(Deut. xii. 5. xiv. 23. xvi. 2. xxvi. 2.); and to be the centre of union in religion and government for all the tribes of the commonwealth of Israel. It is held in the highest veneration by Christians for the miraculous and important transactions which happened there, and also by the Mohammedans, who to this day never call it by any other appellation than ElKods, or El Khoudes, that is, The Holy, sometimes adding the epithet Al-Sherif, or The Noble. The most ancient name of the city was Salem, or Peace (Gen. xiv. 18.): the import of Jerusalem is, the vision or inheritance of peace; and to this it is not improbable that our Saviour alluded in his beautiful and pathetic lamentation over the city. (Luke xix. 41.) It was also formerly called Jebus from one of the sons of Canaan. (Josh. xviii. 28.) After its capture by Joshua (Josh. x.) it was jointly inhabited both by Jews and Jebusites (Josh. xv. 63.) for about five hundred years, until the time of David; who having expelled the Jebusites, made it his residence (2 Sam. v. 6-9.), and erected a noble palace there, together with several other magnificent buildings, whence it is sometimes styled the City of David (1 Chron. xi. 5.) By the prophet Isaíah (xxix. 1.) Jerusalem is termed Ariel, or the Lion of God; but the reason of this name, and its meaning, as applied to Jerusalem, is very obscure and doubtful. It may possibly signify the strength of the place, by which the inhabitants were enabled to resist and overcome their enemies in the same manner as the Persians term one of their cities Shiraz, or the Devouring Lion. Being situated on the confines of the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, Jerusalem sometimes formed a part of the one, and sometimes of the other; but, after Jehovah had appointed it to be the place of his habitation and temple, it was considered as the metropolis of the Jewish nation, and the common property of the children of Israel. On this account it was, that the houses were not let, and all strangers of the Jewish nation had the liberty of lodging there gratis, by right of hospitality. To this custom our Lord probably alludes in Matt. xxvi. 18. and the parallel passages.

2. The name of the whole mountain, on the several hills and hollows of which the city stood, was called MORIAH, or vision; because it was high land, and could be seen afar off, especially from the south (Gen. xxii. 2-4.); but afterwards that name was appropriated to the most elevated part on which the temple was erected, and where Jehovah appeared to David. (2 Chron. iii. 1. 2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17.) This mountain is a rocky limestone hill, steep of ascent on every side, except the north; and is surrounded on the other sides by a group of hills, in the form of an amphitheatre (Psal. exxv. 2.), which situation rendered it secure from the earthquakes that appear to have been frequent in the Holy Land (Psal. xlvi. 2, 3.), and have furnished the prophets with many elegant allusions. On the east, stands the MOUNT OF OLIVES, fronting the temple, of which it commanded a noble prospect (Matt. xxiv. 2, 3. Luke xix. 37-41.), as it does to this day of the whole city, over whose streets and walls the eye roves as if in the survey of a model. This mountain, which is frequently noticed in the evangelical history, stretches from north to south, and is about a mile in length. The olive is still found growing in patches at the foot of this mountain, to which it gives its name. Its summit commands a view as far as the Dead Sea, and the mountains beyond Jordan. On the descent of this mountain our Saviour stood when he beheld the city and wept over it; on this mountain it was that he delivered his prediction concerning the downfall of Jerusalem (Luke xix. 41-44.); and the army of Titus encamped upon the very spot where its destruction had been foretold. Dr. Clarke discovered some Pagan remains 1 This is a contraction from Medinet-el-KADESs, that is, the Sacred City. Capt. Light's Travels in Egypt, Nubia, &c. p. 177. Burckhardt in his map terins Jerusalem Khodess.

Relandi Palæstina, tom. ii. p. 833. Schulzii Archæologia Biblica, p. 20. * Beausobre and L'Enfant, in Bp. Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 142. Bp. Lowth, on Isaiah, vol. ii. p. 206.

