 ing to the genius of different nations : it underwent 
 scarcely any change among the early Hebrews, 
 who merely excluded its monsters and idolatrous 
 deities. In Greece, where it was introduced by 
 Cecrops and Inachus, it was purified and became 
 the model of every species of beauty. It was con- 
 veyed to Rome by the Tuscans, an Egyptian co- 
 lony : here it preserved its grandeur, but never 
 attained perfection as at Athens. Apostles from 
 the East carried it among the barbarians of the 
 North : without losing its religious and sombre 
 character among these nations, it raised itself upon 
 the forests of Gaul and Germany ; it exhibited the 
 singular combination of strength, majesty and hea- 
 viness in the whole together, and of the most extra- 
 ordinary lightness in the details. Finally, among 
 the Arabs it assumed the features of which we 
 have already spoken — of the architecture of the 
 desert, enchanted as its Oases, magical as the 
 stories narrated beneath the tent, but liable to be 
 carried away by the winds with the sand which at 
 first served it for a foundation. 
 
 In support of my opinion I could adduce a mil- 
 lion historical facts ; 1 could demonstrate that the 
 first temples of Greece, such as that of Jupiter at 
 Onga near Amyclae, were genuine Egyptian tem- 
 ples ; that the sculpture itself of Argos, of Sparta, 
 of Athens in the time of Daedalus, and in the
 
 GOTHIC MONUMENTS. Ill 
 
 heroic ages, was Egyptian, But I fear that I have 
 already extended this digression too far ; and it is 
 high time to proceed to the Gothic monuments at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 These consist of a few tombs. The monuments 
 of Godfrey and Baldwin are two stone coffins sup- 
 ported by four little pillars. The epitaphs, which 
 the reader has seen in the description of Deshayes, 
 are inscribed on these coffins in Gothic letters. In 
 all this, separately considered, there is nothing- 
 very particular; yet I was exceedingly struck .by 
 the appearance of these tombs on entering the 
 church of the Holy Sepulchre. Their strange 
 forms, in a strange land, were indicative of other 
 men, other manners, other countries : I fancied 
 myself transported into one of our ancient monas- 
 teries ; I was like the native of Otaheite when he 
 discovered in France a tree of his country. I con- 
 templated with veneration theseGothicmausoleums, 
 containing- the ashes of French chevaliers, who 
 from pilgrims had become kings, and who are the 
 heroes of the Jerusalem Delivered. I recollected 
 the words which Tasso puts into the mouth of God- 
 frey : 
 
 Chi sia di noi, ch'esser sepulto schivi, 
 Ove' i membri di Dio fur gia sepulti ? 
 
 As to the Turkish monuments, the last witnesses 
 that attest the revolutions of empires at Jerusalem, 
 they are not worth notice : I have mentioned them 
 merely as a hint that the works of the Tartars 
 must by no means be confounded with the pro- 
 ductions of the Moors. It would, in fact, be more 
 correct to assert that the Turks know absolutely 
 nothing- of architecture ; the utmost they have 
 done has been to disfigure the Greek and Arabic 
 structures, by crowning them with massive domes
 
 112 VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. 
 
 and Chinese pavilions. Some bazars and oratories 
 of santons are all that the new tyrants of Jerusa- 
 lem have added to that unfortunate city, with the 
 different monuments of which the reader is now 
 acquainted. 
 
 On returning from my visit to the Sepulchres of 
 the Kings, which have furnished occasion for the 
 preceding- descriptions, I passed through the valley 
 of Jehoshaphat : the sun was setting behind Jeru- 
 salem ; he gilded with his last rays this mass of 
 ruins and the mountains of Judea. I sent back my 
 companions by the gate of 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 Ra- 
 cine 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 songs 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 ap- 
 preciating the genius of Racine. What poetry ! 
 since I thought it worthy of the place where I was. 
 'Tis impossible to conceive the effect of Athaliah, 
 read upon the tomb of the " holy King Jehosha- 
 phat," 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 Tor pur s'est-il change, 
 Quel est dans ce lieu saint, ce pontife egorge? 
 Pleure, Jerusalem, pleure, cite perfide, 
 Des prophetes divins malheureuse homicide :
 
 racine's athaliah. 113 
 
 De son amour pour toi ton Dieu s'est depouille ; 
 Ton encens a ses yeux est un encens souille. 
 
 Ou menez-vous ces enfans et ces femmes ? 
 Le Seigneur a detruit la reine des cites : 
 Ses pretres sont captifs, ses rois rejettes ; 
 Dieu ne veut plus qu'on vienne a ses solennites : 
 Temple, renverse-toi ; cedres, jetez des flammes. 
 Jerusalem, objet de ma douleur, 
 
 o 
 
 Quelle main en un jour t'a ravi tous tes charmes ? 
 Qui changera mes yeux en deux sources de larmes 
 Pour pleurer ton malheur ? 
 
 Azarias. 
 O saint Temple ! 
 
 Josabeth. 
 
 O David ! 
 
 Le Chceur. 
 
 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.
 
 114 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Convent of the Latin Fathers— The Pilgrims' Room— Diet — 
 Prices of Eatables — Horses— The Pilgrims — Their Expences 
 — Statement of the Author's Expences at Jaffa and Jerusalem — 
 Poverty and Persecution of the Latin Fathers — Their Library 
 and Archives — Firmans granted to them. 
 
 I spent part of the 9th in the convent to collect 
 some particulars respecting private life at Jeru- 
 salem ; 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 except 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.
 
 CONVENT OF LATIN FATHERS. 115 
 
 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 over- 
 looks the court by which you enter. At the east 
 end of this cloister opens a vestibule communicating 
 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-men- 
 tioned 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 mean and dark, several little 
 courts, two small gardens, the largest of which 
 may be about fifteen or sixteen perches, and ad- 
 joining to the ramparts of the city. Towards the 
 west end is another court, with 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 Jeho- 
 shaphat: 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
 
 116 THE PILGRIMS' ROOM. 
 
 grotto of Jeremiah. Such, in a few words, is the 
 plan and description of this convent, which par- 
 takes 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 fur- 
 niture 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 expence they please. If they are 
 poor, they are supplied with food; if they are 
 rich, they pay for such things as are brought 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 
 
 * 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.
 
 DIET. 115 
 
 first dish ; then came veal, stewed with cucumbers 
 or onions, broiled kid, or mutton bailed with rice. 
 Beef is never eaten here, and buffalo's flesh has a 
 strong taste. Of roast, I had pigeons, and some- 
 times partridges, of the white species, called par- 
 tridges of the desert. Game is very common in 
 the plain of Ramah, and in the mountains of Ju- 
 dea : it consists of partridges, woodcocks, hares, 
 wild boars, and antelopes. The quail of Arabia, 
 which fed the Israelites, is almost unknown in 
 Jerusalem ; though it is sometimes met with in 
 the valley of the Jordan. The 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 Roussillon. It is 
 still furnished by the hills of Engaddi, near Beth- 
 lehem. 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 fi^-tree, were over. The bread made 
 at the convent was good and well- tasted. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the prices of these dif- 
 ferent 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 conti- 
 nually fluctuating at the pleasure of the beys and 
 pachas of Egypt, does nut amount in Syria to more 
 than thirty-three sous four deniers, and the para 
 to more than ten deniers :* consequently, the rolt 
 
 * According to this calculation a piastre is equivalent to between 
 
 -1*11! ,1 C, __,.__» 1». . I i ...... . .....1 ...... k ! 1 1 i ■ i , r -illil fill. 
 
 one 
 pence 
 
 AUVUI UUIU IL» LI113 taitUiailUfl « U1U311C 13 CIJU1TUH.UV w «^^..w*.». 
 
 shilling and fourpence-halfpenny and one shilling and five- 
 .•e, and a para to not quite a farthing, in English money. — T.
 
 118 PRICES OF FOOD. 
 
 being very near eight pounds, a pound of mutton 
 sells at Jerusalem for nine sous four deniers and a 
 half (between fourpence- halfpenny and fivepence 
 English). 
 
 Veal costs only a piastre the rolt, a large sheep 
 ten or fifteen piastres, a goat six or eight. 
 
 The price of a measure of wheat varies from 
 eight to nine piastres. 
 
 Oil sells for three piastres the rolt. 
 
 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 chuse to put up at the 
 kaus, 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 wretched- 
 ness or the goodness of the house, each room would 
 cost from two to twenty piastres per month. A 
 whole house, containing one tolerably large apart- 
 ment, 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.
 
 HORSES AND MULES, 119 
 
 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 pur- 
 sued 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 
 shewed me in the mountains near Jericho the foot- 
 steps 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 pil- 
 grims. The modern accounts have rather exagger- 
 ated 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 Latin pilgrims, for there are none now ; and this 
 is generally admitted. During the last century 
 the Fathers of St. Saviour have not seen, perhaps,
 
 120 THE PILGRIMS. 
 
 two hundred Catholic travellers, including the 
 religious of their orders and the missionaries in 
 the Levant. That the Latin pilgrims have never 
 been numerous may be proved from a thousand 
 circumstances. Thevenot relates, that in 1656 he 
 was the twenty-second person who had visited the 
 Holy Sepulchre. Very often the number of pil- 
 grims did not amount to twelve, since it was found 
 necessary to take some of the religious to make up 
 that number at the ceremony of foot-washing on 
 Maunday Thursday.* In fact, in 1589, sixty-seven 
 years before Thevenot, Villamont found only six 
 European pilgrims at Jerusalem. t If in 1589, 
 when religion was so flourishing, no more than 
 seven Latin pilgrims were to be found in Palestine, 
 I leave the reader to judge how many there might 
 have been in 1806. My arrival at the convent of 
 St. Saviour was considered as an extraordinary 
 event. M. Seetzen, who was there at Easter, the 
 same year, that is, seven months before me, says 
 that he was the only Catholic. 
 
 As the riches swallowed up by the Holy Sepul- 
 chre are not brought to Jerusalem by Catholics, 
 they must consequently be derived from Jewish, 
 Greek, and Armenian pilgrims. In this case even 
 I think the calculations much over-rated. 
 
 The greatest expense of the pilgrims consists in 
 the duties which they are obliged to pay to the 
 Turks and Arabs, either for admission into the 
 holy places, or for caffari, or passports. Now 
 the sum total of all these amounts to no more 
 than sixty-five piastres twenty-nine paras. If the 
 piastre be taken at its maximum, at fifty French 
 sous, and the para at fifteen deniers, this will 
 make one hundred sixty-four livres, six sous, three 
 
 * Theven, chap. xlii. p. 391. f Liv. ii. c. 19, p. 250.
 
 THEIR EXFEXCES. 121 
 
 deniers:* but if we calculate the piastre at its 
 minimum, that is, at thirty- three sous four deniers, 
 and the para at ten deniers, we shall have one 
 hundred and eight livres, nine sous, six deniers.t 
 Here is the statement as I received it from the 
 procurator of the convent of St. Saviour. I leave 
 it in Italian, which is now understood by every 
 body, with the proper names of the Turks, &c. 
 original characteristics which attest its authen- 
 ticity. 
 
 Speza solita cite fa un pelerino en la sua intrata, 
 da Giaffa sin a Gerusaleme, e nel ritorno a 
 Giaffa.% 
 
 Piast. Par. 
 /•In Giaffa doppo il suo sbarco 
 
 Cafari) Cafarr0 5 20 
 
 "\In Giaffa prima del imbarco al 
 
 (^ suo ritorno 5 20 
 
 Cavalcatura sin a Rama, e portar al 
 Aravo§ che accompaiias in a Gerusa- 
 leme 1 20 
 
 Pago al Aravo che accompagna ...5 — ~i 
 
 Al vilano che accompagna da Ge- |- 10 30 
 
 rasma 5 30 J 
 
 Cavalcatura per venire da Rama ed altra 
 
 per ritornare 10 — 
 
 Cafarri nella strada 1 16 
 
 * About £G. 17s. English money. 
 
 f About £4. 10.5. 5d. English. 
 
 t The following accounts differ a little in their sums total, be- 
 cause the value of the piastre is daily fluctuating in Syria, while 
 that of the para remains stationary : for which reason the piastre 
 is at different times composed of a different number of paras. 
 
 § Aravo, instead of Arabo — a substitution of one letter for 
 another very common in the Frank language, in modern and in 
 ancient Greek. 
 
 VOL. II. G
 
 122 author's expences 
 
 Piast. Par. 
 In trata nel SS mo . Sepulcro Al Meheah 
 
 governatore. E stader del tempio 26 38 
 
 Intrata nella citta Ciohadari del cadi e 
 
 governatore, sbirro e portinaro — 15 
 
 Primo e secundo drogomano 3 30 
 
 65 29 
 
 If the pilgrim goes to the Jordan, the sum of 
 twelve piastres must be added to the above 
 amount. 
 
 It appears to me that, in a discussion of facts, 
 there may be readers who would like to see a 
 statement of my own expences at Jerusalem. If 
 it be considered that I had horses, janissaries, and 
 escorts, at my command ; that I lived, in regard 
 to eating and drinking, as I might at Paris ; that 
 I was continually visiting the Holy Sepulchre at 
 unusual hours ; that I went to see the same places 
 ten times over, and ten times over paid the duties, 
 the caffari, and a thousand other exactions of the 
 Turks, the wonder will be that I was quit for so 
 small a sum. I subjoin a copy of the original 
 account, with all the orthographical errors of 
 Michael, the drogman : it is so far curious, as 
 it retains, in some measure, the air of the 
 country. The reader may there trace all my 
 motions, and find the proper names of several 
 persons, the prices of various articles, &c. Lastly, 
 these accounts are faithful witnesses of the veracity 
 of my narrative. They will likewise shew, that 
 in the latter I have omitted to notice many things, 
 and that I have examined Jerusalem with much 
 greater attention than I have asserted.
 
 at jaffa and jerusalem. 123 
 Expences at Jaffa. 
 
 Piast. Par. 
 
 Per un messo a Gerusalemme 7 '^0 
 
 Altro messo a Rama 3 — 
 
 Altro per avisari agli Aravi 1 20 
 
 Orso in Rama per gli cavalli — 2 
 
 Per il cavallo del servitore di Giaffa in 
 
 Rama 2 20 
 
 Gaffaro alii Arava 2 36 
 
 Al cavaliero che adato il gov re di Rama .15 — 
 Per il cavallo che porto sua Ecc a a Geru- 
 salemme 15 — 
 
 Regallo alii servitori degli cavalli......... 3 — 
 
 Regallo al Mucaro Menum 5 — 
 
 Tutto P*. 57 16 
 
 Expences at Jerusalem. 
 
 Spesa fatta per il Sig". dal giorno del suo arriva 
 
 a Gierusalemme ali 4 di Ottobre, 1806. 
 
 II giorno del suo arriva per cavaliera da 
 
 Rama a Gierusalemme 15 — 
 
 Compania per li Arabi, 6 isolote per testa 13 20 
 
 Cadi, a 10 M j — 30 
 
 Al Muccaro 1 20 
 
 Cavalcatura per Michele andari, e ritor- 
 
 nar da Rama 8 20 
 
 4 Cavalli per andarre a Betlemme, e al 
 
 Giordano 80 — 
 
 Al portinaro della citta 1 25 
 
 Apertura del S mo . Sepolcro 1 25 
 
 Regallo alii portinari de S mo . Sepolcro 7 
 
 persone 30 — 
 
 Alii figlio che Chiamano li Turchi per 
 
 aprire la porto 1 25 
 
 Al Chavas del governatore per avere ac- 
 
 g2
 
 124- AUTHOR'S EXPENCE5 
 
 Piast. Par. 
 
 compagniato insign e . dentro della citta, 
 
 e fuori a cavallo 8 — ■ 
 
 Item. A un dalati cioe guardia del Zam- 
 
 barakgi Pari 4 — 
 
 Per 5 cavalli per andare el Monte Oli- 
 
 bete, e altri luoghi, e seconda volte al 
 
 Potzodi Jeremiah, e la madona... 16 30 
 
 Al genisero per companiare il sig e . aBet- 
 
 lemme 3 20 
 
 Item. Al genisero per avere andato col 
 
 sig c . per la citta 1 — 
 
 12 Ottobre. per la apertura del S mo . Se- 
 
 polcro 1 35 
 
 189 10 
 
 iSjjese fatte da Michel per ordine del Sig e . in 
 
 vari luoghi. 
 
 Piast. Par. 
 
 In tabaco per li villani e la compania nel 
 via^io per il Giordano, e per li villani 
 diS n . Saba 6 20 
 
 In candelle par S n . Saba e servitori 6 — 
 
 Per li sacristani greci e altri 6 20 
 
 Regallo nella casa della Madona, e sero- 
 lio, e nella casa di Simione, e nel con- 
 vento dell Suriani, e nel spitale di S ta . 
 Elena, e nella casa de Anas, e nella 
 singoga delli Ebrei 9 10 
 
 Item. Regallo nel convent o delli Arrneni 
 di S r . Giacomo, alii servitori, sacres- 
 tino, e genisari 28 — 
 
 Regallo nel Sepolcro della Madona, alii 
 
 sacrestani, e nel Monte Olibette 8 10 
 
 Al servitore del governatore il negro, e 
 
 nelcastello 5 20
 
 AT JERUSALEM. 125 
 
 Piast. Par. 
 1?er lavarela robbadel Si{j e . e suoiservi- 
 
 tori 3 — 
 
 Alii poveri in tutto il giro 
 
 Regallo nel convento delli Greci in chiesa 
 al sacrestano, alii servitori, e alii geni- 
 
 seri 18 — 
 
 4 cavalcature per il sig*. suo dragomano, 
 e Michele da Gierusalemme fino a Gi- 
 aflfa, e quella di Michele per andare e 
 
 ritornare la seconda volta 4G — 
 
 Compania a 6 isolote, ogni persona delli 
 
 sig" 13 20 
 
 Villano 3 — 
 
 Cafarro 4 24 
 
 Regallo alii geniseri 20 — 
 
 Regallo a volti di S r . Geremia 50 — 
 
 Reofallo alii drasjomani 30 — 
 
 Regallo alii communiere 10 — 
 
 Al Portinaro Malia 5 — 
 
 Al Spenditare 5 — 
 
 In Betlemme una^cavalcaturaper la pro- "i 
 
 visione del Giordano, orzo 4 Arabi, > 1 7*2 — - 
 due villani; regallo alii capi e servitori j 
 
 Ali Agha figlio d'Abugiahfar 150 — 
 
 Item. Zbirri, poveri e guardiel ne calare) ,^ 
 al S mo . Sepolcro, l'ultimo giorno j 
 
 804 20 
 A Michele Casar 80— Alcusnaro 20 100 — 
 
 004 29 
 
 We must then, in the first place, reduce this 
 great number of pilgrims, at least as far as regards 
 the Catholics, to a very small matter, or to nothing
 
 126 POVERTY" AND PERSECUTION 
 
 at all ; for seven, twelve, twenty, thirty, nay, even 
 a hundred pilgrims are not worth reckoning. 
 
 But if this dozen of pilgrims, who for the last 
 century or two have annually visited the Holy 
 Sepulchre, were poor travellers, the fathers of the 
 Holy Land could scarcely enrich themselves with 
 what they left behind. Let us hear what honest 
 Doubdan says : 
 
 " The religious who live there (at the convent of 
 St. Saviour,) subject to the rule of St. Francis, 
 keep up a very strict poverty, and subsist entirely 
 upon the alms and benefactions transmitted to them 
 from Christendom, and the presents made them 
 by the pilgrims according to their respective 
 abilities : as, however, the latter are far from their 
 own country, aud know not what great expenses 
 they may incur during their return, their alms are 
 inconsiderable ; but this does not prevent their 
 being received and treated with great kindness." 
 
 Thus the pilgrims to the Holy Land, who are 
 said to leave treasures behind them at Jerusalem, 
 cannot be Catholic pilgrims ; consequently that 
 part of these treasures which falls to the share of 
 the convents, does not come into the hands of the 
 Latin monks. If these religious receive alms from 
 Europe, these alms, so far from enriching them, 
 are not sufficient for the preservation of the holy 
 stations, which are every where crumbling into ruin, 
 and must soon be forsaken for want of support. 
 The poverty of these religious is therefore proved 
 by the unanimous testimony of travellers. I have 
 already spoken of their sufferings : were other 
 proofs wanting, here they are : 
 
 " ^Vs it was a French monk," says Father Roger, 
 ' ' who gained possession of the holy places at Jeru- 
 salem, so the first of the religious who suffered
 
 OF THE LATIN FATHERS. 127 
 
 martyrdom was a Frenchman, named Limin, of the 
 province of Touraine, who was beheaded at Grand 
 Cairo. Some time after, brother James and brother 
 Jeremiah were put to death without the gates of 
 Jerusalem. Brother Conrad d' Alis Barthelemy, of 
 Monte Politiano in the province of Tuscany, was 
 sawed in two from the head downwards, in Grand 
 Cairo. Brother John d'Ether, a Spaniard, of the 
 province of Castile, was cut in pieces by the bashaw 
 of Casa. Seven religious were decapitated by the 
 sultan of Egypt, and two were flayed alive in 
 Syria. 
 
 " In the year 1637, the Arabs martyred the 
 whole community of friars who were on the sacred 
 Mount of Sion, to the number of twelve. Some 
 time afterwards, sixteen religious, both ecclesias- 
 tics and laics, were carried from Jerusalem and 
 imprisoned at Damascus (this was at the time when 
 Cyprus was taken by the king of Alexandria), and 
 there remained five years, till one after another 
 perished for want. Brother Cosmo was killed by 
 the Turks at the door of the Holy Sepulchre, 
 where he preached the doctrines of Christianity. 
 Two other friars at Damascus received so many 
 strokes of the bastinado, that they died on the spot. 
 Six religious were put to death by the Arabs one 
 night whilst at matins in the convent built at Ana- 
 thot, in the house of the prophet Jeremiah, which 
 they afterwards burned. It would be abusing the 
 patience of the reader to enter into the particulars 
 of all the sufferings and persecutions which our 
 poor religious have endured since they have had the 
 care of the holy places. These have kept increasing 
 since the year 1G27, when our religious settled 
 there, as will be seen from what follows," &c* 
 • Dcscript. de la Terre Sainte, p. 136.
 
 128 THEIR POVERTY DESCRIBED. 
 
 Deshayes, the ambassador, speaks in the same 
 terms of the persecutions experienced by the Fa- 
 thers of the Holy Land from the hands of the 
 Turks . 
 
 " The poor religious who attend these places 
 are also reduced sometimes to such extremities, for 
 want of assistance from Christendom, that their 
 condition is truly deplorable. Their whole reve- 
 nue consists in the alms which are sent them, and 
 which are not sufficient to cover one-half of the 
 expences that they are obliged to incur ; for, ex- 
 clusively of their subsistence and the great number 
 of lights which must be kept up, they are forced to 
 be continually giving to the Turks, if they would 
 live in peace, and when they possess not the 
 means of satisfying their avarice, they must go to 
 prison. 
 
 " Jerusalem is at such a distance from Constan- 
 tinople, that the king's ambassador resident there 
 cannot receive information of the oppressions prac- 
 tised upon them till long afterwards. Meanwhile 
 they suffer and endure, if they have not money to 
 redeem themselves ; and very often the Turks, not 
 content with persecuting them in their persons, 
 likewise convert their churches into mosques."* 
 
 I could fill whole volumes with similar testimo- 
 nies contained in the works of travellers in Pales- 
 tine ; I will produce only one more, but that shall 
 be unanswerable. 
 
 This testimony I find in a monument of iniquity 
 and oppression, perhaps without any parallel in 
 the world ; a monument of the greater authority, 
 as it was designed to remain in everlasting oblivion. 
 The Fathers had permitted me to examine the 
 library and the archives of their convent. Unfor- 
 * Voyage du Levant, p. 409.
 
 FIRMAUNS GRANTED. 1^0 
 
 tunately, these archives and this library were dis- 
 persed near a century ago : a pacha threw the 
 religious in irons, and carried them prisoners to 
 Damascus. Some papers escaped the devastation ; 
 in particular the firmans, which the Fathers had 
 obtained either from the Porte or the rulers or* 
 Egypt, to defend themselves against the oppres- 
 sions of the people and their governors. 
 
 This curious document is entitled : 
 
 Registro delli Capitol azioni, Cattiscerifi, Ba- 
 ratti, Cotnandamenti, Oggetti, Attestaziom, 
 Sentenzi, Ordini des Bascia, Giudici e Polizze, 
 che si trovano nell archivio di questa procura- 
 generale di Terra Santa. 
 
 Under the letter H, No. 1, p. 369, we read: 
 
 " Instrumento del re saraceno Muzafar,contiene: 
 che non sia dimandato del vino da i religiosi 
 franchi. Dato alii 13 della luna di Regeb dell 
 anno 414." 
 
 Under No. 2 is the following .- 
 
 " Instrumento del re saraceno Matamad contiene: 
 che li religiosi franchi non siano molestati. Dato 
 alii 2 di Sciaval dell anno 501." 
 
 Under No. 5, page 370 : 
 
 " Instrumento con la sua copia del re saraceno 
 Amed Ciakmak contiene : che li religiosi franchi 
 non paghino a quei ministri, che non vengono per 
 gli affari dei frati...possino sepelire i loro morti, 
 possino fare vino, provizione...non siano obligati a 
 montare cavalli per forza in Rama. ..non diano visi- 
 tate loro possessioni...che nessuno pretenda d'esser 
 drogloromanno, se non alcuno appoggio. Dato 
 alii' 10 di Sefer609." 
 
 Several of the firmans beg-in thus : 
 
 " Copia autenticata d'un commendamento otte- 
 nuto ad instanza dell'ambasciadore diFrancia,"&c. 
 
 g 3
 
 130 PATIENCE OF THE MONKS 
 
 We see, then, the unfortunate Fathers, the guar- 
 dians of the tomb of Christ, solely occupied for 
 several centuries in defending- themselves day by 
 day against every species of tyranny and insult. 
 We see them obliged to obtain permission to sub- 
 sist, to bury their dead, &c. Sometimes they are 
 forced to ride without occasion, that they may be 
 necessitated to pay the duties ; at others, a Turk 
 proclaims himself their drogman in spite of them, 
 and demands a salary from the community. The 
 most absurd inventions of Oriental despotism are 
 exhausted against these hapless monks.* In vain 
 do they obtain, for exorbitant sums, orders which 
 apparently secure them from all this ill usage : 
 these orders are not obeyed ; each successive year 
 witnesses a new oppression, and requires a new fir- 
 man. The equivocating governor, and the prince, 
 ostensibly their protector, are two tyrants who 
 concert together, the one to commit an injustice 
 before the law is enacted ; the other to sell, at an 
 enormous price, a law that is not issued till after 
 the commission of the crime. The register of the 
 firmans of the Fathers is a valuable record, worthy 
 in every respect of the library of those apostles, 
 who, in the midst of tribulations, adhere with 
 invincible constancy to the tomb of Christ. The 
 Fathers were not aware of the value of this evan- 
 gelical catalogue ; they had no idea that it could 
 interest me ; they saw nothing curious in it ; to 
 suffer is to them so natural, that my astonishment 
 actually astonished them. Great indeed and sin- 
 cere was my admiration of their courageous endu- 
 rance of so many afflictions ; but deeply too was I 
 
 * Two of the religious narrowly escaped being put to death at 
 Jerusalem, because a cat had fallen into the cistern of the con- 
 vent. — Roger, p. 330.
 
 UNDER TRIBULATION. 131 
 
 affected on finding frequent repetitions of this head: 
 Copy of a firman, obtained on the solicitation of 
 the French Ambassador. Honour be to a coun- 
 try, which, from the midst of Europe, extends her 
 care to the unfortunate in the remote regions of 
 Asia, and protects the weak against the strong ! 
 Never, O land of my nativity, didst thou appear 
 to me greater and more glorious than when I dis- 
 covered the acts of thy beneficence concealed at 
 Jerusalem in the register, in which are inscribed 
 the unknown sufferings of a few oppressed religious, 
 and the unheard-of iniquities of the basest of 
 oppressors ! 
 
 How is it possible to conceive that a man of 
 talents, who prides himself on independent ideas, 
 can have taken a pleasure in calumniating the un- 
 fortunate ! There is a something superior to all 
 opinions — that is justice. If a philosopher of the 
 present day were to write a good book ; if he were 
 to do what is still better, to perform a good action ; 
 if he displayed noble and elevated sentiments, I, 
 who am a Christian, would applaud him without 
 reserve. And why should not a philosopher act in 
 the same manner towards a Christian ? Because a 
 man wears a monastic habit, a long beard, a cord 
 girdle, must we allow him no merit for any sacri- 
 fice ? For my part, I would go to the end of the 
 world in quest of a virtue in a votary of Vishnou 
 or the Grand Lama, that I might enjoy the happi- 
 ness of admiring it. Generous actions are now-a- 
 days too rare for us not to honour them under 
 whatever garb they may be discovered, or to make 
 such nice distinctions between the robe of a priest 
 and the mantle of a philosopher.
 
 132 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Examination of the Fields of Battle around Jerusalem described 
 by Tasso — History of the Siege of Jerusalem by Robert the 
 Monk. 
 
 Very early in the morning - of the 10th, I sallied 
 forth from Jerusalem by the gate of Ephraim, 
 accompanied as usual by the faithful Ali, with a 
 view to examine the fields of battle immortalized 
 by Tasso. Proceeding to the north of the city, 
 when I was between the grotto of Jeremiah and 
 the Royal Sepulchres, I opened the Jerusalem De- 
 livered, and was immediately struck with the 
 accuracy of the poet's description : 
 
 On two unequal hills the city stands, 
 
 A vale between divides the higher lands. 
 
 Three sides without impervious to the foes: 
 
 The northern side an easy passage shews, 
 
 With smooth ascent ; but well they guard the part, 
 
 With lofty walls and labour'd works of art. 
 
 The city lakes and living springs contains, 
 And cisterns to receive the falling rains : 
 But bare of herbage is the country round ; 
 Nor springs nor streams refresh the barren ground. 
 No tender flower exalts its cheerful head : 
 No stately trees at noon their shelter spread ; 
 Save where two leagues remote a wood appears, 
 Embrown'd with noxious shade, the growth of years. 
 
 Where morning gilds the city's eastern side, 
 The sacred Jordan pours its gentle tide. 
 Extended lie against the setting day 
 The sandy borders of the midland sea :
 
 TASSO. 
 
 133 
 
 Samaria to the north and Bethel's wood, 
 Where to the golden calf the altar stood : 
 And on the rainy south, the hallow'd earth 
 Of Bethlem where the Lord receiv'd his birth. » 
 
 Nothing can be more clear, more precise, more 
 explicit than this description ; had it been composed 
 on the spot it could not be more exact. The wood 
 placed at the distance of six miles from the camp, 
 on the Arabian side, is no poetical invention : 
 William of Tyre speaks of the wood where Tasso 
 has laid the scene of so many enchantments. Here 
 Godfrey procured timber for the construction of 
 his military engines. It will be seen how closely 
 Tasso had studied the originals, when I come to 
 quote the historians of the Crusades. 
 
 E'l capitano 
 Poi ch'intorno ha mirato, a i snoi descende. 
 
 From the hill descends 
 The Christain chief and joins his warlike friends. 
 The city view'd. he deems th' attempt were vain 
 O'er craggy rocks the steepy pass to gain. 
 Then on the ground that rose with smooth ascent, 
 Against the northern gate he pitch'd his tent ; 
 And thence proceeding to the corner tow'r, 
 Encamp'd at length the remnant of his pow'r : 
 But could not half the city's walls enclose, 
 So wide around the spacious bulwarks rose. 
 But Godfrey well secures each several way 
 That might assistance to the town convey. 
 
 You are absolutely transported to the spot. The 
 camp extends from the gate of Damascus to the 
 corner tower at the source of the brook Cedron and 
 the entrance of the valley of Jehoshaphat. The 
 ground between the city and the camp is exactly as 
 Tasso has represented it, very level and well adapted 
 for a field of battle, at the foot of the walls of 
 
 * This and all the succeeding quotations from Tasso are taken 
 from Iloole's translation of the Jerusalem Delivered. — T.
 
 134? TASSO's " JERUSALEM! DELIVERED." 
 
 Solyma. Aladine is seated with Erminia in a 
 tower situated between two orates, whence they 
 survey the combat in the plain and the camp of 
 the Christians. This tower is still standing, with 
 several others, between the gate of Damascus and 
 that of Ephraim. 
 
 In the episode of Olindo and Soppronia, in the 
 second book, we meet with two extremely correct 
 local descriptions: 
 
 Nel tempio de Christian! occulto giace, &c 
 
 An altar by the Christians stands immur'd 
 Deep underground from vulgar eyes secur'd; 
 The statue of their goddess there is shovv'd, 
 The mother of their human, buried god. 
 
 This church, now denominated the Sepulchre of 
 the Virgin, stands in the valley of Jehoshaphat, 
 and has been described in a preceding page. 
 Tasso, by a license granted to poets, places this 
 church within the walls of Jerusalem. 
 
 The mosque, in which the image of the Virgin 
 is set up, agreeably to the advice of the sorcerer, 
 is evidently the mosque of the Temple. 
 
 Io la, donde riceve 
 L'alta vostra meschita e l'aura e'l die, &c. 
 
 Where the high dome receives the air and light, 
 I found a passage favour'd by the night. 
 
 The first onset of the adventurers, the single 
 combats of Argantes, Otho, Tancred, and Ray- 
 mond of Toulouse, take place before the gate of 
 Ephraim. When Armida arrives from Damascus, 
 she enters, says the poet, at the extremity of the 
 camp. It was in reality near the gate of Damas- 
 cus, on the west side, that the last tents of the 
 Christians must have stood. 
 
 I place the admirable scene of Erminia's flight
 
 TASSO's li JERUSALEM DELIVERED." 135 
 
 towards the northern extremity of the valley of 
 Jehoshaphat. When Tancred's lover has passed 
 the gate of Jerusalem with her faithful squire, we 
 are told that she 
 
 went 
 Obliquely winding down the hill's descent. 
 
 She could not therefore have left the city by the 
 gate of Ephraim, for the road leading from that 
 gate to the camp of the Crusaders passes over 
 perfectly level ground ; she chose rather to make 
 her escape by the eastern gate, which was less 
 liable to suspicion, and guarded with less vigilance. 
 Erminia arrives in solitaria ed ima parte, in a 
 deep and solitary recess ; she directs her attendant 
 to go and speak to Tancred. This deep and 
 solitary recess is distinctly marked at the upper 
 end of the valley of Jehoshaphat, before you turn 
 the northern angle of the city. There Erminia 
 might await in safety the return of he rmessengpr : 
 but, unable to conquer her impatience, she ascends 
 the eminence and descries the distant tents. In 
 fact, on leaving the channel of the brook Cedron, 
 and proceeding northward, a person must have 
 perceived the camp of the Christians on the left. 
 Then follow those admirable stanzas: 
 
 Now was the night in starry lustre seen. 
 And not a cloud obscured the blue serene: 
 The rising morn her silver beams displayed. 
 And deck'd with pearly dew the dusky glade- 
 With anxious soul th' enamour'd virgin strays 
 From thought to thought in love's perplexing maze; 
 And vents her tender plaints and breathes her sighs 
 To all the silent fields and conscious skies. 
 
 Then, fondly gazing on the camp, she said: 
 Ye Latian tents, by me witli joy surveyed ! 
 From you methinks the gales more gently blow, 
 And seem already to relieve my woe! 
 So may kind Heaven afford a milder state 
 To this unhappy life, the sport of fate!
 
 136 TASScTs " JERUSALEM DELIVERED." 
 
 As 'tis from you I seek t' assuage my care, 
 And hope alone for peace in scenes of war! 
 Receive me then, and may my wishes find 
 That bliss which love has promised to my mind ; 
 Which e'en my worst of fortune could afford, 
 When made the captive of my dearest lord ! 
 I seek not now, inspired with fancies vain, 
 13y you my regal honours to regain : 
 Ah oh ! be this my happiness and pride, 
 Within your shelter humbly to reside ! 
 
 So spoke the hapless fair, who little knew 
 How near her sudden change of fortune drew ; 
 For, pensive while she stood, the cloudless moon 
 Full on th' unheedful maid with splendour shone ; 
 Her snow-white vesture caught the silver beam ; 
 Her polish'd arms return 'd a trembling gleam ; 
 And on her lofty crest, the tigress, rais'd, 
 With all the terrors of Clorinda blaz'd. 
 
 When, lo! (so will'd her fate) a numerous band 
 Of Christian scouts were ambush'd near at hand, 
 These Polyphernes and Alcander guide. 
 
 Alcander and Polyphernes must have been sta- 
 tioned somewhere near the Royal Sepulchres. It 
 is to be regretted that Tasso has given no descrip- 
 tion of these subterraneous monuments, for the 
 delineation of which his genius peculiarly qualified 
 him. 
 
 It is not so easy to determine the spot where the 
 fugitive Erminia meets with the shepherd on the 
 bank of the river ; but as there is only one river in 
 this country, and as Erminia has left Jerusalem by 
 the eastern gate, it is probable that Tasso meant 
 to place this charming scene on the shore of the 
 Jordan. In this case, I acknowledge it to be an 
 unaccountable circumstance that he has not men- 
 tioned the name of the river ; but it is certain that 
 this great poet has not adhered so closely as he 
 ought to have done to scriptural records, from 
 which Milton has elicited so many beauties. 
 
 As to the lake and castle in which the enchantress
 
 TASSO's " JERUSALEM DELIVERED." 137 
 
 Armida confines the knights whom she has seduced, 
 Tasso himself informs us that the lake here meant 
 is the Dead Sea : 
 
 At length we drew to where in dreadful ire 
 
 Heaven rain'd of old on earth a storm of fire, 
 
 T' avenge the wrongs which Nature's laws endur'd 
 
 On that dire race to wicked deeds inur'd; 
 
 Where once were fertile lands and meadows green, 
 
 Now a deep lake with sulph'rous waves was seen. 
 
 One of the finest passages in the poem is the 
 attack of the Christian camp by Solyman. The 
 sultan marches in the night amid the thickest dark- 
 ness, for, according to the sublime expression of 
 the poet, 
 
 A deeper gloom exulting Pluto made, 
 With added terrors from th' infernal shade. 
 
 The camp is assailed on the west side. Godfrey, 
 who commands the centre of the army towards 
 the north, is not apprised til] late that the right 
 wing is engaged. Solyman has been prevented 
 from attacking the left wing, though nearest to the 
 desert, because there were deep ravines in that 
 quarter. The Arabs, concealed during the day in 
 the valley of Turpentine, sally from it at night to 
 attempt the deliverance of Jerusalem. 
 
 Solyman, being discomfited, pursues alone the 
 way to Gaza. He is met by Ismeno, the magician, 
 who conveys him in an enchanted chariot, enve- 
 loped in a cloud, through the camp of the Chris- 
 tians to Mount Sion in Jerusalem. This episode, 
 admirable on other accounts, is accurate in locali- 
 ties, as far as the exterior of the Castle of David 
 near the gate of Jaffa or Bethlehem ; but there is 
 an error in what follows. The poet has confounded, 
 or perhaps chosen to confound the tower of David 
 with that of Antonia ; the latter stands at a con-
 
 138 TASSo's " JERUSALEM DELIVERED." 
 
 siderable distance from the former, in the lower 
 part of the city, at the northern angle of the 
 Temple. 
 
 When on the spot, you may fancy that you be- 
 hold Godfrey's troops setting out from the gate of 
 Ephraim, turning to the east, descending into the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat, and proceeding like pious 
 and peaceful pilgrims to pray to the Almighty on 
 the Mount of Olives. Be it here remarked that 
 this Christian procession strongly reminds us of 
 the pomp of the Panathenaea celebrated at Eleusis 
 in the midst of the troops of Alcibiades. Tasso, 
 who had read every thing, who incessantly imi- 
 tates Virgil, Homer, and the other poets of 
 antiquity, has here given in beautiful verses one of 
 the finest scenes of the story. It may likewise be 
 added, that this procession is moreover an historical 
 fact related by the anonymous writer, Robert the 
 Monk, and William of Tyre. 
 
 We now come to the first assault. The engines 
 are planted before the north wall. Tasso is here 
 most scrupulously accurate : 
 
 Non era il fosso di palustie limo 
 
 (Che nol consento in loco) o d'acqua molle. 
 
 This is strictly true. The ditch on the north is 
 a dry ditch, or rather a natural ravine, like the 
 other ditches of the city. 
 
 In the circumstances of the first, assault the poet 
 has followed his own genius, without adhering to 
 historical fact ; and as his plan would not allow 
 him to keep pace with the chronicler, he represents 
 the principal engine of the besiegers as having been 
 burned by the infidels, which rendered it necessary 
 to begin the work again. It is certain that the 
 besieged set fire to one of the towers of the assail-
 
 TASSO'S " JERUSALEM DELIVERED." 139 
 
 ing army. Tasso has extended this accident as 
 much as his plot required. 
 
 Next follows the terrible combat between Tan- 
 cred and Clorinda, the most pathetic fiction that 
 ever sprung- from the imagination of a poet. The 
 scene of action may easily be ascertained. Clo- 
 rinda being unable to regain the Dorean gate with 
 Argantes, is consequently below the Temple in 
 the valley of Siloe. Tancred pursues her ; the 
 battle begins ; the expiring Clorinda solicits bap- 
 tism. Tancred, more unfortunate than his victim, 
 fetches water from a neighbouring stream, and by 
 this the spot is determined : 
 
 Not distant far adown the mossy hill, 
 In gentle murmurs roll'd a crystal rill. 
 
 This is the fountain of Siloe, or rather Mary's 
 Fountain, which thus springs from the foot of 
 Mount Sion. 
 
 I know not whether the picture of the drought 
 delineated in the thirteenth book be not the most 
 exquisite passage of the whole poem. Here Tasso 
 equals Homer and Virgil. It is a highly-finished 
 piece of composition, and is distinguished by an 
 energy and purity of style in which the other parts 
 of the work are sometimes deficient : 
 
 The sun ne'er rises cheerful to the sight, 
 But sanguine spots distain his sacred light : 
 Pale hovering mists around his forehead play, 
 The sad forerunners of a fatal day ; 
 His setting orb in crimson seems to mourn, 
 Denouncing greater woes at his return ; 
 And adds new horrors to the present doom, 
 By certain fear of evils yet come. 
 
 All nature pants beneath the burning sky : 
 The earth is cleft, the lessening streams are dry • 
 The barren clouds like streaky flames divide. 
 Dispers'd and broken through the sultry void.
 
 140 TASS0\s " JERUSALEM DELIVERED."" 
 
 No cheerful object for the sight remains ; 
 Each gentle gale its grateful breath retains ; 
 Alone the wind from Lybia's sands respires, 
 And burns each warrior's breast with secret fires. 
 Nocturnal meteors blaze in dusky air, 
 Thick lightnings flash, and livid comets glare. 
 No pleasing moisture Nature's face renews : 
 The moon no longer sheds her pearly dews, 
 To cheer the mourning earth ; the plants and flowers 
 In vain require the soft and vital showers. 
 
 Sweet slumber flies from every restless night, 
 In vain would men his balmy povv'r invite; 
 Sleepless they lie : but far above the rest, 
 The rage of thirst their fainting souls oppress'd : 
 For vers'd in guile, Judae's impious king 
 With poisonous juice had tainted every spring; 
 Whose currents now with dire pollution flow, 
 Like Styx and Acheron in realms below. 
 
 The slender stream where Siloa's gentle wave 
 Once to the Christians draughts untainted gave, 
 Now scarcely murmurs, in his channels dry, 
 And yields their fainting host a small supply. 
 But not the Po, when most his waters swell, 
 Would seem too vast their raging thirst to quell : 
 Nor mighty Ganges, nor the seven -mouth'd Nile, 
 That with his deluge glads th' Egyptian soil. 
 
 If e'er their eyes in happier times have view'd 
 Begirt with grassy turf some crystal flood ; 
 Or living waters foam from Alpine hills, 
 Or through soft herhage purl the limpid rills ; 
 Such flattering scenes again their fancies frame ; 
 And add new fuel to increase their flame; 
 Still in the mind the wish'd idea reigns : 
 But still the fever rages in their veins. 
 
 Then might you see on earth the warriors lie, 
 Whose limbs robust could every toil defy : 
 Inur'd the weight of pond'rous arms to bear, 
 Inur'd in fields the hostile steel to dare, 
 Deep in their flesh the hidden furies prey, 
 And eat by slow degrees their lives away. 
 
 The courser, late with generous pride endued, 
 Now loaths the grass, his once delighted food : 
 With feeble steps he scarcely seems to tread, 
 And prone to earth is hung his languid head. 
 No memory now of ancient fame remains, 
 No thirst of glory on the dusty plains :
 
 TASSO'S " JERUSALEM DELIVERED." 141 
 
 The conquer'd spoils and trappings once bestow'd, 
 His joy so late, are now a painful load. 
 
 Now pines the faithful dog. nor heeds the board, 
 Nor heeds the service of his dearer lord ; 
 Outstretch'd he lies, and as he pants for breath, 
 Receives at every gasp new draughts of death. 
 
 In vain has nature's law the air assigned 
 7" allay the inward heat of human kind : 
 What, here, alas! can air mankind avail. 
 When fevers float on every burning gale! 
 
 Here is a specimen of the truly grand and 
 sublime in poetry. This picture, so exquisitely 
 imitated in Paul and Virginia, possesses the double 
 merit of being appropriate to the climate of Judea, 
 and representing an historical fact: the Christians 
 actually experienced such a drought during the 
 siege of Jerusalem. Robert has left us a descrip- 
 tion of it, which I shall presently lay before the 
 reader. 
 
 In the fourteenth book, we shall look for a river 
 that runs near Ascalon, and at the bottom of 
 which resided the magician who revealed to Ubald 
 and the Danish knight the fortunes of Rinaldo. 
 This stream is the river of Ascalon, or some other 
 torrent more to the north, which was not known 
 except in the times of the Crusades, as D'Anville 
 asserts. 
 
 In the voyage of the two knights, geographical 
 order is wonderfully well preserved. Setting sail 
 from a port between Jaffa and Ascalon, and steer- 
 ing towards Egypt, they must successively have seen 
 Ascalon, Gaza, Raphia, and Damietta. The poet 
 represents their course as westerly, though it was 
 at first southward : but he could not descend to 
 such minute particulars. At any rate, I perceive 
 that all epic poets have been men of extensive eru- 
 dition, and had, above all, profoundly studied the 
 works of their predecessors in the career of the
 
 142 TASSO'S " JERUSALEM DELIVERED. 11 
 
 epopee . Virgil translates Homer ; Tasso imitates 
 in every stanza, some passage of Homer, Virgil, 
 Lucan, Statius ; Milton borrows from them all, 
 and enlarges his own stores with the wealth of 
 those who had gone before him. 
 
 The sixteenth book, which comprehends a deli- 
 neation of the gardens of Armida, furnishes nothing 
 for our present subject. In the seventeenth, we find 
 the description of Gaza, and the recapitulation of 
 the Egyptian army : an epic subject in which Tasso 
 displays the genius of a master, and at the same 
 time a perfect acquaintance with history and geo- 
 graphy. In my voyage from Jaffa to Alexandria, 
 our vessel steered southward till we came exactly 
 opposite to Gaza, the sight of which reminded me 
 of these verses of the Jerusalem : 
 
 Placed where Judae's utmost bounds extend 
 Tow'rds fair Pelusium, Gaza's tow'rs ascend : 
 Fast by the breezy shore the city stands, 
 Amid unbounded plains of barren sands, 
 Which, high in air, the furious whirlwinds sweep, 
 Like mountain billows of the stormy deep; 
 That scarce th' affrighted trav'ller, spent with toil, 
 Escapes the tempest of th' unstable soil. 
 