Schulzii Archæologia Biblica, p. 21. Beausobre and L'Enfant, in Bp. Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 143. • Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. vi. c. 5. "It is not difficult to conceive," says the Rev. W. Jowett, who, in December, 1823, surveyed Jerusalem from this mountain, "observing from this spot the various undulations and slopes of the ground, that when Mount Zion, Acra, and Mount Moriah, constituted the bulk of the city, with a deep and steep valley surrounding the greater part of it, it must have been considered by the people of that age as nearly impregnable. It stands beautiful for situation! It is, indeed, builded as a city that is compact together. (Ps. cxxii. 3.) The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. (Lam. iv. 12. B. c. 588.) This was said nearly two thousand four hundred years ago. And when, 650 years after, Titus besieged and took this devoted city, he exclaimed on viewing the vast strength of the place, 'We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war: and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications: for what could the hands of men, or

on this mountain; and at its foot he visited an olive ground, always noticed as the garden of Gethsemane. "This place." says he, "is, not without reason, shown as the scene of our Saviour's agony the night before his crucifixion (Matt. xxvi. Mark xiv. Luke xxii. John xviii.), both from the circum stance of the name it still retains, and its situation with regard to the city." Here he found a grove of olives of immense size covered with fruit, almost in a mature state." Between Olivet and the city lies the deep valley of Kedror through which flows the brook of that name which is noticed in a subsequent page.

On the south side stood the MOUNT OF CORRUPTION, where Solomon, in his declining years, built temples to Moloch, Chemosh, and Ashtaroth (1 Kings xi. 7. 2 Kings xxiii. 13.): it was separated from the city by the narrow valley of Hin nom (Josh. xviii. 16. Jer. xix. 2.), where the Israelites burnt their children in the fire to Moloch (Jer. vii. 31. and xxxii. 35.): thence made the emblem of hell, GEHENNA, or the place of the damned. (Matt. v. 22. xxiii. 33. Mark ix. 43.) Towards the north, according to Eusebius and Jerome, and without the walls of the city, agreeably to the law of Mosess (Lev. iv.), lay CALVARY or GOLGOTHA, that is, the place of a skull (Matt. xxvii. 33.), so called by some from its fancied resemblance to a skull, but more probably because criminals were executed there. Calvary, which now groans beneath the weight of monastic piles, was probably open ground, cultivated for gardens (John xix. 41.), at the time when He, who suffered without the gate (Heb. xiii. 12.), there poured out his soul unto death.10

The southern quarter, originally "the city of David,' built on Mount Zion," Josephus calls the upper city; and the house of Millo was what he calls the upper market.12 3. We have no particulars recorded concerning the nature of the fortifications of Jerusalem, previously to the time of the pious and patriotic governor, Nehemiah; though such there undoubtedly must have been, from the importance and sanctity of the city, as the metropolis of the country, and the seat of the Jewish worship. After the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, they rebuilt Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Chaldeans; and in the account of the rebuilding of the wall, under the direction of Nehemiah, ten gates are distinctly enumerated, viz. three on the south, four on the east, and three on the western side of the wall. The three gates on the south side were, 1. The Sheep Gate (Neh. iii. 1.), which was probably so called from the victims, intended for sacrifice, being conducted through it to the second temple. Near this gate stood the towers of Mesh and Hananeel. The pool of Bethesda was at no great distance from this gate, which was also called the Gate of Benjamin.-2. The Fish Gate (Neh. iii. 3. xii. 39.), which was also called the First Gate.-3. The Old Gate, also called the Corner Gate. (Neh. iii. 6. xii. 39. 2 Kings xiv. 13. Jer. xxxi. 38.)

The gates on the eastern side were, 1. The Water Gate any machines do, towards overthrowing these towers?" Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. vi. c. 9. (Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, &c. p. 256. London, 1825. 8vo.)

the gardens of Gethsemane were of a miserable description, surrounded Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. pp. 365, 366. 8vo. edit. In 1818, however, with a dry stone fence, and provided with a few olive trees, without either pot-herbs or vegetables of any kind. Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean and Parts adjacent, in 1816-17-18. vol. ii. p. 366. London, 1822. 8vo. Mr. Carne, who visited Palestine a few years later, describes this spot as being "of all gardens the most interesting and hallowed, but how neglected and decayed! It is surrounded by a kind of low hedge, but the soil is bare; no verdure grows on it, save six fine venerable olive trees, which have stood

here for many centuries." Letters from the East, p. 290.