 The last assault in the nineteenth book is per- 
 fectly consistent with history. Godfrey attacked 
 the city in three places at once. The old Count 
 de Toulouse assailed the walls between the west 
 and south, facing the castle of the city, near the 
 Jaffa gate. Godfrey forced the gate of Ephraim, 
 while Tancred directed his efforts against the cor- 
 ner tower, which afterwards assumed the name of 
 Tancred's tower. 
 
 Tasso likewise follows the chronicles in the cir- 
 cumstances and the result of the assault. Ismeno, 
 accompanied by two magicians, is killed by a stone 
 hurled from an engine : two sorceresses actually
 
 TASSO'S " JERUSALEM DELIVERED. 1 " 143 
 
 met that fate on the walls at the taking of Jeru- 
 salem. Godfrey looks up, and beholds celestial 
 warriors fighting for him on every side. This is 
 a fine imitation of Homer and Virgil, but it is also 
 a tradition from the times of the Crusades. " The 
 dead," says Father Nau, " entered with the living; 
 for several distinguished Crusaders, who died be- 
 fore their arrival, and among the rest, Ademar, the 
 virtuous and zealous bishop of Puy, in Auvergne, 
 appeared upon the walls ; as if the glory which they 
 enjoyed in the heavenly Jerusalem required the ac- 
 cession of that to be derived from visiting the ter- 
 restrial one, and adoring the son of God upon the 
 scene of his ignominy and sufferings, as they wor- 
 shipped him on the throne of his majesty and 
 power." 
 
 The city was taken, as the poet relates, by means 
 of bridges which were projected from engines and 
 fell upon the ramparts. Godfrey and Gaston de 
 Foix had furnished the plan of these machines, 
 which were constructed by Pisan and Genoese sai- 
 lors. The whole account of this assault, in which 
 Tasso has displayed the ardour of his chivalrous 
 genius, is true, except what relates to Rinaldo ; 
 that hero being a mere fiction of the poet, his 
 actions must also be imaginary. There was no 
 warrior of the name of Rinaldo d'Este at the siege 
 of Jerusalem ; the first Christian that scaled the 
 walls was not a knight named Rinaldo, but Le- 
 tolde, a Flemish gentleman of Godfrey's retinue. 
 He was followed by Guicher and Godfrey himself. 
 The stanza in which Tasso describes the standard 
 of the cross overshadowing the towers of Jerusalem 
 delivered, is truly sublime : 
 
 The conquering banner to the breeze unroll'd, 
 Redundant streams in many a waving fold :
 
 144 TASS0\s " JERUSALEM DELIVERED. 11 
 
 The winds with awe confess the heavenly sign, 
 Willi purer beams the day appears to shine : 
 The swords seem bid to turn their points away, 
 And darts around it innocently play : 
 The sacred Mount the purple cross adores, 
 And Sion owns it from her topmost tow'rs. 
 
 All the historians of the Crusades record the 
 piety of Godfrey, the generosity of Tancred, and 
 the justice and prudence of the Count de St. Gilles. 
 Anna Comnena herself speaks with commendation 
 of the latter : the poet has therefore adhered to 
 history, in the delineation of his heroes. When he 
 invents characters, he at least makes them con- 
 sistent with manners. Argantes is a jjenuine Ma- 
 meluke. 
 
 The other chief from fair Circassia came 
 To Egypt's court, Argantes was his name : 
 Exalted midst the princes of the land, 
 And first in rank of all the martial band; 
 Impatient, fiery, and of rage unquell'd, 
 In arms unconquer'd, matchless in the field; 
 Whose impious soul contempt of heaven avow'd, 
 His sword his law, his own right hand his God. 
 
 In Solyman is faithfully portrayed a sultan of 
 the early times of the Turkish empire. The poet, 
 who fails not to avail himself of every historical 
 recollection, makes the sultan of Nice an ancestor 
 of the great Saladin ; and it is obvious that he 
 meant to delineate Saladin himself in the character 
 of his progenitor. Should the work of Dom Ber- 
 theleau ever be laid before the public, we shall be 
 better acquainted with the Mahometan heroes of 
 Jerusalem. Dom Bertheleau translated the Arabian 
 authors who have written the history of the Cru- 
 sades. This valuable performance was intended to 
 form part of the collection of French historians. 
 
 I am not able to fix the exact spot where the 
 ferocious Argantes is slain by the generous Tancred ;
 
 ROBERT THE MONK. 145 
 
 but it must be sought in the vallies between the 
 west and north. It cannot be placed to the west of 
 the corner tower which Tancred assaulted ; for in 
 this case, Erminia could not have met the wounded 
 hero as she was returning from Gaza with 
 Vafrino. 
 
 The last action of the poem, which in reality took 
 place near Ascalon, Tasso has laid with exquisite 
 judgment under the walls of Jerusalem. Histori- 
 cally considered, this action is of little importance ; 
 but in a poetical point of view, it is a battle supe- 
 rior to any in Virgil, and equal to the grandest of 
 Homer's combats. 
 
 I shall now give the siege of Jerusalem, ex- 
 tracted from our old chronicles, so that the reader 
 may have an opportunity of comparing the poem 
 with history. 
 
 Of all the historians of the Crusades, Robert the 
 monk is most frequently quoted. The anonymous 
 writer, in the collection entitled " Gesta Dei per 
 Francos," is more ancient; but his narrative is too 
 dry. William of Tyre falls into the contrary defect. 
 For these reasons Robert is consulted in preference : 
 his style it affected ; he copies the turns of the 
 poets, but on this very account, notwithstanding 
 his points and his puns,* he is less barbarous than 
 his contemporaries ; he has, moreover, a certain 
 degree of taste and a brilliant imagination. 
 
 " The army encamped in this order about Jeru- 
 salem. The Counts of Flanders and Normandy 
 pitched their tents on the north side, not far from 
 the churchf erected on the spot where Stephen, 
 
 * Papa Urbanux urbano sermone peroravit, &c Vallis spaciosa 
 ef speciosa, &c. Our old hymns are full of these plays upon words : 
 Quo came carnis conditor, &c. 
 
 t The text has : juxta eccksiam : which I have translated not 
 
 far from the church, because this church is not to the north, hut 
 
 VOL. II. H to
 
 146 ROBERT THE MONK. 
 
 the first martyr, was stoned. Godfrey and Tancred 
 placed themselves on the west, and the Count de 
 St. Gilles took a position to the south, on Mount 
 Sion,* round about the church of Mary, the 
 mother of our Saviour, formerly the house in which 
 the Lord held the Last Supper with his disciples. 
 The tents being thus disposed, while the troops, 
 fatigued with their march, rested themselves, and 
 constructed the machines necessary for the attack, 
 Raimond Pilet,f and Raimond de Turenne, pro- 
 ceeded from the camp with several others to re- 
 connoitre the neighbouring country, lest the enemy 
 should fall upon the Crusaders before they were 
 prepared. They met by the way with three hun- 
 dred Arabs, they killed many of them, and took 
 thirty horses. The second day of the third week, 
 June 13th 1099, the French attacked Jerusalem, 
 but they could not take it that day. Their efforts, 
 however, were not wholly useless : they threw 
 down the outer wall, and set up ladders against 
 the principal one. Had they but possessed a suf- 
 ficient number of them, this first attempt had been 
 the last. Those who ascended the ladders main- 
 tained a long conflict against the enemy with 
 swords and spears. Many of our people fell in 
 this assault, but the loss of the Saracens was much 
 more considerable. Night put an end to the action, 
 and jjave rest to both sides. The failure of this 
 first attempt certainly occasioned our army much 
 
 to the east of Jerusalem ; and all the other historians of the 
 Crusades relate that the Counts of Nonrandy and Flanders placed 
 themselves between the east and the north. 
 
 * The text says : scilicet in monte Sion. This proves that the 
 city built by Adrian did not include the whole of Mount Sion, 
 and that the site of Jerusalem at that time was exactly the same 
 as it is at present. 
 
 f Piletus, or, as he is elsewhere called, Pilitus and Fekz.
 
 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. 147 
 
 toil and trouble, for our troops were without bread 
 For ten days, till our ships arrived in the port of 
 Jaffa. They moreover suffered exceedingly from 
 thirst ; the fountain of Si!oe, at the foot of Mount 
 Sion, could scarcely supply the troops, and they 
 were obliged to send the horses and other animals, 
 attended by a numerous escort, six miles from the 
 camp to water. 
 
 " Though the fleet which arrived at Jaffa fur- 
 nished the besiegers with provisions, they still 
 suffered as much as ever from thirst. So great was 
 the drought during the siege, that the soldiers dug 
 holes in the ground, and pressed the damp clods to 
 their lips; they licked the stones wet with dew; 
 they drank the putrid water which had stood in 
 the fresh hides of buffaloes and other animals; and 
 many abstained from eating, in the hope of miti- 
 gating by hunger the pangs of thirst. 
 
 " Meanwhile the generals caused large pieces of 
 timber to be brought from a great distance for the 
 construction of engines and towers. When these 
 towers were finished, Godfrey placed his on the 
 east side of the town ; and the Count de St. Gilles 
 erected one exactly like it to the south. These 
 arrangements being made, on the fifth day of the 
 week, the Crusaders fasted, and distributed alms 
 among the poor. On the sixth day, which was 
 the 12th of July, the sun rose with brilliancy ; the 
 towers were manned with chosen troops, who 
 threw up ladders against the walls of Jerusalem. 
 The bastard inhabitants of the Holy City were 
 filled with consternation* when they found them- 
 
 » Stupent et contremiscunt adulterini cites wrhis eximia. The 
 expression is not. less beautiful than true ; for the Saracens were 
 not only, as foreigners, the bastard citizens, the illegitimate 
 children of Jerusalem, but they might likewise be termed adul- 
 
 y 2 terinit
 
 148 ROBERT THE MONK. 
 
 selves besieged by so vast a multitude. But as 
 they were on all sides threatened with their last 
 hour, as death impended over their heads ; certain 
 of falling, they thought only how to sell the rest 
 of their lives as dearly as possible. Meanwhile, 
 Godfrey posted himself at the top of his tower, 
 not as a foot-soldier, but as an archer. The Lord 
 guided his hand in the combat, and all the arrows 
 discharged by him pierced the enemy through and 
 through. Near this warrior were two brothers, 
 Baldwin and Eustace, like two lions beside another 
 lion : they received terrible blows from stones and 
 darts, which they returned to the foe with usury. 
 
 " While they were thus engaged on the walls 
 of the city, a procession was made round those 
 same walls with the crosses, relics, and sacred 
 altars.* The victory remained uncertain during 
 part of the day ; but at the hour when the Saviour 
 of the world gave up the ghost, a warrior named 
 Letolde, who fought in Godfrey's tower, leaped 
 the first upon the ramparts of the city. He was 
 followed by Guicher — that Guicher who had van- 
 quished a lion ; Godfrey was the third, and all the 
 other knights rushed on after their chief. Throw- 
 ing aside their bows and arrows, they now drew 
 their swords. At this sight the enemy abandoned 
 the walls and ran down into the city, whither the 
 soldiers of Christ with loud shouts pursued them. 
 
 " The Count de St. Gilles, who on his part was 
 endeavouring to bring up his machines to the walls, 
 heard the clamour. ' Why,' said he to his men, 
 
 terini, on account of their mother Hagar, and in reference to the 
 legitimate posterity of Abraham by Sarah. 
 
 * Sacra altaria. This would seem to be applicable only to a 
 pagan ceremony; but it is probable that the Christians had port- 
 able altars in their camp.
 
 SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. 14>9 
 
 * do we linger here ? The French are masters of 
 Jerusalem ; they are making- it resound with their 
 voices and their blows.' Quickly advancing to the 
 gate near the castle of David, he called to those 
 who were in the castle, and summoned them to 
 surrender. As soon as the emir knew that it was 
 the Count de St. Gilles, he opened the gate, and 
 committed himself to the faith of that venerable 
 warrior. 
 
 " But Godfrey, with the French, was resolved to 
 avenge the Christian blood spilt by the Infidels in 
 Jerusalem, and to punish them for the railleries and 
 outrages to which they had subjected the pilgrims. 
 Never had he in any conflict appeared so terrible, 
 not even when he encountered the giant on the 
 bridge of Antioch. Guicher, and several thou- 
 sands of chosen warriors, cut the Saracens in two 
 from the head to the waist, or severed their bodies 
 in the middle. None of our soldiers shewed timi- 
 dity, for they met with no opposition. The enemy 
 sought only to escape ; but to them flight was im- 
 possible ; they rushed along in such crowds that 
 they embarrassed one another. The small number 
 of those who contrived to escape, took refuge in 
 Solomon's Temple, and there defended themselves 
 a considerable time. At dusk our soldiers gained 
 possession of the Temple, and in their rage put to 
 death all whom they found there. Such was the 
 carnage, that the mutilated carcases were hurried 
 by the torrents of blood into the court ; dissevered 
 arms and hands floated in the current, that carried 
 them to be united to bodies to which they had 
 never belonged." 
 
 In concluding the description of the places cele- 
 brated by Tasso, I feel happy in having had an 
 opportunity of being the first to pay to an immor-
 
 150 VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. 
 
 tal poet the same honour which others before me 
 had rendered to Homer and Virgil. Whoever has 
 a relish for the beauty, the art, the interest of a 
 poetic composition ; for richness of detail, for 
 truth of character, for generosity of sentiment, 
 should make the Jerusalem Delivered his favou- 
 rite study. It is in a particular manner the poem 
 of the soldier : it breathes valour and glory, and, 
 as I have elsewhere observed, it seems to have 
 been written upon a buckler in the midst of camps. 
 
 I spent about five hours in examining the theatre 
 of the battles described by Tasso. This theatre 
 occupies very little more than half a league of 
 ground, and the poet has so strongly discriminated 
 the various scenes of action that they may be dis- 
 covered at a single glance. 
 
 As we were returning to the city by the valley 
 of Jehoshaphat, we met the pacha's cavalry com- 
 ing back from its expedition. It is impossible to 
 conceive the joyous and triumphant aspect of these 
 troops after their victory over the sheep, goats, 
 asses, and horses of a few poor Arabs on the 
 banks of the Jordan.
 
 151 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Government of Jerusalem — Abdallah, Pacha of Damascus — His 
 Extortions — Order of the Holy Sepulchre conferred on the 
 Author — General Survey of the City — Houses — Inhabitants — 
 Communities of Christian Monks — Jews — Departure from 
 Jerusalem — Arrival at Jaffa. 
 
 It is now time to say something' concerning the 
 government of Jerusalem. There is, in the first 
 place, 
 
 1. A Mosallam or Sangiack, the commander of 
 the military. 
 
 2. A Moula Cadi, or minister of police. 
 
 3. A Mufti, the chief of the santons and lawyers. 
 When this Mufti is a fanatic, or a bad man, like 
 him who held that office when I was at Jerusalem, 
 he has it in his power to tyrannize over the Chris- 
 tians more than any of the other authorities. 
 
 4. A Moutenely, or collector of the duties at 
 the mosque of Solomon. 
 
 5. A Soubachi, or sheriff of the city. 
 
 These subaltern tyrants are all, with the excep- 
 tion of the mufti, dependent on a principal tyrant, 
 and this is the pacha of Damascus. 
 
 Jerusalem is comprehended in the pachalik of 
 Damascus, for what reason I know not, unless it 
 be a result of that destructive system which is 
 naturally and, as it were, instinctively pursued by
 
 J 52 GOVERNMENT OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 the Turks. Cut off from Damascus by mountains, 
 and still more by the Arabs who infest the deserts, 
 Jerusalem cannot always prefer its complaints to 
 the pacha when oppressed by its governors. It 
 would be much more natural to make it dependent 
 on the pachalik of Acre, which lies near it ; the 
 Franks and the Latin fathers might then place 
 themselves under the protection of the consuls 
 residing in the ports of Syria ; and the Greeks and 
 Turks would be able to make known their griev- 
 ances. But this is the very thing that their go- 
 vernors are desirous of preventing; they would have 
 a mute slavery, and not insolent wretches who dare 
 complain of the hand that oppresses them. 
 
 Jerusalem is therefore at the mercy of an almost 
 independent governor: he may do with impunity 
 all the mischief he pleases, if he be not afterwards 
 called to account for it by the pacha. It is well 
 known that in Turkey every superior has a right 
 to delegate his authority to an inferior ; and this 
 authority extends both to property and life. For 
 a few purses a janissary may become a petty aga, 
 and this aga may, at his good pleasure, either take 
 away your life or permit you to redeem it. Thus 
 executioners are multiplied in every town of Judea. 
 The only thing ever heard in this country, the only 
 justice ever thought of, is : Let him pay ten, 
 twenty, thirty purses — Give him Jive hundred 
 strokes of the bastinado — Cut off his head. One 
 act of injustice renders it necessary to commit a 
 still greater. If one of these petty tyrants plunders 
 a peasant, he is absolutely obliged to plunder his 
 neighbour also ; for, to escape the hypocritical 
 integrity of the pacha, he must procure by a se- 
 cond crime sufficient to purchase impunity for the 
 first.
 
 ABDALLAH PACHA. 153 
 
 It may perhaps be imagined that the pacha, when 
 he visits his government, corrects these evils and 
 avenges the wrongs of the people. So far from this, 
 however, the pacha is himself the greatest scourge 
 of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. His coming is 
 dreaded like that of a hostile chief. The shops 
 are shut up ; the people conceal themselves in cel- 
 lars ; they feign to be at the point of death on 
 their mats, or withdraw to the mountains. 
 
 The truth of these facts I am able to attest, since 
 I happened to be at Jerusalem at the time of the 
 pacha's visit. Abdallah is sordidly avaricious, like 
 almost all the Mussulmans : in the capacity of 
 commander of the caravan of Mecca, and under the 
 pretext of raising money for the better protection of 
 the pilgrims, he thinks that he has a right to mul- 
 tiply his extortions; and he is always devising new 
 ways of fleecing the people. One of the methods 
 which he most frequently employs is to fix a very 
 low maximum for all kinds of provisions. The 
 people are delighted, but the dealers shut their 
 shops. A scarcity commences ; the pacha enters 
 into a secret negociation with the shop-keepers, 
 and, for a certain number of purses, grants them 
 permission to sell at any price they please. These 
 men are of course desirous to recover the sums 
 which they have given the pacha : they raise the 
 price of necessaries to an extraordinary height, and 
 the people, dying a second time for want, are 
 obliged to part with their last rag to keep them- 
 selves from starving. 
 
 I have seen this same Abdallah practise a still 
 more ingenious vexation. I have observed that he 
 sent his cavalry to pillage the Arabian farmers be- 
 yond the Jordan. These poor people, who had 
 paid the miri, and who knew that they were not at 
 
 h3
 
 154) HIS EXTORTIONS. 
 
 war, were surprised in the midst of their tents and 
 of their flocks. They were robbed of two thousand 
 two hundred sheep and goats, ninety-four calves, a 
 thousand asses, and six mares of the purest blood: 
 the camels alone escaped,* having- followed a 
 shieck who called them at a distance. These 
 faithful children of the desert carried their milk to 
 their masters in the mountains, as if they had 
 known that these masters were bereft of every 
 other sustenance. 
 
 An European could scarcely guess what the 
 pacha did with his booty. He put more than twice 
 as high a price upon each animal as it was worth, 
 rating each goat and sheep at twenty piastres, and 
 each calf at eighty. The beasts thus appraised 
 were sent to the butchers and different persons in 
 Jerusalem, and to the chiefs of the neighbouring 
 villages, who were obliged to take them and pay 
 for them at the pacha's price upon pain of death. 
 I must confess that, had I not been an eye-witness 
 of this double iniquity, I should have thought it 
 absolutely incredible. As to the asses and horses, 
 they became the property of the soldiers ; for, 
 according to a singular convention between these 
 robbers, all the beasts with a cloven hoof taken in 
 such expeditions belong to the pacha, and all the 
 other animals fall to the share of the troops. 
 
 Having exhausted Jerusalem, the pacha departs; 
 but in order to save the pay of the city guards and 
 to strengthen the escort of the caravan of Mecca, 
 he takes the soldiers along with him. The gover- 
 nor is left behind with about a dozen men, who are 
 insufficient for the police of the city, much less for 
 that of the adjacent country. The year before my 
 visit, he was obliged to conceal himself in his 
 * Of these, however, twenty-six were taken.
 
 CONVENT LIBRARY. 155 
 
 house, to escape the pursuit of a band of robbers 
 who entered Jerusalem, and were on the point of 
 plundering the city. 
 
 No sooner is the pacha gone, than another evil, 
 the consequence of his oppression, begins to be 
 felt. Insurrections take place in the plundered 
 villages; they attack each other, mutually intent on 
 wreaking hereditary revenge. All communication 
 is interrupted ; agriculture perishes; and the pea- 
 sant sallies forth at night to pillage the enemy's 
 vine and to cut down his olive-tree. The pacha 
 returns the following year ; he demands the same 
 tribute from a country whose population is dimi- 
 nished. In order to raise it, he is obliged to re- 
 double his oppressions and to exterminate whole 
 tribes. The desert gradually extends ; nothing is 
 to be seen but here and there habitations in ruins, 
 and near them cemeteries which keep continually 
 increasing ; each succeeding year witnesses the de- 
 struction of a house, the extinction of a family, and 
 soon nothing is left but this cemetery to mark the 
 spot where once stood a village. 
 
 Returning to the convent at ten in the morning, 
 I completed my examination of the library. Be- 
 sides the collection of firmans already mentioned, 
 I found an autograph manuscript of the learned 
 Quaresmius. This Latin manuscript, like all the 
 printed works of the same author, relates to the 
 Holy Land. Some other volumes contained Turk- 
 ish and Arabic papers relative to the affairs of the 
 convent, Letters of the Congregation, Miscellanies, 
 &c. I saw likewise some treatises by Fathers of 
 the church, several pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the 
 Abbe Mariti's work, and Volney's excellent Nar- 
 rative of his Travels. Father Clement Peres, 
 having discovered, as he thought, some slight
 
 156 ORDER OF HOLY SEPULCHRE 
 
 errors in the latter, had noted down his observa- 
 tions on some loose papers, of which he made me 
 a present. 
 
 I had seen every thing at Jerusalem ; I was 
 acquainted with the interior and exterior of that 
 city, and better acquainted with them than with 
 the interior of Paris and its vicinity : I began, there- 
 fore, to think of my departure. The Fathers of 
 the Holy Land determined to confer on me an 
 honour which I had neither solicited nor deserved. 
 In consideration of the feeble services which, as they 
 said, I had rendered to religion, they requested me 
 to accept the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. This 
 Order, of high antiquity in Christendom, though its 
 origin may not date so far back as the time of St. 
 Helena, was formerly very common in Europe. At 
 present it is scarcely ever met with except in Spain 
 and Poland : the superior of the Latin convent, as 
 guardian of the Holy Sepulchre, has alone the right 
 to confer it. 
 
 We left the convent at one o'clock and repaired 
 to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. We went 
 into the chapel belonging to the Latin Fathers ; 
 the doors were carefully shut, lest the Turks should 
 perceive the arms, which might cost the religious 
 their lives. The superior put on his pontifical 
 habits ; the lamps and tapers were lighted ; all the 
 brethren present formed a circle round me, with 
 their hands folded upon their breasts. While they 
 sung the Veni Creator in a low voice, the superior 
 stepped up to the altar, and I fell on my knees at 
 his feet. The spurs and sword of Godfrey de 
 Bouillon were taken out of the treasury of the Holy 
 Sepulchre : two of the religious, standing one on 
 each side of me, held the venerable relics. The 
 superior recited the accustomed prayers and asked
 
 CONFERRED ON AUTHOR. 157 
 
 me the usual questions : he then put the spurs on 
 my heels and struck me thrice over the shoulders 
 with the sword, on which the religious began to sing 
 the Te Deum, while the superior pronounced this 
 prayer over my head : 
 
 '* Lord God Almighty, bestow thy grace and 
 blessing on this thy servant," &c. 
 
 All this is but a shadow of the days that are 
 past. But if it be considered that I was at Jeru- 
 salem, in the church of Calvary, within a dozen of 
 paces of the tomb of Jesus Christ, and thirty from 
 that of Godfrey de Bouillon ; that I was equipped 
 with the spurs of the Deliverer of the Holy Sepul- 
 chre : and had touched that sword, both lono- and 
 large, which so noble and so valiant an arm had 
 once wielded ; if the reader bear in mind these 
 circumstances, my life of adventure, my peregrina- 
 tions by land and sea, he will easily believe that I 
 could not remain unmoved. Neither was this cere- 
 mony in other respects without effect. I am a 
 Frenchman ; Godfrey de Bouillon was a French- 
 man ; and his ancient arms, in touching me, com- 
 municated an increased ardour for glory and for 
 the honour of my country. 
 
 My certificate, signed by the guardian and sealed 
 with the seal of the convent, was delivered to me. 
 With this brilliant diploma of Knighthood, I 
 received my humble passport of a pilgrim. I pre- 
 serve them as a record of my visit to the land of 
 the ancient traveller, Jacob. 
 
 Now that I am about to bid farewell to Palestine, 
 I must request the reader to accompany me once 
 more beyond the walls of Jerusalem, to take a last 
 survey of this extraordinary city. 
 
 Let us first pause at the Grotto of Jeremiah near 
 the Royal Sepulchres. This is a spacious cavern,
 
 158 GROTTO OF JEREMIAH. 
 
 the roof of which is supported by a pillar of stones. 
 Here, as we are told, the Prophet gave vent to his 
 Lamentations, which seem as though they had 
 been composed within sight of modern Jerusalem, 
 so accurately do they pourtray the state of this 
 desolate city : 
 
 " How doth the city sit solitary that was full of 
 people ! how is she become a widow! she that was 
 great among the nations, and princess among the 
 provinces, how is she become tributary ! 
 
 " The ways of Sion do mourn, because none 
 come to the solemn feasts ; all her gates are deso- 
 late : her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and 
 she is in bitterness. 
 
 " All ye that pass by, behold and see if there 
 be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. 
 
 " The Lord hath proposed to destroy the wall 
 of the daughter of Sion : he hath bent his bow like 
 an enemy ; he hath not withdrawn his hand from 
 destroying ; therefore he made the rampart and the 
 wall to lament ; they languished together. 
 
 " Her gates are sunk into the ground ; he hath 
 destroyed and broken her bars ; her kings and her 
 princes are among the Gentiles ; the law is no 
 more ; her prophets also find no vision from the 
 Lord. 
 
 " Mine eyes do fail with tears ; my bowels are 
 troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the 
 destruction of the daughter of my people, because 
 the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets 
 of the city. 
 
 " What thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter 
 of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee? 
 
 " All that pass by clap their hands at thee ; 
 they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of 
 Jerusalem, saying: " Is this the city that men call
 
 SURVEY OF THE CITY. 159 
 
 the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole 
 earth?" 
 
 When seen from the Mount of Olives, on the 
 other side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, Jerusalem 
 presents an inclined plane descending' from west to 
 east. An embattled wall, fortified with towers 
 and a Gothic castle, encompasses the city all 
 round; excluding, however, part of Mount Sion, 
 which it formerly enclosed. 
 
 In the western quarter, and in the centre of the 
 city towards Calvary, the houses stand very close ; 
 but in the eastern part, along - the brook Cedron, 
 you perceive vacant spaces ; among the rest, that 
 which surrounds the mosque erected on the ruins 
 of the Temple, and the nearly deserted spot where 
 once stood the castle of Antonia, and the second 
 palace of Herod. 
 
 The houses of Jerusalem are heavy, square 
 masses, very low, without chimnies or windows ; 
 they have flat terraces or domes on the top, and 
 look like prisons or sepulchres. The whole would 
 appear to the eye one uninterrupted level, did not 
 the steeples of the churches, the minarets of the 
 mosques, the summits of a few cypresses, and the 
 clumps of nopals, break the uniformity of the plan. 
 On beholding these stone buildings, encompassed 
 by a stony country, you are ready to enquire if 
 they are not the confused monuments of a cemetery 
 in the midst of a desert. 
 
 Enter the city, but nothing will you there find 
 to make amends for the dullness of its exterior. 
 You lose yourself among narrow, unpaved streets, 
 here going up hill, there down, from the inequality 
 of the ground, and you walk among clouds of dust 
 or loose stones. Canvas stretched from house to 
 house increases the gloom of this labyrinth ;
 
 160 CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 bazars, roofed over, and pregnant with infection, 
 completely exclude the light from the desolate 
 city. A few paltry shops expose nothing but 
 wretchedness to view, and even these are frequently 
 shut, from apprehension of the passage of a cadi. 
 Not a creature is to be seen in the streets, not a 
 creature at the gates, except now and then a 
 peasant gliding through the gloom, concealing 
 under his garments the fruits of his labour, lest he 
 should be robbed of his hard earnings by the rapa- 
 cious soldier. Aside, in a corner, the Arab butcher 
 is slaughtering some animal, suspended by the legs 
 from a wall in ruins ; from his haggard and fero- 
 cious look and his bloody hands, you would 
 rather suppose that he had been cutting the throat, 
 of a fellow creature than killing a lamb. The only 
 noise heard from time to time in this deicide city 
 is the galloping of the steed of the desert : it is the 
 janissary who brings the head of the Bedouin, or 
 returns from plundering the unhappy Fellah. 
 
 Amid this extraordinary desolation, you must 
 pause a moment to contemplate two circumstances 
 still more extraordinary. Among the ruins of 
 Jerusalem two classes of independent people find in 
 their religion sufficient fortitude to enable them to 
 surmount such complicated horrors and wretched- 
 ness. Here reside communities of Christian monks, 
 whom nothing can compel to forsake the Tomb of 
 Christ, neither plunder nor personal ill treatment, 
 nor menaces of death itself. Night and day they 
 chant their hymns around the Holy Sepulchre. 
 Stripped in the morning by a Turkish governor, 
 they are found at night in prayer, at the foot of 
 Calvary, on the spot where Christ suffered for the 
 salvation of mankind. Their brows are serene, 
 their lips wear an incessant smile. They receive
 
 JEWS. 
 
 161 
 
 the stranger with joy. Without power, without 
 soldiers, they protect whole villages against ini- 
 quity. Driven by the cudgel and the sabre, women, 
 children, flocks, and herds, seek refuge in the 
 cloisters of these recluses. What prevents the 
 armed oppressor from pursuing his prey and over- 
 throwing such feeble ramparts ? The charity of 
 the monks : they deprive themselves of the last 
 resources of life to ransom their supplicants. 
 Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Christian schismatics, all 
 throw themselves under the protection of a few 
 indigent religious, who are incapable of defending 
 themselves. Here we cannot forbear acknow- 
 ledging' with Bossuet, that " hands raised towards 
 heaven disperse more battalions than hands armed 
 with javelins." 
 
 While the new Jerusalem thus rises from the 
 desert, resplendent in brightness, cast your eyes 
 between the Temple and Mount Sion ; behold 
 another petty tribe cut oft' from the rest of the 
 inhabitants of this city. The particular objects of 
 every species of degradation, these people bow 
 their heads without murmuring ; they endure every 
 kind of insult without demanding justice; they 
 sink beneath repeated blows without sighing ; if 
 their head be required, they present it to the 
 scymetar. On the death of any member of this 
 proscribed community, his companion goes at night 
 and inters him by stealth in the valley of Jeho- 
 shaphat, in the shadow of Solomon's Temple. 
 Enter the abodes of these people, you will find 
 them, amidst, the most abject wretchedness, in- 
 structing their children to read a mysterious book, 
 which they in their turn will teach their offspring 
 to read. What they did five thousand years ago, 
 these people still continue to do. Seventeen times
 
 162 DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. 
 
 have they witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 yet nothing- can discourage them, nothing can 
 prevent them from turning their faces toward Sion. 
 To see the Jews, scattered over the whole world, 
 according to the word of God, must doubtless 
 excite surprise: but to be struck with supernatural 
 astonishment, you must view them at Jerusalem ; 
 vou must behold these rightful masters of Judea 
 living as slaves and strangers in their own country; 
 you must behold them expecting, under all op- 
 pressions, a king who is to deliver them. Crushed 
 by the cross that condemns them and is planted 
 on their heads, skulking near the Temple, of 
 which not one stone is left upon another, they 
 continue in their deplorable infatuation. The 
 Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, are swept from 
 the earth ; and a petty tribe, whose origin pre- 
 ceded that of those great nations, still exists un- 
 mixed amid the ruins of its native land. If any 
 thing among nations wears the character of a 
 miracle, that character, in my opinion, is here 
 legibly impressed. What can appear more won- 
 derful, even to the philosopher, than this spectacle 
 of ancient and modern Jerusalem at the foot of 
 Calvary ? the former overwhelmed with affliction 
 at the sight of the sepulchre of the risen Jesus ; 
 the latter exulting before the only tomb which will 
 have no deposit to render up at the consummation 
 of ages. 
 
 I thanked the Fathers for their hospitality : I 
 wished them most sincerely a happiness which they 
 indeed never expect to enjoy here below ; and 
 when on the point of leaving them, I was overcome 
 with heart-felt grief. I know no sufferings that 
 can be compared with those endured by these 
 unfortunate religious ; the state in which they live
 
 REFLECTIONS. 
 
 163 
 
 resembles that which prevailed in France during 
 the reign of terror. I was about to return to my 
 country, to embrace my relatives., to behold my 
 friends again, to enjoy once more the sweets of life : 
 and these Fathers, who had relations, friends, 
 and country, as well as I, remained exiled in this 
 land of servitude. All possess not the strength of 
 mind which renders man insensible to privations : 
 I have myself heard expressions of regret, which 
 convinced me of the magnitude of the sacrifice. 
 Did not Christ on this same spot find the cup 
 bitter? and yet he drank it up to the very dregs. 
 
 On the 12th of October, I mounted my horse, 
 with AH Aga, John, Julian, and Michael the 
 drogman. We left the city by the Pilgrim's Gate 
 on the west, and passed through the pacha's camp. 
 Before we descended into the Valley of Turpentine, 
 I stopped once more to survey Jerusalem. I dis- 
 cerned above the walls the dome of the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre. Never will it again be 
 saluted by the pilgrim, for it no longer exists, 
 and the tomb of Christ is now exposed to the 
 inclemency of the air. The time has been that all 
 Christendom would have eagerly contributed to 
 rebuild the sacred monument : at the present day 
 nobody thinks of such a thing, and the smallest 
 sum expended for this meritorious purpose would 
 appear an absurd superstition. Having contem- 
 plated Jerusalem for some time, I pursued my 
 way [among the mountains. It was twenty-nine 
 minutes past six when I lost sight of the Holy 
 City : 'tis thus that the navigator marks the mo- 
 ment when he ceases to discern a distant region 
 which he shall never again behold. 
 
 At the bottom of the Valley of Turpentine we 
 found Abou Gosh and Giaber, the chiefs of the
 
 164 ARRIVAL AT JAFFA. 
 
 Arabs of Jeremiah, waiting for us. We arrived 
 at Jeremiah about midnight. Abou Gosh insisted 
 on our partaking of a lamb which he had provided 
 for us. I offered him some money, which he 
 refused, only requesting that I would send him 
 two cufs of Damietta rice when I should arrive in 
 Egypt. This I cheerfully promised, and yet I 
 never recollected my promise till the moment I was 
 embarking for Tunis. As soon as our communi- 
 cation with the Levant is restored, Abou Gosh 
 shall certainly receive his Damietta rice ; he shall 
 see, that though the memory of a Frenchman may 
 fail him, yet he never fails to keep his word. I 
 am in hopes that the little Bedouins of Jeremiah 
 will mount guard over my present, and that they 
 will again say : " Forward ! march !" 
 On the 13th, at noon, I arrived at Jaffa.
 
 PART THE FIFTH, 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Author embarks at Jaffa for Egypt — Gulf of Pelusium, now 
 Damietta — Death of Pompey — The Nile — Alexandria — M. 
 Drovetti, the French Consul — Rosetta — Albanian Soldiers — 
 Appearance of the Delta — Voyage to Cairo— Restraints im- 
 posed on the Kings of ancient Egypt— The Pyramids. 
 
 On my return to Jaffa I found myself in an 
 awkward predicament : there was not a vessel of 
 any kind in the harbour. I wavered between two 
 plans ; the first of which was to proceed to St. 
 John d'Acre and there embark, and the second to 
 travel to Egypt by land. I should have given a 
 decided preference to the latter, but it was im- 
 practicable. Five armed parties were then dis- 
 puting- the possession of the banks of the Nile : 
 Ibrahim Bey, in Upper Egypt ; two other inde- 
 pendent beys, the pacha of the Porte at Cairo, a 
 body of Albanian rebels, and Elfi Bey, in Lower 
 Egypt. These different parties infested the roads: 
 and the Arabs, taking advantage of the confusion, 
 completely intercepted all communication. 
 
 From this dilemma I was providentally relieved. 
 The second day after my arrival at Jaffa, as I was
 
 166 EMBARKATION AT JAFFA. 
 
 preparing- to set out for St. John d'Acre, a saiek 
 from Tripoli, in Syria, entered the harbour. This 
 vessel was in ballast, and in quest of a cargo. The 
 Fathers sent for the captain, who agreed to carry 
 me to Alexandria for four hundred and eighty pias- 
 tres, and we had soon concluded our bargain. 
 
 It was not without sincere regret that I quitted 
 my venerable hosts on the 16th of October. One 
 of the Fathers gave me letters of recommendation 
 for Spain ; as it was my intention, after I had seen 
 Carthage, to conclude my peregrinations with the 
 ruins of the Alhambra. Thus these religious, who 
 remained exposed to every species of outrage, were 
 anxious to be serviceable to me beyond the seas 
 and in their native land. 
 
 John and Julian bavins - carried our baowase on 
 
 CT OCT CT 
 
 board, I embarked on the 16th at eight in the 
 evening. The sea was rough, and the wind un- 
 favourable. I continued upon deck as long as I 
 could perceive the lights of Jaffa. I felt, I must 
 own, a certain emotion of pleasure in reflecting 
 that I had now accomplished a pilgrimage which 
 I had so long meditated. I hoped soon to con- 
 clude this holy adventure, the most hazardous 
 part of which I had, in my opinion, surmounted. 
 When I considered that I had traversed almost 
 alone the continent and the seas of Greece, that I 
 was a^ain alone in a small vessel at the remotest 
 corner of the Mediterranean, after visiting the Jor- 
 dan, the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem, I looked upon 
 my return through Egypt, Barbary, and Spain, as 
 the easiest matter in the world. I was, however, 
 mistaken. 
 
 I retired to the captain's cabin when we had 
 lost sight of the lights of Jaffa, and I had for the 
 last time saluted the shores of the Holy Land ;
 
 VOYAGE TO ALEXANDRIA. 187 
 
 but next morning, at day-break, we again disco- 
 vered the coast of Gaza, for the captain had 
 steered to the south. With the dawn a fine breeze 
 sprung up from the east, the sea became smooth, 
 and we turned the ship's head to the west. Thus 
 I was pursuing the very same track which Ubald 
 and the Dane had followed in their voyage to de- 
 deliver Rinaldo. My vessel could scarcely be 
 larger that that of the two knights, and, like them, 
 I was guided by fortune. My voyage from Jaffa 
 to Alexandria lasted but four days, and never had 
 I a more agreeable or a quicker passage. The 
 skv was constantly serene, the wind fair, and the 
 sea brilliant. The sails were not once shifted. 
 The crew of the saick consisted of five hands, in- 
 cluding the captain ; they were not so merry as 
 my Greeks of the island of Tino, but apparently 
 better seamen. Fresh provisions, excellent pome- 
 granates, Cyprus wine, coffee of the best quality, 
 supplied us with abundance, and cheered our spi- 
 rits. The excess of my prosperity ought to have 
 excited apprehensions ; but had I possessed the 
 ring of Polycrates, I should have taken good care 
 not to throw it into the sea, to become the prey of 
 a ravenous sturgeon. 
 
 There is in the seaman's life something - adven- 
 turous, which wins and delights us. This continual 
 transition from calm to storm, this rapid change 
 of lands and skies, keep the imagination of the 
 navigator awake. He is, in his fortunes, the image 
 of man here below ; always promising to himself 
 to remain in port, and always spreading his sails 
 anew ; seeking enchanted islands, at which he 
 scarcely ever arrives, and of which, if he does 
 touch at them, he soon grows weary ; talking only 
 of rest, and delighting only in tempests ; perishing
 
 168 
 
 GULF OF PELUSIUM. 
 
 by shipwreck, or dying- on shore, worn out with 
 age, unknown to younger mariners, whom he re- 
 grets his inability to accompany. 
 
 On the 17th and 18th we crossed the Gulf of 
 Damietta : this town stands nearly on the site of 
 the ancient Pelusium. When a country presents 
 great and numerous recollections, the memory, to 
 rid itself of the multiplicity of scenes which oppress 
 it, fixes upon one single event. Such was my case 
 in passing the Gulf of Pelusium: I first went back 
 in idea to the time of the primitive Pharaohs, and 
 at last I could think of nothing but the death of 
 Pompey, which, in my opinion, is the finest passage 
 in Plutarch. 
 
 " Meanwhile, the boat approaching, Septimius 
 spoke first, addressing Pompey in Latin, by the 
 title of lmperator. Then Achillas saluted him in 
 Greek, and desired him to come into the boat, 
 because the water was very shallow towards the 
 shore, and a galley must strike upon the sands. At 
 the same time they saw several of the king's ships 
 getting ready, and the shore covered with troops, 
 so that if they would have changed their minds, 
 it was then too late ; besides, their distrust would 
 have furnished the assassins with a pretence for 
 their injustice. He, therefore, embraced Cornelia, 
 who lamented his sad exit before it happened ; 
 and ordered two centurions, one of his enfranchised 
 slaves, named Philip, and a servant called Scenes, 
 to get into the boat before him. When Achillas 
 had hold of his hand, and he was going to step 
 in himself, he turned to his wife and son, and re- 
 peated that verse of Sophocles : 
 
 Seek'st thou a tyrant's door ? then farewell freedom ! 
 Tho' free as air before 
 
 These were the last words he spoke to them.
 
 DEATH OF POMPEY. 169 
 
 fC As there was a considerable distance between 
 the galley and the shore, and he observed that not 
 a man in the boat showed him the least civility, or 
 even spoke to him, he looked at Septimius, and 
 said, y Methinks, I remember you to have been 
 mv fellow-soldier :" but he answered only with a 
 nod, without testifying any regard or friendship. 
 A profound silence again taking place, Pompey 
 took out a paper, in which he had written a speech 
 in Greek, that he designed to make to Ptolemy, 
 and amused himself with reading it. 
 
 " When they approached the shore, Cornelia, 
 with her friends in the g-allev, watched the event with 
 great anxiety. She was a little encouraged, when 
 she saw a number of the king's great officers coming- 
 down to the strand, in all appearance to receive 
 her husband and to do him honour. But the mo- 
 ment Pompey was taking hold of Philip's hand, to 
 raise himself with more ease, Septimius came 
 behind, and ran him through the body; after which 
 Salvias and Achillas also drew their swords. Pom- 
 pey took his robe in both hands and covered his 
 lace ; and without saying or doing the least thing- 
 unworthy of him, submitted to his fate, only utter- 
 ing a groan, while they dispatched him with many 
 blows. He was then just fifty-nine years old, for 
 he was killed the day after his birth-day. 
 
 " Cornelia, and her friends in the galleys, upon 
 seeing him murdered, gave a shriek that was heard 
 to the shore, and weighed anchor immediately. 
 Their flight was assisted by a brisk gale as they had 
 got out more to sea ; so that the Egyptians gave 
 up their design of pursuing them. 
 
 " The murderers having cut off Pompey's head, 
 threw the body out of the boat naked, and left it 
 exposed to all who were desirous of such a sight. 
 
 vol. II. i
 
 170 DEATH OF POMPEY. 
 
 Philip stayed till their curiosity was satisfied, and 
 then washed the body with sea-water, and wrapped 
 it in one of his own garments, because he had 
 nothing' else at hand. The next thing was to look 
 out for wood fur the funeral pile ; and casting his 
 eyes over the shore, he spied the old remains of a 
 fishing--boat ; which, though not large, would make 
 a sufficient pile for a poor naked body that was not 
 quite entire. 
 
 " While he was collecting- the pieces of plank 
 and putting them together, an old Roman, who had 
 made some of his first campaigns under Pompey, 
 came up, and said to Philip, " Who are you that 
 are preparing the funeral of Pompey the Great?" 
 Philip answered, " I am his freedman." " But 
 you shall not," said the old Roman, " have this 
 honour entirely to yourself. As a work of piety 
 offers itself, let me have a share in it, that I may 
 not absolutely repent my having passed so many 
 years in a foreign country ; but, to compensate 
 many misfortunes, may have the consolation of 
 doing some of the last honours to the greatest 
 general Rome ever produced." In this manner 
 was the funeral of Pompey conducted, 
 
 " Next day Lucius Lentulus, who knew nothing 
 of what had passed, because he was upon his voyage 
 from Cyprus, arrived upon the Egyptian shore, and 
 as he was coasting along, saw the funeral pile, and 
 Philip, whom he did not yet know, standing by it. 
 Upon which he said to himself, " Who has finished 
 his days, and is going to leave his remains upon 
 this shore ?" adding, after a short pause, with a 
 sigh, " Ah ! Pompey the Great ! perhaps thou 
 mayest be the man." Lentulus soon after went 
 on shore, and was taken and slain. 
 
 '' Such was the end of Pompey the Great. As
 
 CAPE BRULOS. 171 
 
 for Caesar, he arrived not long- after in Egypt, which 
 he found in great disorder. When they came to 
 present the head, he turned from it, and the per- 
 son that brought it, as a sight of horror. He 
 received the seal, but it was with tears. The 
 device was a lion holding - a sword. The two assas- 
 sins, Achillas and Photinus, he put to death: and 
 the king being defeated in battle, perished in the 
 river. Theodotus, the rhetorician, escaped the 
 vengeance of Caesar, by leaving Egypt ; but he 
 wandered about a miserable fugitive, and was 
 hated wherever he went. At last, Marcus Brutus, 
 who killed Caesar, found the wretch in his pro- 
 vince of Asia, and put him to death, after having 
 made him suffer the most exquisite tortures. The 
 ashes of Pompey were carried to Cornelia, who 
 buried them in his lands near Alba." 
 
 On the 19th, at noon, after having been two 
 days without seeing land, we perceived a pro- 
 montory, called Cape Brulos, which forms the 
 northernmost point of the Delta. I have already 
 remarked, on occasion of the Granicus, the pro- 
 digious illusion which names are capable of creating". 
 Cape Brulos exhibited merely the appearance of a 
 small sand-hill, but it was the extremity of the 
 fourth continent, the only one that I had still to 
 explore; it was a corner of Egypt, the cradle of the 
 sciences, the mother of religions and laws, and there- 
 fore 1 could not turn my eyes from it for a moment. 
 
 The same evening we descried some palm-trees 
 in the south-west, that seemed to rise out of the 
 sea, for we could not discern the land on which 
 they grew. To the south appeared a dark con- 
 fused mass accompanied with a few detached trees: 
 it was the ruins of a village, a melancholy token of 
 the fate of Egypt. 
 
 i2
 
 172 THE KILE. 
 
 On the 20th., at five in the morning-, I perceived, 
 upon the green and ruffled surface of the sea, a 
 line of froth, beyond which the water was pale and 
 placid. The captain came up, and tapping me on 
 the shoulder, said, in the Frank language, Kilo ! 
 It was not long before we entered that celebrated 
 river, whose water I tasted, and found it salt. Some 
 palm-trees and a minaret indicated the site of Ro- 
 setta, but the land itself was still invisible. This 
 coast resembles the savannahs of Florida : its 
 appearance is totally different from that of the 
 shores of Greece and Syria, and strongly reminds 
 you of the effect of a tropical horizon. 
 
 At ten o'clock we at length discovered, below the 
 tops of the palm-trees, a line of sand running west- 
 ward to the promontory of Aboukir, which we 
 should have to pass in our way to Alexandria. We 
 were then exactly facing the mouth of the Nile at 
 Rosetta, and were £oin°- to cross the Bogaz. 
 The water of the river in this place was red, in- 
 clining to violet, of the colour of a moor in autumn. 
 The Nile, v\hose inundation was over, had been for 
 some time falling. About twenty gerbs, or vessels 
 belonging to Alexandria, were lying at anchor in 
 the Bogaz, waiting for a favourable wind to pass 
 the bar and sail up to Rosetta. 
 
 Continuing to steer westward, we reached the 
 extremity of the mouth of this immense sluice. 
 The boundary line of the waters of the river and 
 that of the sea were not blended, but perfectly 
 separate and distinct ; they foamed when they met, 
 and seemed mutually to serve as a barrier to each 
 other. 
 
 At five in the evening the aspect of the coast, 
 which we still had on our left, was considerably 
 changed. The palm-trees ran in right lines along
 
 ALEXANDRIA. 173 
 
 the shore, like the avenues that often adorn the 
 country-seats of our gentry : thus Nature delights 
 to renew the ideas of civilization in the land where 
 that civilization originated, and where ignorance 
 and misery have now erected their throne. Having 
 doubled Cape Aboukir, the wind lulled by degrees, 
 so that we could not reach the port of Alexandria 
 before night. It was eleven o'clock when we came 
 to an anchor in the commercial harbour, in the 
 midst of the vessels lying before the city. I would 
 not go on shore, but waited for daylight on the 
 deck of our saick. 
 
 I had abundant leisure to pursue my reflections. 
 On my right I discerned shipping, and the castle, 
 which stands on the spot once occupied by the 
 Pharos ; on the left the horizon seemed bounded 
 by hills, ruins, and obelisks, which I could scarcely 
 distinguish in the dark ; before me extended a 
 black line of walls and confused buildings : only 
 one solitary light was to be seen on shore, and not 
 a sound interrupted the universal silence. This 
 was, nevertheless, that Alexandria, once the rival 
 of Memphis and Thebes, which contained three 
 millions of inhabitants, which was the sanctuary of 
 the Muses, and which rang with the obstreperous 
 orgies of Anthony and Cleopatra amid the shades 
 of night. But in vain I listened ; a fatal charm 
 plunged the inhabitants of modern Alexandria in 
 profound silence: this charm is despotism, which 
 extinguishes all joy, and allows not even a sigh to 
 escape from the bosom of affliction. What sounds, 
 indeed, could be expected to arise from a city, of 
 which one-third at least is forsaken ; of which 
 another third is occupied by sepulchres ; while the 
 living third, in the midst of these two extremities, 
 is a kind of palpitating trunk, which lying between
 
 174 M. DROVETTI. 
 
 ruins and tombs, has not even the strength to rattle 
 its chains ! 
 
 At eight in the morning- of the 20th, the saick's 
 boat carried me on shore, and I desired to be con- 
 ducted to M. Drovetti, the French consul at 
 Alexandria. So far I have spoken of our consuls 
 in the Levant with the gratitude which I owe them ; 
 in this instance I shall go still farther, and suy, that 
 I formed an acquaintance with M. Drovetti which 
 has ripened into a sincere friendship. M. Drovetti, 
 a native of Italy, and who has served with credit 
 in the military profession, received me with that 
 simplicity which distinguishes the soldier, and that 
 warmth communicated by the influence of a de- 1 
 licious clime. I know not whether this work will 
 find its way to the desert where he resides ; I wish 
 it may, that he may learn that time has not 
 weakened my attachment ; that I have not for- 
 gotten the emotion which he manifested, when he 
 bade me farewell on the beach — an emotion truly 
 generous in any man who, like him, wipes away 
 the marks of it with a hand mutilated in the 
 service of his country. I have neither influence, 
 nor patrons, nor fortune ; but if I had, for no 
 person would I more cheerfully employ them than 
 for M. Drovetti. 
 
 The reader certainly does not expect me to give 
 a description of Egypt. I have treated rather cir- 
 cumstantially of the ruins of Athens, because, 
 after all, they are not well known, except to 
 amateurs of the arts ; I have entered into minute 
 details respecting Jerusalem, because Jerusalem 
 was the principal object of my tour. But what 
 should I say of Egypt? Who is there now that 
 has not seen it? Volney's travels in that country 
 are a real masterpiece in every point but erudition ;
 
 ROSETTA. 175 
 
 that has been exhausted by Sicard, Norden, 
 Pococke, Shaw, Niebuhr, and some others : while 
 the drawings of M. Denon, and the grand de- 
 lineations of the Egyptian Institute, have placed 
 before our eyes the ,monuments of Thebes and 
 Memphis. I shall therefore follow, without di- 
 gression, the mere dates of my journal. 
 
 M. Drovetti gave me a lodging in the house of 
 the consulate, which stands almost close to the 
 sea, in the commercial harbour. Since I was now 
 in Egypt, I could not leave the country without 
 seeing the Nile and the Pyramids : I therefore 
 requested M. Drovetti to hire me an Austrian 
 vessel for Tunis, while I proceeded to contem- 
 plate the prodigy of a tomb. At Alexandria, I 
 found two French gentlemen belonging' to the 
 legation of M. de Lesseps, who, I believe, had 
 then been appointed consul-general of Egypt, but, 
 if I am not mistaken, lias since continued at 
 Leghorn. As they also intended to visit Cairo, 
 we procured a gerb, in which we embarked on 
 the '23d for Rosetta. M. Drovetti kept Julian, 
 who was ill of a fever, and provided me a 
 janissary ; John I sent back to Constantinople in 
 a Greek vessel which was preparing to sail. 
 
 We departed in the evening from Alexandria, 
 and arrived in the night at the Bogaz of Rosetta. 
 We crossed the bar without accident. At day- 
 break we found ourselves at the mouth of the river, 
 and landed upon the cape on our right. The Nile 
 appeared in all its beauty ; its current filled the 
 channel without encroaching on its banks, and 
 along its stream were seen verdant plains of rice 
 interspersed with detached palm-trees, which re- 
 presented columns and porticoes. We went again 
 on board, and soon approached Rosetta. It was
 
 176 ALBANIAN SOLDIERS. 
 
 then that I obtained the first view of that magnifi- 
 cent Delta, where nothing is wanting except a free 
 government and a happy people. But there cannot 
 be a fine country without independence ; the most 
 serene sky is hateful if we are fettered upon earth. 
 I found nothing worthy of these superb plains but 
 the memorials of the glory of my native land. I 
 beheld the remains of the monuments * of a new 
 civilization, brought by the genius of France to the 
 banks of the Nile; I considered at the same time 
 that the lances of our chevaliers, and the bayonets 
 of our soldiers, had twice reflected the rays of so 
 brilliant a sun : with this difference, that the manes 
 of our chevaliers w 7 ho fell on the unfortunate day of 
 Massoura, were avenged by our soldiers at. the 
 battle of the Pyramids. For the rest, though I was 
 delighted with the appearance of a wide river and 
 verdant plains, I was not much surprised ; for it 
 was an absolute picture of my rivers of Louisiana, 
 and my American savannahs. Fain would I have 
 beheld also the forests where I cherished the first 
 illusions of my life. 
 
 M. Saint Marcel, the French consul at Rosetta, 
 received us with great politeness; and.M. Caffe, a 
 French merchant, and one of the kindest of men, 
 resolved to accompany us to Cairo. We made a 
 bargain with the master of a large vessel, hired his 
 best cabin, and, for the greater safety, admitted an 
 Albanian chief into our society. M. de Choiseul 
 has accurately described these soldiers of Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 " These fierce Albanians," says he, " would 
 still be heroes, if they had a Scanderbeg at their 
 head : but they are now mere banditti, whose very 
 
 * Several buildings erected by command of the emperor are 
 still to be seen in Egypt.
 
 THE DELTA. 177 
 
 look indicates ferocity. They are tall, active, and 
 muscular. Their dress consists of very wide trow- 
 sers, a short petticoat, a waistcoat covered with 
 plates, chains, and several rows of large balls of 
 silver. They wear buskins, fastened with thongs 
 of leather, which sometimes come up to the knees, 
 to keep on the calves of the legs plates which 
 assume their form, and preserve them from rubbing 
 against the horse. Their cloaks, bordered and 
 laced with different colours, render their dress still 
 more picturesque. They have no other covering 
 for the head than a red cap, and this they throw 
 off when they are going to battle " * 
 
 The two days which we passed at Rosetta were 
 spent in surveying that pretty Arabian town, its 
 gardens, and its wood of palm-trees. Savary has 
 somewhat exaggerated the charms of this place; 
 but he has not deviated so far from the truth as 
 has been asserted. The pathos of his descriptions 
 has proved detrimental to his authority as a tra- 
 veller ; but it is no more than justice to assert, 
 that his style is more deficient in truth than his 
 narrative. 
 
 On the 26th, at noon, we went on board our 
 vessel, which carried a considerable number of 
 Turkish and Arab passengers. We set sail, and 
 began to ascend the Nile. On our left, a verdant 
 marsh extended as far as the eye could reach ; on 
 our right the river was lined with a cultivated 
 border, beyond which were seen the sands of the 
 desert. Palm-trees, thinly scattered here and 
 there, indicated the sites of villages, like the trees 
 planted about the cottages in the plains of Flan- 
 ders. The houses of these villages are built of 
 earth, and raised on artificial mounts ; an useless 
 * Tlie dress of the Albanians is white, trimmed with red lace. 
 
 i3
 
 178 VOYAGE UP THE NILE. 
 
 precaution, since there is very often not a creature 
 in these houses to be saved from the inundations 
 of the Nile. Part of the Delta is a waste ; thou- 
 sands of Fellahs have been slaughtered by the 
 Albanians, and the rest have removed to Upper 
 Egypt. 
 
 Impeded by contrary winds, and the rapidity 
 of the current, we were seven tedious days in our 
 progress from Rosetta to Cairo. Sometimes our 
 sailors towed us along with a rope ; at others we 
 advanced by the aid of a northerly breeze which 
 blew but for a moment. We frequently stopped 
 to take Albanians on board ; as early as the second 
 day of our voyage we had four of these people, 
 who took possession of our cabin : we were obliged 
 to put up with their brutality and insolence. At 
 the least nois?, they ran upon deck, seized their 
 muskets, and like madmen, seemed ready to make 
 war on absent enemies. I have seen them take 
 aim at children who ran along the bank of the 
 river asking charity : the little unfortunates ran 
 and hid themselves behind the ruins of their huts, 
 as if accustomed to these horrid diversions. During 
 this time, our Turkish merchants went on shore, 
 squatted quietly on their heels, turned their faces 
 towards Mecca, and cut a kind of religious caper 
 in the middle of the fields. Our Albanians, half 
 Mussulmans and half Christians, ejaculated 
 "Mahomet!" and "Virgin Mary!" took their 
 beads from their pockets, repeated obscene words 
 in French, swallowed large pitchers of wine, fired 
 their muskets in the air, and insulted both Chris- 
 tians and Mahometans. 
 
 Is it then possible that the laws can make such 
 a distinction among - men ? Can those hordes of 
 Albanian banditti, those stupid Mussulmans, those
 
 ANCIENT KINGS. 179 
 
 Fellahs, so cruelly oppressed, inhabit the same 
 places where once lived a people so industrious, so 
 peaceable, so wise — a people of whose manners 
 and customs Herodotus and Diodorus in particular 
 have left us such a pleasing' description ! Is there 
 in any poem a finer picture than the following.'' 
 
 " In the early ag-es the kings of Egypt did not 
 conduct themselves like those of other nations, 
 where they do whatever they please, without being 
 obliged to follow any rule or to take any advice ; 
 every thing was prescribed to them by the laws, 
 not only in regard to the government of the king- 
 dom, but also in relation to their private conduct. 
 They could not purchase slaves, or even such as 
 were born in their residences, to wait upon them ; 
 but the sons of the principal priests, always 
 above the age of twenty years, and the best edu- 
 cated persons in the whole nation, were given them 
 for this purpose ; that the monarch, seeing himself 
 night and day surrounded by the most distinguished 
 of the Egyptian youth, might do nothing mean 
 or unbecoming his high rank. In fact, if princes 
 so easily plunge into all sorts of vice, it is because 
 they find ministers ever ready to be the tools of 
 their passions. There were in particular, certain 
 hours of the day and night when the king could 
 not dispose of his time as he pleased, but was 
 obliged to perform duties specified by the laws. 
 At day-break he was required to read the letters 
 addressed to him by his subjects, that, being 
 acquainted from his own knowledge with the 
 wants of his kingdom, he might supply them all, 
 and correct all abuses. Having bathed, he put on 
 a splendid robe, and other insignia of royalty, to 
 go and sacrifice to the gods. When the victims 
 had been led to the altar, the high priest, standing,
 
 180 ANCIENT EGYrTJAN CUSTOMS. 
 
 and in the presence of all the people, prayed aloud 
 to the gods to preserve the king, and to bestow on 
 him all sorts of prosperity, because he governed 
 his subjects with justice. He then enumerated in 
 his prayer all the virtues befitting a sovereign, con- 
 tinuing in these words : ' Because he is master of 
 himself, magnanimous, beneficent, kind to others, 
 an enemy to falsehood, his punishments are not 
 equal to his crimes, and his rewards surpass the 
 services for which they are conferred.' Having 
 said several things of this kind, he condemned the 
 errors into which the king had fallen through 
 ignorance. It is true he exculpated the monarch 
 himself, but he loaded with execrations the 
 flatterers and all those who had given him bad 
 counsel. The high priest adopted this method, 
 because advice mingled with praise is often more 
 efficacious than severe reproof, for inspiring sove- 
 reigns with the fear of the gods and the love of 
 virtue. After this, the king having sacrificed and 
 consulted the entrails of the victim, the reader of 
 the sacred books read to him some remarkable 
 actions or words of great men ; in order that the 
 head of the commonwealth, having his mind im- 
 bued with excellent, principles, might put them in 
 practice on such occasions as should present them- 
 
 ves. 
 
 It is greatly to be regretted that the illustrious 
 Archbishop of Cambray did not, instead of de- 
 lineating an imaginary Egypt, borrow this picture, 
 working it up with such colours as his exquisite 
 genius would have suggested. Faydit is right on 
 this single point, if it be possible for that man to 
 be right who is totally destitute of decorum, 
 honesty, and taste. But still Fenelon should have 
 retained, at any rate, the ground- work of the
 
 APPROACH THE PYRAMIDS. 181 
 
 adventures of his own invention, and related them 
 in the most ancient style ; the episode of Ter- 
 mosiris alone is equivalent in value to a long 
 poem : 
 
 "I advanced into a gloomy forest, where all at 
 once I perceived an old man holding a book in his 
 hand. This old man had a large forehead, bald, 
 and somewhat wrinkled ; a white beard descended 
 to his waist ; his person was tall and majestic, and 
 his complexion still fresh and ruddy. His eyes 
 were lively and piercing, his voice mild, his words 
 simple and amiable. Never did I behold such a 
 venerable old man ; his name was Termosiris." 
 
 We passed through the canal of Menouf, which 
 prevented me from seeing the fine wood of palm- 
 trees on the oreat western branch ; but the Arabs 
 then infested the west bank of that branch which 
 borders on the Libyan Desert. On leaving the 
 canal of Menouf, and continuing to ascend the 
 river, we perceived on our left the ridge of Mount 
 Mokattam, and on our right the high sandy downs 
 of Libya. In the intermediate space between these 
 two chains of mountains, we soon descried the tops 
 of the Pyramids, from which we were yet upwards 
 of ten leagues distant. During the remainder of 
 our voyage, which took us near eight hours, I 
 remained upon deck, to contemplate these tombs ; 
 which seemed to increase in magnitude and height 
 as we approached. The Nile, which then resem- 
 bled a little sea ; the mixture of the sands of the 
 desert, and the freshest verdure ; the palm-trees, 
 the sycamores, the domes, the mosques, and the 
 minarets of Cairo ; the distant pyramids of Sak- 
 karah, from which the river seemed to issue as 
 from its immense reservoirs, altogether formed a 
 scene to which the world cannot produce a parallel.
 
 182 THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 et But in spite of all the efforts of men," says Bos- 
 suet, cC their insignificance is invariably apparent ; 
 these pyramids were tombs ! — nay, more ; the kings 
 by whom they were erected had not the satisfaction 
 of being interred in them, and consequently did not 
 enjoy their sepulchre." 
 
 I confess, however, that at the first sight of the 
 Pyramids, the only sentiment I felt was admiration. 
 Philosophy, I know, can sigh or smile at the re- 
 flection, that the most stupendous monument ever 
 erected by the hand of man is a tomb : but why 
 should we behold in the pyramid of Cheops nothing 
 but a heap of stones and a skeleton ? It was not 
 from a sense of his nothingness that man reared 
 such a sepulchre, but from the instinct of his im- 
 mortality : this sepulchre is not the boundary which 
 marks the termination of the career of a day, but 
 the entrance of a life without end : 'tis an everlast- 
 ing "fate erected on the confines of eternitv. " All 
 these people" (of Egypt), says Diodorus Siculus, 
 ' c considering the duration of life as a very short 
 period, and of little importance, are en the other 
 hand extremely solicitous about that long memory 
 which virtue leaves behind it. For this reason, they 
 give to the habitations of the living 1 the name of 
 inns, where they sojourn only for a short time : but 
 that of eternal abodes to the tombs of the dead, 
 which they are never more to quit. Accordingly, 
 the kings have manifested a certain indifference in 
 regard to the construction of their palaces, and 
 bestowed all their attention on that of their tombs." 
 
 It is insisted, at the present day, that all mo- 
 numents had a physical utility, and it is not con- 
 sidered that there is for nations a moral utility of 
 a much higher order, which was studied by the 
 legislators of antiquity. Is, then, nothing to be
 
 THE PYRAMIDS. 183 
 
 learned from the sight of a tomb ? If any lesson is 
 taught by it, why should we complain that a king- 
 resolved to render that lesson perpetual ? Majestic 
 monuments constitute an essential part of the glory 
 of every human society. Unless we maintain that 
 it is a matter of indifference whether a nation 
 leaves behind it a name or no name in history, we 
 cannot condemn those structures which extend the 
 memory of a people beyond its own existence, and 
 make it contemporary with the future generations 
 that fix their residence in its forsaken fields. Of 
 what consequence is it, then, whether these edifices 
 were amphitheatres or sepulchres ? Every thing is 
 a tomb with a nation that no longer exists. When 
 man is gone, the monuments of his life are still 
 more vain than those of his death : his mausoleum 
 is at least serviceable to his ashes ; but do his pa- 
 laces retain any particle of his pleasures ? 
 
 Most certainly, if we would be strict, a little 
 grove is sufficient for all, and six feet of ground, 
 as Mathew Mole observes, will always do justice 
 to the greatest man in the world : God may be 
 adored under a tree, as beneath the dome of St. 
 Peter's; and a man may live in a cottage as well 
 as in the Louvre. The error of this mode of rea- 
 soning consists in transferrin" - one order of things 
 into another. Besides, a nation is not more happy 
 when it lives in ignorance of the arts, than when it 
 leaves behind st: - ikinj>' evidences of its genius. 
 People have ceased to believe in the existence of 
 those communities of shepherds who pass their 
 days in innocence, and* beguile the delicious hours 
 with rambling in the recesses of forests. Full well 
 we know that these honest pastors make war upon 
 each other, that they may feast upon the sheep of 
 their neighbours. Their bowers are neither shaded
 
 184? THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 with vines, nor embalmed with the perfume of 
 flowers ; you are suffocated in their habitation with 
 the smoke, and stifled with the stench of milk. In 
 poetry, and in philosophy, a petty, half-barbarous 
 tribe may enjoy every earthly blessing ; but mer- 
 ciless history subjects them to the same calamities 
 as the rest of mankind. Are they who so loudly 
 exclaim against glory — are they, I would ask, to- 
 tally regardless of renown ? For my part, so far 
 from considering the monarch who erected the 
 great Pyramid as a madman, I look upon him to 
 have been a sovereign of a magnanimous dispo- 
 sition. The idea of vanquishing time by a tomb, 
 of surviving generations, manners, laws, and ages, 
 by a coffin, could not have sprung from a vulgar 
 mind. If this be pride, it is at least a grand pride. 
 Such a vanity as that which produced the great 
 Pyramid, that has withstood the ravages of three 
 or four thousand years, must certainly, in the end, 
 be accounted as something. 
 
 For the rest, these Pyramids reminded me of 
 less pompous monuments, though they were like- 
 wise sepulchres : I mean those edifices of turf, 
 which cover the remains of the Indians on the 
 banks of the Ohio. When I visited these, I was 
 in a very different state of mind from that in which 
 I contemplated the mausoleums of the Pharaohs : 
 I was then beginning my journey, and now I am 
 finishing it. The world, at these two periods of 
 my life, wore to me precisely the appearance of 
 the two deserts in which I have seen these two 
 species of tombs • a smiling, wilderness, and barren 
 sands.
 
 185 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cairo— French Mamelukes— The Pacha's Son — Plains of Mem- 
 phis—View of the Pyramids — Departure from Cairo — 'Arab 
 Camp — Attack on the Author's Vessel— Esmenard's Apos- 
 trophe to Egypt — Return to Alexandria — Inscription on 
 Pompey's Pillar — Ali Bey and Atala — Dreariness of Alexan- 
 dria and its Environs— Embarkation for Tunis — Tempestuous 
 Weather— Island of Scarpanto — S tarn pal ia — A Hurricane- 
 New Year's Day— The Kerkeni Islands — Arrival at Tunis. 
 
 We landed at Boulak, where we hired horses 
 and asses to carry ns to Cairo. This city, com- 
 manded by the ancient castle of Babylon and 
 Mount Mokattam, forms a very picturesque view, 
 from the great number of palm-trees, sycamores, 
 and minarets, which rise from the midst of it. We 
 entered it by a ruined suburb, and lay-stalls 
 where vultures were devouring their prey. We 
 alighted in the quarter of the Franks, a street 
 without any thoroughfare, the entrance of which is 
 shut up every night, like the exterior cloisters of a 
 
 convent. We were received by Monsieur * 
 
 whom M. Drovetti had entrusted with the French 
 a°ency at Cairo. He took us under his protec- 
 tion, and sent to acquaint the pacha with our 
 arrival ; he at the same time caused the five 
 
 * By the greatest of accidents, the name of my host is effaced in 
 my journal, and I fear that my memory has not retained it cor- 
 rectly, for which reason I cannot venture to insert it. I should 
 not forgive myself for such a mischance, if my memory were as 
 treacherous in regard to the services, attentions, and civilities of 
 my host, as it has prored in respect to his name.
 
 186 FRENCH MAMELUKES. 
 
 French Mamelukes to be apprised of the circum- 
 stance, that they might attend us in our ex- 
 cursions. 
 
 These Mamelukes were in the service of the 
 pacha. Large armies always leave behind them 
 some stragglers; ours lost in this manner two or 
 three hundred men, who remained dispersed in 
 Egypt. They followed the fortunes of different 
 beys, and soon became renowned for their valour. 
 It was universally admitted, that if these deserters, 
 instead of espousing opposite interests, had united 
 and appointed a French bey, they might have 
 made themselves masters of the whole country. 
 Unfortunately, they wanted a leader, and almost 
 all perished in the pay of the masters whom they 
 had chosen. When 1 was at Cairo, Mohamed All 
 Pacha was still deploring the death of one of 
 these brave fellows. This soldier, who was at first 
 a drum-boy in one of our regiments, had fallen by 
 the chance of war into the hands of the Turks. 
 Before he had arrived at manhood, he enlisted 
 himself among the troops of the pacha. Mohamed, 
 to whom he was yet a stranger, seeing him charge 
 a whole host of enemies, cried out : " Who is that 
 man ? he must be a Frenchman" — and a French- 
 man he actually proved to be. From that moment 
 he became a favourite with his master, and nothing 
 was talked of but his intrepidity. He was killed 
 shortly before my arrival in Egypt, in an action 
 in which the other five Mamelukes lost their 
 horses. 
 
 These men were natives of Gascony, Languedoc, 
 and Picardy : their chief acknowledged that he was 
 the son of a shoemaker of Toulouse. The next in 
 authority to him acted as interpreter for his com- 
 rade. He spoke Turkish and Arabic very fluently,
 
 FRENCH MAMELUKES. 187 
 
 and always said in French fetions, fallions, je 
 f aisions. A third, a tall young man, very slender 
 and pale, had lived a long- time in the desert with 
 the Bedouins, and exceedingly regretted that way 
 of life. He told me that when he found himself 
 alone in the midst of sands, upon a camel, he was 
 seized with such transports of joy that he was 
 unable to restrain them. The pacha esteemed 
 these men so highly, that he preferred them to the 
 rest of his spahis ; they alone equalled, and even 
 surpassed the intrepidity of those formidable horse 
 destroyed by the emperor at the battle of the 
 Pyramids. We live in an age of wonders ; every 
 Frenchman now seems to be summoned to per- 
 form an extraordinary part : five soldiers out of 
 the lowest ranks of our army, were, in 1806, all but 
 masters of Cairo. Nothing could be a more amus- 
 ing and singular spectacle than to see Abdallah of 
 Toulouse take the strings of his caftan, lay them 
 about the faces of the Arabs and Albanians who 
 annoyed him, and thus clear a wide passage for us 
 through the most populous streets. For the rest, 
 these kings by exile had, after the example of 
 Alexander, adopted the manners of the conquered ; 
 they wore long vests of silk, fine white turbans, 
 and superb arms ; they kept a harem, slaves, and 
 horses of the highest blood : things which then- 
 fathers in Gascony and Picardy knew nothing at. 
 all about. But among the mats, the carpets, the 
 divans, which I saw in their house, I remarked a 
 relic of their native land ; it was a uniform which 
 exhibited sabre cuts in different places, and cover- 
 ed the foot of a bed made up in the French fashion. 
 Abdallah perhaps reserved these honourable tatters 
 for the conclusion of the dream, like the shepherd 
 raised to the station of prime minister :
 
 188 the pacha's SOX. 
 
 Le coffre etant ouvert, on y vit des lambeaux, 
 L'habit d'un gardeur de troupeaux, 
 Petit chapeau, jupon, panetiere, houlette, 
 Et, je pense, aussi sa musette. 
 
 November 1st, the day after our arrival at 
 seph's, we went up to the castle to examine Jo- 
 Cairo Well, the mosque, &c. The pacha's son 
 then resided in this castle. We paid our respects 
 to his Excellency, who might be about fourteen or 
 fifteen years old. We found him seated on a 
 carpet in a ruinous apartment, surrounded by a 
 dozen flatterers, eager to gratify all his caprices. 
 Never did I behold a more disgusting spectacle. 
 The father of this boy was scarcely master of 
 Cairo, and possessed neither Upper nor Lower 
 Egypt. It was in this state of things that twelve 
 miserable savages fed with the vilest adulation a 
 young barbarian shut up for safety in a dungeon. 
 Such was the master to whom the Egyptians 
 looked forward after so many calamities ! 
 
 While they were thus engaged, in one corner of 
 the castle, in corrupting the mind of a boy who was 
 destined to govern men, in another part they were 
 busily coining money of the basest alloy : and, that 
 the inhabitants of Cairo might receive without a 
 murmur both the adulterated coin and the depraved 
 chief that were preparing for them, the guns were 
 pointed against the city. 
 
 I was much better pleased to expatiate abroad 
 with my eye, and to admire from the top of the 
 castle the immense picture presented in the distance 
 by the Nile, the cultivated district, the desert, and 
 the Pyramids. Though four leagues from the latter, 
 we seemed to be quite close to them. I could per- 
 fectly distinguish with my naked eye the courses of 
 stones, and the head of the Sphynx rising above
 
 PLAIN'S OF MEMPHIS. 189 
 
 the sand ; with a telescope I counted the steps at the 
 angles of the great Pyramid, and discerned the eyes, 
 mouth, and ears of the Sphynx : sj prodigious are 
 these masses. 
 
 Iu the plains which extend from the other side 
 of the Nile to the desert where the Pyramids 
 rear their lofty heads, once stood the city of 
 Memphis. 
 
 " These happy plains," says Diodorus, " re- 
 ported to be the abode of the just after death, are, 
 in fact, no other than the beautiful country in the 
 vicinity of the lake Acherusia, near Memphis, com- 
 posed of fields and ponds covered with corn or the 
 lotos. It is not without foundation that the dead 
 have been said to reside here, for here terminate 
 the funeral ceremonies of most of the Egyptians, 
 when their bodies having been conveyed across the 
 Nile and the lake Acherusia, are finally deposited 
 in tombs constructed under the surface of these 
 plains. The ceremonies yet practised in Eoypt, 
 correspond with all the notions of the Greeks re- 
 specting the infernal regions: as to the boat in which 
 the body is transported ; the piece cf money that 
 must be given to the ferryman, named in the Egyp- 
 tian language, Charon ; the temple of the gloomy 
 Hecate, situate at the entrance of hell ; the gates 
 of the Cocytus and Lethe, turning on brazen 
 hinges ; and other gates, which are those of Virtue 
 and of Justice, who is without a head." 
 
 On the 2d we went to Djize and the island of 
 Roda. We examined the Nilometer in the midst 
 of the ruins of the house of Murad Bey. We had 
 thus advanced a good deal nearer to the Pyramids. 
 At this distance they seemed to be of immense 
 height : towering above the verdant rice-fields, the 
 current of the river, the tops of the palms and
 
 190 VIEW OK THE PYRAMIDS. 
 
 sycamores, they appeared, in this point of view, 
 like colossal structures erected in a magnificent 
 garden. The beams of the sun, of admirable soft- 
 ness, coloured the sterile chain of Mokattam, the 
 sands of Libya, the horizon of Sakkarah, and the 
 plain of the Tombs. A brisk wind drove the light 
 white clouds towards Nubia, and ruffled the ex- 
 panded surface of the Nile. I thought Egypt the 
 finest country in the world ; I love the very deserts 
 which border it, and which open to the imagination 
 the field of immensity. 
 
 On our return from this excursion, we saw the 
 deserted mosque which I have mentioned in treat- 
 ing of that of Jerusalem, and which appeared to 
 me to be the model of the cathedral of Cordova. 
 
 I spent five days more at Cairo, in the hope of 
 visiting the sepulchres of the Pharaohs ; but this 
 was impossible. Most unluckily, the waters of 
 the Nile had not yet sufficiently subsided, to allow 
 of my going on horseback to the Pyramids, and 
 were not high enough to admit of approaching 
 them in a boat. We sent out people to sound the 
 fords and explore the country ; but all the Arabs 
 agreed in reporting, that it would be necessary to 
 wait at least three weeks or a month before the 
 journey could be undertaken. Such a delay might 
 have kept me all the winter in Egypt, for the 
 westerly winds were just beginning to blow ; and 
 this would not have agreed either with my object 
 or my finances. I had already lingered too long 
 on my journey, and by resolving upon this excur- 
 sion to Cairo, I ran the risk of never more re- 
 visiting France. I was therefore obliged to yield 
 to my fate, to return to Alexandria, and to be 
 content \vith having beheld the Pyramids with my 
 eyes, as I could not touch them with my hands.
 
 DEPARTURE FROM CAIRO. 191 
 
 I requested M. Caffe, on the first opportunity, to 
 inscribe ray name, according to custom, on these 
 prodigious 'tombs ; for I like to fulfil all the little 
 duties of a pious traveller. Are we not gratified 
 when we read, on the relics of Memnon's statue, 
 the names of the Romans who heard it sigh when 
 gilded by the first beams of the rising sun ? These 
 Romans were strangers, like ourselves, in "the 
 land of Egypt, and like them we shall also pass 
 away. 
 
 For the rest, I could easily have reconciled my- 
 self to a residence at Cairo ; it is the only place 
 that I have seen which at all comes up to the idea 
 we usually form of an oriental city. Accordingly 
 it figures in the Arabian Nights. It still retains 
 many traces of the visit of the French : the women 
 shew themselves with less reserve than formerly ; 
 you are at perfect liberty to go in and out whenever 
 and wherever you please ; and the European dress, 
 instead of being an object of insult, is a claim to 
 protection. There is a very pleasant garden, having 
 circular alleys planted with palm-trees, which 
 serves for a public walk : this was the work of our 
 soldiers. 
 
 Before I left Cairo, I made Abdallah a present 
 of a double-barrelled gun of Le Page's manufac- 
 ture, which he promised to make use of on the first 
 opportunity. 1 bade adieu to my host and my 
 amiable fellow-travellers, and proceeded to Boulak, 
 where I embarked with M. Caffe for Rosetta. We 
 were the only pasgengers in the vessel, and we got 
 under weigh at seven in the evening of the 8th of 
 November. 
 
 We fell down the river by the branch of Menouf. 
 On the morning of the 10th, just as we had cleared 
 that channel, and were again entering the great
 
 192 ATTACK BY ARABS. 
 
 branch of Rosetta, we perceived the west bank of 
 the river occupied by a camp of Arabs. In spite 
 of all our efforts the current drove us to that side, 
 and obliged us to keep near the shore. A sentinel, 
 concealed behind an old wall, called to the master 
 to land. The latter replied that he was in a hurry 
 to reach the place of his destination, and that, 
 besides, he was not an enemy. During- this 
 dialogue we had approached within pistol-shot of 
 the shore, and the current ran in this direction for 
 the space of a mile. The sentinel, seeing that we 
 pursued our course, fired upon us : this first ball 
 narrowly missed the man at the helm, who return- 
 ed it with his carbine. The whole camp taking 
 the alarm, hastened to the water's edge, and we 
 were exposed to the fire of the whole line. We 
 proceeded very slowly, for the wind was contrary, 
 and, to crown our ill luck, we grounded for a 
 moment. We were unarmed: I had given my 
 piece, as I have related, to Abdallah. I would 
 have persuaded M. Caffe, whose kindness to me 
 had brought him into this disagreeable adventure, 
 to go below ; but though the father of a family, 
 and advanced in years, he insisted on remaining 
 upon deck. I remarked the extraordinary agility 
 of an Arab, who fired, charged his piece as he 
 ran, fired again, and that without suffering the 
 vessel to gain upon him a single step. The current 
 at length carried us towards the opposite bank ; 
 but in so doing, it threw us into a camp of 
 Albanian rebels, from whom we were in much 
 greater danger than from the Arabs, for they were 
 provided with cannon, and a single ball might have 
 sunk us. We perceived a bustle on shore ; but, 
 luckily, night came on. We kindled no fire, and 
 maintained profound silence. Providence con-
 
 LEAVES EGYPT. 193 
 
 ducted us, without farther accident, amid these 
 hostile parties, to Rosetta, where we arrived on 
 the 11th at ten in the morning. 
 
 I there spent two days with M. Caflfe and M. de 
 Saint Marcel, and set out on the 13th for Alex- 
 andria. On quitting E^yp!, I saluted it in these 
 beautiful lines of M. Esmenard, in his poem en- 
 titled La Nari<zation. 
 
 Mere antique des arts et ties fables divines, 
 Toi, dont la gloire assise au milieu des mines, 
 Etonne le genie et confond notre orgueil, 
 Egypte venerable, on, du tbnd d'un eercueil, 
 Ta grandeur colossale insulte a nos chimeres; 
 C'est ton peuple qui sut, a ces barques legeres 
 Dont rien ne dirigeoit le cours audacieux, 
 Chercher des guides surs dans la voiite des cieux, 
 Quand le Heuve sacre qui feconde tes rives 
 T'apportoit en tribut ses ondes fugitives, 
 Et sur 1 'email des pres egarant les poissons, 
 Du limon de ses riots nourissoit tes moissons, 
 Les liameaux disperses sur les hauteurs fertiles, 
 D'un nouvel Ocean sembioit former les iles; 
 Les palmiers ranimes par la fraiebeur des eaux, 
 Sur l'oncle salutaire abaissoient leurs rameaux; 
 Par les feux du Cancer Syeue poursuivie, 
 Dans ses sables brulans sentoit filtrer la vie ; 
 Et des murs de Pt'luse aux lieux ou fut Memphis, 
 Mille canots flottoient sur la terre d'Isis. 
 Le foible papyrus, par des tissus fragiles, 
 Formoit les flancs etroits de ces barques agiles, 
 Qui des lieux separes conservant les rapports, 
 Reunissoient l'Egypte en parcourant ses bords. 
 Mais lorsque dans les airs la Vierge triomphante 
 ltamenoit vers le Nil son onde deeroissante, 
 Quand les troupeaux belans et les epis dores 
 S'emparoient a leur tour des cliamps desalteres, 
 Alors d'autres vaisseaux, a l'active 'Industrie, 
 Ouvroient des aquilons l'orageuse patrie. 
 Alors milles cites que decoroient les arts, 
 L'immense Pyrumide, et cent palais epars, 
 Du Nil enorgueilli couronnoient le rivage. 
 Dans les sables d'Ammon le porpbyre sauvage, 
 En colonne bardi elance dans les airs, 
 De sa pompe etrangero etonnoit les deserts. 
 vol. ii. K
 
 19^ RETURN TO ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 O grandeur des mortels ! O temps impitoyable! 
 Les destins sont combles : dans leur course inimitable,, 
 Les siecles out detruit cet eclat passager, 
 Que la superbe Egypte offrit a l'etranger. 
 
 The same day, the 13th, at seven in the evening, 
 I arrived at Alexandria. 
 
 M. Drovetti had hired me an Austrian vessel for 
 Tunis. She carried one hundred and twenty tons, 
 and was commanded by a Ragusan. The mate, 
 named Francis Dinelli, was a young Venetian, of 
 great skill in his profession. The necessary prepa- 
 rations fur the voyage, and stormy weather, kept 
 us in the harbour for ten days, which interval 1 
 employed in looking about me at Alexandria. 
 
 We find in Strabo the most satisfactory details 
 respecting ancient Alexandria ; thanks to M. de 
 Volney, the modern city is equally well known, 
 that traveller having given a most complete and 
 faithful picture of it. I refer the reader to his 
 account, which, as a descriptive piece, has not 
 perhaps its superior in our language. As to the 
 monuments of Alexandria, Pococke, Norden, Shaw, 
 Thevenot, Paul Lucas, Tott, Niebuhr, Sonnim, 
 and a hundred others, have examined, enumerated, 
 and measured them. I shall therefore merely in- 
 troduce here the inscription on Pompey's pillar. I 
 believe I am the first traveller that has brought it 
 to France. 
 
 For the possession of this piece of antiquity, the 
 learned world is indebted to some English officers, 
 who covered the inscription with plaster, and thus 
 obtained an impression of the characters which 
 compose it. 
 
 Pococke copied some of the letters: several other 
 travellers had perceived it, and I myself made out 
 with my naked eye several syllables, among the
 
 pompey's pillak. 195 
 
 rest, this commencement of a word AIOK which 
 is decisive. The impressions on plaster furnish 
 these four lines : 
 
 TO nTATON ATTOKPATOPA 
 
 TON nOAIOTXON AAEHANAPEIA2 
 AIOK H IANON TON TON 
 
 no ... . En APxos AirrnTor. 
 
 To this inscription it will be necessary to prefix 
 the word FIP02. The first chasm must be filled up 
 with N SO<J>; the second with A; the third withT; 
 the fourth with AXrOTS, and the fifth with A AION. 
 It will be perceived that there is nothing arbitrary 
 here except the word ATrOTSTON, which, hdw*- 
 ever, is not of much consequence. With these 
 additions it will read as follows: 
 
 TON 20*nTATON ATTOKPATOPA 
 TON nOAIOTXON AAE3ANAPEIA2 
 AIOK YHTIANON TON ATrOTSTON 
 
 noAAinN EnAPxoi AirrnTor. 
 
 " To the very wise Emperor, the Protector of 
 Alexandria, Dioclesian Augustus, Pollio, Prefect 
 of Egypt." 
 
 Thus all doubts relative to Pompey's pillar are 
 cleared up.* But is history silent on this subject ? 
 I think I recollect reading, in the life of one of the 
 Fathers of the Desert, written in Greek by a con- 
 temporary, that during an earthquake which hap- 
 pened at Alexandria, all the columns were over- 
 thrown except Dioclesian's. 
 
 M. Boissonade proposes to suppress the word 
 I1P02 in my reading, which is prefixed merelv to 
 govern the accusatives, and whose place is not 
 marked on the base of the column. He conceives, 
 that in this case, as in a great number of inscrip- 
 
 * That is to say, as far as relates to the inscription, for the 
 column itself is of much higher antiquity than this dedication. 
 
 K 2
 
 196 DREARINESS OF ALEXANDRIA 
 
 lions recorded by Chandler, Wheeler, Spon, &c. 
 ihe word hl^ms, honoratit, is understood. M. 
 Boissonade, who is destined to console us for the 
 loss or the old age of so many illustrious scholars, 
 is evidently right. 
 
 At Alexandria I enjoyed one of those little grati- 
 fications of vanity which authors are so fond of, 
 and which had before made me so proud at Sparta. 
 A rich Turk, a traveller and astronomer, whose 
 name was Ali Bey el Abassy, having heard my 
 name mentioned, declared that he was acquainted 
 with my works. I paid him a visit with the consul. 
 Ah! mon cher Atala, et ma chere Rene! exclaimed 
 he, as soon as he saw me. At that moment Ali 
 Bey seemed worthy of being a descendant of the 
 great Saladin. I am likewise inclined to believe 
 that he is the most learned and polished Turk in 
 the world, though he is not perfectly acquainted 
 with the genders of nouns in French, but ?wn ego 
 paucis offendar maculis. 
 
 If 1 had been enchanted with Egypt, I thought 
 Alexandria, on the contrary, the most dreary and 
 desolate place in the world. From the terrace of 
 the consul's house I could perceive nothing but a 
 naked sea, breaking against a low and still more 
 naked coast, harbours almost empty, and the Libyan 
 desert stretching to the south as far as the eye could 
 reach. This desert seemed, as it were, an exten- 
 sion of the yellow and level surface of the deep : 
 you might imagine that you had before you but 
 one single sea, one ha!f of which was agitated and 
 turbulent, and the other half silent and motionless. 
 Modern Alexandria every where mingling its ruins 
 with the ruins of the ancient city ; an Arab gallop- 
 ping among them upon an ass ; a number of half- 
 starved dogs devouring the carcases of camels on
 
 AND ITS ENVIROXS. 197 
 
 the beach ; the flags of the European consuls Waving 
 over their habitations, and displaying hostile colours 
 in the midst of tombs — such was the spectacle here 
 presented to my view. 
 
 Sometimes I took a ride with M. Drovetti to the 
 old town, to Necropolis, or to the desert. The 
 plant which yields soda scarcely covered the dry 
 sand ; the jackals fled at our approach ; a species 
 of cricket chirped with a shrill and disagreeable 
 voice, painfully reminding you of the villager's cot 
 in this solitude, where no rural smoke ever calls 
 you to the tent of the Arab. This place has be- 
 come still more dreary since the English inundated 
 the spacious hollow which served Alexandria for a 
 garden. Nothing meets the eye but sand, water, 
 and Pompey's eternal pillar. 
 
 On the platform of his house, M. Drovetti had 
 built an aviary, in the shape of a tent, where he 
 kept quails and partridges of various kinds. We 
 spent whole hours in walking to and fro in this 
 aviary, and talking of France. The conclusion of 
 all our conversations was, that we ought to seek as 
 speedily as possible for some humble retreat in our 
 native land, and there bury our long-cherished 
 hopes. One day, after a long argument on the 
 subject of repose, I turned towards the sea, and 
 pointed to the ship in which 1 was soon to embark, 
 battered by the winds. Not but that, after all, the 
 desire of repose is natural to man; but the object 
 which to us appears the most humble is not always 
 the most easily attained, and very often the cottage 
 and the palace alike elude our wishes. 
 
 The sky was overcast during my whole stay at 
 Alexandria, and the sea gloomy and tempestuous. 
 I went to sleep and awoke amidst the continual 
 roarino- of the billows which broke almost at the
 
 198 TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER. 
 
 foot of the consul's house. I might have applied 
 to myself the reflections of Eudore, if an author be 
 allowed to quote his own work : 
 
 " The dismal murmur of the sea was the first 
 sound that greeted my ear on coming into the 
 world : upon how many shores have I since beheld 
 these same billows breaking, which I here contem- 
 plate ! Who would have supposed, a few years 
 ago, that I should hear those waves, which I saw 
 sporting on the fine sands of Messenia, roaring on 
 the coasts of Italy, on the shores of the Batavi, of 
 the Bretons and of Gaul ! Where will be the end of 
 my pereginations? Happy should I have been, had 
 death overtaken me before I set out on my travels 
 through the world, and when I had yet no adven- 
 tures to relate."* 
 
 During my compulsory stay at Alexandria, I 
 received several letters from M. Caffe, my brave 
 companion in the voyage up and down the Nile. 
 I shall give an extract from one, dated Rosetta, 
 November 14, 1806, as it contains a few par- 
 ticulars relative to the affairs of Egypt at that 
 period : 
 
 " Mohamed Aga,-J- the present treasurer of 
 Mohamed Ali, pacha of Cairo, arrived here 
 about noon : it is reported that he demands a con- 
 tribution of five hundred purses upon the new rice. 
 So you see things get worse and worse. 
 
 " The village where the Mamelukes defeated 
 the Albanians, and which both of them plundered, 
 is called Nekle : the name of that where we were 
 attacked by the Arabs is Saffi." 
 
 On the 23d of November, at noon, the wind 
 
 * Les Martyrs. 
 
 t Mohamed Aga, the chief of the Albanians, struck wit 
 lustre of a great name, has added that of the Emperor to his own.
 
 EMBARK FOR TUNIS. 199 
 
 having become favourable, I went on board with 
 my French servant. I took leave of M. Drovetti 
 on the shore, and we once more promised each 
 other remembrance and friendship. Our ship lay 
 at anchor in the great harbour of Alexandria, where 
 Christian vessels are now admitted as well as 
 Turkish : a revolution owing to our arms. I 
 found on board a rabbi from Jerusalem, a native 
 of Barbary, and two poor Moors of Morocco, 
 perhaps descendants of the Abencerrages, return- 
 ing from a pilgrimage to Mecca. They begged 
 their passage of me as a charity. I received the 
 children of Israel and Mahomet in the name of Jesus 
 Christ. In reality, I could claim no great merit 
 on this account, for I took it into my head that 
 these poor creatures would bring me good luck. 
 
 At two o'clock we weighed anchor. A pilot 
 steered us out of the port. We had but very little 
 wind, and that from the south. We continued 
 three days within sight of Pompey's pillar, which 
 we perceived at the horizon. At length, on the 
 third day, the evening gun of the port of Alex- 
 andria seemed to give the signal for our final de- 
 parture ; a breeze sprung up from the north, and 
 we made sail to the west. We first attempted to 
 cross the great Gulf of Libya, but the wind, 
 which before was not very favourable, shifted to 
 the north-west on the '29th of November, and we 
 were obliged to stand out between Crete and the 
 coast of Africa. 
 
 On the 1st of December, the wind settling in the 
 west, completely obstructed our farther progress. 
 It got round by degrees to the south-west, and 
 increased to a tempest, which lasted till our 
 arrival at Tunis. The remainder of our voyage 
 was but a kind of incessant shipwreck, for the
 
 200 HUJRltlCANE. 
 
 long space of forty-two days. On the 3d we took 
 in all the sails, and began to scud before the wind. 
 In this manner we were carried with prodigious 
 violence to the very coast of Caramania : there, for 
 four whole days, I had abundant leisure to survey 
 the dreary and elevated summits of the Cragus, 
 enveloped in clouds. We kept beating about, and 
 endeavouring, on the slightest variation of the wind, 
 to get out to sea. We had, for a moment, some 
 thoughts of going into the harbour of Chateau 
 Rouge ; but the captain, who was extremely 
 timorous, durst not trust himself in those roads. 
 The night of the 8th was very trying : a sudden 
 squall from the south drove us towards the island 
 of Rhodes : the sea ran so high as to strain the ship 
 exceedingly. We descried a small Greek felucca 
 half under water, to which we could afford no assist- 
 ance. She passed within a cable's length of our 
 stern. The crew, consisting of four men, were on 
 their knees upon deck : they had hung a lantern to 
 their mast, and their lamentable cries were wafted 
 to us by the winds. Next morning we saw nothing 
 of this falucca. 
 