To this St. Paul delicately alludes in his Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 12, 13.), where he says that Christ, as a sacrifice for sin, suffered without the gate; and when he exhorts the Hebrew Christians to go forth unto him without the camp, that is, out of Jerusalem, this city being regarded by the Jews as the camp of Israel. (Bp. Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 156.) • Schulzii Archæologia Biblica, p. 23. Relandi Palæstina, tom. ii. p. 860. 10 Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, &c. p. 255.

11 When Dr. Richardson visited this sacred spot in 1818, he found one part of Mount Zion supporting a crop of barley, another was undergoing the labour of the plough; and the soil turned up consisted of stone and line mixed with earth, such as is usually met with in the foundation of ruined cities. "It is nearly a mile in circumference, is highest on the west side, and towards the east falls down in broad terraces on the upper part of the mountain, and narrow ones on the side, as it slopes down towards the brook Kedron. Each terrace is divided from the one above it by a low wall of dry stone, built of the ruins of this celebrated spot. The terraces near the bottom of the hill are still used as gardens, and are watered from the pool of Siloam. They belong chiefly to the small village of Siloa, immediately opposite. We have here another remarkable instance of the special fulfilment of prophecy :-Therefore shall Zion for your sakes be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps. (Micah iii. 12.)" Dr. Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, &c. vol. ii. p. 348. "The sides of the Hill of Zion have a pleasing aspect, as they possess a few olive trees and rude gardens; and a crop of corn was growing there." Carne's Letters, p. 265. 12 Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i. pp. 425-429. Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. v. c. 4.

(Neh. iii. 26.), near which the waters of Etam passed, after | to the spot where the fountain of Siloam took its rise. We having been used in the temple service, in their way to the have no account of any gates being erected on the northern brook Kedron, into which they discharged themselves.-2. side.' The Horse Gate (Neh. iii. 28. Jer. xxxi. 40.), which is sup- 4. Previously to the fatal war of the Jews with the Roposed to have been so called, because horses went through it mans, we learn from Josephus,2 that the city of Jerusalem in order to be watered.-3. The Prison Gate (xii. 39.), pro- was erected on two hills, opposite to one another, with a valbably so called from its vicinity to the prison.-4. The Gate ley between them, which he subsequently calls the Valley of Miphkad. (Neh. iii. 31.) the Cheesemongers. The loftiest of these hills contained the The gates on the western side were, 1. The Valley Gate Upper City (ave réns); and the other called Acra, contained (Neh. iii. 13.), also termed the Gate of Ephraim, above the Lower City ( narw To), which seems to have been the which stood the Tower of Furnaces (Neh. iii. 11. xii. 38.); most considerable part of the whole city. Over against this and near it was the Dragon Well (Neh. ii. 13.), which may was a third hill, lower than Acra, and formerly divided from have derived its name from the representation of a dragon, the other by a broad valley; which was filled up with earth out of whose mouth the stream flowed that issued from the during the reign of the Asmonæans or Maccabean princes, in well.-2. The Dung Gate (Neh. iii. 13.), which is supposed order to join the city to the temple. As population increased, to have received its name from the filth of the beasts that and the city crept beyond its old limits, Agrippa joined were sacrificed, being carried from the temple through this to it a fourth hill (which was situated to the north of the gate.-3. The Gate of the Fountain (Neh. iii. 15.), had its temple), called Bezetha, and thus still further enlarged name either from its proximity to the fountain of Gihon, or Jerusalem.