 The wind having shifted to the north, we hoisted 
 the fore-sail, and endeavoured to keep to the south- 
 ward of Rhodes. We made the island of Scar- 
 panto. On the 10th the wind again changed to the 
 west, and we lost all hopes of being able to pursue 
 our course. I wished the captain to relinquish his 
 design of crossing the Gulf of Libya, and to bear 
 away for the Archipelago, where we might expect 
 to meet with other winds ; but he was afraid to 
 venture among the islands. We had already been 
 seventeen days at sea. I employed myself in 
 writing out and arranging the notes for these 
 Travels; and at night I walked the deck with the
 
 SCARPANTO. 201 
 
 mate. The nights passed on the bosom of the deep, 
 in a ship battered by the tempest, are not barren 
 for the mind ; exalted ideas spring from grand 
 objects. The stars, which appear for a moment 
 between the fleeting clouds; the billows sparkling 
 around you ; the hollow sound returned by the 
 sides of the vessel to the dashing waves, all pro- 
 claim that you are out of the power of man, and 
 dependant on the will of the Almighty alone. The 
 uncertainty of your future prospects reduces objects 
 to their true value ; and the world, contemplated 
 amidst a tempestuous sea, resembles life considered 
 by a man on the brink of eternity. 
 
 After twenty times ploughing the same billows, 
 we again found ourselves, on the 12th, off the 
 island of Scarpanto. This island, formerly called 
 Carpathos, and by Homer Crapathos, gave its 
 name to the Carpathian Sea. A few lines of Virgil 
 now constitute all its celebrity- 
 
 Est in Carpathio Neptuni gurgite vates 
 Cieruleus Proteus, &c. 
 
 In the Carpathian bottom makes abode 
 
 The shepherd of the seas, a prophet, and a god. 
 
 High o'er the main in vvat'ry pomp he rides, 
 
 His azure car and finny coursers guides: 
 
 Proteus his name ; to his Pallenian port 
 
 I see from far the weary god resort. 
 
 Him not alone we river gods adore, 
 
 Put aged Nereus hearkens to his lore. 
 
 With sure foresight, and with unerring doom, 
 
 He sees what is, and was, and is to come. 
 
 This Neptune gave him when he gave to keep 
 
 His scaly flocks that graze the wat'ry deep.* 
 
 I should not go, if I could, to reside in the 
 island of Proteus, notwithstanding the fine verses 
 of the Georgics. I can still figure to myself the 
 miserable villages of Anchinates, Horo, and St. 
 
 * Georg. IV. translated by Dryden. 
 
 k3
 
 202 STAMPALIA. 
 
 Helia, which we descried with our glasses in the 
 mountains of the island. I have not, like Mene- 
 laus and Aristaeus, lost my kingdom or my bees ; 
 I have nothing- to expect from the future, and I 
 leave to the son of Neptune secrets which cannot 
 interest me. 
 
 On the 12th, at six in the evening, the wind 
 turning to the south, I persuaded the captain, with 
 some difficulty, to steer to leeward of the island of 
 Crete. At nine he said, according to custom, Ho 
 paura ! and retired to bed. M. Dinelli resolved 
 to attempt the channel formed by the islands of 
 Scarpanto and Coxo. We entered it with a 
 violent south-west wind. At dawn of day we found 
 ourselves among an archipelago of islets, and sur- 
 rounded with breakers. We resolved to put into 
 the harbour of the island of Stampalia, which was 
 a-head of us. 
 
 This dull port had neither ships upon its waters 
 nor houses upon its shores. W T e perceived only a 
 village, perched as usual on the summit of a rock. 
 We came to an anchor, and I went on shore with 
 the captain. While he proceeded to the village, I 
 explored the interior of the island. I saw nothing 
 but heaths, rills of water running over moss, and 
 the sea breaking - against the rocks which girded the 
 coast. The ancients, nevertheless, gave to this 
 island the appellation of ©ewv Tfa7re£a,the Table of 
 the Gods, on account of the flowers with which it 
 was enamelled. It is better known by the name of 
 Astypalaea, and contained a temple consecrated to 
 Achilles. In the wretched hamlet of Stampalia 
 there are, in all probability, very happy people — 
 people who perhaps have never been out of their 
 native isle, and never heard of our revolutions. I 
 asked myself if I should have wished for their
 
 ANOTHER HURRICANE. 203 
 
 felicity ; but I was already an old mariner, inca- 
 pable of answering this question in the affirmative, 
 and whose dreams are the offspring of the winds 
 and of the tempests. 
 
 Our crew took on board a supply of water, and 
 the captain returned with some fowls and a live 
 hog. A Candiot felucca entered the harbour ; and 
 no sooner had she come to an anchor by our side, 
 than the crew set up a dance about the helm, O 
 Grcecia vana 1 
 
 The wind still continuing to blow from the south, 
 we got under weigh on the 16th at. nine a.m. We 
 passed to the southward of the island of Nantia, 
 and at sun-set descried the coast of Crete. The 
 following day, the 17th, steering north-north-west, 
 we discovered Mount Ida. Its summit, covered 
 with snow, resembled an immense cupola. We 
 made for the island of Cerigo, and were so for- 
 tunate as to pass it on the 18th. On the l ( .)th, 1 
 once more beheld thecoasts of Greece, and saluted 
 Taenarium. To our great joy, a gale sprung up 
 from the south-west, and in five days we arrived in 
 the sea of Malta. We descried that island on 
 Christmas Eve; but the next day the wind shift- 
 ing to west-north-west, drove us to the south of 
 Lampedosa. For eighteen days we lay off the east 
 coast of the kingdom of Tunis, suspended between 
 life and death. Never while I live shall I forget 
 the 28th. We were in sight of Pantalaria ; at noon 
 we were overtaken by a profound calm ; a lurid 
 light illumined the gloomy and threatening atmo- 
 sphere. About sunset, so thick was the darkness 
 that enveloped us, as to justify, in my opinion, the 
 beautiful expression of Virgil : Ponto nox incnbat 
 atra. A tremendous uproar ensued. A hurricane 
 burst upon the vessel, and whirled her round
 
 204 KERKENI ISLANDS. 
 
 like a feather in a basin of water. In a moment 
 the sea was agitated to such a degree, that its sur- 
 face exhibited one continued sheet of foam. The 
 ship, which no longer obeyed the helm, was like 
 a black spot upon the whitened ocean ; the violence 
 of the wind seemed to raise her out of the water : 
 she turned round in every direction, plunging her 
 head and stern alternately in the waves. The 
 return of light shewed us the extent of our danger. 
 We were almost close to the island of Lampedosa. 
 In the same hurricane two English ships of war 
 perished at Malta, as was stated in the newspapers 
 of the time. M. Dinelli, considering the loss of 
 the ship as inevitable, wrote upon a slip of paper: 
 " F. A. de Chateaubriand, wrecked on the island of 
 Lampedosa the 28th of December 1806, on his 
 return from the Holy Land." This paper I corked 
 up in an empty bottle, with the iutention of throw- 
 ing it into the sea at the last moment. 
 
 Providence was pleased to save us. A slight 
 variation of the wind enabled us, at noon, to 
 clear Lampedosa, and we found ourselves once 
 more in the open sea. The wind getting round 
 again to the north, we ventured to hoist a sail and 
 bore away for the Lesser Syrtis. The bottom of 
 this Syrtis keeps gradually rising to the shore, 
 so that, by paying attention to the soundings as 
 you approach, ycu may anchor in any depth of 
 water you please. From the shallowness of the 
 water, the sea is calm here in the most violent 
 winds, and this gulf, so dangerous to the barks of 
 the ancients, is a sort of port in the open sea for 
 modern vessels. 
 
 We cast anchor off the islands of Kerkeni, close 
 to the line of the fishery. I was so heartily tired of 
 this long passage, that I would gladly have landed
 
 new year's day. c 2Q5 
 
 at Sfax, and thence proceeded to Tunis by land ; 
 but the captain durst not put into the harbour of 
 Sfax, the entrance of which is really dangerous. 
 We lay at anchor eight days in the Lesser Syrtis, 
 and here I passed the first day of ttie year 1807. 
 Under how many stars and in what a variety of si- 
 tuations had I already witnessed the renewal of the 
 years, which either glide away so swiftly or seem so 
 tedious! How far were flown those days of infancy, 
 when, with a heart throbbing for joy, I received the 
 parental benediction and presents ! With what 
 impatience was this first day of the year always 
 expected ! But now, on board of a foreign ship, in 
 the midst of the sea, in sight of a barbarous region, 
 thisday fled without pleasure, without the embraces 
 of relatives, without any of those tender wishes of 
 felicity which a mother forms with such sincerity 
 for her son. This day, sprung from the bosom of 
 tempests, sprinkled nought but cares, regrets, and 
 grey hairs upon my brow. 
 
 We nevertheless thought it right to celebrate this 
 day, not to do honour to an agreeable host, but out 
 of regard for an old acquaintance. We slaughtered 
 the remainder of our poultry, with the exception 
 of a cock, our faithful time-keeper, which had 
 never ceased to watch and crow in the midst of the 
 greatest perils. The rabbis, the Barbaresco, and 
 the two Moors, came fromthe ship's hold to partake 
 of our banquet. This was my treat. We drank 
 success to France: we were not far from the island 
 of the Lotophagi, where the companions of Ulysses 
 forgot their country ; but I know not any fruit so 
 delicious as to make me forget mine. 
 
 We were almost close to the Kerkeni islands, the 
 Cercinae of the ancients. In the time of Strabo, 
 there was a fishery off these islands, as at present.
 
 206 ARRIVAL AT TUNIS. 
 
 The Cercinse witnessed two extraordinary reverses 
 of fortune : they beheld Hannibal and Marius suc- 
 cessively pass them as fugitives. We were very 
 near the spot ( Turris Annibalis) where the first of 
 these two great men was obliged to embark, to 
 escape the ingratitude of the Carthaginians. Sfax 
 is a modern town, which, according to Dr. Shaw, 
 derives its name from the word Fakouse, on ac- 
 count of the great quantity of cucumbers which 
 grow in its vicinity. 
 
 On the 6th of January 1807, the tempest having 
 at length abated, we quitted the Lesser Syrtis, pro- 
 ceeded northward along - the coast of Tunis for three 
 days, and on the 10th doubled Cape Bon, the object 
 of all our wishes. On the 12th we came to an 
 anchor before Goletta, the harbour of Tunis. The 
 boat was dispatched to the shore, and I sent a letter 
 to the French consul, M. Devoise. I was appre- 
 hensive of being obliged to perform another qua- 
 rantine, but M. Devoise obtained permission for me 
 to land on the 18th. It was with sincere joy that 
 I left the ship. I hired horses at Goletta, made 
 the circuit of the lake, and at five in the evening 
 reached the house of my new host.
 
 PART THE SIXTH. 
 
 TUNIS AND RETURN TO FRANCE. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 M. Devoise, French Consul at Tunis — Fondness of the French 
 for Dancing — M. Violet and the Iroquois — Acquaintances made 
 by' the Author at Tunis — Travels in Barbary — Situation of 
 Tunis — Its Population — Environs — The Bey' — History of 
 Carthage — Regulus — Hannibal — Scipio Africanus — Syphax and 
 Masinissa — Sophonisba — Interview between Scipio and Han- 
 nibal — Battle of Zama — The Third Punic War — Scipio's Dream 
 — Siege of Carthage — Destruction of the City by Fire — Asdu- 
 bal's Wife — Marius — Cato of Utica — Carthage rebuilt by Au- 
 gustus — St. Augustine — The Vandals conquer Carthage — Gen- 
 seric — The taking of the City by Belisarius — Its Reduction 
 by the Saracens. 
 
 At the house of Monsieur and Madame Devoise 
 I found the most generous hospitality and the most 
 agreeable society : they had the kindness to keep 
 me six weeks in their family, and at length I 
 enjoyed a repose of which I had the greatest need. 
 The carnival approached, and we thought of 
 nothing but to be merry in spite of the Moors. 
 The ashes of Dido and the ruins of Carthage were 
 treated with the tones of a French violin. We 
 cared not for Scipio, nor Hannibal, nor Marius, 
 nor Cato of Utica, whose mouth would have been 
 stopped with some generous wine (for he was fond
 
 5208 M. VIOLET. 
 
 of wine) had he taken it into his head to come and 
 find fault with our mirth. St. Louis alone would 
 have been respected as a Frenchman : but the good 
 and oreat kin" - would not have taken it amiss of 
 his subjects to amuse themselves in the very place 
 where he suffered so much. 
 
 The national character cannot be extinguished. 
 Our seamen have a saying 1 , that in founding new 
 colonies, the Spaniards begin with building a 
 church, the English a tavern, and the French a 
 fort, and, I would add, a ball-room. When I was 
 in America, on the frontiers of the country of the 
 Savages, I was informed that in the next day's 
 journey I should meet with a countryman of mine 
 among the Indians. On my arrival among the 
 Cayougas, a tribe belonging to the Iroquois nation, 
 my guide conducted me into a forest. In the midst 
 of this forest stood a kind of barn, in which I found 
 about a score of savages of both sexes, bedaubed 
 like conjurers, with their bodies half naked, their 
 ears cut into figures, ravens' feathers on their 
 heads, and rings passed through their nostrils. A 
 little Frenchman, powdered and frizzed in the old 
 fashion, in a pea- green coat, a drugget waistcoat, 
 muslin frill and ruffles, was scraping away on his 
 kit, and making these Iroquois dance to the tune 
 of Madelon Friquet. M. Violet, for that was his 
 name, followed the profession of dancing-master 
 among the Savages, by whom he was paid for his 
 lessons in beaver skins and bears' hams. He had 
 been a scullion in the service of General Rocham- 
 beau, during the American war ; but, remaining at 
 New York after the return of the French army, he 
 resolved to give the Americans instruction in the 
 fine arts. His views having enlarged with his 
 success, this new Orpheus resolved to introduce
 
 NEW ACQUAINTANCES. 209 
 
 civilization even among the roving hordes of the 
 New World. In speaking to me of the Indians, he 
 always styled them: Ces messieurs Saunages^ and 
 Ces dames Sauvages. He bestowed great praise 
 on the agility of his scholars, and in truth never 
 did I witness such gambols in my lite. M. Violet, 
 holding his fiddle between his chin and his breast, 
 tuned the fatal instrument ; he then cried out in 
 Iroquois: To your j^^ces! and the whole troop 
 fell a-capering like a band of demons. Such is the 
 genius of nations ! 
 
 We danced too on the ruins of Carthage. Hav- 
 ing lived at Tunis exactly as in France, I shall no 
 longer follow the dates of my journal; but treat 
 of subjects in a general manner, and in the order 
 in which they occur to my memory. But before I 
 proceed to Carthage and its ruins, let me take 
 some notice of the different persons with whom 
 I became acquainted in Barbary. Besides the 
 French consul, I frequently saw M. Lessing, the 
 Dutch consul ; his brother-in-law, M. Humberg, a 
 Dutch officer of engineers, commanded at Goletta. 
 It was with the latter that I visited the ruins of 
 Carthage, and I had infinite reason to be pleased 
 with his attention and politeness. I also met with 
 Mr. Lear, the consul of the United States. I had 
 formerly been recommended in America to General 
 Washington. Mr. Lear then held a situation 
 under that great man, and he had the. kindness, in 
 memory of my illustrious patron, to provide me a 
 passage in an American sclmoner, which landed 
 me in Spain, as I shall hereafter relate. Lastly, I 
 saw at Tunis, both at the consul's house and in 
 the city, several young Frenchmen to whom my 
 name was not absolutely unknown, I must not
 
 210 TRAVELS IN BARBARY. 
 
 omit to mention also the remains of the interesting 
 family of M. Adanson. 
 
 If the multiplicity of materials puzzles the writer 
 who would treat, at the present day, of Egypt and 
 Judea, he is thrown into the very contrary dilemma 
 in regard to the antiquities of Africa, by the scar- 
 city of documents. Not that there is any want of 
 Travels in Barbary ; I know of at least thirty ac- 
 counts of the kingdoms of Morocco, Algiers, and 
 Tunis ; but all of them are unsatisfactory. Among 
 the older Travels, Grammaye's Africa Illustrata, 
 and Shawe's learned work, deserve particular no- 
 tice. The Missions of the Fathers of the Trinity 
 and the Fathers of Mercy record miracles of cha- 
 rity ; but they do not, neither should they, contain 
 any discussions respecting the Romans and Cartha- 
 ginians. The Memoirs subjoined to Paul Lucas's 
 Travels comprehend nothing but the narrative of a 
 civil war at Tunis. Shaw might have supplied the 
 deficiency, had he extended his researches to his- 
 tory ; but unfortunately he considers the subject 
 only in its geographical relations. He scarcely 
 touches, in the slightest manner, upon ancient his- 
 tory : Carthage, for instance, occupies no greater 
 space in his observations than Tunis. Among the 
 more modern travellers, Lady M. W. Montague, 
 the Abbe Poiret, and M. Desfontaines, say a few 
 words concerning Carthage, but without entering 
 into any details. In 1806, the same year in which 
 I travelled, a work was published at Milan with 
 this title : Ra<?Piiavlio di alcuni Monument i di 
 Antic hit a ed Arti, raccolti negli ultimi Viaggi 
 d'un Dillettante. This book, as I believe, relates 
 to Carthage, but I met with the note of it too late 
 to procure it from Italy. It may therefore be as-
 
 TUNIS. 211 
 
 serted that the subject which I am about to treat 
 is new : 1 will lead the way, and others of superior 
 abilities will doubtless follow. 
 
 Before we proceed to Carthage, which is here the 
 only interesting object, let us in the first place get 
 rid of Tunis. This city retains its ancient name, 
 with a very slight alteration. The Greeks and 
 Latins called it Tunes, and Diodorus gives it the 
 epithet of white, Aevkov, because it is built upon a 
 chalky hill. It stands about twelve miles from 
 Carthage, and near the banks of a salt-water lake, 
 which communicates with the sea by means of the 
 channel called the Guletta. This channel is de- 
 fended by a fort. Merchant ships come to moor- 
 ings before this fort, where they lie in security be- 
 hind the mole of the Goletta, on payment of a 
 considerable anchorage duty. 
 
 The lake of Tunis served for a port for the fleets 
 of the ancients ; at present, one of our light barks 
 can scarcely sail across it without grounding. Care 
 must be taken to follow the principal channel, 
 which is marked by poles driven into the mud. 
 Abulfeda notices an island in this lake, which is 
 now appropriated to the purpose of a lazaretto. 
 Travellers have mentioned the flamingoes which 
 enliven this otherwise dull expanse of water. 
 When these beautiful birds fly against the sun, 
 stretching out their necks before and their leg's be- 
 hind, they look like arrows tipped with rose- 
 coloured feathers. 
 
 In going from the banks of the lake to Tunis, 
 you cross a spot which serves as a promenade for 
 the Franks. The city is walled, and about a 
 league in circumference, including' the exterior 
 suburb, denominated Bled-el-Hadrah. The houses 
 are low, the streets narrow, the shops poor, and
 
 212 POPULATION. 
 
 the mosques mean. The inhabitants, who do not 
 appear much abroad, have something wild and 
 ferocious in their looks. Under the gates of the 
 city you find people styled Sidcli or Saints ; who 
 are blacks of both sexes, stark naked, devoured by 
 vermin, wallowing in their own excrements, and 
 insolently eating the bread of charity. These 
 filthy wretches are under the immediate protection 
 of Mahomet. European merchants, Turks be- 
 longing to Smyrna, degenerate Moors, renegacloes, 
 and captives, compose the rest of the population. 
 
 The country round Tunis is pleasant: it exhibits 
 extensive plains sown with corn, and bordered by 
 hills, studded with olive and carob-trees. A mo- 
 dern aqueduct, producing a good effect, cresses a 
 valley in the rear of the city. At the extremity of 
 this valley is seated the bey's country-house. 
 The hills which I have just mentioned may be per- 
 ceived from Tunis itself. To the east you discover 
 the mountains of Mamelife- — mountains singularly 
 rent, and of the strangest shapes, at the foot of 
 which are situated the hot springs known to the 
 ancients. To the west and north appear the sea, 
 the Goletta, and the ruins of Carthage. 
 
 The Tunisees are, however, less cruel, and more 
 civilized than the people of Algiers. They received 
 among them the Moors of Andalusia, who inhabit 
 the village of Tub-urbo, six leagues from Tunis, 
 on the Me-jerdah*. The present bey is a man of 
 abilities, and is trying to shake off his dependence 
 on Algiers, to which Tunis has been subject ever 
 since it was conquered by the Algerines in 1757. 
 This prince speaks Italian, is intelligent in conver- 
 sation, and understands European politics much 
 
 * The Bagrada of antiquity, on the banks of which Regulus 
 killed the famous serpent.
 
 HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 213 
 
 better than most of the Orientals. It is well known 
 that Tunis was attacked by St. Louis, in 12/0, and 
 taken by Charles V. in 1535. As the death of the 
 former is connected with the history of Carthage, 
 I shall speak of it in another place. As to Charles 
 V. he defeated the famous Barbarossa, and replaced 
 the kino- of Tunis on his throne, obi isfiiiir him 
 however, to pay tribute to Spain. On this subject 
 Robertson's work may be cousulted.* Charles V. 
 retained the fortress of the Goletta, but the Turks 
 retook it in 1574. 
 
 1 shall sav nothing concerning the Tunis of the 
 ancients, because we shall presently see what a 
 fig-are it makes in the wars between Rome and 
 Carthage. 
 
 1 was presented at Tunis with a manuscript which 
 treats of the present state of the kingdom, its go- 
 vernment, commerce, revenue, military force, and 
 caravans. I have not availed myself of the infor- 
 mation furnished bv this manuscript ; I am igno- 
 rant of i;s author ; but whoever he may be, it is 
 just that he should receive the honour due to his 
 performance. I shall give this excellent memoir in 
 the Appendix. Now let us proceed to the history 
 and ruins of Carthage. 
 
 In the year 883 before the Christian aera, Dido, 
 forced to flee from her native soil, landed on the 
 coast of Africa. Carthage, founded by the consort 
 of Sichaeus, owed its origin to one of those tragical 
 adventures that occur among infant nations, and are 
 in some measure the germ and presage of calamities, 
 the earlier or later fruits of all human society. 
 Every reader is acquainted with the happy anachro- 
 nism of the Eneid. Such is the privilege of genius, 
 that the poetical misfortunes of Dido have become 
 * History of CharlOs V. book v.
 
 214 HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 
 
 part of the glory of Carthage. When you survey 
 the ruins of this city, the eye seeks the flames of 
 the funeral pile ; the ear listens to catch the impre- 
 cations of a deserted woman ; we admire those 
 powerful illusions which can absorb the imagination, 
 in places teeming with the grandest historical recol- 
 lections. When, indeed, an expiring queen sum- 
 mons to the walls of Carthage the deities inimical 
 to Rome, and the gods, the avengers of violated 
 hospitality ; when Venus, deaf to the prayers of 
 love, listens to the voice of hatred ; when she 
 refuses Dido, a descendent of iEneas, and gives 
 her Hannibal : such an extraordinary story, told 
 in an extraordinary language, cannot possibly be 
 passed over in silence. History then takes her 
 place among the Muses, and fiction assumes the 
 dignitv of truth. 
 
 After the death of Dido, the new colony adopted 
 a government, the laws of which are extolled by 
 Aristotle. Powers nicely balanced 'between the 
 two chief magistrates, the nobles and the people, 
 were attended with this remarkable circumstance, 
 that they subsisted unimpaired for seven centuries, 
 and almost unshaken by popular commotions and 
 some conspiracies of the great. As civil wars, the 
 sources of public crimes, are nevertheless the 
 parents of private virtues, the Republic gained 
 more than it lost by these storms. If its career 
 was not destined to be so long as that of its rival, 
 at least the liberties of Carthage were not ex- 
 tinguished but with Carthage itself. 
 
 But as those nations which are the most free are 
 also the most passionate, we find the Carthaginians 
 engaged, previously to their first struggle with 
 Rome, in various disgraceful contests. They en- 
 slaved the people of Bcetica, whose virtue was not
 
 REGULUS. 215 
 
 saved by their courage ; they formed an alliance 
 with Xerxes, and lost a battle against Gelon, 
 the same day that the Lacedaemonians fell at 
 Thermopylae. Mankind, notwithstanding their 
 prejudices, have such a veneration for generous 
 sentiments, that they think nothing of eighty 
 thousand Carthaginians slaughtered on the plains 
 of Sicily, while the whole world still extols the 
 three hundred Spartans who devoted themselves 
 to death, in obedience to the sacred laws of their 
 country. 'Tis the greatness of the cause, and not 
 of the means, that leads to genuine fame ; and 
 honour has in all ages constituted the most solid 
 part of glory. 
 
 Having been successively engaged with Aga- 
 thocles in Africa, and Pyrrhus in Sicily, the 
 Carthaginians came to blows with the Roman 
 republic. The cause of the first Punic war was 
 trivial ; but this war brought Regulus to the gates 
 of Carthage. 
 
 The Romans, unwilling to interrupt the tide of 
 victory which attended that great man, or to send 
 the consuls Fulvius and Marcus Emilius, in his 
 stead, ordered him to remain in Africa, in quality 
 of proconsul. He complained of these honors, 
 and wrote to the senate, requesting to be imme- 
 diately superceded in the command of the army. 
 An affair of great importance in the opinion of 
 Regulus, required his presence in Italy. He pos- 
 sessed a field of seven acres at Pupinium : the 
 farmer of this field was dead, and his servant had 
 absconded with the oxen and the implements of 
 agriculture. Regulus represented to the senators, 
 that if his farm remained untitled it would be im- 
 possible for him to find subsistence for his wife and 
 children. The senate immediately decreed, that
 
 216 HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 
 
 the field of their general should be cultivated at 
 the public expence ; that the treasury should 
 advance the sura necessary to replace the things 
 which had been stolen ; and that the wife and 
 children of Regulus should, during his absence, be 
 supported at the charge of the Roman people. In 
 just admiration of this simplicity, Livy exclaims: 
 " O how far preferable is virture to riches ! These 
 pass away with their possessors ; but the poverty 
 of Regulus is still held in veneration !" 
 
 Regulus, proceeding from victory to victory, 
 soon made himself master of Tunis. The fall of 
 that town filled the Carthaginians with consterna- 
 tion ; they begged peace of the proconsul. This 
 husbandman of Rome proved that it is much easier 
 to guide the plough; after gaining splendid victories, 
 than to direct with a steady hand the brilliant car 
 of prosperity. The truly great man is more parti- 
 cularly fitted to shine in adversity ; he seems bewik- 
 dered with success, and appears, as it were, a 
 stranger to fortune. Regulus proposed such hard 
 terms to his enemies, that they found themselves 
 under the necessity of continuing the war. 
 
 During these negociations, fate conducted across 
 the sea a man who was destined to change the face 
 of affairs. A Lacedaemonian, named Xanthippus, 
 appeared to defer the fate of Carthage : he gave 
 battle to the Romans under the walls of Tunis, 
 destroyed their army, and took Regulus himself 
 prisoner ; after which he again embarked and dis- 
 appeared, without leaving behind in history any 
 farther traces of his existence.* 
 
 Regulus, being conducted to Carthage, under- 
 
 * Some writers accuse the Carthaginians of having caused him 
 to be put to death, from jealousy of his glory : but there is no 
 proof of this.
 
 HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 217 
 
 went the most inhuman treatment ; he was made to 
 expiate the cruel triumphs of his country. Could 
 they, who with such arrogance dragged at their 
 chariot- wheels monarchs whom they had precipi- 
 tated from their thrones, women and children in 
 tears, — could they hope for indulgence in captivity 
 to a citizen of Rome ? 
 
 Fortune again declared in favour of the Romans, 
 Carthage once more sued for peace; she sent am- 
 bassadors to Italy, and Regulus accompanied 
 them. His masters exacted from him a promise 
 that he would return to his fetters, if the negocia- 
 tions should not terminate according to their 
 wishes ; hoping that he would spare no exertion 
 to bring about a peace, by which he would be 
 restored to his country. 
 
 Regulus, on his arrival at the gates of Rome, 
 refused to enter the city. There was an ancient 
 law prohibiting any stranger to introduce the am- 
 bassadors of a hostile nation to the senate ; and 
 Regulus, considering himself as an envoy of the 
 Carthaginians, caused the obsolete custom to be 
 revived on this occasion. The senators were in 
 consequence obliged to assemble without the walls 
 of the city. Regulus declared that he came by 
 order of his masters to solicit of the Roman people 
 either peace or an exchange of prisoners. The 
 ambassadors of Carthage having explained the 
 object of their mission, withdrew. Regulus would 
 have followed them, but the senators requested 
 him to remain during their deliberations. 
 
 Being pressed to give his opinion, he strongly 
 represented all the reasons which Rome had for 
 continuing the war with Carthage. The senators, 
 admiring his magnanimity, were desirous of saving 
 such a citizen ; and the pontifex maximus main- 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 218 REGULUS. 
 
 tained that he might be released from the oaths 
 which he had taken. " Follow the advice which 
 I have given you y " said the illustrious captive, in 
 a tone which astonished the assembly, " and forget 
 Regulus : never will I dwell in Rome after having 
 been the slave of Carthage. I will not draw down 
 upon you the indignation of the gods. I have pro- 
 mised our enemies to place myself again in their 
 hands if you reject their proposals, and I will not 
 violate my oath. Jupiter cannot be deluded with 
 vain expiations ; the blood of bulls and sheep 
 cannot wash away the guilt of perjury, and sacri- 
 lege is sooner or later overtaken by certain punish- 
 ment. I am not ignorant of the fate which awaits 
 me ; but a crime would contaminate my soul, while 
 torments can affect only my body. Besides, there 
 are no evils for him who knows how to endure 
 them ; if they surpass the powers of nature, death 
 delivers us from them. Conscript fathers, cease to 
 pity me; my resolution is taken, and nothing can 
 induce me to change it. I shall return to Car- 
 thage ; I will do my duty, and leave the rest to 
 the gods." 
 
 To diminish the interest that was taken in his 
 fate, and to escape the condolence of unavailing 
 compassion, Regulus crowned his magnanimity by 
 informing the senators, that the Carthaginians had 
 forced him to drink a slow poison before they 
 released him from confinement. " Thus/' added 
 he, " you lose me but for a few moments, which 
 are not worth purchasing at the price of perjury." 
 He rose and withdrew from Rome without uttering 
 another word, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground, 
 and repulsing his wife and children, who went to 
 meet him ; either fearing lest he should be too 
 deeply affected at parting from them, or under the
 
 HANNIBAL. 219 
 
 idea that, as a slave of the Carthaginians, he was 
 unworthy of the embraces of a Roman matron. 
 He ended his days in the most cruel tortures, 
 unless the silence of Polybius and Diodorus be 
 supposed to invalidate the testimony of the Latin 
 historians. Regulus was a memorable example of 
 the influence of the obligation of an oath and the 
 love of country on a courageous soul. If even 
 pride had some share in the resolution of his un- 
 daunted mind, still, by thus punishing himself for 
 having been vanquished, he proved that he was 
 worthy of the victory. 
 
 After twenty-four years' fighting, a treaty of 
 peace put an end to the first Punic war. The 
 Romans were no longer a nation of husbandmen 
 governed by a senate of kings, erecting altars to 
 moderation and mediocrity ; they were men who 
 felt themselves formed to command, and whom 
 ambition incessantly impelled to injustice. Under 
 a frivolous pretence they invaded Sardinia, and ex- 
 ulted in having made a conquest from the Cartha- 
 ginians in time of profound peace. They knew not 
 that the avenger of violated faith was already at 
 the gates of Saguntum, and that he would soon 
 appear on the hills of Rome. Here commences 
 the second Punic war. 
 
 Hannibal appears to me to have been the great- 
 est general of antiquity : if he does not win more 
 love than any other, he at least excites higher ad- 
 miration. He possessed neither the heroism of 
 Alexander nor the universal genius of Csesar, but, 
 as a military man, he surpassed them both. It 
 is in general the love of country or of glory that 
 conducts heroes to great achievements : Hannibal 
 alone was guided by hatred. Inflamed with this 
 spirit of a new kind, he sets out from the extre- 
 
 T Q
 
 220 SCIPIO AFKICAXUS. 
 
 mities of Spain, with an army composed of the 
 people of twenty different countries. He passes 
 the Pyrenees, marches through Gaul, subdues 
 hostile nations by the way, crosses rivers, and 
 arrives at the foot of the Alps. These trackless 
 mountains, defended by barbarians, in vain oppose 
 the career of Hannibal. He falls from their icy 
 summits upon Italy, annihilates the first consular 
 army on the banks of the Ticinus, strikes a second 
 blow at Trebia, a third at Thrasymene, and with 
 the fourth seems to immolate Rome in the plain of 
 Canna?. For sixteen years he prosecuted the war, 
 unaided, in the midst of Italv; and in sixteen 
 years he committed only one of those errors which 
 decide the fate of empires, and which appear so 
 foreign to the nature of a great man, that they 
 may reasonably be attributed to a design of Pro- 
 vidence. 
 
 Unappalled by dangers, inexhaustible in re- 
 sources, subtle, ingenious, eloquent, nay, even 
 learned, and the author of various works, Hannibal 
 possessed all the distinctions which belong to 
 superiority of genius and strength of character : but 
 he was destitute of the fine qualities of the heart. 
 Cold, cruel, unfeeling, born to overthrow and not 
 to found empires, in magnanimity he was far in- 
 ferior to his rival. 
 
 Scipio Africanus is one of the most illustrious 
 names in history. The friend of the gods, the 
 generous protector of distress and beauty, Scipio 
 has some traits of resemblance to our ancient 
 chevaliers. With him commenced that Roman 
 urbanity which adorned the characters of Cicero, 
 Pompey, and Ceesar, and which in those illustrious 
 citizens superseded the coarseness of Cato and 
 Fabricius.
 
 SCIPIO SAILS FOR AFRICA. 221 
 
 Hannibal and Scipio met in the plains of Zama; 
 the one celebrated for his victories, the other re- 
 nowned for his virtues : both worthy of represent- 
 ing their great nations, and of disputing- the empire 
 of the world. 
 
 At the departure of Scipio's fleet for Africa, the 
 coast of Sicily was lined with an immense con- 
 course of people, and a great number of soldiers. 
 Four hundred transports and fifty triremes covered 
 the road of Lilybaeum. The galley of Leelius, the 
 admiral of the fleet, was distinguished by three 
 lights ; the other ships carried one or two, accord- 
 ing to their size. The eyes of the world were 
 fixed on this expedition, planned for the purpose 
 of obliging Hannibal to leave Italy, and finally 
 deciding the fate of Rome and Carthage. The 
 fifth and sixth legions, who had been present at 
 the battle of Cannse, burned with impatience to lay 
 waste the country of their conqueror. The general 
 attracted particular attention ; his piety to the 
 gods ; his exploits in Spain, where he had avenged 
 the death of his father and his uncle ; the plan of 
 carrying the war into Africa, a plan which he alone 
 had conceived, and which was disapproved by the 
 great Fabius; lastly, that favour which mankind 
 are accustomed to grant to bold enterprizses, to 
 glory, beauty, and youth, gained Scipio the good 
 wishes and the hearts of all. 
 
 The day of departure at length arrived. With 
 the morning's dawn, Scipio appeared on the stern 
 of Lrclius's galley, in sight of the fleet and the 
 multitudes that covered the eminences on the 
 shore. A herald raised his sceptre and com- 
 manded silence. 
 
 " O gods and goddesses of the earth," cried 
 Scipio, ' ' and ye divinities of the sea, grant a pros-
 
 222 ARRIVES AT CARTHAGE. 
 
 perous issue to this enterprize ! May my plan? 
 turn out to my glory and the glory of the Roman 
 people. May we, on some future day, return joy- 
 fully to our homes, laden with the spoils of the 
 enemy ; and may Carthage experience the calami- 
 ties with which she threatened my country !" 
 
 With these words a victim was slain : Scipio 
 threw the reeking entrails into the sea: the sails 
 were hoisted at the sound of the trumpet, and a fair 
 wind wafted the whole fleet from the shores of Sicily. 
 
 The day after their departure the Romans de- 
 scried the continent of Africa and the promontory 
 of Mercury ; night came on, and the fleet was 
 obliged to cast anchor. At sun-rise, Scipio per- 
 ceiving the coast, enquired the name of the pro- 
 montory nearest to the vessels. " It is Good 
 Cape," replied the pilot. On hearing this name 
 of happy omen, the general, saluting the Fortune 
 of Rome, ordered the prow of his galley to be 
 turned towards the place pointed out by the gods. 
 
 The landing was effected without molestation. 
 Consternation pervaded both the cities and the 
 country ; the roads were covered with fugitives, 
 men, women, and children, with their flocks: you 
 would have taken it for one of those great migra- 
 tions, when whole nations, by the wrath or will of 
 the gods, forsake the tombs of their ancestors. 
 Terror seized Carthage ; its citizens ran to arms ; 
 the gates were shut, and soldiers stationed on the 
 walls, as if the Romans were already preparing for 
 the assault. 
 
 Meanwhile Scipio, having sent his fleet towards 
 Utica, marched himself by land to that town with 
 the intention of besieging it, and was joined by 
 Masinissa with two thousand cavalry. This king 
 of Numidia, at first the ally of the Carthaginians,
 
 VICTORY BY SCIPIO. 223 
 
 had made war against the Romans in Spain ; hav- 
 ing, by a series of extraordinary events, several times 
 lost and recovered his kingdom, he was again a 
 fugitive when Scipio landed in Africa. Syphax, 
 prince of the Getuli, who had married Sophonisba, 
 the daughter of Asdrubal, had recently made him- 
 self master of the dominions of Masinissa, who 
 now threw himself into Scipio's arms, and to his 
 co-operation the Romans partly owed their subse- 
 quent successes. 
 
 After some engagements, which terminated in 
 his favour, Scipio laid siege to Utica. The Carta- 
 ginians, commanded by Asdrubal and Syphax, 
 formed two separate camps in sight of that of the 
 Romans. Scipio contrived to set fire to these two 
 camps, the tents of which were formed of mats 
 and reeds, after the Numidian manner. Thus 
 perished forty thousand men in one single night. 
 The conqueror, who on this occasion took a prodi- 
 gious quantity of arms, ordered them to be burned 
 in honour of Vulcan. 
 
 The Carthaginians were not disheartened ; they 
 directed great levies to be raised. Syphax, moved 
 by the tears of Sophonisba, continued faithful to 
 the cause of the vanquished, and again exposed 
 himself for the native country of a woman to whom 
 he was passionately attached. Still favoured by 
 heaven, Scipio routed the hostile armies, took the 
 towns dependent on them, made himself master of 
 Tunis, and threatened Carthage with utter destruc- 
 tion. Impelled by his fatal love, Syphax ventured 
 once more to face the victors, with a courage 
 worthy of a better fate. Deserted by his troops 
 in the field of battle, he rushed alone among the 
 Roman squadrons ; he hoped that his men , ashamed 
 of having abandoned their king, would return and
 
 224 SYPHAX AND MASINISSA. 
 
 die with him ; but the cowards continued their 
 flight, and Spyhax, whose horse was killed by a 
 pike, fell alive into the hands of Masinissa. 
 
 To this latter prince it was a subject of great 
 triumph to make prisoner the man who had deprived 
 him of his crown. Some time afterwards the for- 
 tune of war threw Sophcnisba, the wife of Syphax, 
 also in the power of Masinissa. She feel at the 
 feet of the conqueror. I am thy prisoner," said 
 she : " so the will of the gods, and fortune, favour- 
 ing thy courage, have decreed : but, by thy knees 
 which I embrace, by thy triumphant hand which 
 thou permittest me to touch, I supplicate thee, 
 O Masinissa ! keep me for thy slave, preserve me 
 from the horrors of falling a prey to a barbarian. 
 Alas ! it is but a moment, since., like thyself, I 
 was surrounded with the majesty of kings. Con- 
 sider that thou canst not renounce thy blood ; that 
 thou sharest with Syphax the name of Numidian. 
 My husband left this palace pursued by the wrath 
 of the gods; mayst thou have entered it under 
 happier auspices ! As a native of Carthage, as 
 the daughter of Asdrubal, judge what I have to 
 expect from a Roman. If I must not remain in the 
 fetters of a prince born on the soil of my country, 
 if death alone can deliver me from the yoke of a 
 foreigner, give me that death, and I will number it 
 among thy favours." 
 
 Masinissa was affected by the tears and the fate 
 of Sophonisba, who was then in the bloom of 
 youth and of incomparable beauty. Her suppli- 
 cations, says Livy, were not so much intreaties as 
 caresses. Overcome by them, Masinissa promised 
 all she desired, and conceiving as strong a passion 
 for her as Syphax, he made his prisoner his wife. 
 
 Syphax, loaded with chains, was presented to
 
 SOPHONISBA. 225 
 
 Scipio. That great man, who had once seen 
 upon a throne him whom he now beheld at his 
 feet, was filled with compassion. Syphax had 
 formerly been the ally of the Romans : he threw 
 the blame of 'his defection on Sophonisba. " The 
 torches of my fatal union," said he, " have re- 
 duced my palace to ashes ; but one circumstance 
 consoles me : the fury who has destroyed my 
 house is transferred to the bed of my enemy ; 
 she reserves for Masinissa a fate similar to mine." 
 Under the appearance of hatred, Syphax thus 
 disguised the jealousy in which these words origi- 
 nated, for he still loved Sophonisba. Scipio was 
 not without concern, lest the daughter of Asdrubal 
 should acquire the same empire over Masinissa as 
 she enjoyed over Syphax. The passion of the 
 former already seemed unbounded : he lost no 
 time in celebrating his nuptials ; and, impatient to 
 be united to Sophonisba, he had lighted up the 
 hymeneal torch before the household gods of Sy- 
 phax, divinities accustomed to hear only prayers 
 preferred against the Romans. Masinissa returned 
 to Scipio, who, after bestowing praise on the 
 king of Numidia, slightly reproached him with 
 his conduct towards Sophonisba. Masinissa, on 
 mature reflection, fearing lest he should incur the 
 displeasure of the Romans, determined to sacrifice 
 his love to his ambition. Retiring to his tent, he 
 groaned and struggled against those generous sen- 
 timents, which man cannot root from his heart 
 without violence. He sent for the officer who had 
 the custody of the king's poison — that poison to 
 which the African princes resorted to release them- 
 selves from the burden of life, when overwhelmed 
 by any irremediable calamity : so that the crown, 
 though not secure from the revolutions of fortune, 
 
 l3
 
 226 HANNIBALD RETURNS. 
 
 was at least with them beyond the reach of con- 
 tempt. Masinissa mixed the poison in a cup; then, 
 turning 1 to the officer charged with the melancholy 
 errand : '' Tell the queen," said he, " that had I 
 been my own master, never would Masinissa have 
 parted from Sophonisba. The gods of the Romans 
 decree otherwise. I shall keep at least one of my 
 promises to her : she shall not fall alive into the 
 hands of her enemies, if she submits to her fate like 
 a citizen of Carthage, the daughter of Asdrubal, 
 and the wife of Syphax and Masinissa." 
 
 The officer repaired to Sophonisba, and ac- 
 quainted her with the commands of the king. 
 " With joy I accept this nuptial gift," replied she, 
 '■* since it is true that a husband could not make his 
 wife any other present. Tell thy master, that in 
 losing my life, I should at least have preserved my 
 honour, had I not married Masinissa the day be- 
 fore my death." With these words she swallowed 
 the poison. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the Carthaginians 
 recalled Hannibal from Italy. He shed tears of 
 rage, he accused his fellow-citizens, found fault with 
 the gods, and reproached himself for not having 
 marched to Rome after the battle of Cannae. Never 
 did a man, quitting his native land to go into exile, 
 feel such profound grief as Hannibal on leaving a 
 foreign shore to return to his country. 
 
 He disembarked on the coast of Africa with the 
 veterans who had accompanied him in Spain, Gaul, 
 and Italy ; who could shew more fasces taken from 
 prsetors, generals, and consuls, than were carried 
 before all the magistrates of Rome. Hannibal had 
 been thirty-six years absent from his country : he 
 had left it when a boy, and returned when advanced 
 in life, as he himself observed to Scipio. What
 
 AND SUES FOR PEACE. 227 
 
 must have been the reflections of that great man 
 on revisiting Carthage, whose walls and whose inha- 
 bitants were almost strangers to him ! Two of his 
 brothers were dead ; the companions of his child- 
 hood had disappeared ; fresh generations had suc- 
 ceeded each other : the temples, crowded with the 
 spoils of the Romans, w T ere, doubtless, the only 
 places that Hannibal could recognize in this new 
 Carthage. Had not his countrymen been blinded 
 by envy, with what admiration would they have 
 beheld the hero, who for thirty years had been 
 shedding his blood for them in a distant region, 
 and covering them with immortal glory ! But 
 when services are so eminent as to exceed the 
 bounds of compensation, they are repaid with 
 nothing but ingratitude. Hannibal had the mis- 
 fortune to be greater than the people among whom 
 he was born, and was doomed to live and to die 
 in a foreign land. 
 
 He led his army to Zama. Scipio pitched his 
 camp near Hannibal's. The Carthaginian general 
 had a presentiment of the infidelity of fortune ; for 
 he requested an interview with the Roman chief, to 
 offer proposals of peace. A place was appointed 
 for the interview. When the two captains met, 
 they continued silent for some time, overpowered 
 with admiration of each other. Hannibal at length 
 spoke as follows : " The gods, O Scipio, decreed 
 that your father should be the first of the hostile 
 generals whom I should meet in arms in Italy : those 
 same gods command me to come this day unarmed 
 to demand peace of his son. You have seen the 
 Carthaginians encamped at the gates of Rome: the 
 noise of a Roman camp is now heard within the 
 walls of Carthage. I left my country a child ; I 
 return to it mature in years: long experience of
 
 228 SCIPIO PREPARES 
 
 good and bad fortune, has taught me to judge of 
 things by reason, and not by the event. Your 
 youth and prosperity, which has not yet forsaken 
 you, will perhaps render you hostile to peace : amid 
 success, we think not of adversity. You are about 
 the same age that I was at Cannae and Thrasy- 
 mene. Consider what I have been, and learn 
 from my example the inconstancy of fortune. He 
 who addresses you in the language of supplication, 
 is that same Hannibal who, encamped between the 
 Tiber and the Taveroue, ready to assault Rome 
 herself, deliberated what he should do with your 
 native land. I have carried terror into the fields 
 of your fathers, and am now reduced so low as to 
 implore you to spare my country a similar calamity. 
 Nothing is more uncertain than the chances of war : 
 a moment may blast all your glory and your 
 hopes. Agree to peace, and you remain the 
 arbiter of your destiny ; fight, and you resign your 
 fate into the hands of the gods." 
 
 To this studied harangue Scipio replied with 
 greater frankness, but less eloquence : he rejected 
 as unsatisfactory the proposals made by Hannibal, 
 and both sides prepared for battle. It is probable 
 that the interest of his country was not the only 
 motive which induced the Roman general to refuse 
 a compromise with the Carthaginian commander, 
 and that Scipio could not withstand the desire of 
 trying his strength with Hannibal. 
 
 The day after this interview, both armies, 
 composed of veterans, and headed by the two 
 greatest captains of the two greatest nations of the 
 globe, advanced to contend, not for the walls of 
 Rome or Carthage, but for the empire of the 
 world, the stake of this last struggle. 
 
 Scipio placed the hastati in the first rank, the
 
 FOR. BATTLE. 229 
 
 principes in the second, and the triarii in the 
 third, leaving- equal intervals between these lines 
 to form a passage for the Carthaginian elephants. 
 Light troops, dispersed in these spaces, were, as 
 occasion required, to fall back upon the heavy- 
 armed soldiers, and to discharge upon the elephants 
 a shower of arrows and javelins. Laelius covered 
 the left wing of the army with the Roman cavalry, 
 and Masinissa commanded the Numidian horse on 
 the right. 
 
 Hannibal drew up eighty elephants in front of 
 his army, the first line of which was composed of 
 Liguriaus, Gauls, Baleares, and Mauritanians : 
 the Carthaginians constituted the second ; and the 
 Bruttii, posted in their rear, formed a kind of 
 reserve, on which the general placed very little 
 dependence. Hannibal opposed his cavalry to the 
 Roman horse, the Carthaginians to Laelius, and 
 the Numidians to Masinissa. 
 
 The Romans first gave the signal for the attack. 
 At the same time they set up such shouts, that 
 part of the elephants fell back affrighted on the left 
 wing of Hannibal's army, and threw the Numidian 
 horse into confusion. Masinissa, availing himself 
 of this circumstance, rushed upon them, and put 
 them to flight. The rest of the elephants which 
 had advanced against the Romans were repulsed 
 by the light troops, and produced the same acci- 
 dent in the right wing of the Carthaginians as had 
 befallen the left. Thus, in the very first onset, 
 Hannibal was left without cavalry, and unprotected 
 on both flanks : urgent reasons, not recorded in 
 history, doubtless forbade him to think of retreat. 
 The infantry having- engaged, Scipio's troops 
 easily routed the first line of the enemy, entirely 
 composed of mercenaries. The Romans and the
 
 230 BATTLE OF ZAMA. 
 
 Carthaginians were now opposed to each other. 
 The former, in order to reach the latter, being 
 obliged to pass over heaps of carcases, broke their 
 line, and were on the point of losing the victory. 
 Scipio perceived the danger, and changed his order 
 of battle. He ordered the principes and the triarii 
 to advance into the first line, and placed them on 
 the right and left of the hast at i ; by which means 
 he formed a larger front than Hannibal's army, 
 already weakened by the loss of its cavalry and the 
 first line of its infantry. The Carthaginian veterans 
 maintained the glory which they had won in so 
 many engagements. Among them were to be seen, 
 distinguished by crowns, common soldiers, who 
 had with their own hands killed generals and con- 
 suls. The Roman cavalry, returning from the pur- 
 suit of the enemy, charged the old companions of 
 Hannibal in the rear. Surrounded on all sides, 
 they fought to the last gasp, and gave up their 
 standards only with their lives. Hannibal himself, 
 after having done all that can be expected of a 
 great general and a valiant soldier, escaped with a 
 few horse. 
 
 Being left master of the field of battle, Scipio 
 bestowed great praise on the skill displayed by his 
 rival in the conduct of the engagement. Was this 
 generosity or pride ? Perhaps both ; for Scipio 
 was the victor, and Hannibal the vanquished. 
 
 The battle of Zama put an end to the second 
 Punic war. Carthage sued for peace, and obtained 
 it, but on such conditions as announced her ap- 
 proaching ruin. Hannibal, not venturing to rely on 
 the faith of an ungrateful people, abandoned his 
 country. He wandered about among foreign courts, 
 everywhere striving to rake up enemies against the 
 Romans, and every where pursued by them ;
 
 FATE OF HANNIBAL. 231 
 
 giving - weak monarchs advice which they were in- 
 capable of following, and learning - from his own 
 experience that neither glory nor misfortunes are 
 a recommendation to crowned hosts. It is said that 
 he met with Scipio at Ephesus, and that in con- 
 versation with his conqueror, the latter asked, 
 " In your opinion, Hannibal, who was the greatest 
 general that ever lived ?" " Alexander," replied 
 the Carthaginian. " And who was the second ?" 
 rejoined Scipio. " Pyrrhus." " And the third?" 
 " Myself." " But what would you have said," 
 cried Scipio, laughing, " if you had conquered 
 me? 1 ' " In that case,' replied Hannibal, " I 
 should have placed myself above Alexander:" — an 
 expression which proves that the illustrious exile 
 had learned in court the art of flattering, and that 
 he had at the same time too much modesty and too 
 much pride. 
 
 The Romans could not be easy as long as they 
 knew that Hannibal was living. Solitary, pro- 
 scribed, and oppressed with adversity, he seemed 
 to them to counterpoise the fortune of the Capitol. 
 They were humbled by the idea that the world con- 
 tained a man who had vanquished them , and who 
 was not affrighted at their greatness. They sent 
 an embassy to Asia, to demand of king Prusias, the 
 death of his guest. Prusias had the baseness to 
 give up Hannibal ; on which that great man swal- 
 lowed poison, saying : " Let us deliver the Ro- 
 mans from the terror excited in them by an old 
 man, exiled, unarmed, and betrayed." 
 
 Scipio incurred, like Hannibal, the penalty 
 attached to glory. He ended his days at Liter- 
 num in voluntary exile. It is remarkable that 
 Hannibal, Philopoemen, and Scipio, died about 
 the same time, all three of them victims to the
 
 232 THIRD PUNIC WAR. 
 
 ingratitude of their respective countries. The 
 African had the following- well-known inscription 
 en°raven on his tomb: 
 
 UNGRATEFUL LAND OF MY NATIVITY, 
 THOU SHALT NOT POSSESS MY BONES. 
 
 But, after all, proscription and exile, which 
 plunge vulgar names into oblivion, draw the eyes 
 of all to such as are illustrious : successful virtue 
 dazzles, but, when persecuted, it charms. 
 
 Carthage herself did not long survive Hannibal. 
 Scipio Nasica, and the most enlightened of the 
 senators, were solicitous to preserve a rival to Rome: 
 but who can change the destinies of empires ! The 
 inveterate hatred of the elder Cato proved trium- 
 phant, and on the most frivolous pretext the 
 Romans commenced the third Punic war. 
 
 They first had recourse to the most flagrant per- 
 fidy, to disarm their enemies. The Carthaginians, 
 having in vain solicited peace, determined to bury 
 themselves under the ruins of their city. The con- 
 suls Marcius and Manilius soon appeared under the 
 walls of Carthage. Before they commenced the 
 siege, they performed two solemn ceremonies : the 
 evocation of the teutlar divinities from that city, 
 and the devoting of the birth-place of Hannibal to 
 the infernal gods. 
 
 " God or goddess who protectest the people and 
 republic of Carthage, genius to whom the defence 
 of that city is committed, leave thine ancient 
 abode; come and dwell in our temples. May Rome 
 and our sacrifices be more pleasing to thee than 
 the city and sacrifices of the Carthaginians!" 
 The form of the latter ceremony was as follows : 
 " God Pluto, Jupiter the malevolent, and ye 
 gods Manes, strike terror into the city of Carthage;
 
 SCIPIO'S DREAM. 233 
 
 sweep away its inhabitants into the infernal region. 
 To you I devote the heads of our enemies, their 
 possessions, their .towns, their lands ; grant my 
 prayers, and I will sacrifice to you three black, 
 ewes. Thee, earth, mother of mankind, and thee, 
 Jupiter, I call to witness." 
 
 The consuls, however, were vigorously repulsed. 
 The genius of Hannibal had revived in the besieged 
 city. The women cut off their hair and twisted it 
 into cords for the bows and the military engines. 
 Scipio, the second Africanus, then served as a 
 tribune in the Roman army. Some veterans, who 
 had seen the first Scipio, were yet alive, and among 
 the rest the celebrated Masinissa. This Numidian 
 monarch, more than eighty years of age, invited 
 the youthful Scipio to his court, and it was on the 
 supposition of this interview* that Cicero composed 
 the beautiful passage of his Republic, known by 
 the appellation of Scipid's Dream. He introduces 
 yEmilianus speaking in the following manner to 
 Lajlius, Philus, Manilius, and Scaevola: 
 
 " I accost Masinissa. The old man clasps me in 
 his arms and bathes me with his tears. He raises 
 his eyes to heaven and exclaims : ' Thou, sun, and 
 ye, celestial deities, accept my thanks. I receive, 
 before I die, in my kingdom and my habitation, 
 the worthy heir of the virtuous man and the great 
 commander, who still lives in my remembrance.' 
 
 " At night, my mind being occupied with what 
 Masinissa had told me, I dreamt that Africanus 
 appeared before me: I trembled, overpowered with 
 respect and fear. Africanus exhorted me to be of 
 good cheer, and carried me with him to the upper- 
 
 * Scipio had before seen Masinissa. This intended interview 
 never took place, for Masinissa was dead when Scipio arrived at 
 his court.
 
 264 SCIPIO'S DREAM. 
 
 most region of heaven, to a place glittering all over 
 with stars. He thus addressed me : 
 
 " 'Look down and behold Carthage: I forced 
 her to submit to the Roman people ; in two years 
 thou wilt raze her city to the ground, and merit, 
 by thine own achievements, the name of Africanus, 
 which as yet thou only inheritest from me. Know, 
 for thine encouragement in virtue, that there is a 
 place in heaven set apart for the just. What on 
 earth is denominated life, is but death. Existence 
 commences only in the everlasting mansions of 
 souls, and thither we cannot arrive without piety, 
 religion, justice, respect to our parents, and devo- 
 tion to our country. Learn, above all, to despise 
 the recompenses of mortals. Thou here seest how 
 small is this earth, how insignificant a space the 
 most extensive kingdoms occupy on the globe, 
 which thou canst scarcely discern, how many 
 deserts and seas divide the nations from each other. 
 What then should be the object of thine ambition? 
 Has the fame of Rome ever reached the summits 
 of Caucasus, or the banks of the Ganges ? How 
 many nations in the east, in the west, in the north, 
 and in the south, will never hear the name of 
 Africanus ? And as for those who now pronounce 
 it, how long will they continue to speak of him? 
 They will soon be no more. In the convulsions of 
 empires, in those great revolutions which time 
 brings about, my memory will be irrecoverably 
 lost. O my son, think then only of those divine 
 sanctuaries where thou wilt hear that harmony of 
 the spheres with which thine ears are at this 
 moment charmed ; aspire only to those eternal 
 temples prepared for great souls and for those 
 sublime geniuses who, during life, exalted them- 
 selves to the contemplation of heavenly things.' 
 Africanus was silent, and I awoke."
 
 SIEGE OF CARTHAGE. 235 
 
 This noble fiction of a Roman consul, surnamed 
 the Father of his Country, is not derogatory to 
 the gravity of history, if history is designed to pre- 
 serve great names and the ideas of genius ; and 
 these great names and these ideas are here to be 
 discovered.* 
 
 Scipio yEmilianus, appointed to the consulship 
 through the favour of the people, received orders 
 to continue the siege of Carthage. He first sur- 
 prised the lower town, which was called Megara, 
 or Magara.t He then attempted to block up the 
 outer port by means of a mole ; but the Cartha- 
 ginians opened another entrance to the harbour, 
 and appeared at sea, to the great astonishment of 
 the Romans. They mi^ht have burned Scipio's 
 fleet ; but the hour of Carthage was come, and 
 confusion pervaded the councils of that unfortunate 
 city. 
 
 It was defended by one Asdrubal, a cruel man, 
 who commanded thirty thousand mercenaries, and 
 who treated the citizens with as much rigour as if 
 they had been enemies. The winter having passed 
 in the enterprizes above mentioned, Scipio, in 
 spring, attacked the inner port, denominated Co- 
 thon. 
 
 Being soon master of the walls of this harbour, 
 he pushed forward into the great square of the 
 city. Three streets led from this square up a 
 gentle acclivity to the citadel, known by the name 
 of Byrsa. In the houses of these streets the inha- 
 bitants defended themselves with such obstinacy, 
 that Scipio was obliged to besiege and reduce the 
 
 * This dream is an imitatition of a passage in Plato's 
 Republic. 
 
 t 1 shall not enter into a description of Carthage till I come to 
 speak of its ruins.
 
 236 DESTItUCTIOX OF THE 
 
 houses one by one. The struggle lasted six days 
 and nights. One party of Roman soldiers forced 
 the retreats of the Carthaginians, while another 
 was employed in removing with hooks the dead 
 bodies that lay in heaps in the houses, or were 
 tumbled in the streets. Many of the living were 
 thrown into the graves indiscriminately with the 
 dead. 
 
 Gu the seventh day, deputies appeared in the 
 dress of supplicants ; they merely begged the lives 
 of the citizens who had taken refuse in the citadel. 
 Scipio granted their petition, excepting only from 
 this favour the Roman deserters who had gone 
 over to the Carthaginians. Fifty thousand per- 
 sons, men, women, and children, were thus per- 
 mitted to depart from Byrsa. 
 
 On the most elevated part of the citadel stood 
 a temple consecrated to Esculapius. In this tem- 
 ple, the deserters, to the number of nine hundred, 
 entrenched themselves. They were commanded 
 by Asdrubal, who had with him his wife and his 
 two children. This desperate body of men with- 
 stood for some time the efforts of the Romans : 
 but being driven by degrees from the court of the 
 temple, they shut themselves up in the building 
 itself. Asdrubal, impelled by the love of life, and 
 secretly deserting his companions in misfortune, 
 his wife and his children, went, with an olive- 
 branch in his hand, and threw himself at Scipio's 
 feet. Scipio immediately ordered him to be shewn 
 to the deserters, who, boiling with fury, set fire to 
 the temple, venting the most horrible imprecations 
 against Asdrubal. 
 
 When the flames began to issi\e from the edifice, 
 a female, attired in her most sumptuous apparel, 
 made her appearance, holding two children by the
 
 CITY BY FIRE. 257 
 
 hand. This was the wife of Asdrubal. She looked 
 about among the enemy who surrounded the 
 citadel, and recognizing S.ipio, " Roman," cried 
 she, " I pray not that heaven may wreak its 
 vengeance upon thee ; thou follovvest only the laws 
 of war: but mayst thou, with the divinities of my 
 native laud, punish the perfidious wretch who 
 betrays his wife, his children, his country, and his 
 gods ! As for thee, Asdrubal, Rome is already 
 preparing the chastisement due to thy crimes. 
 Unworthy chief of Carthage, go and be dragged 
 at the chariot-wheels of thy conqueror, while 
 this fire shall snatch me and my children from 
 slavery." 
 
 With these words, she dispatched her children, 
 threw them into the flames, and precipitated 
 herself after them. All the deserters followed her 
 example. 
 
 Thus perished the city of Dido, Sophonisba, and 
 Hannibal. Florus says, that some idea may be 
 formed of the magnitude of this catastrophe, when 
 it is known that the conflagration lasted seventeen 
 whole days. Scipio shed tears for the fate of 
 Carthage. At the sight of the flames consuming 
 a city once so flourishing, he reflected on the 
 revolutions of empires, and repeated these verses of 
 Homer, in allusion to the future destinies of Rome : 
 " A time will come when the sacred walls of Ilion 
 shall perish, together with the warlike Priam and 
 all his people." Corinth was destroyed in the 
 same year as Carthage ; and a youth of Corinth 
 repeated, like Scipio, a passage in Homer, when 
 he beheld his native city in ashes. Who, then, is 
 this man, that is thus summoned by all antiquity 
 to the fall of states, to the spectacle of the cala- 
 mities of nations ; as if there could be nothing
 
 238 MAitius. 
 
 great or tragical without his presence, as if all 
 human woes were under the protection and under 
 the'empire of the bard of llion and of Hector? 
 
 No sooner was Carthage destroyed than an 
 avenging deity seemed to rise from its ruins. The 
 manners of Rome became depraved ; she began to 
 be distracted by civil wars; and this corruption and 
 these broils commenced on the Punic shores. Scipio 
 himself, the destroyer of Carthage, died by the 
 hands of his relations; the children of that Masinissa 
 who contributed to the triumph of the Romans, 
 slaughtered each other on the tomb of Sophonisba; 
 the possessions of Syphax enabled Jugurtha to 
 seduce and to vanquish the descendants of Regulus. 
 " O venal city !" exclaimed the African prince as 
 he left the capitol, " O city ripe for ruin, if thou 
 meetest with a purchaser!" Jugurtha soon after- 
 wards obliged a Roman army to pass under the 
 yoke, almost in sight of Carthage, and revived that 
 ignominious ceremony, as if to gratify the manes 
 of Hannibal. Falling at length into the hands of 
 the Romans, he lost his presence of mind amidst 
 the triumphal pomp. The lictors stripped him, 
 took the jewels from his ears, and threw him naked 
 into a ditch, where this monarch justified to his 
 last gasp what he had said concerning the rapacity 
 of the Romans. 
 
 The victory gained over the descendant of Masi- 
 nissa, occasioned, however, that jealousy between 
 Marius and Sylla, which soon plunged all Rome 
 into mourning. Vanquished by his rival, the fu- 
 gitive Marius sought an asylum beside the tombs 
 of Hanno and Hamilcar. A slave of Sextilius, the 
 prefect of Africa, brought Marius an order to quit 
 the ruins which served him for a retreat: " Go, 
 tell thy master," retorted the grim consul, " that
 
 CATO. 239 
 
 thou hast seen Marius, a fugitive, seated on the 
 ruins of Carthage." 
 
 " Marius and Carthage," said an historian and 
 a poet, " mutually reconciled each other to their 
 fate: and both having fallen, they forgave the 
 gods." 
 
 At length the liberties of Rome expired at the 
 feet of Carthage, destroyed and enslaved. The 
 vengeance is complete: a Scipio falls in Africa 
 under the sword of Caesar, and his body is buffeted 
 by those waves which bore the triumphal ships 
 of his forefathers. 
 
 But Cato still lived atUtica, and with him Rome 
 and liberty yet existed. Caesar approached. Cato, 
 persuaded that the tutelar deities of his country had 
 withdrawn their protection, called for his sword. 
 It was brought by a boy, when Cato, taking it 
 from the sheath, and feeling the point, exclaimed: 
 " Am I not my own master !" He then threw 
 himself on his couch, and read twice over Plato's 
 dialogue on the immortality of the soul ; after 
 which he fell asleep. Wakened at day-break by 
 the singing 1 of the birds, he thought it high time to 
 exchange a life of freedom for a life of immortality ; 
 he wounded himself with his sword below the sto- 
 mach, fell back upon his bed, and was found 
 struggling with death. His attendants bound up 
 the wound; but on recovering his senses, he pulled 
 off the bandages and tore out his entrails. He 
 chose rather to die in a sacred cause, than to live 
 the slave of a great man. 
 
 The destinies of republican Rome being accom- 
 plished, men and laws having altered, the state of 
 Carthage also experienced a change. Tiberius 
 Gracchus had, so early as his time, planted a 
 colony on the desolate site of the city of Dido ;
 
 240 CARTHAGE REBUILT. 
 
 but doubtless this colony had not prospered, since 
 Marius found at Carthage nothing- but hovels and 
 ruins. Julius Caesar, when in Africa, had a dream, 
 in which he imagined that he beheld a great army, 
 calling him with many tears. From that moment 
 he formed the design of rebuilding Corinth and 
 Carthage, the soldiers of which states fancy had 
 probably represented to him in his dream. Augus- 
 tus, who was implicated in all the excesses of a 
 sanguinary revolution, and who lived to make 
 amends for them all, put in execution the project 
 of Csesar. Carthage rose from its ruins, and Strabo 
 assures lis that in his time it was a flourishing 
 ctiy. It became the metropolis of Africa, and was 
 celebrated for its politeness and its schools. It 
 gave birth alternately to great and shining geniuses. 
 Tertullian addressed to it his vindication against 
 the Gentiles. But still cruel in her religion, Car- 
 tharge persecuted the innocent Christians, as she 
 had formerly burned children in honour of Saturn. 
 She doomed to martyrdom the illustrious Cyprian, 
 who caused Latin eloquence once more to flourish. 
 Arnobius and Lactantius distinguished themselves 
 at Carthage, where the latter acquired the appella- 
 tion of the Christian Cicero. 
 
 Sixty years afterwards, St. Augustine imbibed in 
 the capitol of Africa that love of pleasure over 
 which, like the royal prophet, he mourned all the 
 rest of his life. His warm imagination, impressed 
 with the fictions of the poets, took delight in seek- 
 ing the relics of the palace of Dido. Maturer 
 age dissolved the charm, and the void which 
 succeeds the indulgence in pleasure, recalled the 
 son of Monica to more serious thoughts. St. 
 Ambrose completed the victory, and Augustine 
 having become bishop of Hippona, was a pattern
 
 ST. AUGUSTINE. 241 
 
 of virtue. His habitation resembled a kind of 
 monastery, where was seen no affectation of poverty 
 or splendour. Attired in a modest, but yet neat 
 and pleasing manner, the venerable prelate threw 
 aside the sumptuous garments, which, as he said, 
 were not adapted to his station, or to his body 
 bowed by old age, or to his grey hair. No female 
 was ever admitted into his house, not even his 
 sister, a widow and a servant of God. Strangers 
 found at his table a liberal hospitality ; but for 
 his own part, he lived solely on fruits and vege- 
 tables. He made it his principal occupation to 
 relieve the poor, and to preach the word of God. 
 In the exercises of these pious duties, he was sur- 
 prised by the Vandals, who laid siege to Hippona 
 in the year 431, and who totally changed the face 
 of Africa. 
 
 The Barbarians had already made themselves 
 masters of the most important provinces of the 
 Roman empire, and Rome itself had been sacked 
 by Alaric. The Vandals, either instigated by the 
 Visigoths, or invited by Count Boniface, at length 
 passed over from Spain into Africa. According 
 to Procopius, they were of Gothic extraction, and 
 combined religious fanaticism with their natural 
 ferocity. Being converted to Christianity, but 
 belonging to the sect of Arians, they persecuted 
 the Catholics with relentless fury. Their cruelty 
 was unprecedented ; when they were repulsed in 
 their attempt on a city, they murdered their pri- 
 soners round about it, and left their bodies ex- 
 posed to the sun, that the winds might waft 
 pestilential diseases within those walls which had 
 baffled their rage, Africa was affrighted at this 
 race of men, half- naked giants, who transformed 
 the people vanquished by their arms into beasts 
 
 VOL. II. M
 
 242 THE VANDALS 
 
 of burden, drove them in crowds before them, and 
 when tired of that, cut all their throats. 
 
 Genseric fixed the seat of his empire at Carthage : 
 he was worthy to command the Barbarians over 
 whom God had placed him. He was a prince of 
 a gloomy disposition, subject to paroxysms of the 
 blackest melancholy, and who appeared great amid 
 the general wreck of the civilized world, because 
 he was mounted upon its ruins. 
 
 In the midst of its misfortunes, a signal revenue 
 was reserved for the city of Dido. Genseric crossed 
 the sea, and made himself master of Rome ; he 
 gave it up to the soldiers to pillage fourteen days 
 and fourteen nights. He then embarked again : 
 the fleet of this second Hannibal conveyed to Car- 
 thage the plunder of Rome, as Scipio's fleet had 
 transported to Rome the spoils of Carthage. "All 
 Genseric's vessels," says Procopius, "arrived 
 safelv in Africa, excepting that which carried the 
 gods."" 
 
 Being firmly established in his new empire, Gen- 
 seric quitted it every year to ravage Italy, Sicily, 
 Illyricum, and Greece. The blind conquerors of 
 that period were deeply sensible that they were 
 nothing of themselves, but merely the instruments 
 of the will of the Eternal. Hence the names which 
 they assumed of Scourge of God, and Ravager of 
 Mankind; hence that fury for destruction with 
 which they were tormented, that thirst of blood 
 which nothing could assuage ; hence that combina- 
 tion of all things towards their success, that uni- 
 versal degeneracy, that want of courage, of virtue, 
 of talents, and of genius : for it was concluded that 
 nothing could prevent the accomplishment of the 
 decrees of heaven. The fleet of Genseric was 
 ready ; his soldiers had embarked : but whither
 
 CONQUER CARTHAG . 2-kJ 
 
 were they going ? That was more than he knew 
 himself. " Prince," said the pilot to him, " what 
 nation are you going to attack ?" — " That," re- 
 plied the barbarian, " which God at present be- 
 holds in his wrath." 
 
 Genseric died thirty-nine years after the taking 
 of Carthage. This was the only city of Africa, the 
 walls of which he had not destroyed. He was 
 succeeded in his empire by Honoric, one of his 
 sons. After a reign of eight years, Honoric left 
 left the throne to his cousin Gondamond, who 
 wielded the sceptre thirteen years, when the crown 
 devolved to his brother Transamond. The latter 
 reigned twenty-seven years. Ilderic, the son of 
 Honoric, and grandson of Genseric, then inherited 
 the kingdom of Carthage. Gelimer, a relative of 
 Ilderic, conspired against him, and threw him into 
 a dungeon. The emperor Justinian espoused the 
 cause of the dethroned monarch, and sent Beli- 
 sarius into Africa. Gelimer made scarcely any 
 resistance. The Roman general entered Carthage 
 victorious. He repaired to the palace, where by 
 a freak of fortune, he sat down to there past pre- 
 pared for Gelimer, and was attended by the officers 
 of that prince. Nothing had changed at the court 
 but the master ; and that is a very trifling matter 
 when fortune has deserted him. 
 
 Belisarius, fer the rest, was worthy of his success. 
 He was one of those men who appear at distant 
 intervals in a vicious age, to bar the right of pre- 
 scription against virtue. Unfortunately, those 
 noble minds which shine in the midst of meaness, 
 produce no revolution. They are not connected 
 with the human affairs of their time ; strangers, 
 and insulated in the present, they cannot possess 
 any influence over the future. The world rolls 
 
 m 2
 
 i>44 BELISAKIUS. 
 
 over them without hurrying them away ; but on 
 the other hand, they are unable to check the tide 
 of the world. If souls of a superior nature shall 
 be useful to society, they must spring up among a 
 people which retains a love of order, of religion, 
 and of good manners, and whose genius and 
 character are in unison with its moral and political 
 situation. In the age of Belisarius, the events 
 w-ere great, and the actors little. For this reason, 
 the annals of that age, though abounding in tragic 
 catastrophes, tire and disgust us. We look not 
 in history for revolutions which crush and over- 
 whelm men ; but for men who control revolutions, 
 and who are more powerful than fortune. The 
 universe convulsed by the barbarians, excites no 
 other feelings than those of horror and contempt; 
 but we never fail to take the strongest interest in 
 a petty quarrel between Sparta and Athens, in a 
 narrow corner of Greece. 
 
 Gelimer, carried prisoner to Constantinople, 
 graced the triumph of Belisarius. Soon afterwards 
 this monarch turned husbandman. In such a case, 
 philosphy may afford consolation to an ordinary 
 mind, but it serves only to increase the regret of 
 a truly royal heart. 
 
 It is well known that it was not by Justinian's 
 order that Belisarius lost his eyes. Were this even 
 the case, it would form but a very small event in 
 the history of human ingratitude* As to Carthage, 
 she witnessed the departure of a prince from her 
 walls to take possession of the throneof the Caesars ; 
 this was that Heraclius who deposed the tyrant 
 Phocas. In 647 the Arabs made their first incur- 
 sion into Africa. This was followed by four other 
 expeditions within the space of fifty years. Car- 
 thage fell under the Mahometan yoke in 696.
 
 CARTHAGE TAKEN BY SARACENS. 245 
 
 Most of its inhabitants fled into Spain and Sicily. 
 John, the general of the emperor Leontius, retook 
 the city in 697 : but the following year the Saracens 
 recovered the possession of it, which they have 
 retained ever since ; and the daughter of Tyre 
 fell a prey to the children of Ishmael. It was 
 taken by Hassan, during the caliphat of Abd-el- 
 Malek. It is asserted that the new masters of 
 Carthage razed it to the very foundations : but 
 yet considerable remains of it must have existed 
 at the beginning of the ninth century, if it be true 
 that Charlemagne's ambassadors discovered there 
 the body of St. Cyprian. Towards the conclusion 
 of the same century, the Infidels formed a league 
 against the Christians, and at their head, as we 
 are told in history, were the Saracens of Carthage. 
 We shall likewise see that St. Louis found a rising 
 town upon the ruins of this ancient city. Be this 
 as it may, nothing is at present to be seen there 
 but the relics which I shall presently describe. 
 The only name by which it is known in the coun- 
 try is Bersach, apparently a corruption of Byrsa. 
 In going from Tunis to Carthage, you must 
 enquire for the tower of Almenara, or the roud 
 of Mastinaces : Ventoso gloria curru !
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Plan of Ancient Carthage — New Carthage — State of Cartilage 
 under the Roman Emperors — Ruins of Carthage — Ancient 
 Port — Port described by Virgil — Aqueduct — Byrsa — Crusade 
 of Louis IX. — His Attempt on Tunis — Fatal Illness of the 
 King — His last Instructions to his Son — His Death — De- 
 parture from Tunis — Arrival at Cadiz — Cordova — Grenada 
 — Arrival at Madrid — The Escurial — Bayonne — Conclusion. 
 
 It is very difficult to collect, from the accounts 
 of the historians, the plan of ancient Carthage. 
 Polybius and Livy treated doubtless very circum- 
 stantially of the siege of that city, but their des- 
 criptions have not reached us. On this subject 
 we possess nothing but abridgments, such as those 
 of Florus and Velleius Paterculus, who enter into 
 no local details. The geographers, who lived at 
 a later period, were acquainted only with the 
 Roman Carthage. The most complete authority 
 on this head is that of Appian, a Greek, who flou- 
 rished near three centuries after the event, and 
 who, in his declamatory style, is deficient in pre- 
 cision and perspicuity. Rollin, who follows him, 
 and perhaps injudiciously blends Strabo's account 
 with his, will spare me the trouble of a translation. 
 
 " It was seated at the bottom of a bay, sur- 
 rounded by the sea in the form of a peninsula, the 
 neck of which, that is, the isthmus connecting it 
 with the continent, was a league and a quarter
 
 ANCIENT CARTHAGE. 24-7 
 
 (twenty-five stadia) in breadth. The peninsula 
 was eighteen leagues (three hundred and sixty 
 stadia) in circumference. On the west side there 
 was a long point of land, about twelve fathoms 
 (half a stadium) in breadth, which, running out 
 into the sea, separated it from the morass, and 
 was encompassed on all sides by rocks and a single 
 wall. On the south side, and next to the main 
 land, the city was defended by a triple wall thirty 
 cubits in height, exclusively of the parapets and 
 the towers which flanked it all round at equal 
 distances, being eighty fathoms asunder. Each 
 tower hsd four stories; the walls had but two; 
 they were roofed ; and at the bottom were stables 
 capable of containing three hundred elephants, 
 and four thousand horses, together with everything 
 necessary for their subsistence. Here was likewise 
 room sufficient to lodge twenty thousand infantry 
 and four thousand horsemen : and the whole of 
 this warlike equipage was contained in the walls 
 alone. There was but one place where the walls 
 were weak and low : this was a neglected angle, 
 beginning at the point of land above-mentioned 
 and running to the harbour which was on the west 
 side. There were two ports, which communicated 
 with each other, but had only one entrance, 
 seventy feet wide, and defended by chains. The 
 first, was for merchant vessels, and here were 
 manv and various habitations for the mariners. 
 The other was the inner port for the ships of war, 
 in the middle of which was an island called 
 Cothon, bordered, as well as the port, with large 
 quays, where there were separate buildings, in 
 which two hundred and twenty ships might be 
 placed under cover, and storehouses above them 
 where every thing necessary for the equipment of
 
 248 CARTHAGE UNDER 
 
 the ships Was deposited. The entrance of each of 
 these buildings for the reception of the ships was 
 adorned with two marble columns of the Ionic 
 order ; so that the port and island exhibited on 
 either side two magnificent galleries. In this 
 island was the residence of the admiral ; and as it 
 was over against the entrance of the harbour, he 
 could thence discover what was passing at sea, 
 though it was impossible to perceive, from the sea, 
 what was doing in the interior of the port. The 
 merchants, in like manner, could not overlook the 
 ships of war, the two harbours being separated by 
 a double wall, and in each of them there was a 
 gate for the purpose of entering the city without 
 passing through the other port. Carthage might 
 therefore be divided into three parts : the harbour, 
 which was double, and was sometimes called 
 Cothon, from the little island of that name ; the 
 citadel, denominated Byrsa ; and the city, pro- 
 perly so called, where the inhabitants dwelt, which 
 surrounded the citadel and was called Megara." 
 
 Of this first city probably nothing was left but 
 the public and private reservoirs, which are of as- 
 tonishing beauty and give a high idea of the struc- 
 tures of the Carthaginians: but I am doubtful 
 whether the aqueduct which conveyed the water to 
 these cisterns ought, not to be attributed to the 
 second Carthage. My opinion of the total des- 
 truction of the city of Dido is founded on the 
 following passage of Florus : 
 
 Quanta urbs deleta sit, ut de ceteris taceam, vel 
 ignium mora probari potest. Qjnippe per continuos 
 xvii dies vix potuit incendium extingui, quod domi- 
 hus ac templis suis sponte hostes immiserant ; ut 
 quatenus urbs eripi Romanis non poterat, triumpkus 
 arderet.
 
 THE ROMAN'S. °,4f) 
 
 Appian adds that what escaped the conflagra- 
 tion was demolished by the command of the Roman 
 senate. " Rome," says Velleins Paterculns, " al- 
 ready the mistress of the world, thought herself not 
 safe, as long as the name of Carthage subsisted :" 
 nomen usquam maneret Carthoginis. 
 
 Strabo in his concise and perspicuous descrip- 
 tion, evidently blends different parts of the ancient 
 and modern city. 
 
 " Carthage, encompassed on all sides with 
 walls, occupies a peninsula three hundred stadia 
 in circumference, which is joined to the main land 
 by an isthmus sixty stadia in breadth. In the 
 centre of the city rose a hill, on which was erected 
 a citadel called Byrsa. On the summit of this 
 citadel was seen a temple consecrated to Escula- 
 pius, and the declivity of the hill was covered with 
 houses. The harbours are at the foot of Byrsa, 
 as well as the small circular island called Cothon, 
 around which the ships form a circle." 
 
 On the word Karchedon, in the original, I shall 
 observe that, according to Bochart, the Phoeni- 
 cian name of Carthage was Cartha-Hadath, or 
 Cartha-Hadtha, which signifies the new city. 
 The Greeks turned it into Karchedon, and the 
 Romans into Carthage The names of the three 
 divisions of the city were likewise derived from the 
 Phoenician: Magaria, from ww/^ar, a storehouse; 
 Byrsa, from bosra, a fortress; and Cothon, from 
 ratoun, a cut; for it is not perfectly clear that 
 Cothon was an island. 
 
 After the time of Strabo, we know nothing of 
 Carthage, except that it became one of the largest 
 and finest cities in the world. Pliny, however, 
 
 M 3
 
 250 CARTHAGE UNDER 
 
 merely says : Colonia Carthago, magnce in vestigiis 
 Carthaginis. Pompinius Mela, anterior to Pliny, 
 does not seem much more favourable : Jamquidem 
 iterum opulenta, etiam nunct amen priorwn excidio 
 rerum qnam ope prasentium clarior : but Solinius 
 says : Altermn post urban Romam terrarum decus. 
 Other authors style it the Great and the Happy: 
 Carthago magna, felicitate referenda. 
 
 New Carthage suffered from a conflagration 
 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius; for we find 
 that prince engaged in repairing the losses of the 
 colony. 
 
 Commodus, who stationed a fleet at Carthage, 
 for the purpose of carrying to Rome the corn of 
 Africa, would have changed the name of Carthage 
 into Villa Commodiani. This folly of the unworthy 
 son of a great man was soon forgotten. 
 
 The two Gordians having been proclaimed 
 emperors in Africa, made Carthage the capital of 
 the world during their transient reign. It appears, 
 however, that the Carthaginians were by no means 
 grateful for this distinction ; for, according to 
 Capitolinus, they revolted against the Gordians, 
 in favour of Capelius. Zosimus farther informs us 
 that these same Carthaginians acknowledged Sabi- 
 nianus for their master, while the younger Gordian 
 succeeded Balbinus and Maximus at Rome. 
 Though Aye should believe, from what is said by 
 Zonaras, that Carthage was favourable to the 
 Gordians, yet those emperors had not time to 
 contribute much to the embellishment of that city. 
 
 Several inscriptions given by the learned Dr. 
 Shaw, prove that Adrian, Aurelian, and Septimus 
 Severus, erected edifices in different cities of Byza- 
 cium, and it is highly probable that the capital of 
 that wealthy province was not neglected by them.
 
 THE ROMANS. 251 
 
 The tyrant Maxentius carried fire and sword 
 into Africa, and triumphed over Carthage, as over 
 the ancient enemy of Rome. It is impossible to 
 survey, without shuddering, that long series of 
 madmen, which almost uninterruptedly governed 
 the world from Tiberius to Constantine, and was 
 continued after the latter, in the monsters who 
 reigned at Bysantium. The people were no better 
 than the kings. A horrible convention seemed 
 to exist between the nations and sovereigns — 
 these to dare, those to endure every thing. 
 
 Thus our information respecting the monuments 
 of Carthage in the ages which we have just re- 
 viewed, is reduced within a very narrow compass; 
 we merely find, from the writings of Tertullian, St. 
 Cyprian, Lactantius, and St. Augustine, from the 
 canons of the Councils of Carthage, and the Acts 
 of the Martyrs, that Carthage contained theatres, 
 amphitheatres, baths, and porticoes. The city was 
 never strongly fortified, for the elder Gordian 
 could not defend himself there ; and, long after- 
 wards, Genseric and Belisarius gained possession 
 of it without difficulty. 
 
 I have in my hands several coins of the Vandal 
 kings, which prove that the arts were totally lost 
 during the reigns of those monarchs : it is not pro- 
 bable, therefore, that Carthage received any em- 
 bellishment from its new masters. We know, on 
 the contrary, that Genseric overthrew the churches 
 and the theatres ; all the Pagan edifices were demo- 
 lished by his command; mention is made, among 
 others, of the temple of Memory and the street of 
 the Celestial Goddess, which was lined with splen- 
 did structures. 
 
 Justinian, having wrested Carthage from the 
 Vandals, caused porticoes, thermae, churches, and
 
 252 RUINS OF CARTHAGE. 
 
 monasteries, to be erected there, as we find in Pro- 
 copius's book on Edificies. That historian speaks 
 also of a church built by the Carthaginians on the 
 sea-shore in honour of St. Cyprian. Such is all 
 that I have been able to collect concerning the 
 monuments of a city which occupies so high a rank 
 in history. Let us now proceeds to its ruins. 
 
 The ship in which I left Alexandria having 
 arrived in the port of Tunis, we cast anchor oppo- 
 site to the ruins of Carthage. I looked at them, 
 but was unable to make out what they could be. 
 I perceived a kw Moorish huts, a Mahometan 
 hermitage at the point of a projecting cape, sheep 
 browzing among ruins ; — ruins, so far from strik- 
 ing, that I could scarcely distinguish them from 
 the ground on which they lay. This was Car- 
 thage. 
 
 Devictae Carthaginis arces 
 Procubuere, jacent infausto in littore turres 
 Eversae. Quantum ilia metus, quantum ilia laborum 
 Urbs dedit insultans Latio et Laurentibus arvis ! 
 Nunc passim vix reliquias, vix nomina servans, 
 Obruitur propriis non agnoscenda ruinis. 
 
 " The walls of vanquished Carthage, and her 
 demolished towers, lie scattered on the fatal shore. 
 What fears did this city formerly excite in Rome; 
 what efforts did she cost when insulting us, even 
 in Latium and the Laurentian plains ! Now 
 scarcely a relic of her is to be seen ; she scarcely 
 retains her name, and cannot even be recognized 
 by her own ruins." 
 
 In order to discover these ruins, it is necessary 
 to go methodically to work. I suppose, then, 
 that the reader sets out with me from the fort of 
 the Goletta, standing, as I have observed, upon 
 the canal by which the lake of Tunis discharges
 
 RUINS OF CAKTHAGE. 253 
 
 itself into the sea. Riding along the shore in an 
 east-north-east direction, you come, in about half 
 an hour, to some salt-pits, which extend toward 
 the west, as far as a fragment of wall, very near to 
 the Great Reservoirs. Passing between these salt- 
 pits and the sea, you begin to discover jetties run- 
 ning out to a considerable distance under water. 
 The sea and the jetties are on your right; on your 
 left you perceive a great quantity of ruins, upon 
 eminences of unequal height ; and below these 
 ruins is a basin of a circular form, and of consider- 
 able depth, which formerly communicated with 
 the sea by means of a canal, traces of which are 
 still t o be seen. This basin must be, in my opinion, 
 the Cothon, or inner port of Carthage. The re- 
 mains of the immense works discernible in the sea, 
 would, in this case, indicate the site of the outer 
 mole. If I am not mistaken, some piles of the 
 dam constructed by Scipio, for the purpose of 
 blocking up the port, may still be distinguished. 
 I also observed a second inner canal, which shall 
 be, if you please, the cut made by the Carthagi- 
 nians when they opened a new passage for their 
 fleet. 
 
 This opinion is diametrically opposite to that of 
 Dr. Shaw, who places the ancient port of Carthage 
 to the north and north-west of the peninsula, in 
 the wet morass, called El Mersa, or the harbour. 
 He supposes that this port has been choaked up 
 by the north-east winds, and the mud of the 
 Bagrada. D'Anville, in his Ancient Geography, 
 and Belidor, in his Hydraulic Architecture, have 
 adopted this opinion. Travellers have bowed to 
 these great authorities. I know not what opinion 
 is entertained on the subject by the learned Italian, 
 whose work I have already mentioned.
 
 25-i RUINS OF CARTHAGE. 
 
 I must own it is not without fear that I find 
 myself opposed to men of such eminent merit as 
 Shaw and D'Anville. The one had seen the places, 
 and the other was acquainted with them, as it were, 
 by intuition. One tiling, however, gives me cou- 
 rage. M. Humberg, commandant-engineer at the 
 Goletta, a man of great abilities, and who has long 
 resided among the ruins of Carthage, absolutely 
 rejects the hypothesis of the learned English travel- 
 ler. It is certain that we should receive with cau- 
 tion accounts of those assumed changes of places, 
 those local accidents, by means of which a writer 
 explains difficulties in a plan which he does not 
 understand. I am doubtful, then, whether the 
 Bagrada could have choaked the ancient port of 
 Carthage, as Dr. Shaw supposes, or produced on 
 the coast of Utica all the revolutions which he 
 describes. The elevated part of the land to the 
 north and north-west of the isthmus of Carthage 
 has not, either along the sea or in the El Mersa, 
 the smallest sinuosity capable of affording shelter 
 to a vessel. To find the Cothon in this position, 
 we must have recourse to a hole which, by Shaw's 
 own account, is scarcely one hundred yards square: 
 on the other hand, along the sea on the south- 
 east you find long dykes, vaults which may have 
 served for stoi'e-houses, or even for the reception 
 of the galleys; you see canals excavated by the 
 hand of man, an inner basin sufficiently capacious 
 to hold the barks of the ancients, and in the 
 midst of this basin a small island. 
 
 History supports me in this explanation. Scipio 
 
 Africanus was engaged in fortifying Tunis when 
 
 he perceived the ships leaving Carthage to attack 
 
 the Roman fleet at Utica-'. Had the port of 
 
 * Livy, book x.
 
 RUINS OF CARTHAGE. °.55 
 
 Carthage been to the north, on the other side of 
 the isthmus, Scipio, stationed at Tunis, could 
 not have seen the Carthaginian gallies ; for the 
 land in that part intercepts the view of the gulf 
 of Utica. But if we place the port to the south- 
 west, Scipio then could see, and must have seen, 
 his enemies standing out of the harbour. 
 
 When Scipio iEmilianus undertook to block 
 up the entrance to the outer port, he began the 
 jetty at the point of Cape Carthage.* Now Cape 
 Carthage is to the east, on the bay of Tunis. 
 Appian adds, that this point of land was near 
 the port ; which is correct, if the port lie to the 
 south-east, but false, if situated to the north-west. 
 It would be the height of absurdity, to suppose 
 a dyke carried from the longest point of the 
 isthmus of Carthage for the purpose of enclosing 
 what is termed El Mersa on the north-west. 
 
 Lastly, after he had taken Cothon, Scipio 
 attacked Byrsa, or the citadel :f the Cothon was 
 consequently below the citadel. Now the latter 
 stood on the highest hill of Carthage, a hill which 
 is seen between the south and east. The Cothon^ 
 if situated on the north-west, would have been 
 too far distant from Byrsa, whereas the basin 
 where I place it, lies exactly at the foot of the hill 
 to the south-east. 
 
 If I expatiate more on this point than is neces- 
 sary for many readers, there are others, I know, 
 who take a lively interest in the recollections of 
 history, and who look in a work of this kind for 
 nothing but facts and positive information. Is it 
 not singular, that in a city so celebrated as 
 Carthage, we should have to seek the very site of 
 her ports, and that the circumstance which con- 
 * Appian. f Ibid.
 
 256 
 
 RUINS OF CARTHAGE. 
 
 stituted her principal glory is precisely that which 
 is now most completely forgotten ? 
 
 Shaw seems to have been more happy in regard 
 to the port described in the first book of the Eneid. 
 Some scholars have looked upon this port as a 
 creation of the poet; others have conceived that 
 Virgil intended to represent either the port of 
 Ithaca, or that of Carthagena, or the bay of Naples: 
 but the bard of Dido was too scrupulous about the 
 delineation of places to allow himself such a 
 liberty. He has most accurately described a port 
 at some distance from Carthage. Let us hear 
 Dr. Shaw: 
 
 " Two leagues to the east-north-east of Seedy 
 Doude, and a little to the southward of the pro- 
 montory of Mercury, is Lowhareah, the Aquilaria 
 of the ancients, where Curio landed those troops 
 that were afterwards cut in pieces by Sabura. 
 There are several fragments of antiquities at this 
 place, but nothing remarkable : however, from 
 the sea-shore to this village, which is at half a 
 mile's distance, the interjacent mountain, from 
 the level of the sea to the height of twenty or 
 thirty feet, is all the way very artfully scooped and 
 hollowed, small openings being carried up in 
 several places to the surface, for the admission of 
 fresh air, whilst large pillars and arches are left 
 standing at proper distances below, to support 
 the mountain. These are the quarries which 
 Strabo takes notice of, whence the buildings of 
 Carthage, Utica, and many other adjacent cities, 
 might receive their materials. Moreover, as the 
 mountain above is all overshaded with trees; as 
 the arches below lie open to the sea, having a 
 large cliff on each side, with the island iEgimurus 
 placed over against them; as there are likewise
 
 virgil's descbiptjon. 257 
 
 some fountains perpetually draining from the 
 rocks, and seats for the weary labourer, we 
 have little room to doubt, from such a concur- 
 rence of circumstances, so exactly corresponding 
 to the cave which Virgil placeth somewhere in 
 this gulph, but that the following description 
 is literally true, notwithstanding the opinion of 
 some commentators who have thought it fictitious. 
 
 Est in secessulongo locus ; insula portutn 
 Efficit objectu laterum : quibus omnis ab alto 
 Frangitur, inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos. 
 Hinc atque bine vastse rupes, geminique minantur 
 In coelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice late 
 iEquora tuta silent : turn sylvis scena coruscis 
 Desuper, borrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra. 
 Fronte snb adversa, scopulis pendentibus antrum; 
 Intus aquae dulces, vivoque sedilia saxo 
 Nympharum domus, &c. 
 
 Viug. JEn. I. 163. 
 
 Having now settled the situation of the ports, 
 the rest will not detain us long. I" suppose that 
 we have pursued our way along the coast to the 
 angle from which the promontory of Carthage 
 projects. This cape, according to Dr. Shaw, was 
 never included in the city. Let us now leave the 
 sea, and striking off to the left, traverse, as we 
 return to the south, the ruins of the city, scattered 
 over the amphitheatre of the hills. 
 