At this time the city was surrounded by three walls on | it, from apprehension of incurring the displeasure of the emsuch parts as were not encompassed with impassable valleys, where there was only one wall. The first wall began on the north side, at the tower called Hippicus, whence it extended to the place called the Xistus, and to the councilhouse, and it terminated at the western cloister of the temple. But, proceeding westward, in a contrary direction, the historian says, that it began at the same place, and extended through a place called Bethso, to the gate of the Essenes, then taking a turn towards the south, it reached to the place called Ophlas, where it was joined to the eastern cloister of the temple. The second wall commenced at the gate Gennath, and encompassed only the northern quarter of the city, as far as the tower Antonia. The third wall began at the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter of the city, passed by the tower Psephinus, till it came to the monument of Helena, queen of Adiabene. Thence it passed by the sepulchres of the kings; and, taking a direction round the south-west corner, passed the Fuller's Monument, and joined the old wall at the valley of Kedron. This third wall was commenced by Agrippa, to defend the newly erected part of the city called Bezetha; but he did not finish

1 Observationes Philologicæ ac Geographicæ. Amstelæ dami, 1747. 8vo. pp. 21-29. De Bell. Jud. lib. vi. c. 6.

• Πλατεια φαραγγι διερχόμενος ἄλλη προτερον, are the words of Jose phus; which Pritius renders alia lata valle ante divisus (Introd. ad Nov. Test. p. 522.), "formerly divided by another broad valley." The rendering above given is that of Mr. Whiston.

peror Claudius. His intention was to have erected it with stones, twenty cubits in length by ten cubits in breadth; so that no iron tools or engines could make any impression on them. What Agrippa could not accomplish, the Jews subsequently attempted: and, when Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans, this wall was twenty cubits high, above which were battlements of two cubits, and turrets of three cubits, making in all an altitude of twenty-five cubits. Numerous towers, constructed of solid masonry, were erected at certain distances: in the third wall, there were ninety; in the middle wall, there were forty; and in the old wall, sixty. The towers of Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne, erected by Herod the Great, and dedicated to the memories of his friend, his brother, and his wife, were pre-eminent for their height, their massive architecture, their beauty, and the conveniences with which they were furnished. According to Josephus the circumference of Jerusalem, previously to its siege and destruction by the Romans, was thirty-three furlongs, or nearly four miles and a half: and the wall of circumvallation, constructed by order of Titus, he states to have been thirty-nine furlongs, or four miles eight hundred and seventy-five paces.1

M. D'Anville has elaborately investigated the extent of Jerusalem, as described by Josephus, in his learned "Dissertation sur l'Etendue de l'an cienne Jerusalem et de son Temple,” the accuracy of whose details Viscount Chateaubriand has attested in his Itinerary to and from Jerusalem. This very rare dissertation of 'Anville is reprinted in the Bible de Vence, tom. vi. pp. 43-84. 5th edition.

At present, a late traveller states that the circumference of | by God to persons labouring under the most desperate disJerusalem cannot exceed three miles.1

5. During the time of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem was adorned with numerous edifices, both sacred and civil, some of which are mentioned or alluded to in the New Testament. But its chief glory was the temple, described in a subsequent part of this volume; which magnificent structure occupied the northern and lower top of Sion, as we learn from the Psalm1st (xlviii. 2.); Beautiful for situation, the joy (or delight) of the whole earth, is Mount Sion. On her north side is the city of the great king. Next to the temple in point of splendour, was the very superb palace of Herod, which is largely described by Josephus ; it afterwards became the residence of the Roman procurators, who for this purpose generally claimed the royal palaces in those provinces which were subject to kings. These dwellings of the Roman procurators in the provinces were called Prætoria Herod's palace therefore was Pilate's prætorium (Matt. xxvii. 27. John xviii. 28.): and in some part of this edifice was the armoury or barracks of the Roman soldiers that garrisoned Jerusalem, whither Jesus was conducted and mocked by them. (Matt. xxvii. 27. Mark xv. 16.) In the front of this palace was the tribunal, where Pilate sat in a judicial capacity to hear and determine weighty causes; being a raised pavement of mosaic work (sprey), the evangelist informs us that in the Hebrew language it was on this account termed Gabbatha (John xix. 13.), i. e. an elevated place. In this tribunal the procurator Florus sat, A. D. 66; and, in order to punish the Jews for their seditious behaviour, issued orders for his soldiers to plunder the upper market-place in Jerusalem, and to put to death such Jews as they met with; which commands were executed with savage barbarity."