 We first find the remains of a very extensive 
 edifice which seems to have formed part of a 
 palace or of a theatre. Above this edifice, ascen- 
 ding to the west, you come to the beautiful cisterns 
 which are generally accounted the only relics of 
 ancient Carthage : they were probably supplied 
 with water by an aqueduct, some fragments of 
 which may be seen in the plain. This aqueduct 
 was fifty miles in length, commencing at the
 
 258 AQUEDUCT. 
 
 springs of Zawan and Zungar. There were tem- 
 ples above these springs. The largest arches of the 
 aqueduct are seventy feet high, and the columns 
 which support these arches are sixteen feet square. 
 The cisterns are prodigious ; they form a series of 
 vaults, communicating with each other, and are 
 bordered throughout their whole length by a 
 corridor. This is a truly magnificent work. 
 
 A rugged road leads from the public cisterns to 
 the hill of Byrsa, At the foot of the hill you find 
 a cemetery and a miserable village, perhaps the 
 Tents of Lady M. W. Montagu.* The summit 
 exhibits a level space bestrewed with small pieces 
 of marble, and which is visibly the area of a 
 palace or of a temple. If you suppose the former, 
 it shall be the palace of Dido; if you prefer the 
 latter, it must have been the temple of Escula- 
 pius, Here two females, consigned themselves 
 to the flames, not to survive, the one, her disho- 
 nour, the other, her country. 
 
 From the summit of Byrsa, the eye embraces 
 the ruins of Carthage, which are more numerous 
 than is generally imagined : they resemble those 
 of Sparta, having nothing left in tolerable preser- 
 vation, but covering an extensive space. I saw 
 them in the month of February ; the fig, olive, 
 and carob trees were already clothed with their 
 young leaves; large angelicas and acanthuses 
 formed verdant thickets among fragments of mar- 
 ble of every colour. In the distance my eye wan- 
 dered over the isthmus, the double sea, distan t 
 islands, a pleasing country, bluish lakes, and 
 azure mountains. I beheld forests, ships, aque- 
 ducts, Moorish villages, Mahometan hermitages, 
 
 * Tlie Elephants' Stables, mentioned by this lady, are sub- 
 terraneous chambers, which have nothing remarkable.
 
 CRUSADE OF LOUIS IX. 259 
 
 minarets, and the white buildings of Tunis. 
 Millions of starlings, in flocks that looked like 
 clouds, flew over my head. Surrounded by the 
 grandest and the most moving recollections, I 
 thought of Dido, of Sophonisba, of the noble wife 
 of Asdrubal; I contemplated the vast plains which 
 entomb the legions of Hannibal, Scipio, and 
 Caesar ; my eyes sought the site of Utica ; but 
 alas ! the ruins of the palace of Tiberius still 
 exist at Capri, and in vain you look for the spot 
 occupied by Cato's house at Utica ! The terrible 
 Vandals and the light Mooi-s passed successively 
 before my memory ; which exhibited to me, as 
 the last picture, St. Louis expiring on the ruins of 
 Carthage. With the narrative of the death of 
 that prince I shall conclude this work ; happy to 
 return, as it were, to my country by an ancient 
 monument of its virtues, and to finish, at the tomb 
 of the monarch of sainted memory, this long pil- 
 grimage to the sepulchres of great men. 
 
 When St. Louis undertook his second expedi- 
 tion, he was not young. His impaired health 
 did not permit him to remain long on horseback, 
 or to bear the weight of armour ; but Louis had 
 lost none of the vigour of his mind. He assem- 
 bled the grandees of his kingdom at Paris, repre- 
 sented to them the unfortunate situation of Pales- 
 tine, and declared his resolution to go to the relief 
 of his Christian brethren. At the same time he 
 received the cross from the hands of the legate and 
 gave it to his three eldest sons. A great number of 
 the nobility took the cross with him. The kings 
 of Europe, Charles of Sicily, Edward of England, 
 Gaston of Beam, the kings of Navarre and Arra- 
 gon, prepared to follow his example. The fair 
 sex displayed the same zeal: the lady de Poitiers,
 
 260 
 
 ST. LOl'IS. 
 
 the countess of Bretagne, Iolanda of Buro-undv, 
 Joan de Toulouse, Isabel de France, Amicia de 
 Courtenay, threw aside the distaff', which then 
 afforded employment to queens, and accompanied 
 their husbands beyond the sea. 
 
 St. Louis made his will and then went to receive 
 the oriflamme. This banner, which first made its 
 appearance in the French armies under Louis the 
 Fat, was a standard of silk affixed to the point of 
 a lance. In time of peace it was deposited in the 
 abbey of Saint Denis, among the tombs of the 
 Kings, as if to indicate that, from generation to 
 generation, the French were faithful to their God, 
 to their prince, and to honour. St. Louis, accord- 
 ing to custom, received this banner from the hand 
 of the abbot, who delivered to him, at the same 
 time, the scarf and the pilgrim's staff, which were 
 then denominated the solace and the marks of the 
 journey* Louis offered up his prayers at the 
 shrine of the martyrs, and committed his kingdom 
 to the protection of the patron of France. The 
 day after this ceremony, he walked barefoot with 
 his sons from the Palace of Justice to the Church 
 of Notre Dame; in the evening he set out for 
 Vincennes, where he took leave of Queen Mar- 
 garet ; and then quitted for ever those aged oaks, 
 the venerable witnesses of his justice and his virtues. 
 
 " Many a time," says the Sire de Joinville, 
 " have 1 seen the holy monarch go to amuse him- 
 self in the wood of Vincennes, where he would sit 
 down at the foot of an oak and make us seat our- 
 selves round him, and all those who had business 
 with him could come and speak to him without 
 being hindered by any guard. In like manner, I 
 have several times in summer seen the good kin<r 
 * Solatia et indicia itineris.
 
 ST. LOUIS. 2C1 
 
 come into the garden at Paris, dressed in a camlet 
 coal, a surtout of linsey-woolsey without sleeves, 
 and a black mantle over that; and he would order 
 carpets to be spread near him for us to sit down 
 upon, and diligently attend to the affairs of his 
 subjects, as at the wood of Vincennes." 
 
 St. Louis embarked at Agues Mortes, on Tues- 
 day, July 1st 1270. Three plans were proposed 
 in the council held by the king previously to his 
 departure: to land at St. John d'Acre, to attack 
 Egypt, or to make an attempt on Tunis. Unfortu- 
 nately Louis adopted the latter, for a reason that 
 appeared decisive. 
 
 Tunis was then under the dominion of a prince 
 whom GeofFry de Beaulieu and Win. de Nangis 
 call Omar el Muley Moztanca. The historians of 
 those times have not told us why this prince feigned 
 a desire to embrace the Christian religion ; but it is 
 highly probable that, receiving intelligence of the 
 preparations of the Crusaders, and not knowing 
 where the storm would burst, he hoped to avert its 
 fury by sending ambassadors to France and flattering 
 the pious monarch with a conversion which he had 
 no thoughts of. This artifice of the infidel was the 
 very thing that drew down upon him the tempest 
 which he was solicitous to avoid. Louis conceived 
 that Omar wanted nothing but an opportunity to 
 declare his sentiments, and that great part of An ica 
 would then embrace Christianity, after the example 
 of its prince. 
 
 To this religious motive was added a political 
 consideration. The Tuniseens infested the seas ; 
 they intercepied the succours sent to the Christian 
 princes in Palestine: they furnished the sultans 
 of Egypt with horses, arms, and troops; they 
 were the centre of the connection maintained by
 
 262 ATTEMPT OX TUNIS. 
 
 Bondoc Dari with the Moors of Morocco and 
 Spain. The destruction of this haunt of banditti 
 was therefore a point of some consequence, as it 
 would facilitate future expeditions to the Holy 
 Land. 
 
 St. Louis entered the bay of Tunis in the month 
 of July, 1270. At this time a Moorish prince 
 had begun to rebuild Carthage; several new edi- 
 flees were already erected among the ruins, and 
 a castle appeared on the hill of Byrsa. The Cru- 
 saders were struck with the beauty of the country, 
 covered with woods of olive-trees. Omar, so far 
 from coming out to meet the French, threatened, 
 on the contrary, to put to death all the Christians 
 in his dominions, if they attempted to disembark. 
 These menaces did not prevent the army from 
 landing : it encamped on the isthmus of Carthage, 
 and the king's chaplain took possession of the 
 native land of Hannibal with these words: "I put 
 you to the ban of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of 
 Louis king of France, his lieutenant." The same 
 spot had echoed the accents of the Getulian, the 
 Tyrian, the Latin, the Vandal, the Greek, and 
 the Arab ; and it was the same passions that were 
 expressed in all their different languages. 
 
 St. Louis resolved to reduce Carthage before 
 he laid siege to Tunis, which was then an opulent, 
 commei*cial, and fortified city. He dislodged the 
 Saracens from a tower which defended the Cis- 
 terns; the castle was carried by assault, and the 
 new city followed the fate of the fortress. The 
 princesses, who accompanied their husbands, 
 landed at the port: and by one of those revolu- 
 tions produced in the lapse of ages, the most 
 illustrious females of France took up their abode 
 in the ruins of the palace of Dido.
 
 FATAL ILLNESS OF LOUIS. 263 
 
 But no sooner had Louis crossed the seas, than 
 prosperity seemed to forsake him ; as if he had been 
 always destined to exhibit to the infidels a pattern 
 of heroism in adversity. He could not attack Tunis 
 till he had received the reinforcements with 
 which his brother, the king of Sicily, had promised 
 to join him. iiein"; obliged to intrench himself 
 on the isthmus, the army was attacked by a conta- 
 gions disease, which in a few days swept away half 
 of his troops. The African sun consumed men 
 accustomed to live beneath a milder sky. To 
 increase the sufferings of the Crusaders, the 
 Moors raised the burning sand by means of ma- 
 chines, and scattering it before the southern breeze, 
 they exposed the Chr stians by this fiery shower 
 to the effects of the Kamsin, or terrible wind of 
 the desert: an ingenious and terrific invention 
 worthy of the solitudes which furnished the idea 
 of it, and evincing to what lengths man can carry 
 the spirit of destruction ! — Incessant engagements 
 exhausted their remains of strength; the living 
 were not sufficient to bury the dead, whose bodies 
 were thrown into the ditches of the camp, which 
 were soon completely filled with them. 
 
 The counts of Nemours, Montmorency, and 
 Vend:>me were already no more; the king had 
 seen his favourite son, the Count of Nevers, expire 
 in his arms. He felt himself the attacks of the 
 disease. He was sensible from the first moment 
 that it would terminate fatally, and that this shock 
 could not fail to overpower a body worn out with 
 the fatigues of war, the cares of a throne, and 
 those religious and royal vigils which Louis gave 
 to his God and to his people. He nevertheless 
 strove to conceal his illness, as well as the grief 
 which he felt for the loss of his son. With the
 
 264 
 
 LAST MOMENTS. 
 
 hand of death impressed upon his brow, he was 
 seen visiting the hospitals, like one of those Fathers 
 of Mercy, devoted, on the very same spot, to the 
 redemption of captives and the attendance on the 
 infected. From the works of the saint he passed 
 to the duties of the monai'ch. providing for the 
 safety of the camp, meeting the enemy with un- 
 daunted countenance, or, seated before his tent, 
 administering justice to his subjects, as he was 
 wont under the oak of Vincennes. 
 
 Philip, the eldest son and successor of Lcuis, 
 never quitted his father, whom he saw sinking into 
 the tomb. The kino- was at length confined to his 
 tent ; when incapable of rendering, in his own 
 person, any farther service to his people, he en- 
 deavoured to ensure their future happiness, by 
 addressing to Philip those Instructions which no 
 true Frenchman can ever read without emotion. 
 These he committed to writing when on his death- 
 bed. Ducange speaks of a manuscript which 
 appears to have been the original of these instruc- 
 tions : the writing is large, but shews the weakness 
 of the hand which expressed the sentiments of so 
 strong a mind. 
 
 " My dear son, the first thing which I instruct 
 and command thee to keep, is to love God with 
 all thy heart; for without this, no man can be 
 saved. And beware of doing what is displeasing 
 to him ; for thou shouldst rather desire to undergo 
 all sorts of torments than commit a mortal sin. 
 
 " If God sends thee adversity, receive it with 
 resignation, and thank him for it; and think that 
 thou hast amply deserved it, and that every thing 
 will turn out for thy profit. If he gives thee pros- 
 perity, return him thy most humble thanks, and 
 take care that thou art made no worse for it, either
 
 ADVICE TO HIS SON. 265 
 
 by pride or otherwise. For we ought not to make 
 war upon God with his gifts. 
 
 " Take care to have about thee prudent and 
 upright men, who are not full of covetousness, 
 whether ecclesiastics, seculars, or others. Shun 
 the society of the wicked ; listen to the words of 
 God, and treasure them in thy heart. 
 
 " Administer justice and equity to each, as well 
 to the poor as to the rich. And to thy servants 
 be honourable, liberal, and frugal of words, that 
 they may fear and love thee as their master. And 
 if any controversy or quarrel arise, enquire into 
 the very truth, whether it be for or against thyself. 
 If thou findest for certain that thou hast any thing 
 rightfully belonging to another, acquired either 
 by thyself or thy predecessors, immediately restore 
 it. 
 
 " Take care, with all diligence, that the people 
 and subjects live in peace and happiness under 
 thee, especially in the good cities and towns, and 
 elsewhere. Maintain thy franchises and privileges, 
 which thy forefathers have maintained and pre- 
 served, and keep them in favour and love. 
 
 " Beware of emjainnff in war against Christian 
 men without mature deliberation, and unless thou 
 canst not possibly avoid it. If war and disputes 
 arise among thy subjects, pacify them as speedily 
 as thou canst. 
 
 " Keep a watchful eye over thy governors, bai- 
 liffs, and other officers, and frequently enquire into 
 their conduct, that, if need be to reprove them, 
 thou mayst do it. 
 
 " And I entreat thee, my son, after my death, 
 to keep me in remembrance, and my poor soul ; 
 and assist me with masses, prayers, alms, and be- 
 nefactions, throughout all the kingdom. And 
 
 Vol. ii. n
 
 266 THE DEATH 
 
 allow me a share and portion in all the charities 
 which thou bestovvest. 
 
 " And I give thee every benediction that ever 
 father can give his child, praying to all the Trinity 
 of paradise, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost, to keep thee and to protect thee from all 
 evil ; that we may once, after this mortal life, be 
 together in the presence of God, and thank and 
 praise him to all eternity." 
 
 Every man at the point of death, and undeceived 
 in regard to the things of the world, may give 
 prudent instructions to his children : but when 
 these instructions are enforced by the example of 
 a whole life of innocence ; when they issue from 
 the lips of a great sovereign and an intrepid soldier, 
 from a heart fraught with a simplicity that never 
 was surpassed ; when they are the last expressions 
 of a divine spirit, ready to speed its flight to the 
 celestial mansions; then happy is that people who, 
 with honest pride, can exclaim: " The man who 
 penned these instructions was the king of my 
 fathers !" 
 
 The disease growing more violent, Louis de- 
 manded extreme unction. He pronounced the 
 responses to the prayers for the dying in as firm 
 a tone as if he had been jrivinjj orders on the field 
 of battle. He raised himself upon his knees at 
 the foot of his bed, to receive the eucharist, and 
 his attendants wereobliged to support in their arms 
 this second Jerome, during his last communion. 
 From that moment he banished all earthly thoughts 
 and conceived that he stood acquitted towards his 
 subjects. What monarch, indeed, ever fulfilled 
 his duties in so exemplary a manner ! His charity 
 now embraced all mankind: he prayed for the 
 Infidels, who were at once the glory and the
 
 of louis ix. 267 
 
 misery of his life; he invoked the patron saints of 
 France, of that France which was so dear to his 
 royal heart. On the morning of Monday, the 
 25th of August, feeling his end approaching, he 
 desired to be placed upon a bed of ashes, where 
 he lay with his hands folded upon his bosom, and 
 his eyes raised towards heaven. 
 
 Never was such a spectacle beheld but once, and 
 never will it be again exhibited. The fleet of the 
 Sicilian monarch appeared on the horizon; while 
 the plain and hills were covered with the army of 
 the Moors. Amid the wreck of Carthage, the 
 Christian camp presented the image of the pro- 
 foundest grief: a death-like silence pervaded it, 
 and the expiring soldiers, leaving the hospitals, 
 crawled over the ruins to approach their dying 
 monarch. Louis was surrounded by his weeping 
 family, the dismayed princes, and their fainting 
 consorts. The deputies of the emperor of Con- 
 stantinople were present at this scene: they had it 
 in their power to relate to Greece the particulars 
 of an end which Socrates would have admired. 
 From the bed of ashes on which St. Louis heaved 
 his last sigh, could be seen the shore of Utica: 
 each spectator might draw a comparison between 
 the death of the stoic and that of the Christian 
 philosopher. More happy than Cato, St. Louis 
 was not obliged to read a treatise on the immor- 
 tality of the soul, to convince himself of the 
 existence of a future life: of this, he found an 
 irrefragable proof in his religion, his virtues, and 
 his misfortunes. At length about three in the 
 afternoon, the king fetched a deep sigh, and 
 having distinctly repeated these words : " Lord, I 
 will go into thy house, and I will adore thee in 
 
 n2
 
 268 CHARLES OF ANJOU. 
 
 thy holy temple" — his soul took its flight to that 
 temple in which it was worthy to dwell. 
 
 The trumpets of the Sicilian Crusaders sounded, 
 and their fleet arrived full of joy, and bringing 
 useless succours. Their signal was not answered. 
 Charles of Anjou was astonished, and began to 
 apprehend some disaster. He landed ; he beheld 
 the sentinels with pikes reversed, while the dejec- 
 tion visible in their faces expressed their grief much 
 more strongly than this mark of military mourning. 
 He flew to the tent of his brother, and found him 
 extended lifeless on a bed of ashes. He threw 
 himself on his sacred remains, he bathed them 
 with his tears, he respectfully kissed the feet of 
 the saint, and shewed marks of affection and sor- 
 row that would not have been expected from so 
 haughty a spirit. The face of Louis was yet tinged 
 with all the colours of life, and his lips even 
 retained their vermilion hue. 
 
 Charles obtained the bowels of his brother, 
 which he deposited at Montreal, near Salerno. 
 The heart and body of the prince were destined 
 for the abbey of St. Denis ; but the soldiers would 
 not suffer these venerated relics to depart before 
 them, saying that the remains of their sovereign 
 were the safeguard of the army. France, incon- 
 solable for the loss of such a monarch upon earth, 
 declared him her protector in heaven ; and Louis, 
 placed in the rank of saints, might be considered 
 as the everlasting king of his country. His people 
 vied with each other in erecting to his memory 
 churches and chapels more magnificent than the 
 simple palaces in which ne had passed his life. 
 The old chevaliers who had accompanied him in 
 his first crusade, were the foremost to acknowledge 
 the new power of their chief. " And I too,"
 
 DEPARTURE. 269 
 
 says the Sire de Joinvilie, " had an altar erected 
 in honour of God, and of Monseigneur Saint 
 Loys." 
 
 The death of Louis, s> affecting, so virtuous, 
 so calm, with which the history of Carthage con- 
 cludes, may he regarded in the light of a sacrifice 
 of peace, offered in expiation of the excesses, the 
 passions, and the crimes of which that unfortunate 
 city was so long the theatre. 
 
 Leaving M. Devoise, by whom I had been so 
 generously entertained, I embarked in the Ameri- 
 can schooner, in which, as I have observed, Mr. 
 Lear procured me a passage. We weighed from 
 the Goletta on the 9th March 1807, and made 
 sail for Spain. We received some instructions 
 from an American frigate in the road of Algiers. 
 This city stands in a charming situation, upon 
 an eminence that reminds you of the beautiful 
 hill of Pausilippo. On the 19th at seven in the 
 morning, we descried the Spanish shore near 
 Cape de Gatte, at the extremity of the kingdom 
 of Grenada. Following the coast, we passed 
 Malaga, and at length, on the 27th, being Good 
 Friday, we came to an anchor in the bay of 
 Gibralter. 
 
 1 landed on Easter Monday at Algesiras, and 
 set out from that place on the 4th of April for 
 Cadiz, where I arrived two days afterwards, and 
 was received with extreme politeness by Messrs. 
 Leroi and Canclaux, the French consul and vice- 
 consul. From Cadiz I proceeded to Cordova, 
 and admired the mosque, now transformed into 
 the cathedral of that city. I traversed the ancient 
 Bcetica, where the poets have placed the abodes 
 of happiness. I went to Andujar, and turned 
 back to look at Grenada. I thought the Alham-
 
 270 THE ESCURIAL. 
 
 bra worth seeing, even after the temples of 
 Greece. The valley of Grenada is delicious, and 
 very much resembles that of Sparta. Well may 
 the Moors regret such a country ! 
 
 From Grenada I set out for Aranjuez, and 
 travelled through the country of the illustrious 
 knight of La Mancha, whom I consider as the 
 noblest, the bravest, the most amiable, and the 
 least insane of mortals. I saw the Tajjus at 
 Aranjuez, and arrived on the 21st of April at 
 Madrid. 
 
 M. de Beauharnais, the French ambassador at 
 the court of Spain, loaded me with favours ; he 
 had formerly known my unfortunate brother, who 
 died on the scaffold with his illustrious grand- 
 father.* I left Madrid on the 24th, and pro- 
 ceeded to the Escurial, built by Philip II. on the 
 desert mountains of Old Castile. The court 
 pays its annual visit to this monastery, as if to 
 exhibit to recluses dead to the world, the spec- 
 tacle of all the passions, and to receive from them 
 those lessons by which the passions never profit. 
 Here you are shewn the sepulchral chapel where 
 the kings of Spain are deposited one above 
 another: so that all this dust is arranged and 
 ticketed like the curiosities in a museum. Empty 
 sepulchres are left lor the sovereigns who have not 
 yet come into the world. 
 
 From the Escurial I pursued my way to Segovia. 
 The aqueduct of that city is one of the grandest 
 works of the Romans, but for a description of it 1 
 refer the reader to the excellent work of M. de la 
 Borde. At Burgos a superb gothic cathedral an- 
 nounced my approach to my native land. I was 
 not unmindful of the ashes of the Cid. 
 * M. De Malsherbe.
 
 CONCLUSION. 271 
 
 At Miranda I saluted the Ebro, whose banks 
 witnessed the first steps of that- Hannibal whose 
 course I had so long been tracing. I passed 
 through Vittoria, and crossed the charming moun- 
 tains of Biscay. On the 3d of May I set foot on 
 French ground, and arrived on the 5th at Bayonne, 
 after having made the complete tour of the Medi- 
 terranean, and visited Sparta, Athens, Smyrna, 
 Constantinople, Rhodes, Jerusalem, Alexandria, 
 Cairo, Cartilage, Cordova, Grenada, and Madrid. 
 
 When the pilgrim of old had accomplished his 
 journey to the Holy Land, he left behind his staff 
 at Jerusalem, and returned with that of a palmer. 
 I have not brought back to my country a similar 
 mark of honor, neither have I attached to these 
 my last efforts an importance of which they are un- 
 deserving. For these twenty years I have devoted 
 myself to study amid dangers and afflictions of 
 every kind. Many of the pages of my works were 
 written beneath the tent, in deserts, on the bosom 
 of the deep ; and I have often held the pen 
 without knowing whether my existence was likely 
 to be prolonged for a few moments : these are claims 
 to indulgence, and not titles to glory. Should 
 heaven be pleased to grant me a repose which I 
 have never yet enjoyed, I shall endeavour to rear 
 in silence a monument to my country; but should 
 Providence deny me this boon, I shall only strive 
 to screen my declining years from those cares which 
 embittered my early life. I am no longer young, 
 no longer fond of bustle ; I know from experience 
 that letters, the commerce with which is so delici- 
 ous when secret, draw down upon us nought but 
 storms from without. At any rate, I have written 
 enough, if my name be destined to live, far too 
 much if it be doomed to perish.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 DISSERTATION 
 
 ON THE EXTENT OF ANCIENT JERUSALEM, AND 01 
 ITS TEMPLE; AND ON THE HEBREW MEASURES OP 
 LENGTH. BY M. d'aNVILLE. 
 
 The cities which hold a considerable rank in history, 
 require particular researches into what regards them in 
 the detail ; and it cannot be denied that Jerusalem is 
 one of those cities which deserve to be the objects ot 
 our curiosity. This consideration has induced several 
 scholars to treat this subject in a very ample manner, 
 and in all its circumstances, and to endeavour to ascer- 
 tain the site of the different quarters of that city, its 
 public edifices, its gates, and almost generally all those 
 places which we find mentioned in the sacred Scriptures 
 and other monuments of antiquity. If even the re- 
 searches of these scholars should not appear to have 
 been attended throughout with complete success, still 
 their zeal is not the less worthy of our commendation 
 and gratitude. 
 
 The principal point attempted in this dissertation is 
 to determine the extent of that city, respecting which 
 we have as yet nothing precise, and which even seems in 
 general to be greatly exaggerated. To decide this 
 question recourse must be had to local circumstances 
 
 n3
 
 274 APPENDIX. 
 
 and it is owing to the neglect of these that this point yet 
 remains to be discussed. Though it is difficult and 
 next to impossible to elucidate in a satisfactory manner 
 a great number of details respecting Jerusalem, yet the 
 subject which we here undertake to examine is suscep- 
 tible of being cleared up by the strongest evidence. 
 
 In order to be able to treat this matter with precision, 
 we must set out with ascertaining what composed 
 ancient Jerusalem. This investigation will leave no 
 uncertainty in the distinction between the modern and 
 the ancient city. The site of the latter will appear to 
 be the more accurately determined, as the natural situa- 
 tion of places enables us to form an infallible judgment 
 concerning it. In this view we insert the very faithful 
 sketch of apian of modern Jerusalem, probably taken 
 by the direction of M. Deshayes, and published in the 
 narrative of his Travels in the Levant, in 1621, under- 
 taken in consequence of commissions with which he was 
 charged by Louis XIII. to the Grand Signor. One of 
 the articles of these commissions being to support the 
 Latin monks in the possession of the sacred places in 
 Palestine, and to establish a consul at Jerusalem, it is 
 not surprising that such a plan should be met with in 
 his book rather than any other. The present extent of 
 the city, its streets, the topography of the ground, are 
 expressed in this plan, and better than any where else 
 that I know of. For the greater clearness and less 
 distraction in regard to the principal object we admic 
 into our plan such circumstances only as are particularly 
 connected with the subject of this dissertation. The 
 utility, nay even the necessity of a plan in such a case, 
 affords just reason for astonishment that no use has yet 
 been made of that whose assistance we borrow. 
 
 I. — Of the Quarters of Ancient Jerusalem. 
 
 Josephus gives us a general idea of Jerusalem, when 
 he says, ( War of the Jews, book vi. ch. 6.) that this 
 city was seated on two hills facing each other and sepa- 
 rated by a valley. That which was called the Upper
 
 APPENDIX. 275 
 
 City occupied the most extensive as well as the most 
 elevated of these hills, whose advantageous situation 
 induced David to chuse it for his fortress ; and the 
 other hill, named Acra, was the site of the Lower City. 
 Now we see that Mount Sion, which is the first of these 
 two hills, is yet perfectly distinguished on the plan. Its 
 most remarkable declivity looks towards the south and 
 west, being formed by a deep ravine, which in Scripture 
 is denominated Ge Ben Hinnom, or the Valley of the 
 Children of Hinnom. This valley, running from west 
 to east, meets, at the extremity of Mount Sion, the 
 Valley of Kedron, which extends from north to south. 
 These local circumstances, which are determined by 
 nature herself, are not liable to those changes which 
 time and the fury of men may have made in the city of 
 Jerusalem. It is these that ascertain the limits of the 
 city in that part which Sion occupied. It is this part 
 that advances farthest towards the south, and you are 
 not only fixed in such a manner that you cannot take 
 in a greater space on that side, but the utmost breadth 
 to which the site of Jerusalem can possibly extend is 
 determined on the one hand by the declivity of Sion 
 which faces the west, and on the other by its opposite 
 extremity towards Cedron and the east. That part of 
 the walls of Jerusalem which Josephus calls the most 
 ancient, bordered the summit of the rock, according to 
 that historian. To this also refer these words of Tacitus, 
 in the description which he gives of Jerusalem (Hist, 
 lib. i.e. W:) Duos col les, immeiishn editos, claudebant 
 
 viuri extrema rupis abrupta.' Hence it follows 
 
 that the contour of the mountain still serves to mark 
 and circumscribe the ancient limits. 
 
 The second hill rose to the north of Sion, its east 
 side facing Mount Moria, on which the Temple was 
 situated, and from which this hill was separated only 
 by a chasm which the Asmoneans partly filled up, 
 by lowering the summit of Acra, as we are informed 
 by Josephus in the place quoted above : for, this sum- 
 mit commanding the Temple, and being very near
 
 2/6 APPENDIX. 
 
 it, according to the account of Josephus, Antiochus 
 Epiphanes erected a fortress upon it to over-awe the 
 city and annoy the Temple ; which fortress, having a 
 Greek or Macedonian garrison, held out against the 
 Jews till the time of Simon, who demolished it, and 
 at the same time levelled the summit of the hill. As 
 no mention is ever made of Acra till after this time, 
 it is most probahle that this name is nothing else than 
 the Greek word"A*g«, which signifies a high place, 
 and sometimes means a fortress. Besides, the term 
 Hakra, with an aspirate, appears to have been peculiar 
 to the Syrians, or at least adopted by them to denote a 
 fortified place. In the Chaldean Paraphrase (II Samuel, 
 ii. 7.) Hakra Dsiun is the fortress of Sion. Josephus 
 gives an idea of the figure of the base of the hill, by 
 the term uutpiKv^os, which, according to Suidas, is 
 applied to the moon in one of her phases, between 
 the new and the full, and according to Martianus Ca- 
 pella, between the half and the full. A remarkable 
 circumstance in the plan which serves for our ground- 
 work, is a vestige of the principal eminence of Acra, 
 between Sion and the Temple ; and this circumstance 
 is the less equivocal, as care has been taken to write 
 high place in the plan itself, near the south west corner 
 of the Temple. 
 
 Mount Moria, on which the Temple stood, being at 
 first only an irregular hill, it was necessary, in order 
 to extend the appendages to the Temple over an equal 
 surface and to increase the area of its summit, to sup- 
 port the sides, which formed a square, by immense 
 works. The east side bordered the valley of Cedron, 
 commonly called the valley of Jehoshaphat, which was 
 very deep. The south side, overlooking a very low 
 spot, was faced from top to bottom with a strong wall ; 
 and Josephus assigns an elevation of not less than 
 three hundred cubits to this part of the Temple ; so 
 that, for its communication with Sion, it had occasion 
 for a bridge, as the same author informs us. The west 
 side looked towards Acra, the appearance of which ,
 
 APPENDIX. 277 
 
 from the Temple, is compared by Josephus to a 
 theatre. On the north side an artificial ditch, -ra^^ $1 
 faatvxTo, says our historian, separated the Temple 
 from a hill named Bezetha, which was afterwards 
 joined to the town by an extension of its area. Such 
 is the general dispositon of Mount Moria, in the site 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 The famous tower of Antonia flanked the north- 
 east corner of the Temple. Seated on a rock, it was 
 originally erected by Hyrcanus, the first of that name, 
 and called Bag«<;, a Greek term, according to Josephus, 
 but which St. Jerome asserts to have been common 
 in Palestine, even down to his time, to denote strong 
 buildings, and such as were erected in the form of 
 towers. That in question received considerable em- 
 bellishments from Herod, who named it after Anthony, 
 his benefactor ; and before the accession of Bezetha, 
 the area of the city did not extend beyond it towards 
 the north. It is even necessary to recede a little to 
 the south, a very small distance from the west front 
 of the Temple, in order to exclude from the city Gol- 
 gotha or Cavalry, which, being the place of execution 
 for criminals, was not comprehended within its walls. 
 The piety of the Christians did not at any time suffer 
 this place to remain unknown, even prior to the reign 
 of Constantine the Great ; for, could it have been so 
 to those Jews who had been converted to Christianity, 
 who, as we are told by St. Epiphanius, again took 
 up their abode in the ruins of Jerusalem, after the 
 destruction of that city by Titus, and there led an 
 edifying life ? 
 
 In the year 326, Constantine, according to Eusebius, 
 covered this very spot with a church ; and his account 
 agrees with the testimony of the author of the Itine- 
 rariuin a Burdigala Hierusalem usque, who was at 
 Jerusalem in 333, according to the consulate, which 
 serves as a date to his Itinerary: Ibidem mo<\o jussu 
 Constantini Imperatoris Basilica facta est, id est Domi- 
 nicum, mirce pulchritudinis. Though Almansor Hakim
 
 S"S APPENDIX. 
 
 Billa, a caliph of the race of the Fatimites of Egypt, 
 ordered the church to be destroyed at the beginning of 
 the eleventh century, from a determination not to 
 tolerate the imposture of the holy fire, as it was termed, 
 of the Greeks on Easter-eve ; yet the Greek emperor 
 Constantine Monomachus, thirty-seven years after- 
 wards, in 1048, obtained of Hakim's grandson the 
 right to rebuild the same church, and defrayed the 
 expence of the structure, as we are informed by William, 
 archbishop of Tyre. Besides, the conquest of Jeru- 
 salem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, in 1099, leaves no long 
 interval of time from the circumstance just mentioned. 
 Now it will be remarked that the preceding facts, 
 relative to ancient Jerusalem, have nothing equivocal, 
 and are as decisive as the disposition of Mount Sion 
 on the opposite side. 
 
 In respect to the eastern part of Jerusalen, there is 
 no ambiguity. It is notorious and evident that the 
 valley of Cedron served for the boundary of the city, 
 in the same or nearly the same line as was described 
 on the border of that valley, by the front of the Temple 
 which looked that way. We arrive at the like cer- 
 tainty in respect to the west side of the city, when we 
 consider that the natural elevation of the ground which 
 bounds the area of Sion on that side, as well as towards 
 the south, continues to run northward till it comes 
 opposite to the Temple. There is no reason to doubt 
 that this long eminence, commanding a valley situated 
 without the town, is the contrary side of Acra to that 
 which faces the Temple. The advantageous situation 
 which the walls of the city still retain on the precipice 
 fully justifies this opinion. It is moreover supported 
 by the testimony of Brocardus, a Dominican monk, 
 who was in Palestine in 1283, as he informs us in the 
 description which he gave of that country. It is to the 
 west part of the site of Jerusalem, running from Sion 
 towards the north, that these words, extracted from 
 the special description of this city, refer : Vorago sen 
 wilts quce procedebat versus aquilonem, Jhciebatque
 
 APPENDIX 279 
 
 Jbssam civitatis juxta longitudinem ejus, usque ad plagant 
 aquilonis ; et super earn erat intrinsecus ritpes eminens 
 quam Josephus Acram appellat, qua: suslinebat murum 
 civitatis superpositum, cingentum ab occidente civitatem, 
 usque ad portam Ephraim, ubi curvatur contra orientem. 
 This statement of an author who wrote from actual 
 observation, is perfectly conformable with the pre- 
 ceding representation, suggested by the plan of the 
 ground. This may suffice to explain the different 
 quarters which composed ancient Jerusalem, their site, 
 and relative positions. 
 
 II. — Extent of Ancient Jerusalem. 
 
 The account given by Josephus of the several walls 
 which encompassed Jerusalem, comprehends circum- 
 stances that contribute to make us thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the extent of that city. 
 
 This historian distinguishes three different walls. 
 That which he calls the most ancient, not only covered 
 .Sion on the exterior of the city, but likewise separated 
 that part from the Lower city, or Acra. It is at this 
 very place that Josephus commences his description of 
 this wall. He says that the tower called Hippicos 
 flanked the end next the north, u^^ivm h Kara (Ztpiai 
 ol-tto tS? l7T7rtx.?, incipiens ad boream ab Hippico ; it 
 thence extended to the west gate of the Temple, by 
 which, to judge from the plan, we are to understand 
 its south-west angle. It is obvious that this part of the 
 wall forms a separation between the Upper and the 
 Lower city. It seems to correspond with the southern 
 boundary of the modern city of Jerusalem, which 
 excludes Sion; so that we have every reason to presume 
 that the tower of Hippicos, whose situation, as we shall 
 presently find, is an important point for us to ascertain, 
 stood near the south-west angle of the present area of 
 Jerusalem. If we may give credit to various accounts, 
 the present wall was the work of Solyman, who, in 
 1520, succeeded his father Selim, to whom the Turks
 
 280 APPENDIX. 
 
 are indebted for the conquest of Egypt and Syria. Be 
 this as it may, Edrisi, who wrote his geography for 
 Roger I king of Sicily, deceased in 1151, represents 
 Jerusalem as being nearly in the same state as at the 
 present day, saying that it extends in length from west 
 to east. He even expressly excludes Mount Sion from 
 its area ; for, to use the words of his description, in 
 order to go to a Temple where the Christians pretended 
 that Christ had held the last supper with his disciples, 
 and which is situated on that Mount, it is necessary to 
 leave the town by a gate called Bab Seihun, the Gate 
 of Sion, which corresponds with the present state of 
 Jerusalem. Benjamin of Tudela, whose Travels are 
 dated 1173, remarks, that in his time there was no 
 entire edifice standing upon Mount Sion. except this 
 church. The observation relative to Mount Sion, 
 which is to be found in the Travels of Willebrand of 
 Oldenburg, performed in 1211, Nunc includitur muris 
 civitatis, sed tempore Passionis Dominicice excludebatur, 
 must be taken in a contrary sense, if it were only on 
 account of the last member of the sentence, excludeba- 
 tur tempore Passionis. It is in general, highly proba- 
 ble, that in places where the parts of the ancient wall 
 had any correspondence with the modern inclosure, 
 the situation of those places, nay even the vestiges of 
 the former foundations having determined the limits 
 of the modern area, the latter consequently gives the 
 extent of the ancient site. A particular circumstance 
 exists to authorize this general observation in regard 
 to the separation of Sion from Acra. This is the re- 
 entering angle facing Sion, which is to be observed in 
 the present southern boundary of Jerusalem, in the 
 part nearest to the site of the Temple or Mount 
 Moria ; for it was, in fact, in this manneronly that the 
 quarter of Sion could be separated from Acra ; since, 
 as we have observed in speaking of Acra, the high -place 
 marked in the plan, and on which the angle in question 
 seems to depend, undoubtedly formed part of the emi- 
 nence known by the name of Acra, and probably that
 
 APPENDIX. 281 
 
 which most overlooked, and consequently was most 
 distinct from Sion. 
 
 Josephus having described the northern part of the 
 area of Sion, from the tower of Hippicos to the Temple, 
 begins again at that tower, and follows it to the west, 
 and afterwards of course to the south as far as the 
 fountain of Siloe. This fountain is situated at the bot- 
 tom of a deep ravine, which bounds the base of Sion, 
 prolonged to the edge of the valley of Cedron, and 
 which separates it from a portion of the city seated 
 along this valley, as far as the foot of the Temple. At 
 this ravine terminated the hollow, or valley, which part- 
 ed Mount Sion from the hill of Acra, and which Jose- 
 phus terms rZv 'VvgonnotZv, caseariorum, of the cheese- 
 mongers. Edrisi, who makes mention of this valley, 
 and that very distinctly, says, that on going out at the 
 gate of which he had spoken by the name of Sion, you 
 descend into a hollow (in fossam, according to the ver- 
 sion of the Maronites), which, he adds, is called the 
 Valley of Hell, and in which is the fountain of Seluan 
 (or Siloan.) This fountain was not included within the 
 ancient city. St. Jerome alludes to it in these words 
 (in Matth. xxiii. 23) : in portarum exhibits, quce Siloam 
 ducunt. As the valley in which Siloe is situated, ex- 
 tends from south-east to north-west, Josephus must be 
 considered very accurate, when he says that the wall 
 which looks down upon the fountain of Siloe, runs on 
 the one hand towards the south, and on the other to- 
 wards the east : for it is almost exactly in this manner 
 that this wall followed the edge of the two declivities 
 which form the ravine. The Itinerary of Jerusalem 
 agrees in its account of the fountain of Siloe : Deorsum 
 in valle, juxta murum, est piscina quce dicitur Siloa. Be 
 it here remarked, that mention is thus made of this wall 
 in a document of the age of Constantine the Great. It 
 may hence be inferred, that the re-building of Jeru- 
 salem, after the destruction of the city by Titus, which 
 we know to have been the work of Adrian, who gave 
 the new town the name of iElia Capitolina, extende
 
 282 APPENDIX. 
 
 Sion, as well as the rest of the city ; so that the reduc-> 
 tion of Sion to the state in which it now appears, must 
 have originated in the ravages committed by Chosroes, 
 king of Persia, by whom the city was taken in 614. It 
 would therefore be wrong to take in a literal sense what 
 is said by Abulpharagius (Dinast. 7.) that the TElia of 
 Adrian was near the destroyed city. By this nothing 
 else can be meant, but that the site of the city at the 
 time when the historian wrote, and after the establish- 
 ment of Mahometanism, did not exactly correspond 
 with that which it occupied at a more remote period. 
 It must not be imagined that the use of the name of 
 iElia was strictly confined to the duration of the Roman 
 power, since the oriental writers sometimes employed 
 the denomination of Ilia to denote Jerusalem. 
 
 But to resume the course of the wall beyond Siloe : 
 this wall was continued across Ophla, and terminated 
 at the east front of the Temple, which brings us in fact 
 to its angle, between the west and the south. In seve- 
 ral passages of Scripture mention is made of Oph'l, or 
 Ophel. This term is even used mataphorically ; but it 
 is impossible to determine, from the context of the ori- 
 ginal, whether it signifies rather presumption or pride, 
 than blindness or infatuation. Commentators are divi- 
 ded, some insisting that Ophel means a high place, and 
 others a deep place. The contrariety of this interpre- 
 tation is not more extraordinary than that which we 
 find in the use of the Latin word altus, which is some- 
 times applied to depth as well as to height. The Greek 
 version (Reg. N. 5, 24) has rendered Ophel <ry.oTiir/)v, 
 a covered, and, as it were, gloomy place ; and in fact, if 
 it be remarked that Ophla applies in Josephus precisely 
 to that part of the wall which passes through this glen, 
 which, as we have observed, in speaking of Mount 
 Moria, was overlooked by the south front of the Temple, 
 it cannot be denied that the interpretation of Ophel, as 
 a deep place, is justified by a circumstance of this na- 
 ture, and all doubts of its propriety are removed. 
 
 The site assigned to Ophel will agree with what is
 
 APPEXDIX. 283 
 
 said by Josephus {War of the Jew-, book vi. chap. 7), 
 when speaking of the factions or parties by which Je- 
 rusalem was divided ; namely, that one of these parties 
 occupied the Temple and Ophla, and the valley of 
 Cedron. In the second book of Chronicles, (xxiii. 14,) 
 king Manasseh is said to have inclosed Ophel within 
 the area of the city; which is the more remarkable, 
 as it would hence follow that the city of David had 
 not previously exceeded the natural limits of Mount 
 Sion, which is actually bounded by the ravine of Siloe. 
 The literal translation of the text is as follows : Mdifi- 
 cavit inunim exterior em civitati David ab occidente Gihon, 
 in torrente, procedendo usque ad portam Piscium, et cir- 
 cnivit Ophel, et munivit eum. These words, murum exte- 
 riorem civitati David, would allude to the consequence 
 that has just been drawn respecting the accession of 
 Ophel ; circuivit Gihon, according to the commentators, 
 is the same as Siloe ; and in this case ab occidente must 
 mean from what lies to the west of Siloe, that is to say, 
 from Sion, which really lies westward of that fountain, 
 the bank of the brook, in torrente, which may naturally 
 be presumed to mean Cedron. Nothing can more 
 clearly coincide with the situation of the place itself 
 than this interpretation, which teaches us that a dis- 
 tinction ought to be made between the city of David, 
 properly so called, and what was afterwards included 
 in the same quarter of Sion. We have therefore traced 
 the extent of that whole quarter, together with its de- 
 pendencies, to the foot of the Temple. 
 
 The second wall mentioned by Josephus has nothing 
 to do with our subject, because it was situated in the in- 
 terior of the city. It began at the gate called Genath, 
 of the Gardens, as this word may be rendered ; which 
 gate was opened in the first gate of these walls, or that 
 which separated Sion from Acra: and this second 
 wall, running towards the north side of the city, turned 
 again upon the tower of Antonia, where it terminated. 
 This wall was consequently but an intersection of 
 Acra, connected at one end with the wall of Mount
 
 284 APPENDIX. 
 
 Sion, and at the other with the tower which covered 
 the north-west angle of the Temple. It is natural to 
 suppose that it owed its existence only to its having 
 preceded an ulterior wall, such as that which extended 
 the limits of the quarter of Acra, and of which we have 
 yet to speak. I shall merely add that it is this interior 
 wall that we ought to adopt in preference, if we would 
 trace the limits of the city rebuilt by Nehemiah ; as 
 it is much more reasonable to attribute to the Asmo- 
 nean princes, and to that period when their affairs 
 were most prosperous, the erection* of a new wall 
 which doubles the former and comprehends a much 
 more considerable space. 
 
 The third wall, which, when joined to the first, com- 
 pletes the circumscription of the area of Jerusalem, 
 begins, according to Josephus, at the tower of Hippicos. 
 The description of the first wall has already made us 
 acquainted with the site of this tower. What the same 
 historian says of the wall in question confirms the accu- 
 racy of that site. Beginning then at the tower of 
 Hippicos, this wall ran directly northward to another 
 very considerable tower called Psephina. Now we still 
 see that the present wall of Jerusalem, retaining the 
 advantage of standing on the brow of the hill on which 
 the ancient Lower City was seated, extends, from south 
 to north, from the northern angle of Sion to the castle 
 denominated the Castle of the Pisans. The tower of 
 Psephina, according to what we are elsewhere told by 
 Josephus, was not inferior to any of those that belonged 
 to the fortifications of Jerusalem. The Pisan's Castle 
 is still a kind of citadel to this city. Here resides the 
 aga, and here is stationed the garrison under his com- 
 mand. Phocas, the Greek, who visited the Holy Places 
 in 1185, and whose Travels were published by .Allatius, 
 in Symmictis sive Opusculis, observes that this tower, or 
 rather this castle, to come a little nearer to the terms 
 which he employs, Trt^yo? 7rxpfAiyt$i<rTXTos — turris insigni 
 admodum magnitudine, was denominated, by the inhabi- 
 tants of Jerusalem, the Tower of David. He places it
 
 APPENDIX. 28.5 
 
 in the north part of the city ; Epiphanius of Hagiopolis, 
 near the gate facing the west, which is more correct, 
 particularly in regard to the modern city of Jerusalem. 
 According to the account of Brocard, the monk, whom 
 I have already quoted, David's Tower must have been 
 comprehended in the area of Sion, and stood near the 
 angle formed by the valley which separates that mount 
 from Acra, with the western declivity of Sion ; a situa- 
 tion more suitable to Hippicos than to Psephina. We 
 nevertheless meet in the same account with a particular 
 mention of the place which agrees with the site of the 
 Castel Pisano. It is clearly delineated in these words : 
 Rupes ilia, super quam ex parte occidentis erat extructus 
 murus civitatis, erat valde eminens, prcesertim in angulo 
 ubi occidentalis muri pars connectebatur aqudonari ; vbi 
 et turris Neblosa dicta, et propugnaculum valde Jirmum 
 cujus ruincB adhuc visuntur, unde tota Arabia, Jordanis, 
 Mare Mortuum, et alia plurima loca, sereno ccelo videri 
 possunt. This latter circumstance, demonstrating the 
 great advantage of the situation of the place, is well 
 calculated to determine our opinion respecting the site, 
 which is much more suitable to the ancient tower of 
 Psephina than to the modern Castel Pisano. We will 
 go still farther, and observe that this account of Brocard's 
 agrees with what we read in Josephus {Jewish War, 
 book vi. ch. 6), that, at sun-rise, the tower of Psephina 
 commanded a view of Arabia, the sea, and the remotest 
 part of Judea. Though it is not probable that the 
 present castle is the structure which originally occupied 
 this place, and it is erroneous, as Phocas justly remarks, 
 to attributei t to David himself; yet it does not thence 
 follow that it differs from the former in regard to its 
 site. Benjamin of Tudela even asserts that the walls 
 erected by the Jews, his ancestors, were standing in his 
 time, that is, in the twelfth century, to the height of 
 ten cubits. 
 