On a steep rock adjoining the north-west corner of the temple stood the Tower of Antonia, on the site of a citadel that had been erected by Antiochus Epiphanes in order to annoy the Jews; and which, after being destroyed by them, was rebuilt by the Maccabean prince John Hyrcanus, B. c. 135.9 Herod the Great repaired it with great splendour, uniting in its interior all the conveniences of a magnificent palace, with ample accommodations for soldiers. This citadel (in which a Roman legion was always quartered) overlooked the two outer courts of the temple, and communicated with its cloisters by means of secret passages, through which the military could descend and quell any tumult that might arise during the great festivals. This was the guard to which Pilate alluded, as already noticed. (Matt. xxvii. 65.) The tower of Antonia was thus named by Herod, in honour of his friend Mark Antony: and this citadel is "the castle" into which St. Paul was conducted (Acts xxi. 34, 35.), and of which mention is made in Acts xxii. 24. As the temple was a fortress that guarded the whole city of Jerusalem, so the tower of Antonia was a fortress that entirely commanded the temple.10

Besides the preceding edifices, Josephus mentions a house or palace at the extremity of the upper city, which had been erected by the princes of the Asmonean family, from whom it was subsequently called the Asmonean Palace. It appears to have been the residence of the princes of the Herodian family (after the Romans had reduced Judæa into a province of the empire), whenever they went up to Jerusalem. In this palace, Josephus mentions Berenice and Agrippa as residing," and it is not improbable that it was the residence of Herod the tetrarch of Galilee when he went to keep the solemn festivals at that city; and that it was here that our Saviour was exposed to the wanton mockery of the soldiers, who had accompanied Herod thither, either as a guard to his person, or from ostentation. (Luke xxiii. 7—11.)12

There were several pools at Jerusalem (cap), two of which are mentioned in the New Testament, viz.

(1.) The Pool of Bethesda, which was situated near the sheep-gate or sheep-market (John v. 2.), not far from the temple. It had five porticoes, for the reception of the sick; and it was most probably called Bethesda, or the house of mercy, from the miraculous cures there mercifully vouchsafed

1 Jolliffe's Letters from Palestine, p. 103.

2 Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. c. 9. § 3. De Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 21. § 1. et lib. v. c. 4. $3. a Cicero contra Verrem, action. ii. lib. v. c. 12. (op. tom. iv. p. 96. ed. Bipont.)

Ibid. lib. v. c. 35. et 41. (tom. iv. pp. 125. 142.)

• Compare Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. v. c. 15. § 5. c. 17. § 8. Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 14. §8.

Ibid. Ant. Jud. lib. xii. c. 5. §4.

• Ibid. lib. xv. c. 11. § 4.

8 Ibid. lib. xiii. c. 6. § 6.

10 De Bell. Jud. lib. v. c. 5. § 8.

11 De Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 15. § 1. and c. 16. § 3.

19 Schulzii Archæologia Biblica, pp. 27-30.

eases.13

(2.) The Pool of Siloam (John ix. 7.) was two-fold, viz. Upper and Lower. The Upper Reservoir or Pool (Isa. vii. 3.), called the King's Pool in Neh. ii. 14., probably watered the king's gardens (Neh. iii. 15.), while the Lower Pool seems to have been designed for the use of the inhabitants. Both these reservoirs were supplied from the fountain of Siloam: but which of them is to be understood in John ix. 7. it is now impossible to determine.i4