 If we have already discovered such a concordance 
 between Castel Pisano and the tower of Psephina, the 
 following circumstance will incontestably establish their
 
 288 APPENDIX. 
 
 identity. Josephus expressly says that tills tower 
 flanked the angle of the city facing the north and west ; 
 and, as we? have seen, Brocard thus expresses himself 
 respecting the place which we make to correspond with 
 it: Ubi occidentalis muri pars connectabatur aquilonari. 
 You will remark, that opposite to the north side of 
 Castel Pisano, or the west gate contiguous to that side, 
 we cannot exclude Calvary from the ancient city with- 
 out turning off to the east. Now Castel Pisano, to 
 which we have been led by the course of the wall from 
 the Tower of Hippicos, or by a line drawn towards the 
 north, occupies precisely that angle of the ancient area. 
 It must then be admitted that if the site of Hippicos 
 required confirmation, it would receive it from so pre- 
 cise a determination of Psephina in consequence of the 
 coincidence of situation. 
 
 As to the name of Castel Pisano (for some readers 
 may wish to know the reason of this denomination), I 
 confess that I have not met with any particular fact in 
 history that has a direct reference to the subject. It is 
 nevertheless certain, that on account of the part which 
 the Pisans, who were formerly very powerful, took in 
 the Holy Wars, they had establishments and grants at 
 Acre, Tyre, and other places in Palestine. Paolo 
 Tronci, author of the Annals of Pisa, even ascribes to 
 two of his countrymen the honour of having first scaled 
 the walls of Jerusalem, at the time when the city was 
 taken by Godfrey of Bouillon. It may likewise be 
 remarked that the first Latin prelate elevated to the 
 patriarchal chair of Jerusalem was a bishop of Pisa, 
 named Daibert. In my opinion, moreover, the disco- 
 very of some escutcheons with the arms of Pisa, in any 
 part of the castle, might have been sufficient to pro- 
 cure it in later times the name it bears. When Bro- 
 card was in the Holy Land, that is, towards the end 
 of the thirteenth century, we find that this castle was 
 called Neblosa, the form which Neapolis commonly 
 assumes in the language of the people of the Levant. 
 It is not surprising that this friar should speak of it as
 
 APPENDIX. 2SY 
 
 a ruined or extremely dilapidated edifice, since it is 
 certain that about thirty-three years after the taking 
 of Jerusalem by Saladin, in the year of the Hegira 616 
 and of Christ 1219, Isa, who was nephew to that prince 
 and reigned at Damascus, ordered the fortifications of 
 Jerusalem to be demolished ; and that David, the son 
 of the latter, destroyed, twenty years afterwards, a 
 fortress which the French had rebuilt in that city. 
 
 Leaving Psephina, Josephus continues to trace the 
 area of Jerusalem on the north side. Before Bezetha 
 made an addition to the city, there would have been 
 nothing more to do, to complete the boundary on that 
 side, than to carry it on to the tower of Antonia, near 
 the north-west angle of the Temple. Accordingly, 
 no mention is made of that tower in the account of 
 this third wall. Josephus speaks of an angle there to 
 return to the boundary line on the border of the 
 Cedron ; and we actually find that the modern area, 
 in which the site of Bezetha is included, gives this 
 angle, and that at a considerable distance from the 
 north-east angle of the Temple, where it terminates. 
 The present wall of Jerusalem, by its removal to a 
 greater distance from the north front of the Temple, 
 gives to Bezetha an extent little inferior to that of the 
 Lower City, which there is every reason to suppose 
 correct and quite sufficient. Josephus speaks of the 
 Royal Grots, as being opposite to the gate in this part 
 of the wall, looking to the north. These grots are 
 situated in the vicinity of that called the Grotto of 
 Jeremiah, and we cannot approach nearer to this grot 
 than by following the line of the present inclosure. 
 Josephus asserts that Bezetha corresponds with the 
 Greek appellation of y.a;^ ttoXk;, the New City, which 
 is contested by Villalpando and Lami, who produce 
 other interpretations. Agrippa, the first prince of 
 that name, began, during the reign of Claudius, the 
 wall which enclosed that quarter; and what he had 
 not ventured to finish, that is, to raise the new wall to 
 a sufficient height for defence, was in the sequel exe- 
 cuted by the Jews.
 
 288 APPENDIX. 
 
 Thus not only the different quarters which composed 
 the city of Jerusalem, in its greatest extent, but even 
 its boundary line, may be ascertained. Before these 
 circumstances had been deduced and collected into one 
 point of view, or were verified by their application to 
 local circumstances, a prejudice respecting the uncer- 
 tainty of procuring data to convey a just notion of the 
 state of ancient Jerusalem, might induce a belief that 
 it would be difficult to determine its extent from a 
 comparison with its present and modern condition. 
 So far, however, from any such uncertainty existing, 
 it will be seen, from the sequel of this dissertation, that 
 the measures of the circumference of ancient Jerusalem, 
 borrowed from antiquity itself, produce the same 
 result as is furnished by the present measure and by 
 the very ground. It is obvious that a coincidence of 
 this kind must necessarily presuppose the correctness 
 of the positions in regard to ancient Jerusalem. 
 
 III. — Present Measure of the Area of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 The scale affixed to M. Deshayes' plan requiring 
 some explanations, I shall give a faithful account of the 
 remarks which a scrupulous examination has enabled 
 me to make upon it. It exhibits a small rod, described 
 as one hundred paces. Beside this rod is a longer, 
 with the number one hundred, and half of which is 
 subdivided into tens. By a comparison of the length of 
 these two rods, it is easy to perceive that one gives the 
 measure in ordinary paces, the other in fathoms. I will 
 not, however, conceal the circumstance that there is not 
 an exact proportion between these two standards. Fol- 
 lowing the circumference of the city, the scale of ordi- 
 nary paces gives five thousand one hundred paces, 
 which, at two feet and a half, the usual way of reckoning, 
 make 12,750 feet, or 2,225 fathoms. Now, by the 
 scale of fathoms, I reckon no more than about 2,000 : 
 that is — on the north side, and from the north-east to 
 the north-west angle, 677 ; on the west side, to the
 
 APPENDIX. 289 
 
 south-west angle, 355 ; on the south side, 544 ; and the 
 east side, from the south-east angle to the north-east, 
 488 ; making a total of 2,004. In these measures it has 
 been thought right to take no notice of the projections 
 of the towers, and some small redents, formed by the 
 walls in various places ; but all the changes of direction, 
 and other windings, have been followed. To enter into 
 the detail of the four principal aspects of thesite of Jeru- 
 salem, I chose to follow in preference the scale of 
 fathoms, because this scale seems much less equivocal 
 than the other. Notwithstanding this preference, which 
 will be justified by what is to follow, I must, to tell the 
 truth, charge the rod of this scale of fathoms with being 
 incorrectly subdivided in the space taken for fifty 
 fathoms, or for the half of that rod. This part is too 
 short. in comparison with the total length of the rod; 
 and I took the trouble to ascertain that, by this portion 
 of the rod, the circumference of Jerusalem would 
 amount to 2,200 fathoms. 
 
 Though it cannot be denied that these variations 
 affect the accuracy of the scale to the plan of Jerusalem, 
 they are not, however, sufficient to authorize the total 
 rejection of that scale. I assert that the rod of one 
 hundred fathoms appears less equivocal to me than the 
 rest. The measure of the circumference of Jerusalem, 
 in its modern state, and such as it is represented in the 
 plan of M. Deshayes, is given by Maundrell in his Jour- 
 ney from Aleppo to Jerusalem, indisputably one of the 
 best works of the kind that exist This intelligent and 
 very accurate traveller reckoned 4,630 of his paces in 
 the exterior circumference of the walls of Jerusalem ; 
 and he remarks that the deduction of one-tenth of that 
 number makes the measure of that circumference 4,167 
 English yards; ten paces being equivalent to nine yards. 
 The English yard consisting of three feet, and two 
 yards making a fathom, the latter must contain 811 
 lines of the standard of the French foot, according to 
 the most scrupulous evaluation ; consequently, the 
 4,167 yards, or 2,083.^ English fathoms, must make 
 vol. n. o
 
 290 APPENDIX. 
 
 1,689,718 lines, which give 140,810 inches, or 11,734 
 feet 2 inches, or 1,955 fathoms 4 feet 2 inches. Now, 
 if we call this in round numbers, 1,960 fathoms, and in 
 like manner take that of the plan of M. Deshayes at 
 2,000, the mean proportion will be ,no more than 20 
 fathoms distant from the two extremes, or about one- 
 hundredth part of the whole. And what could be 
 expected to come nearer in such a case ? We should, 
 perhaps, find not less variations in the different plans of 
 our own fortresses and frontier towns. It may be con- 
 sidered as a proof of the preference due to the rod of 
 one hundred fathoms, that, though its deviation from 
 the other standards of the scale consists in giving a less 
 value of measure, yet it rather errs on the other side, 
 in comparison with the measure taken on the spot by 
 Maundrell. 
 
 IV. — Measure of the Circumference of 
 Ancient Jerusalem". 
 
 After having discussed and ascertained the positive 
 measure of the space occupied by the present site of 
 Jerusalem, let us see what measure several writers of 
 antiquity has left us of the circumference of ancient 
 Jerusalem. It may be concluded, both from the pre- 
 ceding investigation of its ancient state, the very 
 disposition of the ground, and local circumstances, 
 which cannot have undergone a change, that there is 
 no reason to apprehend any mistake respecting the 
 ancient limits of this city. They are circumscribed on 
 the spot, not only in consequence of facts which relate 
 to them, but likewise by what is adapted to the place 
 itself. This produced the expression of Broeard : 
 Quum ob locorum munitionem, transferri non possit 
 (Jerusalem) a pristino situ. We may therefore judge 
 of its circumference from the plan of the ground with 
 sufficient certainty to trace upon this plan a boundary 
 line, which may be deemed the representative of the 
 true one. Of this any person may convince himself, 
 who will take the trouble to follow upon the plan the
 
 APPENDIX. 291 
 
 details that have been given respecting the ancient 
 Jerusalem. Let us now consider the measures that we 
 have just announced. 
 
 Eusebius, in his Evangelical Preparation (book ix c. 
 36.) informs us, on the authority of a Syrian land-sur- 
 veyor, tov r:'\i Iv^ixs G-xoiovop'ttgov, that the circumference 
 of the area of Jerusalem is twenty-seven stadia. On the 
 other hand, Josephus ( War of the Jews, book vi. c. 0.) 
 computes the same circumference at thirty-three stadia. 
 According to the account of the same Eusebius, Timo- 
 chares wrote, in a history of king Antiochus Epiphanes, 
 that Jerusalem was forty stadia in circuit. Aristeas, 
 author of the Seventy Interpreters who were employed 
 by Ptolemy Philadelphus, agrees with Timochares on 
 the subject of this measure. Lastly, Hecataeus, quoted 
 by Josephus, in his first book against Appion, stated the 
 circumference of Jerusalem at fifty stadia. Thus the 
 numbers of the stadia here given vary from twenty- 
 seven to fifty. What a difference ! How can any con- 
 sistency be discovered in statements which vary to such 
 a degree ? I know not whether this inconsistency has 
 ever been attempted to be explained. It has hitherto 
 exceedingly puzzled scholars : for example, Reland, 
 one of the most judicious writers of all those who have 
 treated on this subject, and who, after adopting Jose- 
 phus's measure of thirty-three stadia, thus expresses 
 himself: — Non conpZrmabo sententiam nostrum testimonio 
 tov tijs 2t;g/«s o-^otvouiT^ov, qui ambit um Hierosolymce 
 viginii et septem stadiis definivit apud Eusebium. 
 
 This measure of twenty-seven stadia, the first quoted 
 by us, seems nevertheless to deserve a particular defer- 
 ence, since it is given on the authority of a surveyor, 
 who measured with the cord (r^om^ergew. A smaller 
 number of stadia than in the other measures indicated, 
 must naturally require the greatest standard of the 
 stadium, which there is no difficulty in admitting to be 
 that of the most common, known by the appellation of 
 the Olympic. Its extent is equal to 94 fathoms, two 
 feet eight inches, being competed of 600 Greek feet, 
 
 o 2
 
 292 APPENDIX. 
 
 and the Greek foot being equivalent to 1,360 parts of 
 the Paris foot, divided into 1,440, or 11 inches, four 
 lines. Thus the twenty-seven stadia will amount to 
 2,550 fathoms. Now, the circumference of the ancient 
 area of Jerusalem, taking the greatest space that it can 
 possibly have covered, will measure about 2,600 fa- 
 thoms, according to the scale given in M. Deshayes' 
 plan. But it must farther be observed that by Maun- 
 drell's measure, which gives only 1,960 instead of 2,000 
 to the present circumference of Jerusalem, or one- 
 fiftieth less, the amount in question of the produce of 
 the twenty-seven stadia will be reduced to 2,550 
 fathoms. Having thus, for the reader's convenience, 
 divided the length of the boundary of ancient Jerusa- 
 lem into equal parts, to the number of 51, each of these 
 parts literally occupies the space of 50 fathoms accord- 
 ing to Maundrell's measure ; and the worst will be that 
 49are equivalentto 50accordingto the scale of the plan. 
 But, you will say, as this number of stadia corres- 
 ponds with the measure of the circumference of Jeru- 
 salem, no attention ought to be paid to any other state- 
 ment. To this I reply, that the ancients made use of 
 stadia of different measures at different times, nay even 
 at one and the same time. They frequently employed 
 them indiscriminately, and without hinting at any dif- 
 ference of length. They have therefore subjected us 
 to the necessity of seeking, by study and criticism, to 
 discover the kinds most suitable to times and places. 
 We cannot do better than calculate Josephus's measure 
 of thirty-three stadia by the standard of a stadium, 
 shorter by one-fifth than the Olympic stadium and of 
 which I have given some account in my little Treatise 
 on Itinerary Measures. The very shortness of this 
 stadium seems to render it fitter for spaces compre- 
 hended within the walls of cities, than for more exten- 
 sive ones which embrace a whole district or country. 
 The measure of the length of the great Cii cus at Rome, 
 as given by Diodorus Siculus and Pliny, corresponds 
 only with this, and not with the Olympic stadium.
 
 APrEKDIX. 293 
 
 This stadium being equivalent to 75 fathoms, 3 feet, 4- 
 inches, thirty-three stadia of this measure will produce 
 2,493 fathoms, 2 feet. Now what does this amount 
 want of agreeing with that of the twenty-seven stadia ? 
 some fifty fathoms. A fraction of a stadium, a fathom 
 more, if you please, in the computation of the stadium, 
 would literally leave no more difference in the amount 
 of such a calculation. 
 
 It will perhaps be required, that, indppendently of 
 an agreement between the amounts, reasons should be 
 adduced for believing that the kind of measure is of 
 itself applicable to the circumstance in question. As 
 the subject that we proposed to treat in this paper 
 must lead to the discussion of the Hebrew measures of 
 length, we shall hereafter find that the Jewish mile is 
 equal to seven stadia and a half, according to the ac- 
 count of the Jews themselves; and this mile being 
 composed of 2,000 Hebrew cubits, that the total 
 amount thence resulting is 569 fathoms, 2 feet, 8 
 inches ; consequently the stadium employed by the 
 Jews is equivalent to 76 fathoms, wanting a few inches, 
 and cannot be considered as differing from that made 
 use of in the preceding calculation. The length in 
 question exceeding by a trifle that before given by this 
 kind of stadium, the thirty-three stadia taken as the 
 circumference of Jerusalem will make more than 2,500 
 fathoms, and will be only some forty fathoms under the 
 first amount of this circumference. But we may go still 
 farther, and ascertain that Josephus individually makes 
 use of the measure of the stadium in question, by the 
 following example : — In his Antiquities, book xx, ch. 
 6, he says that the Mount of Olives is five stadia from 
 Jerusalem. Now by measuring upon M. Deshayes' 
 plan, which extends to the summit of that hill, the 
 track of the two ways which descend from it, and 
 continuing this measure to the nearest angle of the 
 temple, we find nineteen parts of twenty fathoms, ac- 
 cording to the standard furnished by the rod of 100 
 fathoms, divided into five parts; that is, 380 fathoms,
 
 294 APPENDIX. 
 
 or consequently five stadia of the kind produced above* 
 since the division of 280 by five gives 76. It is clear, 
 that to take the distance in the most extensive sense? 
 its termination cannot be removed farther than the 
 summit of the hill. It is not then the effect of chance 
 or an arbitrary employment, but a regular practice that 
 occasions the concordance of the calculation of the 
 thirty-three stadia in the manner that has just been 
 shewn. 
 
 I now proceed to the statement of forty stadia for 
 the circumference of Jerusalem. The calculation to 
 be made of these requires two preliminary obsei-va- 
 tions. The first is, that the authors who have given 
 this statement wrote under the Macedonian princes 
 who succeeded Alexander in the East ; the second, 
 that the city of Jerusalem, in the time of those princes, 
 did not yet comprehend the quarter of Bezetha, 
 situated to the north of the Temple and the Tower of 
 Antonia ; since Josephus informs us that it was not 
 till the reign of Claudius that this quarter began to be 
 inclosed within the walls of the city. It will appear 
 singular, that, in order to apply to the circumference 
 of Jerusalem a greater number of stadia than the pre- 
 ceding calculations admit, we should nevertheless find 
 it necessary to take that city when confined within a 
 narrower compass. From the plan which is given us, 
 I have found that the exclusion of Bezetha requires a 
 deduction of about 370 fathoms from the amount of 
 the circumference ; because the line which excludes 
 Bezetha measures no more than about 300 fathoms, 
 whereas that which embraces the same quarter is 666. 
 If the circumference of Jerusalem, comprehending 
 Bezetha, amounts to 2,550 fathoms, according to the 
 calculation of the twenty-seven ordinary stadia, with 
 which Maundrell's measure exactly agrees ; or to 2,600 
 at most, according to the scale of M. Deshayes' plan ; 
 consequently, by the exclusion of Bezetha, this amount 
 is reduced to about 2,180 fathoms, or 2,224 at the 
 highest.
 
 APPENDIX. 295 
 
 To these observations I shall add, that, without 
 doubt, a particular stadium was employed in the mea- 
 sure of Alexander's steps ; a stadium so short in com- 
 parison to the others, that, to judge from the compu- 
 tation of the circumference of the globe given by 
 Aristotle, Alexander's preceptor, 1,111 of these stadia 
 will go to a degree of the equator. Some researches 
 respecting the stadium which may be called Macedo- 
 nian, will be found in the Treatise on Itinerary Mea- 
 sures. The result given by Aristotle's measure has not 
 there been adopted literally and without scrutiny; but, 
 from a particular standard which seems to have pecu- 
 liarly and exclusivelv belonged to this stadium, the 
 length of the stadium is fixed in such a manner that 
 1,050 are sufficient to make a degree. As a knowledge 
 of the principle of this stadium enables us to calculate 
 it with precision at 54 fathoms, 2 feet, 5 inches, the 
 forty stadia will consequently give 2,176 fathoms. Now, 
 is not this the very same result as the preceding ? And 
 by deducting the 370 fathoms, which the exclusion of 
 Bezetha would require, do we not obtain the same 
 amount as is obtained from the first measure of the 
 twenty-seven stadia? 
 
 I shall nevertheless take the liberty of remarking, 
 by the way, that it must not be imagined that there 
 was the least intention of contriving these coincidences 
 respecting the circumference of Jerusalem, in the 
 definitions wnich have appeared appropriate to each of 
 the measures applied to it. If then these coincidences 
 are the more remarkable, because fortuitous, have we 
 not a right to conclude that the definitions themselves 
 thence acquire the advantage of verification ? 
 
 We have yet to consider the measure of fifty stadia 
 ascribed to Hecataeus. We shall not be surprised that 
 this author, who makes the population of Jerusalem 
 amount to more than two millions, about two millions 
 one hundred thousand, should have exaggerated rather 
 than diminished its extent, and that he should have 
 comprised the suburbs or habitations standing without
 
 296 APPENDIX. 
 
 the walls. But what might be correct when applied to 
 the number of the Jews who thronged to Jerusalem at 
 the season of the Passover, will by no means hold good 
 respecting the ordinary state of that city. Moreover, 
 if we calculate these fifty stadia by the standard of the 
 last-mentioned stadium, which seems the most suitable, 
 the amount will not be more than 2,700 fathoms. 
 Thus this result will not exceed by more than 100 
 fathoms that which is given by the scale of M. Des- 
 hayes' plan. 
 
 Confining ourselves to what is most positive in this 
 body of facts, it is evident that the utmost circumfe- 
 rence of Jerusalem comprehended no more than about 
 2,550 fathoms. Not only is this ascertained by actual 
 and positive measurement, but the testimony of anti- 
 quity on the subject is precise. In consequence of 
 this measurement, we know that the greatest space 
 occupied by that city, or its length, amounted to no 
 more than about 950 fathoms, and its breadth to about 
 half as much. Its area cannot be computed to exceed 
 one-sixth of Paris, admitting into this area none of 
 the suburbs situated without the gates. For the rest, 
 it would not perhaps be correct to infer, from this com- 
 parison, a proportionate reduction of the ordinary 
 number of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. With the 
 exception of the space occupied by the Temple, which 
 also had its inhabitants, the city of Jerusalem might 
 have been more equally built in every part than a city 
 like Paris, which contains more spacious houses and 
 more extensive gardens, than we can well suppose to 
 have existed in ancient Jerusalem, and which together 
 would form the area of a large town. 
 
 V. — Preceding Opinions respecting the Extent 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 The measure of the area of Jerusalem being deduced 
 from a comparison of the ground itself with all and 
 each of the ancient measures that are given, it may 
 not be amiss to consider how widely some writers de-
 
 APPENDIX. 297 
 
 viated from the truth in regard to this suhject. Villal- 
 pando has asserted that the thirty-three stadia assigned 
 by Josephus, referred to the extent of Sion alone, ex- 
 clusively of the rest of the city. I have calculated 
 that, according to this hypothesis, the circumference 
 of Jerusalem would, in the same proportion, amount 
 to 75 stadia ; and without taking any other standard 
 for the stadium than that which seems appropriate to 
 the thirty-three stadia in question, this calculation will 
 give 5,700 fathoms. It will be still worse if we make 
 no distinction of stadia, and employ the ordinary stan- 
 dard, especially as the others have hitherto been but 
 little known. This standard will swell the amount to 
 7,200 fathoms, which is almost triple the real measure. 
 Now, I would ask if the disposition of the ground, 
 and the measure of space adapted to it, can admit of 
 an extent any thing like this calculation ? Can we en- 
 large the site of Sion ? Are we not obstructed on the 
 one hand by the brook Cedron, and on the other by 
 Calvary ? This opinion is moreover confuted, as the 
 learned and judicious Reland has truly observed, by 
 Josephus, when he says that the circumference of the 
 lines with which Titus invested all Jerusalem was 
 thirty-nine stadia. In an accurate calculation of the 
 extent of this city, we are not obliged to recur to the 
 expedient usually adopted when the measures given by 
 the ancients are irreconcileable with an hypothesis, 
 which is, to assert that there is an error in one of the 
 figures of the text 
 
 Father Lami, in his great work De Snncta Civitate 
 et Templo, fixes the measure of the circumference of 
 Jerusalem at sixty stadia ; founding his calculation on 
 the supposition that the walls contained one hundred 
 and twenty towers, each of which, with its curtain, 
 occupied half a stadium. This number of cubits, from 
 tower to tower, is, to be sure, borrowed from Josephus ; 
 but as this same historian speaks of one hundred and 
 sixty four towers, distributed among three different 
 walls ; as the separation of Sion from Acra is com- 
 
 o 3
 
 298 APPENDIX. 
 
 prehendcd in the extent of these walls ; as Acra was 
 divided by an inner wall, and was likewise separated 
 from Bezetha ; it is difficult to build any thing positve 
 on such a foundation, and this point would always 
 be involved in great uncertainty, if even the actual 
 measure of the spaces threw no obstacle in the way. 
 It may be further observed, that the learned author 
 whom we have quoted is not consistent, as will be 
 seen from a comparison of his calculation with the 
 plan he has given of Jerusalem. According to all ap- 
 pearance, the stadia which he employs are the ordinary 
 stadia, since he gives no definition of more than one 
 kind of stadium in the Treatise on Measures prefixed 
 to his work. By this standard, the circumference of 
 Jerusalem, as calculated by Father Lami, amounts to 
 5,660 fathoms. Now, according to the plan to which 
 I have alluded, the circumference of Jesusalem is to 
 the sides of the square of the Temple as forty-one to 
 two ; and the scale which is wanting in this plan is 
 supplied by that with which the author has accompa- 
 nied his particular ground-plan of the Temple, the 
 sides of which are estimated at about 1,120 French 
 feet. Consequently the circumference of the city in 
 the plan cannot amount to more than about 23,000 
 feet, or 3,830 odd fathoms, which are equivalent to 
 only 41 f-tadia at most. If we moreover consider that 
 Father Lami's plan exhibits a sort of perspective, and 
 that the quarter of the Temple is thrown into the 
 back-ground, whence it must follow that what is seen 
 in the fore- ground occupies less space, this would of 
 course occasion a still greater reduction in the calcu- 
 lation of the circumference. M. Deshayes' plan was 
 given to Father Lami, and the measure taken on the 
 spot by Maundrell had been published. How happens 
 it that scholars are desirous of owing all to their own 
 researches, and are unwilling to adopt any thing but 
 what immediately belongs to the species of erudition 
 which is their peculiar province ? 
 
 These observations on two celebrated authors, and
 
 APPENDIX. 299 
 
 precisely those two that have bestowed the greatest 
 learning and most pains on the illustration of ancient 
 Jerusalem, justify, in my opinion, the assertion made 
 in the preamble to this memoir, that the extent of this 
 city had not hitherto been determined with any kind 
 of precision, and that it had in particular been exceed- 
 ingly exaggerated. 
 
 VI. — Measure of the Extent of the Temple. 
 
 Maundrell, who has given the length and breadth of 
 the area of the celebrated mosque which occupies the 
 site of the Temple, does not seem to have made a just 
 distinction between those two spaces, to judge from 
 the plan of M. Deshayes. He makes the length 570 
 of his paces, which, according to the standard followed 
 by him in regard to the circumference, would make 
 f)13 English yards, or 240 French fathoms. We find, 
 however, only about 215 on the plan. The error may 
 have proceeded, at least in part, from the circumstance 
 that Maundrell judged the angle of this site nearer to 
 the gate called St. Stephen's ; but this error is of no 
 kind of consequence in regard to the circumference of 
 the city: for, in Maundrell's measure, the part of this 
 circumference comprehended between the gate above- 
 mentioned and the south-west angle of the city, which 
 is also the south-west corner of the site of the mosque, 
 is found to consist of 620 of that traveller's paces, which, 
 according to his calculation, make 558 English yards, 
 or 272 French fathoms, wanting a few inches. Now, 
 the scale of the plan gives 265 fathoms, which are equi- 
 valent to about 260, if we strictly adhere to the propor- 
 tion ascertained to exist between this scale and Maun- 
 drell's measure. 
 
 In the extracts made from the Oriental Geographers 
 by the Abbe Itenaudot, the manuscript of which is in 
 my possession, the length of the site of the mosque of 
 Jerusalem is stated at 794 cubits. It is Arabian cubits 
 that are here meant; That our attention may not be
 
 300 APPENDIX. 
 
 diverted from our present object by the particular dis- 
 cussion which this cubit would require, I shall at pre- 
 sent confine myself to the general result; the details 
 leading to it, and demonstrating its accuracy, shall 
 form the subject of a separate article, to follow that on 
 the Hebrew measures. Let it here suffice to remark, 
 that an equivocal method of ascertaining the cubit 
 in use among the Arabs, is to deduce it from the 
 Arabic mile. This mile consisted of 4,000 cubits, and 
 as, according to the measure of the earth taken by 
 order of the caliph Al Mamoun, the mile, thus com- 
 posed, is computed at the rate of 56|^ to a degree ; it 
 follows that this mile is equivalent to about 1,006 fa- 
 thoms, taking the degree at 57,000 fathoms, to avoid 
 entering into any nice distinctions on the subject of 
 degrees. A thousand Arabian cubits are therefore 
 equal to 250 fathoms, and nine feet more, which we 
 will not here take into the account : and if we suppose 
 in round numbers, 800 fathoms instead of 794, the re- 
 sult is 200 fathoms, good measure. Thus the calcula- 
 tion of 215 fathoms, deduced from the plan of Jerusa- 
 lem represented in all these circumstances, is preferable 
 to a higher estimate. 
 
 The length of the site of the mosque is, according to 
 Maundrell, 370 paces, or 156 fathoms four feet and a 
 half. Now the measurement of the plan gives about 
 172. It is here remarkable that Maundrell's measure 
 loses, in breadth, the greater part of what it gained in 
 length. Hence it may be concluded that the want of 
 precision in these measures consists not so much in 
 their general amount as in their distribution. In all 
 probability edifices contiguous to the area of the mosque 
 in the interior of the city have rendered it much more 
 difficult to take its circumference with accuracy than 
 that of the city. Maundrell himself acknowledges 
 that his measure is deduced from a calculation made 
 on the outside ; and the details into which we could 
 not avoid entering on this subject will shew, that as
 
 APPENDIX. 201 
 
 our investigation is conducted with reference to all the 
 data that could be procured, there is no dissimulation 
 or contrivance in our account. 
 
 The mosque which has succeeded the Temple is 
 held in extraordinary veneration by the Mahometans. 
 Omar, having taken Jerusalem in the fifteenth year of 
 the Hegira (A.n. 63/), laid the foundation of this 
 mosque, which was greatly embellished by Abd el 
 Malek, the son of Mervan. The Mahometans have 
 carried their respect for this place to such a length as 
 to place it on a level with their sanctuary at Mecca ; 
 calling it Alacsa, which signifies extremum, or ulterius, 
 in contradistinction to that sanctuary: and according 
 to all appearance they have made a particular point of 
 inclosing in its area the whole site of the Jewish Tem- 
 ple — totum antiaui Sacri Jitndum, says Golius in his 
 learned notes on the astronomy of Alferganes. Phocas, 
 whom 1 have already quoted, and who wrote in the 
 12th century, is precisely of the same opinion, that 
 the whole space surrounding the mosque is the ancient 
 area of the Temple tcoi.xxi.ov tS f^iydxi va.£ Sun-ido*. 
 Though this Temple had been destroyed, it was not 
 possible but that vestiges should exist ; that at least 
 traces might be discovered of those prodigious works 
 erected to raise the sides of the Temple, and its entire 
 area to a level with the ground of the Temple itself 
 situated on the summit of Mount Moria. The four 
 sides forming the circumference of the Temple were 
 turned towards the four cardinal points ; and it was 
 the intention that the entrance to the Temple should 
 be exposed to the rising sun, in placing the Sancta 
 Sanctorum at the opposite side. In this a conformity 
 with the arrangement of the tabernacle had been stu- 
 died, and these circumstances are liable to no difficul- 
 ties. Now, the same disposition of the four fronts is 
 still remarked in the area of the mosque of Jerusalem, 
 the sides of which correspond, within thirteen or four- 
 teen degrees, with the four quarters of the compass 
 placed on the plan of M. Deshayes. Supposing even
 
 ■''•;: APPENDIX. 
 
 that the position of this compass is dependent on the 
 due northern polarity of the needle, and that allowance 
 ought to be made for a western declination ; that, 
 moreover, this position might not be perfectly accu- 
 rate ; the consequence would be a still greater degree 
 of precision in the correspondence of this area with the 
 quarters of the compass. We find in Sandys, an 
 English traveller, a small plan of Jerusalem, which 
 though far inferior in merit to that of M. Deshayes, 
 nevertheless derives great advantage from a general 
 conformity with this plan; and according to the points 
 of the compass marked on Sandys' plan, the faces of 
 the square of the Temple correspond exactly with the 
 letters N. S. E. W. 
 
 It would appear that the sides of the Jewish Temple 
 were perfectly equal, and formed a more regular square 
 than the site of the present Mahometan mosque. It 
 is generally admitted that Ezekiel's measure gives 500 
 cubits to each of the sides. Though in the Hebrew 
 we find reeds for cubits, and in the Vulgate calumos for 
 cubitos, the mistake is obvious, especially as the calamus 
 comprehended not less than six cubits ; and besides, 
 the Greek version, executed apparently from a correct 
 text, says expressly, Trvtyjui TrevT^os-zx?. Rabbi Jehuda, 
 the author of the Misna, and who collected the tradi- 
 tions of the Jews respecting the Temple, at a period 
 not very remote from its destruction (for he lived during 
 the reign of Antoninus Pius), agrees in this point, in 
 his particular treatise, entitled Mid doth, or the Mea- 
 sure. It cannot then be doubted that such was in 
 reality the extent of the Temple. 
 
 We have a second observation to make, which is, 
 that this measure, so far from answering to the length, 
 is not equal even to the breadth, or the shortest side 
 of the area of the mosque, however disposed we may 
 be to give to the cubit its utmost dimension. Ezekiel 
 indeed, would lead us to suppose this measure of a cu- 
 bit rather under than over-rated, as he tells the Jewish 
 captives at Babylon (xl. 5, and xliii. 13) that, in the
 
 APPENDIX. 303 
 
 construction of anew Temple, in the re-establishment 
 of the altar, they are to employ a cubit, comprehend- 
 ing a cubit and a hand-breadth : 11 Tr^yn rS wyias mi 
 7ra.hcci<rT?K-, says the Greek version, in cubito cuhiti et 
 palmi. Several scholnrs, and among others Father 
 Lami, have imagined that the Hebrew cubit might be 
 the same, or nearly the same measure as the derah or 
 Egyptian cubit, the use of which, in the measure of 
 the inundation of the Nile, must have preserved its 
 original length without alteration, and rendered it inva- 
 riable notwithstanding the changes of rulers. Greaves, 
 an English mathematician, and Cumberland, bishop of 
 Peterborough, find, in the application of the derah, in 
 several chambers of the Great Pyramid, where this 
 measure is used complete and agrees without any frac- 
 tion, a proof of its high antiquity. It is, moreover, 
 extremely probable that the Israelites, who became 
 a people merely by the multiplication of a single family, 
 during their abode in E<;ypt, and who were even em- 
 ployed in the public works of that country, borrowed 
 the measures made use of in those works. Prior to 
 this period, the patriarchs of their race never building, 
 and having even no stationary possessions, it is not 
 likely that they should have for their own use particular 
 measures, fixed and regulated with great precision by 
 certain standards, since things of this kind originated 
 only in the necessity for them. Moses, instructed in 
 all the learning of the Egyptians, must necessarily have 
 derived from their mathematics whatever was con- 
 nected with it in the sciences which he had acquired. 
 Be this as it may, a circumstance beyond all doubt in 
 the employment of the derah is, that a greater length 
 cannot be given to what is denominated the cubit. 
 Greaves having taken the measure of the derail on the 
 Milometer of Cairo, has made a comparison between it 
 and the English foot ; and .supposing this foot to be 
 divided into 1,000 parts, the derah makes 1,8^4 such 
 parts. From the comparison of the English and French 
 foot, by which it appears that the English foot is longer
 
 304 APPENDIX. 
 
 by one-sixth of a line than it had before been reckoned, 
 the derah is equivalent to twenty inches and a half, 
 good measure, of the French foot. Now 500 cubits of 
 the measure of the derah make 10,250 inches, equal to 
 854 feet, or 42 fathoms 2 feet. Thus there was just 
 re-son to assert that the measure of the Temple is 
 inferior to the area of the mosque ; since that measure 
 is not equal to the smallest of the dimensions of this 
 area, or its breadth. How would it be if we were to 
 refuse to the Hebrew cubit, considered strictly as a 
 cubit, the st.me length as the derah has ? 
 
 However, when we reflect that the area of the sum- 
 mit of Mount Moria has been made as extensive as it 
 is by dint of art, we can scarcely persuade ourselves 
 that an addition was made in this particular to the 
 labours of the Jewish people, — labours which at differ- 
 ent times took up several centuries, as Josephus has 
 remarked. The octagonal building of the mosque 
 being comprehended in the space of about 45 fathoms, 
 according to the scale of the plan ; and the kind of 
 inner cloister which surrounds this mosque being about 
 100 fathoms square; it cannot be presumed that the 
 Mahometans had any motive for extending the outer 
 court beyond the limits which the Jews had been 
 enabled to give it, only by surmounting nature. From 
 these considerations, there is every reason to presume 
 that the whole of the space assigned to the mosque 
 and its dependencies once belonged to the Temple ; 
 and Mahometan superstition might probably have de- 
 termined to lose no part of this area, without feeling 
 any desire to extend it. 
 
 Father Lami, in the distribution of the parts of the 
 Temple, distinguishing and separating the Atrium 
 Gentium from that of the Israelites, in which respect 
 he differs from Villalpando, judged that this Atrium 
 of the Gentiles was without the place measured by 
 Ezekiel Now, it appears that the discussion on which 
 we are about to enter, favours that opinion ; and that 
 this same opinion assigns the proper use of the super-
 
 APPENDIX. 305 
 
 abundant space. Lightfoot, in what he has written on 
 the subject of the Temple, quotes a passage of the 
 Talmud added to the Middoth, which says that Mount 
 Moria exceeded in measure 500 cubits ; but that the 
 surplus of that measure was not accounted holy, like 
 the part which it enclosed. This Jewish tradition 
 would prove two things ; one, that the area of Mount 
 Moria had been increased even beyond what was com- 
 prehended in Ezekiel's measure, as we in fact remark 
 that the present space is more extensive ; the other, 
 that the surplus over and above this measure cannot 
 be better accounted for, than as the place set apart 
 for the Gentiles, whom a feeling of veneration for the 
 God of Israel brought to his Temple, but who were not 
 considered as his genuine worshippers. These cir- 
 cumstances coincide in a remarkable manner with 
 what is said in the eleventh chapter of the Revelations, 
 where St. John, having been commanded to measure 
 the Temple of God, " There was given me a reed 
 " like unto a rod, and the angel stood, saying, Rise 
 " and measure the Temple of God, and the altar, and 
 " them that worship therein," — adds, " But the eourt 
 " which is without the Temple, leave out and measure 
 " it not, for it is given unto the Gentiles." This in- 
 junction — measure it not, gives us to understand, that 
 in measuring the Temple it was proper, and even 
 necessary for him to confine himself to a more limited 
 space than the whole area of the Temple ; and the 
 preceding words the court ivhich is without the Temple, 
 make us nevertheless acquainted with a space supple- 
 mentary to this measure, ;<nd inform us at the same 
 time of the purpose to which it was appropriated, for 
 it is given unto the Gentiles. This passage of the 
 Apocalypse may have an absolute and comparative 
 foundation (independently of any mystic or figurative 
 signification) in the recollection which St. John had 
 retained of the Temple of Jerusalem. Josephus, who 
 assigns a triple enclosure to the Temple, doubtless 
 means by this three different spaces: so that exclusively
 
 306 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the Atrium sacerdotum and Atrium Israelitarvm, we 
 must necessarily admit a third space, such as in fact 
 appears from the preceding considerations to have 
 existed. 
 
 Father Lami, whose skill in architecture was of 
 great service to him in his description of the Temple, 
 applying the measure of 500 cubits to the boundary 
 of the Atrium of the Israelites, and forming an exte- 
 rior Atrium with a kind of combination in the propor- 
 tions of the parts of the Temple, is thereby led to 
 assign about 2,620 Hebrew cubits to the circumference 
 of his ground-plan of the Temple. This number of 
 cubits, according to the same standard as above, makes 
 746 fathoms. Now, let us recollect that the length 
 of the area of the mosque of Jerusalem, deduced from 
 the plan of that city, was stated at about 215 fathoms, 
 and the breadth at about 172. Multiply each of these 
 amounts by two, and you will have the whole 774 
 fathoms, from which may be deducted one-fiftieih, or 
 15 or 16 fathoms, to reduce the scale to the standard 
 which appeared more con-ect in the total measure of the 
 circumference of Jerusalem. At this rate there will be 
 only 13 or 14 fathoms, more or less, in the calculation 
 of the circuit of the area belonging to the Temple. 
 Father Lami, it is true, has assumed four equal sides, 
 though the quantity of measure is somewhat unequally 
 divided by the nature of the ground itself. But, is it 
 not obvious that this perfect equality in Father Lami 
 arises only from an imitation or repetition of what 
 was peculiar to the body of the temple, cut off' from 
 the outer Atrium of the Gentiles ? And since there 
 is no fact furnishing a proof of such a repetition, 
 which may be more easily imagined than admitted by 
 the nature of the ground, it cannot be considered as 
 positive. 
 
 Having ascertained what was the extent of the 
 Temple, we cannot help being extremely surprised to 
 find that what Josephus says on this subject differs so 
 widely from the truth. We cannot comprehend how
 
 APPENDIX. 307 
 
 it happens that this historian, who in other particulars 
 seeks, as well he might, to convey a high idea of 
 this edifice, should foil so very short of the extent 
 which ought to be assigned to it. The sides of the 
 square of the Temple are stated to be a stadium in 
 length ; and in another place a whole circumference 
 of the area, including the Tower of Antonia, contigu- 
 ous to the north-west angle, is computed at six stadia. 
 He should have written %'kx instead of e|, taking the 
 stadium at the same standard as seemed suitable for it 
 in the measure of the circumference of Jerusalem, and 
 ten of these make 760 fathoms, which form an exact 
 mean between the preceding computations. 
 
 Ill — Of the Hebrew Measures of Length. 
 
 I shall conclude this essay with some discussion 
 respecting the Hebrew measures appropriated to 
 spaces. This discussion is the more intimately con- 
 nected with what goes before, as it furnishes proofs on 
 several points. It does not appear equivocal that the 
 cubit, called in Hebrew Ameh (compounded of Aleph, 
 Mem, and He), in the Chaldean language, Ametha, 
 with the Greeks Tnjp/y?, and likewise P.Aiv.u from which 
 the Latins have formed the word Ulna, should be an 
 elementof measure, which it is of very great importance 
 to verify. The standard which we have seen this cubit 
 take above, in reference to the extent of the Temple, 
 appears well adapted to give it already a considerable 
 advantage. Let us see if it can be otherwise re- 
 peated or deduced from some other medium. 
 
 If we follow the statement of the rabbi Godolias, on 
 the authority of Maimonide;, the Hebrew cubit is 
 equivalent to the Bologna ell ; and from this compari- 
 son, Dr. Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough, has 
 assigned to the cubit 2 J English inches and 700- 
 35,000th of an inch, as I find by Arbutlmot's Treatise 
 of Money, Weights, and Measures. This makes 20 
 inches and about five lines of the Paris foot, and is
 
 308 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 consequently but one line shorter than the derah, or 
 Egyptian cubit. 
 
 But, a method of determining the length of the He- 
 brew cubit, which, as far as I know, has never yet been 
 resorted to, decisive as it may appear, is this: The 
 Jews agree in stating the Iter sabbaticum, or the dis- 
 tance it was lawful for them to travel on the sabbath- 
 day, in obedience to the injunction of Exodus, xvi. 
 29 : Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day — 
 they agree, I say, in rating it at two thousand cubits. 
 The author of the Chaldean paraphrase expresses him- 
 self positively on this subject, on occasion of ver. 6, 
 ch. i. of the book of Ruth. CEcumenius confirms this 
 measure by the testimony of Origen, when he says that 
 the mile, being equal to a sabbath-day's journey, com- 
 prehends £<; wxiuv 7rvj%ai\i. The Treatise on Jewish 
 Measures, written by St. Epiphanius, who, being a 
 Jew, and born in Palestine, must have been well ac- 
 quainted with the case in point, informs us that the 
 sabbath-day's journey is equivalent to six stadia. To 
 make the cubit in question rather longer than shorter, 
 we cannot do better than employ the ordinary stadium, 
 eight of which go to a Roman mile, and which seems 
 even to have superseded all the other stadia in the de- 
 cline of the empire. 
 
 The length of the stadium, taken at 94 fathoms, two 
 feet, eight inches, being multiplied by six, gives 566 
 fathoms, four feet. On reducing this amount into feet, 
 we find 3,400, containing 40,800 inches ; and on di- 
 viding this number of inches into 2,000 parts, each of 
 these parts is found to consist of 20 inches and 2-50ths. 
 Now the product of this calculation seems to be ex- 
 pressly designed to serve as a verification to the mea- 
 sure deduced above. What indeed is wanting to make 
 the standard which we have just found, precisely the 
 same as that which we before employed for the Hebrew 
 cubit, under the idea that it was one and the same 
 measure with the derah or the Egyptian cubit ? Must 
 not the difference of a line and one-fiftieth be con-
 
 APPENDIX. 309 
 
 sidered of very trifling importance in a combination of 
 this kind ? Not only does this difference not exceed 
 1 -200th of the whole, but, before we can consider this 
 difference as a want of precision in the employment of 
 the derah for the Hebrew cubit, we ought to be per- 
 fectly sure that the six stadia, neither more nor less, 
 were exactly equivalent to the 2,000 cubit. We ought 
 therefore to be thoroughly satisfied with the statement 
 of St. Epiphanus, and to know that he has not neg- 
 lected to add a thirty-fourth part of a stadium, or be- 
 tween sixteen and seventeen feet. 
 
 The Jews had a measure of length, to which they not 
 only applied the term of berath, which some commen- 
 tator considers as peculiar to it, but likewise that of 
 Mil {Mem, Iod, Lamrd), in the plural Milin. Though 
 there is no doubt that this denomination was borrowed 
 from the Romans, yet this is no reason why the mile 
 among the Jews should not have had a distinct and 
 particular definition, which is stated at 2 ; 000 cubits, 
 and which exactly agrees with the account of'CEcume- 
 nius, who has just been quoted. Several passages of 
 the Gemara, referred to by Reland {Palcestina, vol. i. 
 p. 400) inform us that the Jews reckon seven stadia 
 and a half to the mile. The term which they employ 
 to express the stadium is Ris (Resch, Iod, Sameck), in 
 the plural Risin. It may be rendered by the Latin 
 word curriculum. The junction of four milin com- 
 posed among the Jews a kind of league, called Parseh 
 (Pe, Resch, Samech, He). In the Syriac language, 
 Paras signifies to extend, and Parseh, extent; and 
 it is the more natural to suppose that this term was 
 borrowed from that language, as it became common 
 amongthe Jews in the times posteriorto their captivity. 
 We find in Reland a passage from the Talmud, which 
 expressly states the Jewish mile to be 2,000 cubits, and 
 the parseh 4,000. Two thousand cubits, according to 
 the precise standard of the derah, make 569 fathoms, 
 two feet, eight inches, If we multiply this amount by 
 four, we shall find 2,277 fathoms, four feet, eigh
 
 310 APPENDIX. 
 
 inches, for the parseh. This measure scarcely differs 
 at all from our French league, composed of two Gallic 
 leagues, and 25 of which are exactly equivalent to a 
 degree. 
 