6. During the reigns of David and Solomon, Jerusalem was the metropolis of the land of Israel; but after the defection of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, it was the capital of the kings of Judah, during whose government it underwent various revolutions. It was captured four times without being demolished, viz. by Shishak, sovereign of Egypt, (2 Chron. xii.), from whose ravages it never recovered its former splendour; by Antiochus Epiphanes, who treated the Jews with singular barbarity; by Pompey the Great, who rendered the Jews tributary to Rome; and by Herod, with the assistance of a Roman force under Sosius. It was first entirely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and again by the Emperor Titus, the repeated insurrections of the turbulent Jews having filled up the measure of their iniquities, and drawn down upon them the implacable vengeance of the Romans. Titus ineffectually endeavoured to save the temple: it was involved in the same ruin with the rest of the city, and, after it had been reduced to ashes, the foundations of that sacred edifice were ploughed up by the Roman soldiers. Thus literally was fulfilled the prediction of our Lord, that not one stone should be left upon another that should not be thrown down. (Matt. xxiv. 2.)s On his return to Rome, Titus was honoured with a triumph, and to commemorate his conquest of Judæa, a triumphal arch was erected, which is still in existence. Numerous medals of Judæa vanquished were struck in honour of the same event. The Emperor Adrain erected a city on part of the former site of Jerusalem, which he called Ælia Capitolina: it was afterwards greatly enlarged and beautified by Constantine the Great, who restored its ancient name. During that emperor's reign the Jews made various efforts to rebuild their temple; which, however, were always frustrated: nor did better success attend the attempt made, A. D. 363, by the apostate emperor Julian. An earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, compelled the workmen to abandon their design.

From the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to the present time, that city has remained, for the most part, in a state of ruin and desolation; "and has never been under the government of the Jews themselves, but oppressed and broken down by a succession of foreign masters-the Romans, the Saracens, the Franks, the Mamelukes, and last by the Turks, to whom it is still subject. It is not, therefore, only in the history of Josephus, and in other ancient writers, that we are to look for the accomplishment of our Lord's predictions: we see them verified at this moment before our eyes, in the desolate state of the once celebrated city and temple of Jerusalem, and in the present condition of the Jewish people, not collected together into any one country, into one political society, and under one form of government, but dispersed over every region of the globe, and every where treated with contumely and scorn."

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7. The modern city of Jerusalem contains within its walls several of the hills, on which the ancient city is supposed to have stood; but these are only perceptible by the ascent and descent of the streets. When seen from the Mount of Olives, on the other side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, it 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. Notwithstanding its seemingly strong position, it is incapable of sustaining a severe assault, because, on account of the topography of the land, it has no means of preventing the approaches of an enemy; and, on the other hand, it is commanded, at the distance of a gunshot, by the Djebel Tor, or the Mount of Olives, from which

13 Parkhurst's Lexicon voce. Bp. Pearce (and after him, Dr. Boothroyd), Jahn, Rosenmüller, Kuinöel, and other modern commentators, have supposed the pool of Bethesda to have been a medicinal bath. The reader will find a brief statement, and satisfactory refutation of this notion in Dr. Bloomfield's Annotations on the New Testament, vol. ii. pp. 148–156. 14 Robinson's Gr. Lexicon to the New Test. voce Zwej.

15 For a full view of the predictions of Jesus Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and their literal fulfilment, see vol. i. Appendix, No. VI. chap. ii. sect. iii.

18 Bp. Porteus's Lectures on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, vol. ii. p. 215

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it is seen to the best advantage.! Imposing, however, as the | from 12 to 14,000. This is, indeed, a very slender aggregate, appearance of Jerusalem is, when viewed from that moun- compared with the flourishing population which the city once tain, and exhibiting a compactness of structure like that supported; but the numerous sieges it has undergone, and alluded to by the Psalmist (exxii. 3.) the illusion vanishes their consequent spoliations, have left no vestige of its origion entering the town. Nostreets of palaces and walks of nal power. "Jerusalem, under the government of a Turkish state"-no high-raised arches of triumph-no fountains to aga, is still more unlike Jerusalem, as it existed in the reign cool the air, or porticoes-not a single vestige meets the of Solomon, than Athens during the administration of Peritraveller, to announce its former military greatness or com- cles, and Athens under the dominion of the chief of the black mercial opulence: but in the place of these, he finds himself eunuchs. We have it upon judgment's record, that before a encompassed by walls of rude masonry, the dull uniformity marching army, a land has been as the garden of Eden, behind of which is only broken by the occasional protrusion of a it a desolute wilderness. (Joel ii. 3.) The present appearance small grated window. All the streets are wretchedness, and of Judæa has embodied the awful warnings of the prophet in the houses of the Jews, more especially, are as dunghills. all their terrible reality." From the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed. Lam. i. 6.) The finest section of the city is that inhabited by the Armenians; in the other quarters, the streets are much narrower, being scarcely wide enough to admit three camels to stand abreast. In the western quarter and in the centre of Jerusalem, towards Calvary, the low and ill-built houses (which have flat terraces or domes on the top, but no chimneys or windows) stand very close together; but in the eastern part, along the brook Kedron, the eye perceives vacant spaces, and amongst the rest that which surrounds the mosque erected by the Khalif Omar, A. D. 637, on the site of the temple, and the nearly deserted spot where once stood the tower of Antonia and the second palace of Herod.

IX. LATER DIVISIONS OF PALESTINE.

1. UNDER THE ROMANS, Palestine was dependent on the government of Syria; and about the commencement of the fifth century, was divided into three parts; viz.

(1.) Palæstina Prima comprised the ancient regions of Judæa and Samaria. It contained thirty-five episcopal cities, and its metropolis was Cæsarea-Palæstina. In this division were Jerusalem and Sychar or Neapolis.

(2.) Palæstina Secunda included the ancient districts of Galilee and Trachonitis. Scythopolis or Bethshan was its capital; and it contained twenty-one episcopal cities. (3.) Palæstina Tertia, or Salutaris, comprised the ancient Peræa and Idumæa, strictly so called: its metropolis was Petra, and it contained eighteen episcopal cities. Most of these bishoprics were destroyed in the seventh century, when the Saracens or Arabs conquered Palestine or Syria.

The modern population of Jerusalem is variously estimated by different travellers. The late Professor Carlyle, at the commencement of the nineteenth century, computed it at about 15,000; and Capt. Light, who visited Jerusalem in 1814, 2. IN THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES, after the Latins had conestimated it at twelve thousand. Mr. Buckingham, who was quered Jerusalem from the Saracens, they established a patrithere in 1816, from the best information he could procure, arch of their own communion in that city, and gave him three states, that the fixed residents (more than one half of whom suffragan bishops, whose sees were at Bethlehem, Hebron, are Mohammedans) are about eight thousand: but the con- and Lydda. They also re-established the ancient capitals, tinual arrival and departure of strangers make the total num- viz. Cæsarea, with a suffragan bishop at Sebaste or Samaria; ber of persons present in the city from ten to fifteen thousand Scythopolis, and afterwards Nazareth, with a suffragan generally, according to the season of the year. The propor- bishop at Tiberias; Petra, with a suffragan bishop at Mount tions which the numbers of persons of different sects bear Sinai; and for Bostra, the suffragan-episcopal sees were to each other in this estimate, he found it difficult to ascer-established_at Ptolemais or Acre, Seyde or Sidon, and tain. The Mohammedans are unquestionably the most nu- Beyroot or Berytus in the northern part of Phoenicia. merous. Next, in point of numbers, are the Greek Christians, 3. MODERN DIVISIONS of Palestine under the Turkish who are chiefly composed of the clergy, and of devotees. government. The Armenians follow next in order as to numbers, but their body is thought to exceed that of the Grecks in influence and in wealth. Of Europeans there are only the few monks of the Convento della Terra Santa, and the Latin pilgrims who occasionally visit them. The Copts, Abyssinians, Nestorians, &c. are scarcely perceptible in the crowd; and even the Jews are more remarkable from the striking peculiarity of their features and dress, than from their numbers as contrasted with other bodies. Mr. Jolliffe, who visited Jerusalem in 1817, states that the highest estimate makes the total number amount to twenty-five thousand. Dr. Richardson, who was at Jerusalem in 1818, computed the population at 20,000 persons; Dr. Scholz, in 1821, at 18,000; and the Rev. Mr. Fisk, an Anglo-American Missionary in Palestine, in 1823, at 20,000. The Rev. William Jowett, who was at Jerusalem in December, 1823, is of opinion that 15,000 are the utmost which the city would contain in ordinary circumstances, that is, exclusive of the pilgrims, who are crowded into the convents, and fill up many spaces in the convents which are vacant nine months in the year, thus augmenting the population by some few thousands; and he is disposed to estimate the resident population at 12,000.