 The learned R eland, setting out with the supposi- 
 tion that the Jewish mile is not different from the 
 Roman mile, and making the number of 2,000 cubits 
 in the one equivalent to 5,000 feet in the other, con- 
 cludes that the cubit contained two feet and a half. 
 But though it cannot be denied that the extent of the 
 Roman dominion rendered the Roman mile almost 
 universal, still it is very certain that the measure of 
 this mile ought not to be confounded with that 
 given us for the Jewish mile. Not only is the standard 
 of the cubit, which would result from the mistake, 
 naturally difficult of admission, exceeding the limits of 
 probability in quality of a cubit; but a mere compari- 
 son of numbers, unaccompanied with essential approxi- 
 mations, cannot be supported against a positive defini- 
 tion, the accuracy of which is proved by verifications. 
 There is a passage in the Gemara which fixes a common 
 day's journey at ten parsaut (for such is the plural of 
 parseh). If the parseh were equivalent to four Roman 
 miles, the amount would be 40 miles. But the ancients 
 never go so far in this computation. They commonly 
 confine themselves to 25 miles, or 200 stadia ; and if 
 Herodotus (book 5) makes it 250 stadia, we ought to 
 bear it in mind that this historian has in many places 
 employed stadia of ten to a mile. The oriental geo- 
 graphers also agree in the number of 25 miles for a 
 common day's journey, as the Maronites, who have 
 translated Edrisi's Geography, in the state in which we 
 have it, or rather the extract from it, have observed in 
 their preface ; for when the orientals seem to vary 
 respecting the number of miles, in sometimes stating 
 30 instead of 25, this arises from the difference of 
 miles, and from their not having always employed the 
 standard Arabic miles, 25 of which may be equivalent 
 to 30 or 31 of a more ordinary kind. By the evalua-
 
 APPENDIX. 311 
 
 tion which is proper to the parseh, ten of which are 
 equal to 30 Roman miles, it is evident that a measure 
 considerably longer would exceed the above-mentioned 
 limits. Father Lami has objected to Villalpando on 
 the subject of a similar opinion, that the Hebrew cubit 
 was equal to 2± Roman feet ; that, as the height of 
 the altar of perfumes was stated to be two cubits, a 
 priest of gigantic stature would have been required to 
 officiate and scatter incense over that altar. It is cer- 
 tain that the coincidences which we have met with, re- 
 specting the area of the Temple, would not have taken 
 place with a cubit measuring about one-fourth more 
 than that which is here given. The Roman foot being 
 equal to 1306 tenths of a line of the Paris foot, the 2± 
 feet contain 326^ lines, or 27 inches 2i lines. It must 
 farther be remarked, that Villalpando assigned to the 
 Roman foot something more than this calculation. 
 
 I took notice above of the fortuitous coincidence be- 
 tween the parseh and our league, merely to communi- 
 cate to this parseh the idea of what is proper and fami- 
 liar to us. But the same agreement between the parseh 
 and an ancient oriental measure must not in like man- 
 ner be considered as the effect of chance. This exact 
 correspondence will rather prove them both to have 
 been one and the same measure. 1 have shewn, in the 
 Treatise on Itinerary Measures, that the stadium, which 
 makes one-tenth of a Roman mile, was exactly suit- 
 able for measuring Xenophon's marches ; and that, 
 from the calculation "made by Xenophon himself of 
 the number of stadia in parasangs, it appears certain 
 that 30 stadia make one parasang. This computation 
 is conformable in every respect with the precise defi- 
 nition of the parasang given by Herodotus, Hesychiu> 
 and Suidas. On multiplying 75 fathoms three feet four 
 inches, at which the stadium of ten to the mile is fixed, 
 by 30, we shall have a product of 2,266 fathoms four 
 feet. Now, this estimate of the parasang comes within 
 eleven fathoms of the parseh ; so that two feet two 
 inches more in the length of the stadium, which serves
 
 312 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 
 to compose the parasang, would make both amounts 
 exactly equal. If even we were to adopt in preference, 
 the result of the comparison made by St. Epiphanius 
 of the Jewish mile, or Sabbath-day's journey, with six 
 ordinary stadia, that is to say, 566 fathoms four feet, 
 and to multiply this amount by four, we should obtain 
 precisely the 2,266 fathoms four feet, which are the 
 product of our 30 stadia. Who would not hence con- 
 clude that the parseh is no other than the parasang, 
 whether Persian, Babylonian, or whatever you may 
 chuse to call it ? Does not parseh comprehend the 
 amount of 30 stadia, since the Jewish mile, the fourth 
 part of the parseh, is accounted by the Jews equal to 
 7i? Let us add, that the names parseh and parasang 
 have sufficient affinity to countenance the idea of the 
 identity of the measure ; and that, as the terms paras 
 and parseh have, in the ancient oriental language, the 
 Chaldee as well as Syriac, a proper and literal inter- 
 pretation, which cannot have a meaning more suitable 
 to the thing itself, this was undoubtedly adopted, to 
 acquire the proper signification of the word parasang. 
 As the parseh is not mentioned in scripture, there is 
 every reason to believe that it was not introduced 
 among the Jews till subsequent to the Babylonian 
 captivity. 
 
 But observe what a series of coincidences ! The de- 
 finition of the parasang has this existence independent- 
 ly of what constitutes the parseh, for this parasang 
 depends on a particular stadium, which is produced by 
 means totally foreign to what appears even to concern 
 or to interest the parasang, as may be seen in my 
 Treatise on Measures. The parseh, on the other hand, 
 springs from totally different elements, and has its 
 principle in this, that the Egyptian cubit seems to be 
 a measure of the highest antiquity, and that the use of 
 it was probably adopted by the Hebrew nation. On 
 these presumptions (for so far we can have nothing 
 more) the application of the cubit to this parseh is 
 more exactly verified than we could venture to hope,
 
 APPENDIX. 313 
 
 by the conclusion which must be drawn from the mea- 
 sure assigned by Epiphanius as the fourth part of the 
 parseh. All these different ways, so totally distinct 
 from each other, lead nevertheless to the same con- 
 sequences, and meet at the same point. It would be 
 impossible to obtain greater harmony by concerted 
 means. What must result from this ? A mutual sua- 
 rantee, if I may be allowed that expression, of all 
 the parties and circumstances that enter into the com- 
 bination. 
 
 The positive determination of the Hebrew cubit is 
 one of the principal advantages of such a discussion. 
 It is very true that Father Lami, as well as some other 
 scholars, proposed the adoption of the derah for this 
 cubit, but without positively demonstrating the pro- 
 priety of such adoption, or verifying it by applications 
 of the nature of those which have just been produced. 
 It would even appear that the precision of this mea- 
 sure had in some sort escaped Father Lami, since, not- 
 withstanding his conjecture respecting the derah, he 
 makes the Hebrew cubit twenty inches. Nos, (says he 
 lib. i. cap. 9. sect. 1.) cubitum HebrceumJ'acimus viginti 
 pollicum. 
 
 The Hebrew cubit was composed of six minor palms, 
 and this palm is called in Hebrew Tophach (Teth, Phe, 
 HhethJ. The Septuagint version has rendered this 
 word 7T«Aa<!TT>)s, which is peculiar to the palm in ques- 
 tion ; the definitions given by Hesychius and Julius 
 Pollux fix this palm at four fingers' breadth. The 
 cubit consequently contained twenty-four fingers, and 
 this is precisely the number of parts into which the 
 Egyptian cubit or derah is divided on the column of 
 Mihias, otherw ise the Kilometer near Fostat, or Old 
 Cairo. Abulfeda is quoted by Kircher as saying that 
 the legal cubit of the Jews, the same as the Egyptian, 
 contains twenty-four fingers. In Diodorus Siculus 
 (lib. i.) when he speaks of the Kilometer which existed 
 at Memphis, and which he terms NuXoo-kotmov, we find 
 mention made not only of the cubits into which it was 
 
 vol. II. p
 
 314 APPEXDIX. 
 
 divided, but also of the fingers 2a.KrvXov^, which formed 
 the subdivision of the cubit. 
 
 According to the measure which agrees with this 
 cubit, the tophach or palm is equal to 3 inches 5 lines 
 of the French foot ; and I observe that this particular 
 measure has the advantage of appearing to be bor- 
 rowed from nature : for if we suppose it to be taken 
 from the breadth of the four fingers of a clenched fist, 
 agreeably to the explanation of Pollux, the study of 
 the relative proportions of the parts of the body will 
 shew that this measure is adapted to a stature of about 
 5 feet 8 inches French ; and this stature, which is ex- 
 actly equivalent to six Greek feet, is rather above than 
 below the ordinary height of man. But if the palm, 
 which forms the sixth part of the Hebrew cubit, is 
 thus found to correspond with a lofty and majestic 
 stature, and cannot be sensibly extended without 
 swelling into the gigantic, it will follow that the mea- 
 sure of this cubit cannot, as a cubit, partake of the 
 same concordance. Father Lami, in fixing the Hebrew 
 cubit at twenty inches, has thence calculated the sta- 
 ture of the patriarchs at 80 inches or 6 feet 8 inches, 
 which agrees in proportion with this principle of Vi- 
 truvius : Pes altitudinis corporis sextce cubitus quartce. 
 According to this proportion the measure taken from 
 the derah would produce seven feet wanting two inches. 
 If such a stature be admissible on the score of a par- 
 ticular distinction between the first race of mankind 
 and the present state of nature, still it is very certain 
 that the length of the cubit in question exceeds the 
 limits to which the ordinary stature of men has long 
 been confined : so that in proportion to the stature 
 with which the measure of the palm seems particu- 
 larly to agree, or 5 feet and about 8 inches, the length 
 of the cubit should be but about seventeen inches. 
 Now the rabbis seem to be persuaded that a difference 
 existed between the common cubit and the legal or 
 sacred cubit, the standard of which was deposited 
 in the sanctuary; and that this common cubit was
 
 APPENDIX. 315 
 
 shorter than the other by one tophach. Being thus 
 reduced to five tipuchim (the plural of tophach) or to 
 twenty fingers, and losing 3 inches 5 lines, its length 
 amounted to 17 inches 1 line. Though Father Lami 
 has combated the Jewish tradition respecting this 
 common cubit, still the striking analogy of proportion 
 seems to support it. The testimony of the rabbis 
 even receives a positive confirmation from the com- 
 parison made by Josephus between the ordinary cubit 
 of the Jews and the Attic cubit : for this cubit, being 
 deduced from the proportion natural to it in common 
 with the Greek foot, consisting of 1360 parts or tenths 
 of a line of the Paris foot, makes 2,040 of the same 
 parts, or 204 lines, or 17 inches. Let us recollect 
 moreover what has been quoted above from Ezekiel, 
 in treating of the measure of the Temple, when he di- 
 rects the Jews of Babylon to employ a cubit longer by 
 a hand-breadth than the ordinary one, in rebuilding 
 the Temple. This hand-breadth being no other than 
 the smaller palm or tophach, have we not here a for- 
 mal distinction between two cubits, the shorter of 
 which appears to have been in common use ? But, in 
 allowing that the smaller cubit was introduced during 
 the time of the second Temple, we might, from deli- 
 cacy, and to shun any violation of the divine precept, 
 which enjoins but one weight and one measure, be 
 willing to reject the cubit in question for the time pre- 
 ceding the captivity : which, however, we should be 
 absolutely authorised to do by the silence of scripture, 
 since, in Deuteronomy (hi. 11.) the measure of the 
 bedstead of Og, king of Bashan, is given in cubits 
 taken from the natural proportion of the human body, 
 after the cubit of a man, or, according to the Vulgate, 
 ad mensuram cubitivirilis manus. Though an infinite 
 number of measures, which enlarge upon their natural 
 principles (for example, all that bear the name of a 
 foot, without entering into farther details), sufficiently 
 authorize the denomination of cubit, in a measure of 
 such length as the Hebrew and Egyptian cubit appear 
 
 p 2
 
 31 6 APPENDIX. 
 
 to have been ; still the consideration of these princi- 
 ples is frequently essential in the discussion of mea- 
 sures, and ought not to be lost sight of. It was to 
 this that I owed the discovery of the natural foot, the 
 measure and use of which I have discussed in my 
 Treatise on Itinerary Measures. 
 
 We have then, in this Memoir, an Analysis of the 
 Hebrew Measures, which, though independent of all 
 particular application, nevertheless agrees with the 
 measure of the circumference of Jerusalem and the 
 extent of the Temple, according to the deduction of 
 that measure from the various indications of antiquity 
 compared with local circumstances. There appears 
 to be such a connection between the different objects 
 here brought together, that they seem dependent on 
 each other, and to afford, as far as they are concerned, 
 a mutual confirmation. 
 
 Discussion of the Arabian Cubit. 
 
 I promised, in treating of an article relative to the 
 measure of the Temple, to enter into a discussion of 
 the Arabian cubit after 1 had finished with the Hebrew 
 measures. 
 
 This cubit, deraga or derail, is of three kinds ; the 
 ancient, the common, and the black. The first, which 
 is thus named from having existed, as it is said, in the 
 time of the Persians, consists of 32 fingers ; the se- 
 cond of 24, according to the more common and na- 
 tural definition; and the third, forming nearly the 
 mean between the two, is reckoned at 27 fingers. The 
 first is formed by the addition of two palms to the six 
 which compose the second, and which it has in com- 
 mon with the Egyptian and Hebrew cubit. These de- 
 finitions are furnished by an extract from an oriental 
 land-surveyor, for which we are indebted to Golius, 
 in the notes with which he has illustrated the Elements 
 of Astronomy of Alferganes. 
 
 Of these three cubits, that which seems most enti- 
 tled lo our attention, especially in regard to use and
 
 APPENDIX. 31T 
 
 a greater conformity with the nature of the cubit in 
 general, is the common one. As a circumstance of 
 essential importance, to enable us to determine its 
 length, I shall observe that the cubit deduced from 
 the analysis of the measure of the earth, taken by 
 command of the caliph Al Mamoun in the plains of 
 Sinjar in Mesopotamia, cannot so well refer to any as 
 that denominated the common or ordinary cubit. Ac- 
 cording to Abulfeda's account of the measure of Al 
 Mamoun, the terrestrial degree upon the meridian was 
 calculated at 56J| Arabian miles : and Alferganes (ch. 
 viii.) says that the mile in this measure was composed 
 of 4,000 cubits. Taking the degree in round numbers 
 at 57,000 fathoms (for the reason we have given in 
 treating of the measure of the Temple), the Arabian 
 mile consists as nearly as possible of 1,006. The 
 thousand fathoms make the cubit of 18 inches ; and if 
 we take into the account the six fathoms over, we shall 
 have aline and about 3-lOths of a line to add to each. 
 The learned Golius conceived that the black cubit 
 was alluded to in Al Mamoun's measure, because Al- 
 ferganes has made use of the term royal cubit, to de- 
 note that which he considered adapted to this measure. 
 It must be admitted to be the general opinion that this 
 cubit owed its establishment to Al Mamoun, and that 
 it was thus denominated because it was taken from the 
 breadth of the hand or natural palm of an Ethiopian 
 slave belonging to that prince, because it was found 
 to surpass any other. Be it remarked, however, that 
 not only does the surveyor quoted by Golius apply the 
 use of the black cubit to the measure of various costly 
 stuffs at Bagdad, but that the proportion established 
 between the different Arabian cubits is extremely in- 
 convenient for the application of the black cubit to the 
 measure of the earth under Al Mamoun. Be it further 
 remarked: 1. That the black cubit, with the advan- 
 tage of three fingers over the common cubit, would 
 6till not have any striking excess beyond the ordinary 
 standard, if it amounted to no more than 18 inches;
 
 318 APPENDIX. 
 
 2. That the common cubit, which would be two 
 inches less, would consequently appear small, since we 
 have seen that the cubit in use among the Jews, not- 
 withstanding its inferiority to the legal cubit, con- 
 tained at least 17 inches; 3. That the ancient cubit, 
 called the hashemide, amounted in proportion to no 
 more than 21 inches and a few lines, though reasons 
 might be adduced for supposing it to have been lon- 
 ger; for according to Marufides, the height of the 
 church of St. Sophia, which from the floor to the dome 
 is 78 hashemide cubits, is computed by Evagrius at 
 180 Greek feet ; and according to the proportion which 
 exists between the Greek foot and ours, the cubit in 
 question will amount to 26 inches and about two lines. 
 Even this is not enough if we follow the standard of the 
 hashemide cubit, which, according to Edward Bar- 
 nard, is marked upon a manuscript in the library at 
 Oxford, and which he represents as measuring 28 inches 
 9 lines of the English foot, equal, within a trifle, to 27 
 inches of the Paris foot. The measures of the length 
 and breadth of St. Sophia given by Marufides, namely, 
 101 cubits for the one, and 931 for the other, 
 will make the cubit still longer, if we compare them 
 with Grelot's dimensions of 42 and 38 fathoms. The 
 comparison not being perfectly consistent, the result 
 given by the length will be near 30 inches to the cubit, 
 and by the breadth 29 inches 3 lines, good measure. 
 
 I am aware that persons might think themselves 
 justified in supposing that the length, whatever it may 
 be, of the ancient or hashemide cubit, has an influence 
 over the proportions of the other cubits; and that it 
 would make the common one amount to 20 inches 3 
 lines, if we adhere to the standard itself of the hashe- 
 mide cubit ; since the apparent comparison between 
 them is as 4 to 3. But as such an argument is not 
 sufficient to suppress and render null the analysis of 
 the cubit resulting from the positive measure of the 
 terrestrial degree under Al Mamoun, even though this 
 measure should not be judged to possess the utmost
 
 APPENDIX. 319 
 
 degree of precision ; it must be natural to presume that 
 there is no proportion among the different Arabian 
 cubits better calculated to suit this analysis of the cu- 
 bit than the common cubit. The black cubit will be 
 the less fit for this purpose, as, according to the hashe- 
 mide measure, it must have amounted to 22 inches 9 
 lines. 
 
 Thevenot, whose accuracy and sagacity, so supe- 
 rior to those of the generality of travellers, are well 
 known, having remarked, in a geographical work writ- 
 ten in Persian, that the finger, the fourth part of the 
 palm and the twenty-fourth part of the cubit, 
 was defined to be equal to six barley-corns placed 
 by the side of each other, (a definition which is in fact 
 universal among oriental authors,) says, that he found 
 the measure of six barley-corns, multiplied eight times, 
 to amount to six inches of our foot ; from which he 
 concludes that the cubit, composed of 144 grains, must 
 have been equal to a foot and a half. Now is not this 
 the same thing that results not only from the measure 
 of the terrestrial degree by order of Al Mamoun, but 
 likewise of the special application which we make of 
 the common cubit to that measure ? I remark that the 
 black cubit, in proportion to the analyzed measure of 
 the common one, will be 20 inches and 4 or 5 lines, 
 which, be it observed by the way, comes very near to 
 the Egyptian and Hebrew cubit. Now, as this black 
 cubit exceeded the common measure only because the 
 breadth of the Ethiopian's hand, or the palm which 
 was taken for a standard, surpassed the ordinary mea- 
 sure ; not because there was any intention of altering 
 the cubit calculated at six palms; would it not be 
 making too great a change in the natural proportion, 
 to extend it to 20 inches and almost a half, while the 
 six Greek palms, though proportioned to the stature of 
 a man of 5 feet 8 inches, amount to no more than 17 
 inches? If these consonances and probabilities do not 
 extend to the comparison which has been made of the 
 ancient or hashemide cubit with the other cubits, we
 
 320 • APPENDIX. 
 
 observe that this comparison is probably but numerary 
 in regard to the palms and ringers, without being pro- 
 portional as to the effective length. Do we not see 
 the same difference between the measures of a foot, 
 though they are all composed of twelve inches ? And, 
 to take an example from the very subject before us, 
 though the black cubit exceeded the common by three 
 inches in the 24 of that common cubit, were more than 
 six palms taken to compose it? 
 
 Into this discussion of the Arabian cubit, which re- 
 lates only to one particular point in what forms the sub- 
 ject of our Dissertation, I have the more willingly 
 entered, as I am not aware that the result deduced 
 from it has hitherto been developed. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 MEMOIR ON TUNIS. 
 
 Question I. — Are the Beys, mho govern Tunis? 
 Turks or Arabs ? At tvhat precise period did they usurp 
 the authority which the Deysjbrmerlij possessed? 
 
 It is near one hundred and fifty years since the Beys 
 of Tunis wrested the authority from the Deys ; but 
 they have not retained without revolutions the authority 
 which they usurped. The party of the Deys several 
 times recovered the superiority, and was not com- 
 pletely discomfited till 1684, on the flight of Mahmed 
 Icheleby, who was expelled by Mahmed and his bro- 
 ther Ali Bey. An hereditary monarchy was then 
 established ; and Mahmed Bey, the author of the re- 
 volution, was the first sovereign. This new order of 
 things was no sooner established than deranged. The 
 Dey of Algiers, taking umbrage at the Tuniseens, 
 went to enforce his pretensions at the head of an army 
 (October 13, 1689), laid siege to Tunis, obtained pos-
 
 APPENDIX. 321 
 
 session of it in consequence of the flight of the Bey, 
 and set up Ahmed Ben Chouques in his stead. Mah- 
 med Bey having gained over the Arabs on the fron- 
 tiers to his side, advanced against Ahmed Ben Chou- 
 ques, engaged and defeated him, and then proceeded 
 to lay siege to Tunis. His competitor having, after 
 the battle, retired to Algiers, Mahmed Bey, without 
 difficulty, made himself master of the capital, where 
 he once more established his authority, which he re- 
 tained till his death. He was succeeded by his brother 
 Ramadan Bey, the mildness of whose character encou- 
 raged the Tuniseens to expect a tranquil reign. They 
 were not disappointed, but this very circumstance oc- 
 casioned his ruin. His nephew Murat, son of Ali 
 Bey, impatient to enjoy the throne to which he was the 
 next heir, availed himself of his uncle's indolence, re- 
 belled, took him prisoner, and put him to death. Murat's 
 reign, too long for the welfare of his people, was 
 marked with atrocious cruelties. Ibrahim Cherif, the 
 Turk, put a period to it by assassinating him, (June 
 10, 1702). The house of Mahmed Bey becoming ex- 
 tinct by this murder, Ibrahim had no difficulty to pro- 
 cure himself to be acknowledged as Bey by the divan 
 and the soldiery. Being afterwards taken prisoner in 
 a battle in which he was defeated by the Algerines, 
 the army elected Hassan Ben Ali, the grandson of a 
 Greek renegado, as his successor. With him com- 
 menced a new dynasty, which has continued without 
 interruption till the present time. The new Bey was 
 aware that his throne would not be secure as long as 
 Ibrahim lived. This consideration induced him to 
 employ various means to get him into his power. This 
 he at length effected, by declaring that he was but 
 Ibrahim's substitute, and only waited for his appearance 
 to abdicate the supreme authority. Ibrahim, deceived 
 by this apparent submission, repaired to Porto Farina, 
 where his head was struck off, (January 10, 1706.} 
 
 Hassan Ben Ali reigned in peace, and nothing but 
 an heir was wanted to crown his wishes. Finding that 
 
 p3
 
 322 APPENDIX. 
 
 he was not likely to have issue by any of his wives, he 
 resolved to nominate his nephew Ali Bey, who com- 
 manded his army, as his successor. Several years had 
 elapsed; when a prize was brought in by one of the 
 cruizers of the regency, which happened to have on 
 board a Genoese woman, who was placed in Hassan 
 Ben Ali's harem. This woman, for whom he conceived 
 an attachment, became pregnant. When this circum- 
 stance was fully ascertained, he assembled the divan 
 and put the question, whether in case this woman, 
 whom he had in vain solicited to turn Mahometan, 
 should be delivered of a son, this child could be ac- 
 knowledged as his successor? The divan was of opinion 
 that he could not, unless the Christian slave embraced 
 the religion of Mahomet. Hassan renewed his soli- 
 citations, and his favourite at length consented to re- 
 nounce her faith. She was delivered of a son, who was 
 named Mahmed Bey, and afterwards of two more, 
 Mahmoud and Ali Bey. Hassan, seeing that he had 
 now three heirs, informed his nephew Ali Bey, that, as 
 heaven had changed the order of things, he could not 
 leave him the throne after his death ; but that, as a 
 proof of his constant friendship, he would purchase for 
 him the place of pacha, whom the Porte still continued 
 to nominate at Tunis. The young Bey, submitting to 
 his uncle's pleasure, accepted the promised appoint- 
 ment, and assumed the title of Ali Pacha. His ambi- 
 tion appeared gratified ; but he affected a content he 
 did not feel, to disguise the great designs which he had 
 conceived. He could not without impatience behold 
 the sceptre snatched from his hands, and, to spare 
 himself this disgrace, he fled from Tunis, to the moun- 
 tain of Osseletis, put himself at the head of a party 
 which he had secretly formed, and attacked his uncle. 
 This attempt proved unsuccessful : he was defeated, 
 and being obliged to quit his retreat, he sought refuge 
 at Algiers, where, by intrigues and promises, he pre- 
 vailed on the Algerines to espouse his cause. They 
 sent an army to Tunis, and, after a complete victory,
 
 APPENDIX. 323 
 
 obliged Hassan Ben Ali to leave his capital and flee to 
 Keyrouan. On the conclusion of the civil war, which 
 produced a famine, the fugitive prince quitted Keyrouan 
 and repaired to Sousse. 
 
 A French captain, of la Ciotat, named Bareilbier, 
 who had long been attached to Hassan, gave proofs of 
 his zeal by going continually to procure him corn and 
 provisions : the prince gave him bonds for the amount, 
 which he was to pay in case fortune should replace him 
 on the throne. Affairs, however, grew worse and 
 worse, and being deprived of every resource, he resolved 
 to send his children to Algiers (which seems to be the 
 refuge of all the fugitive princes of Tunis), with a view 
 to join them there ; but when he was preparing to 
 accomplish this design, Younnes Bey, the eldest son of 
 Ali Pacha, overtook him, and with his own hand struck 
 off his head. Ali, having thus got rid of his most 
 dangerous enemy, looked forward to the peaceable en- 
 joyment of his power ; but his tranquillity was inter- 
 rupted by the disharmony of his children. Mahmed 
 Bey, who was his favourite, formed the plan of exclu- 
 ding his elder brother Younnes Bey from the throne, to 
 which he was the next heir. He accordingly endea- 
 voured to ruin him in the good opinion of his father, 
 and succeeded in the attempt. Ali Pacha, deceived by 
 his specious stories, gave directions for the apprehen- 
 sion of his eldest son ; but Younnes being apprised of 
 the circumstance, revolted, and made himself master 
 of the castle of Gaspe and the city of Tunis : but being 
 again driven out by Ali Pacha, he was obliged to seek 
 refuge at Algiers. Mahmed Bey, being delivered from 
 so dangerous a competitor, resolved to rid himself also 
 of his younger brother, and caused him to be poisoned. 
 He then procured himself to be acknowledged pre- 
 sumptive heir to the throne, and had the prospect of 
 one day enjoying the dignity which his crimes had pre- 
 pared for him, when the face of affairs was all at once 
 totally changed. The city of Algiers experienced one 
 of those revolutions so frequent in military governments;
 
 T324? APPENDIX. 
 
 a new Dey was appointed, and the choice of the sol- 
 diery fell upon Ali Tchaouy, a Turk. He had before 
 been ambassador at Tunis, and had there received an 
 affront from that same Younnes Bey, who was after- 
 wards obliged to implore his protection. Regardless 
 of his solicitations, he espoused, out of revenge, the 
 cause of the children of Hassan Ben Ali, and supplied 
 them with troops, commanded by the Bey of Constan- 
 tine, for the purpose of recovering the throne. 
 
 Success crowned their enterprize ; they sacked the 
 city of Tunis and took prisoner Ali Pacha, who was 
 immediately strangled. Mahmed Bey, the eldest son 
 of Hassan, was seated on the throne. This good prince 
 reigned but two years and a half, and left two sons, 
 Mahmoud and Ismael Bey, who were yet infants. 
 
 His brother Ali Bey succeeded him upon promising, 
 it is said, to restore the throne to Mahmed's children, 
 when the eldest should arrive at years of discretion. 
 The desire to transmit it to his own family prevented 
 him from fulfilling this engagement. He sought by 
 degrees to remove his nephews from the government 
 and to raise his son to it. He shewed the young Ha- 
 moud to the people, gave him the command of his 
 army, and solicited for him the title of pacha. By these 
 means he secured the suffrages of the people in favour 
 of his son; and by kind treatment acquired such an 
 ascendancy over the minds of his nephews, that, when 
 he died (May 26, 1782), they voluntarily relinquished 
 their claims, and were the first to recognize their cousin 
 Hamoud Pacha as sole Bey of Tunis. 
 
 Since that period the state has not been disturbed by 
 any revolution, and those who have it in their power 
 to excite one, seem too much attached to the Bey to 
 have the least inclination to do so. 
 
 The remembrance of past calamities and the spec- 
 tacles of the troubles of Algiers, have taught the 
 Tuniseens to be too much upon their guard against the 
 restless and uneasy disposition of the Turks, to admit 
 them into the government. The Beys have therefore
 
 APPENDIX. 325 
 
 endeavoured to abolish by degrees the authority which 
 they had usurped : they have made a point of keeping 
 them out of all the important places of administration 
 reserved for natives and Georgians, and to suffer them 
 to fill such only as have but a shadow of authority 
 attached to them. Thus, though the reigning family 
 may be looked upon as Turkish, since Hassan 13en Ali 
 was descended from a Greek renegado, the government 
 itself must be considered as Moorish. 
 
 II. With what nations of Europe has Tunis entered 
 into treaties ? At what period were they concluded, and 
 on what terms ? Are they still in force ? 
 
 XVII. What nations have consuls at Tunis? Are 
 there any nations ivho permit their consuls to engage in 
 trade ? 
 
 XVIII. How many foreign houses are established at 
 Tunis for the pur-pose of trade, and to tvhat nations do 
 they belong ? Are they all in the capital ? 
 
 N.B. These questions, as well as some of the suc- 
 ceeding, are brought together on account of their con- 
 nection with each other. 
 
 The European nations to which Tunis has granted 
 treaties are, France, England, Holland, Sweden, Den- 
 mark, and Spain. Venice also may be included in the 
 number, notwithstanding the present war in which she 
 is engaged with this regency, and the Emperor, whose 
 flag has been struck only on account of his rupture 
 with the Porte. The Ragusans, as tributaries of the 
 Grand Signor, have also their treaty, but without flag 
 and without commerce, and merely as a protection for 
 their ships. 
 
 The treaties between France and Tunis are the most 
 ancient; they date from 1685, though there were some 
 antecedent to that period which no longer exist, and 
 which are not referred to in this treaty. That with 
 England was concluded five or six months afterwards; 
 and that with Holland a i'ew years later. The treaties 
 with the other nations above-mentioned, are not of an 
 earlier period than forty or fifty years back. From the
 
 326 APPENDIX. 
 
 subjoined outline of the treaties with France, a judg- 
 ment may be formed respecting those with the other 
 nations, since they were all framed as nearly as possi- 
 ble after that model. By an article of these treaties, 
 and with reference to the practice adopted by the 
 Porte in regard to ambassadors, the French consul at 
 Tunis takes precedence of the other consuls. His 
 majesty confers on him the title of consul-general and 
 charge des affaires, because, on the one hand, he is em- 
 powered to administer justice to the houses established 
 at the port, and the ships that touch there, and, on the 
 other, to treat concerning the interests of the two 
 powers. All the consuls have a right to engage in 
 trade except the French consul, to whom it is forbid- 
 den upon pain of removal from his post. This judi- 
 cious prohibition was designed to prevent him from 
 being, as he otherwise might, the judge and a party 
 in the same cause, and likewise too powerful a com- 
 petitor for the merchants, since the consideration at- 
 tached to his office would easily have procured him a 
 preference in all affairs of business. 
 
 The other nations, having no mercantile houses 
 established in Tunis, for the contrary reason allow their 
 consuls to engage in trade. 
 
 There are (in 1787) eight commercial houses esta- 
 blished at Tunis, all of which are French, and fixed in 
 the capital, p 
 
 III. What is the amount of the population of this em- 
 pire ? Are the Moors or the Arabs the most numerous? 
 Are they taxed by tribes or individually ? Is there any 
 proportion in the imposts ? Are there any Arabs fixed 
 in the city ? 
 
 The population was calculated at four or five mil- 
 lions of souls before it was thinned by the plague, which 
 may be computed to have swept off one-eighth. The 
 number of the Arabs exceeds that of the Moors. 
 
 Some taxes are paid by tribes and others by indi- 
 viduals. There is no absolute rule for establishing any 
 proportion in the taxes ; and upon the whole nothing
 
 APPENDIX. 327 
 
 is now left arbitrary. There are Arabs fixed in the 
 city, but they are not the most numerous class of its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 IV. Are there in the heart of the kingdom, or on the 
 frontiers, many tribes who refuse to pay the imposts ? 
 
 Are the Moors or Arabs the most untractable ? Which 
 of these two are the most opulent ? Do the wandering 
 tribes ever farm lands of the inhabitants of the toivns, 
 for the purpose of cultivating them or depasturing their 
 flocks and herds ? What do these flocks and herds con- 
 sist of? 
 
 There are tribes on the frontiers which at times re- 
 fuse to pay the imposts, but the troops sent to levy 
 them soon compel payment. It is in general the Arabs 
 that are most untractable. There is every reason to 
 presume that the Moors are the richest, because they 
 not only hold offices, but embark at the same time in 
 agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. As the 
 Arabs confine themselves to agriculture, the wander- 
 ing tribes frequently farm lands of the inhabitants of 
 the towns, either for the purposes of tillage or as 
 pasturage for their flocks and herds, consisting of 
 horned cattle, sheep, and camels, which serve them 
 for beasts of burden, whose hair they spin, whose milk 
 affords them nourishment, and whose flesh they often 
 eat. 
 
 Fine horses are become very scarce; the Arabs have 
 grown tired of breeding them, because the govern- 
 ment or its emissaries took from them every tolerable 
 horse just at what price they pleased. 
 
 V. Arc there many proprietors of lands ? Are these 
 proprietors all resident in the towns, or are their houses 
 detached and in villages P Are not the latter exposed to 
 depredations from the roving hordes ? 
 
 Though the Bey possesses a great extent of land, 
 and though there is much the revenues of which be- 
 long to Mecca, the proprietors are nevertheless nume- 
 rous. They reside in the towns, in villages, and even 
 in detached habitations, and in all these situations they
 
 328 APPENDIX. 
 
 are but little exposed to depredations from the roving 
 hordes. 
 
 VI. What maybe the amount of the rev^enues of the 
 state ? From tvhat sources are they derived ? Are they 
 entirely consumed by the ordinary expenditure, or can 
 any part of them be laid by ? Is the Bey supposed to 
 have amassed money, and is the amount considerable ? 
 
 As far as it is possible to form an estimate of the 
 finances of a state, most of the revenues of which are 
 annually put up to sale, and a great part of which is 
 raised bjr extortion, the revenues of the Bey of Tunis 
 may be computed at twenty-four millions of livres. 
 The sources whence it is derived are, the customs, 
 licenses for exportation, the different sums of money 
 given by every new governor, the amount of which 
 keeps continually rising on account of the annual sales, 
 the revenue of the domains, the tenths collected upon 
 lands, the produce of prizes, the sale of slaves, &c. he. 
 The yearly expenses are considerably below the reve- 
 nues, part of which are of course annually laid by. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Bey possesses consider- 
 able wealth, and that he is continually augmenting it ; 
 the most sordid avarice being one of his faults. The 
 peace with Spain has just increased it by some millions, 
 and Venice will not be long before she does the same. 
 
 Algiers and Constantine sometimes make heavy 
 drains upon this treasure, which the government of 
 Tunis might secure against their extortion, if it were 
 to lay out part of its wealth in keeping up its fortresses, 
 its marine, and a few disciplined troops. 
 
 VII. Are there many Christian slaves at Tunis ? 
 Have any been ransomed of late years, and at what 
 price ? Of what nation iverc they? 
 
 The number of Christian slaves at Tunis is very 
 considerable, and has greatly increased within these 
 tew years, owing to the youth and military genius of 
 the Bey, who encourages cruising, and even sends out 
 corsairs himself. It is impossible to ascertain the exact 
 number of slaves, because some are constantly being
 
 APPENDIX. 329 
 
 taken, and others ransomed. They are in general 
 Neapolitans, Venetians, Russians, and Imperialists. 
 At the present moment, Naples ransoms all of hers 
 that she can, Genoa now and then, Malta almost 
 always; but religion sometimes makes exchanges, by 
 which Tunis is invariably a gainer, never releasing a 
 Maltese but for two, three, or even four Mussulmans. 
 
 The ransom of the slaves belonging to the Bey, who 
 are most numerous, is fixed at two hundred and thirty 
 Venetian sequins for the seamen, and four hundred and 
 sixty for the captains and women, of whatever age they 
 may be.* Private individuals nearly follow these 
 prices, from which, however, they at times make some 
 abatement, either on account of the age of the slave, 
 or his want of talents. It may be asserted, that the 
 condition of slaves at Tunis is in general very easy ; 
 many remain or return after they have been ransomed ; 
 and some obtain their liberty at the death? or even 
 during the lifetime of their masters. 
 
 VIII. What number of troops are kept by the Bey, and 
 of what nation are they ? Hotv much do they cost ? 
 Are they at all disciplined, and inured to war ? Where 
 arc they stationed ? 
 
 The Bey keeps about 20,000 men :f 5,000 Turks, 
 Mamelukes, or Krougoulis, the latter of whom are 
 natives of the country, but sons or descendants of 
 Turks or Mamelukes; 2,000 Moorish spahis, under 
 the command of the four agas of Tunis, Kairouant, 
 Ref, and Bejea; 400 Moorish Ambas, commanded by 
 the Bachictenba, their chief; 2,000, or 2,500 Moorish 
 Zouavas, of all countries, under the command of their 
 Hodgia. There are about 20,000 men enrolled in the 
 
 * Since the time of the Prince of Paterno, the ordinary ran- 
 som lias been fixed at three hundred Venetian sequins, and the 
 double ransom at six hundred piastres. 
 
 t At the time of the expedition against Tripoli, the Bey made 
 a considerable addition to his troops. He enrolled, as it were, 
 all the young Krougoulis in his dominions, to the number of more 
 than 1,200; on which account the regular troops now cost the 
 government about 700 000 piastres per annum.
 
 330 APPENDIX. 
 
 corps of Zouavas, but the government pays no more 
 than 2,000 or 2 ; 500 at most : the others enjoy certain 
 privileges, and are only called out on extraordinary 
 occasions. 
 
 Eleven or twelve thousand Arabs of the tribes of 
 Berdes, Auled, Seid, Auled Hassan, &c. &c. compre- 
 hended collectively under the name of Mazerguis, 
 accompany the camps and the regular troops to watch 
 the motions of the tributary Arabs, and especially some 
 chiefs of independent Arabs encamped on the confines 
 of Tunis and Constantine. 
 
 The Turks, Mamelukes, and Krougoulis, who repre- 
 sent the old militia, cost the government of Tunis 
 700.000 piastres and more per annum. 
 
 The greater part of the Mamelukes, divided into 
 four companies of 25 each,* are more particularly de- 
 signed for a guard for the Bey. These are allowed, 
 besides their pay, a gratuity of 20 piastres every half- 
 year, and some small fees in stuffs and other articles. 
 They are likewise the bearers of all orders sent by 
 the Bey to the governors and shieks. When these 
 orders relate to disputes between individuals, the latter 
 are obliged to maintain them during their mission. 
 
 Some Turks and Krougoulis are likewise employed 
 as guards to the Bey, and enjoy nearly the same ad- 
 vantages as the Mamelukes. They are not sent by 
 government upon any business but what is of a military 
 nature. It is the same with respect to the Moorish 
 Ambas and Spahis. 
 
 Nearly half the soldiers are at Tunis, either acting 
 as a garrison to the city or in camp. The rest are dis- 
 tributed upon the frontiers, viz. 
 
 At Taharca 600 
 
 Gafsa 75 
 
 Gerbis 75 
 
 Mehdia 50 
 
 Galipia 50 
 
 * There are at present but two companies of Mamelukes of 
 about 25 each.
 
 APPENDIX. 331 
 
 Hamamet 50 
 
 Bizertha 150 
 
 Porto Farina 100 
 
 La Goletta 300 
 
 Total 1,450 
 There are about 800 Zouavas employed in gar- 
 risons, viz. 
 
 At Gerbis 100 
 
 Zarsis 25 
 
 Beben 25 
 
 Gouvanes 25 
 
 Guebes 25 
 
 Hamma 25 
 
 Haxe 25 
 
 Sousse 25 
 
 Taburba 50 
 
 Sibi Daoud 25 
 
 The castles of Tunis 150 
 
 Aubarde 200 
 
 La Goletta 50 
 
 Total 750 
 The goverment employs the rest of the Zouavas, to 
 which it allows pay, in the camp which it forms every 
 year on the frontiers of Tripoli. 
 
 IX. Art there any caravans in the kingdom ? Whi- 
 ther do they travel ? Is the trade carried on by them 
 considerable? What articles do they barter? Do they 
 pay any tribute to the government ? 
 
 Two caravans travel regularly to Tunis, the one from 
 Constantine and the other from Godemes. The former 
 makes eight or ten journies in a year; purchases mer- 
 cery, jewellery, drugs, grocery, linen and woollen cloth, 
 hardware, and hats, manufactured at Tunis ; paying 
 for these articles in cattle and hard piastres. That from 
 Godemes rarely performs more than three journies ; 
 bringing negroes, and buying the same commodities as 
 the other, and in general whatever is necessary for the 
 supply of the trade which it carries on with the interior
 
 332 APPENDIX. 
 
 of Africa. No direct impost is levied by the govern- 
 ment on these caravans. 
 
 X. Has the government reserved any branch of com- 
 merce for itself? 
 
 The branches of commerce which the government 
 has reserved for itself, are: leather; wax, which it 
 relinquishes annually to a company of Jews, or Moors, 
 for a certain quantity of woollen cloth, stuffs, or money ; 
 soda, or barilla, which is sold to the highest bidder; the 
 tunny fishery, for the monopoly of which the sum of 20,000 
 francs is annually paid ; and the coral fishery, for which 
 the African company yearly pays nearly the same sum. 
 
 XI. What was the amount, in the year 1787, of the 
 exports from Tunis to the Levant, and of the imports 
 
 from the Levant into Tunis ? 
 
 It is impossible to calculate with any degree of cer- 
 tainty the exports from Tunis to the Levant. The 
 registers kept by the custom-houses established in the 
 different ports of the kingdom are very imperfect ; be- 
 sides which a brisk smuggling trade is carried on, and 
 connived at by the officers of the customs, because the 
 first profit from it goes into their pockets. 
 
 XII. During the same period what was the amount of 
 the exports from Tunis to Europe, and of the imports 
 
 from Europe into Tunis ? 
 
 XIII. In tvhat parts were the exports shipped, and by 
 the ships of what nation of Europe or of the Levant ivas 
 this commerce carried on ? 
 
 The subjoined statement, as concise and as faithful 
 as possible, will completely answer these two questions. 
 
 Result of the state of Commerce in 1787. 
 
 The merchandize which we imported into Livres. 
 
 Tunis amounts to 5,225,844 
 
 The amount of exports 4,634,531 
 
 Balance in favour of the former 591,313 
 
 Total amount of both 9,860,375 
 
 Total amount of the commerce, active and 
 
 passive, of all the foreign nations 5,108,477 
 
 Leaving a balance in our favour of 4,751,898
 
 APPENDIX. 333 
 
 Tons. 
 There is the same proportion between the 
 
 respective tonnages, ours amounting to. . 12,806 
 
 That of foreigners 6,870 
 
 Surplus in favour of ours 5,936 
 
 Foreigners themselves freighted part of our vessels. 
 The goods were shipped at Tunis, Bizerta, Porto Fa- 
 rina, Sousse, and Gerbis. As to imports, they all enter 
 the kingdom by the port of la Goletta. According to 
 the note put at the foot of the Abbe Raynal's questions, 
 the imports from Marseilles to Tunis in 1787 amounted 
 to no more than 1,009,963 livres; whereas, by the 
 above statement, they appear to have been 5,225,844 
 livres. The prodigious difference which exists between 
 these two calculations proceeds from this circumstance, 
 that the former includes nothing but goods ; whereas, 
 in the second, the amount of the money received from 
 Marseilles, and the bills drawn directly on that place or 
 by way of Leghorn, is added. These two articles 
 amount to 4,215,881 livres: and this is as nearly as 
 possible the surplus given by this calculation of the 
 Abbe Raynal. 
 
 XIV. Are there many proprietors of lands? Are 
 their possessions considerable and secure ? Is not the 
 government the heir of all who die without children, as it 
 is of all its agents ? 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain the amount of property 
 in lands, or the proportion which may exist between 
 the domains, the private possessions, and the general 
 mass. The government is proprietor of great part of 
 the lands, but no register of those which are private 
 property is kept. It collects one-tenth on the produce, 
 so that, while the fields of an individual lie fallow, they 
 yield absolutely nothing to the government. Here are 
 not seen such great landed properties as in Europe ; but 
 all landed property is under the safeguard of the law, 
 and very rarely subject to oppression from the treasury. 
 The government has for some time, and particularly 
 since the latter part of Ali Bey's reign, had so much 
 respect for itself as not to touch the property of its
 
 334 APPENDIX. 
 
 subjects, or even that of its agents, who, after amass- 
 ing large fortunes and enjoying them in peace, left 
 possessions to their heirs. 
 
 The Hanefis (a generic term applied to the Turks 
 and Mamelukes) who die without children, are allowed 
 by law to dispose of one-third of their property, and the 
 treasury claims the rest. It is also heir to all the 
 Melckis (who are Moors) that leave no male issue; 
 but if they have daughters the treasury divides the 
 property with them according to law. The agent of 
 the treasury, who superintends the recovery of this kind 
 of property, is called Ben Elmengi ; he causes the pro- 
 perty, both moveable and immoveable, to be sold, and 
 transfers the produce to the chest of the domains. 
 
 XV. What number of cruizers is kept by the govern- 
 ment ? Of what class are these vessels ? hi vohat port do 
 they lie ? 
 
 The government usually keeps from fifteen to twenty 
 cruizers ; consisting of three large vessels of twenty 
 guns, with crews of 130 men, some xebecs of less force, 
 galliots and feluccas.* Porto Farina is the only port 
 frequented by the prince's vessels. The cruizers of 
 private individuals are not more numerous, and nearly 
 in the same proportion in regard to force. The former 
 are equipped and dismantled in all ports of the king- 
 dom, and claim one-tenth of all the prizes taken by 
 private cruizers. 
 
 XVI. What duty is paid by each ship ? What are the 
 duties paid by merchandize on exportation or importa- 
 tion? Are the duties payable by Europeans and by na- 
 tives the same ? Have they varied of late years ? 
 
 All vessels in ballast pay nothing ; every vessel, on 
 unloading, pays 17^ piastres, and the same for loading. 
 The French pay only three per cent, on commodities 
 imported from France, and under the French flag. On 
 commodities from Italy or the Levant, the English pay 
 eight per cent. ; and on all goods from whatever place 
 
 * This force has lately been increased by two kerlanglisches, 
 a large Swedish vessel, which has been pierced for 24 guns, and 
 a xebec, a present from the French republic.
 
 APPENDIX. 335 
 
 they come, the ether European nations pay something 
 less than the latter. All natives pay eleven per cent, 
 on goods imported from any Christian country, and four 
 per cent, on those from the Levant. 
 
 In respect to hats, the principal manufacture of the 
 country, government, in order to encourage industry, 
 requires no duty on exportation. 
 
 As to articles of provision, the exportation is per- 
 mitted by government according to circumstances, and 
 it levies a higher or lower duty, according to the de- 
 mand. This duty is, on wheat, from 12 to 15 piastres 
 the caffis; on barley, from 5 to 9; on all pulse and 
 other grain, 4-| ; and If on the metal of oil. 
 
 1802. 
 
 Wheat 8 to 10 maboubs or more ; barley, 20 to 25 
 piastres and more ; oil, 2\ to 3 piastres ; and more for 
 the other ports in proportion to the measure, which is 
 larger. 
 
 N.B. The piastre of Tunis may be reckoned at one 
 livre twelve sous ; the caffis at 3| loads of Marseilles ; 
 it takes three metals to make a millerotte, the rotte being 
 about l^lb. Eighty rottes make a quintal. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by J. L. Cox and Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, 
 
 Lincoln"s-Inn Fields.
 
 &ntrr£0tin0 ffi&lot te> latrlj? putilt^rlr. 
 
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