Upon the whole, it does not appear that the number of the ordinary inhabitants of Jerusalem can be rated higher than

1 Travels of Ali Bey, in Morocco, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, &c. between 1803 and 1807, vol. ii. p. 245.

2 In the travels of Ali Bey (vol. ii. pp. 214-227.) there is a minute description, illustrated with three large plates, of this bosque, or rather group of mosques, erected at different periods of Islamism, and exhibiting the prevailing taste of the various ages when they were severally constructed. This traveller states that they form a very harmonious whole: the edifice is collectively termed, in Arabic, Al Haram, or the Temple. Missionary Register for 1824, p. 503.

At present, Palestine does not form a distinct country. The Turks include it in Sham or Syria, and have divided it into pachaliks or governments. "That of Acre or Akka extends from Djebail nearly to Jaffa; that of Gaza compre hends Jaffa and the adjacent plains; and, these two being now united, all the coast is under the jurisdiction of the pacha of Acre. Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablous, Tiberias, and, in fact, the greater part of Palestine, are included in the pachalik of Damascus, now held in conjunction with that of Aleppo, which renders the present pacha, in effect, the vice roy of Syria. Though both pachas continue to be dutiful subjects of the grand seignior in appearance, they are to be considered as tributaries rather than as subjects of the Porte; and it is supposed to be the religious supremacy of the sultan, as caliph and vicar of Mohammed, more than any apprehension of his power, which prevents them from declaring themselves independent."

Jolliffe's Letters from Palestine, written in 1817, Lond. 1820, 8vo. p. 102. The sketch of the modern state of Jerusalem, above given, has been drawn up, from a careful comparison of this intelligent writer's remarks, with the observations of Professor Carlyle (Walpole's Memoirs, p. 187.); of M. Cha teaubriand, made in 1806 (Travels, vol. ii. pp. 53. 83, 84. 179, 180.), of Al made in 1814 (Travels in Egypt, &c. pp. 178-187.); and of Mr. Bucking Bey, made in 1803-1807 (Travels, vol. ii. pp. 240-215.), of Capt. Light, ham, made in 1816. (Travels in Palestine, pp. 260-262.) See also Dr. Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, &c. vol. ii. pp. 238-368.; Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, pp. 238. 290., and Mr. Carne's Letters from the East, p. 62.

Relandi Palæstina, tom. i. pp. 204-214.

Abrégé de la Geographie Sacrée, p. 41. (Paris, 1827. 12mo.)

Modern Traveller:-Palestine, p. 6. In the Abrégé de la Geographie Sacrée (pp. 42-44.) there is an account of the Turkish Divisions of Pales tine, professing to be drawn from a Turkish treatise printed at Constanti nople, and somewhat different from the divisions above noticed; which have been preferably adopted, because they exhibit the actual government of Palestine, as described by the most recent travellers.

CLIMATE, SEASONS, AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.

L. Climate.-II. Seasons.-1. Seed-time.-2. Winter.-3. The Cold Season, or Winter Solstice.-4. Harvest.-5. Summer. 6. The Hot Season.-Heavy Dews.-III. Rivers, Lakes, Wells, and Fountains.- Cisterns, and Pools of Solomon.-IV. Mountains.-V. Valleys.-VI. Caves.-VII. Plains.-VIII. Deserts.-Horrors and Dangers of travelling in the Great Desert of Arabia.1