tapers, that Turkish guards, placed with whips and sticks, and liberally dealing out blows on every side, can scarcely, with all their exertions, prevent many from being trodden to death. The eager motions of the populace, like waves agitated by the wind, the noise and clamour which resound within the dome of the church, the multitude of candles gradually lighted by which the blaze increases, and at length fills the whole building and illumi-: nates its inmost recesses, can more easily be imagined than described. The Greeks assert that the continuation of this pretended miracle is an evident and convincing proof of the truth of their religion, and it is certain that had the fraud been discontinued, the number of pilgrims would be considerably diminished. The pecuniary interests of the clergy would also have suffered; for in former times some thousand (even 30,000) sequins have been paid for the permission of first receiving the fire from the high priest's hands; but superstition, at least among the rich, has latterly so much declined, that a few hundred sequins are now sufficient to secure the privilege.

The Roman Catholic monks of Jerusalem look upon this fraud of the Greeks with horror. They are not exposed to the same temptation, and living in the midst of trials and oppressions, and exercising all the hospitality of which their scanty means are capable, appear to be a simple and interesting race of men. Their character, as well as that of the Jews of Jerusalem, are so well pourtrayed in the following eloquent passage, that we cannot resist our desire to lay it before the public.

"Au milieu de cette désolation extraordinaire, il faut s'arrêter un moment pour contempler des choses plus extraordinaires encore, Parmi les ruines de Jérusalem, deux espèces de peuples indépendans trouvent dans leur foi de quoi surmonter tant d'horreurs et de misères. Là vivent des religieux chrétiens que rien ne peut forcer à abandonner le tombeau de Jésus-Christ, ni spoliations, ni mauvais traitemens, ni menaces de la mort. Leurs cantiques retentissent nuit et jour autour du Saint-Sépulchre. Dépouillés le matin par un gouverneur turc, le soir les retrouve au pied du Calvaire, priant au lieu où JésusChrist souffrit pour le salut des hommes. Leur front est serein, leur bouche riante. Ils reçoivent l'étranger avec joie. Sans forces et sans soldats, ils protégent des villages entiers contre l'iniquité. Pressés par le bâton et par le sabre, les femmes, les enfans, les troupeaux se réfugient dans les cloîtres de ces solitaires. Qui empêche le méchant armé de poursuivre sa proie, et de renverser d'aussi foibles remparts? la charité des moines: ils se privent des dernières ressources de la vie pour racheter leurs supplians. Turcs, Arabes, Grecs, Chrétiens schismatiques, tous se jettent sous la protection de quelques pauvres religieux, qui ne peuvent se défendre eux-mêmes. C'est ici qu'il faut reconnoître avec Bossuet, que des mains levées

vers le ciel enfoncent plus de bataillons que des mains armées de javelots.'

"Tandis que la nouvelle Jérusalem sort ainsi du désert, brillante de clarté, jetez les yeux entre la montagne de Sion et le Temple; voyez cet autre petit peuple qui vit séparé du reste des habitans de la cité. Objet particulier de tous les mépris, il baisse la tête sans se plaindre; il souffre toutes les avanies sans demander justice; il se laisse accabler de coups sans soupirer; on lui demande sa tête: il la présente au cimeterre. Si quelque membre de cette société proscrite vient à mourir, son compagnon ira, pendant la nuit, l'enterrer furtivement dans la vallée de Josaphat, à l'ombre du Temple de Sałomon. Pénétrez dans la demeure de ce peuple, vous le trouverez dans une affreuse misère, faisant lire un livre mystérieux à des enfans qui, à leur tour, le feront lire à leurs enfans. Ce qu'il faisoit f y a cinq mille ans, ce peuple le fait encore. Il a assisté dix-sept fois à la ruine de Jérusalem, et rien ne peut le décourager; rien ne peut l'empêcher de tourner ses regards vers Sion. Quand on voit les Juifs dispersés sur la terre, selon la parole de Dieu, on est surpris sans doute: mais, pour être frappé d'un étonnement surnaturel, il faut les retrouver à Jérusalem; il faut voir ces légitimes maîtres de la Judée esclaves et étrangers dans leur propre pays; il faut les voir attendant, sous toutes les oppressions, un roi qui doit les délivrer. Ecrasés par la croix qui les condamne et qui est plantée sur leurs têtes, cachés près du Temple dont il ne reste pas pierre sur pierre, ils demeurent dans leur déplorable aveuglement. Les Perses, les Grecs, les Romains ont disparu de la terre; et un petit peuple, dont l'origine précéda celle de ces grands peuples, existe encore sans mélange dans les décombres de sa patrie. Si quelque chose, parmi les nations, porte le caractère du miracle, nous pensons que ce caractère est ici. Et qu'y a-t-il de plus merveilleux, même aux yeux du philosophe, que cette rencontre de l'antique et de la nouvelle Jérusalem au pied du Calvaire: la première s'affligeant à l'aspect du sépulcre de Jésus-Christ ressuscité; la seconde se consolant auprès du seul tombeau qui n'aura rien à rendre à la fin des siècles!" (P. 45.)

The great mosque on the site of the temple of Solomon is the last object we shall notice at Jerusalem, concerning which Abulfeda has the following passage in his description of Syria. There is at Jerusalem a mosque, a greater there is none in all Islamism, and in it there is a rock (sakhra), which is a stone elevated as a bench, about as high as a man's chest, and its breadth is equal to its height. There is a descent underneath by steps. This sakhra served the prophets, and especially the great prophet, as a place of dismounting from al-borak, (a beast larger than an ass and smaller than a camel), who had carried them to Paradise. M. de Chateaubriand gives several extracts from ancient travellers upon the interior of the

mosque; but as all entrance is strictly forbidden to Christians, he had of course no opportunity of verifying the information. The following account was given of this mosque, in the year 1796, by the mufti of Jerusalem to an European, who conversed with him in Arabic at the house of the governor of Jerusalem, called by the Christians Pilate's house. This European is now in England, and from him we had the following account. "Hearing me speak in Arabic, he entered into conversation with me, and I took the liberty of asking him why the Mohammedans would not permit the Christians to see the celebrated mosque of the rock. Upon which he opened a window which overlooks the mosque and all the ground on which it is raised, and permitted me to look at it as much as I pleased. He then said, "We cannot permit the Christians to tread upon that ground, of which every spot is marked by the step of some holy prophet; still less upon the sakhra, or upon the interior of the mosque."

"

"But there are thirty-two large columns which support the great arches, and many other small columns for the support of the smaller arches; there are many lamps that are lighted on our festivals. There is a mihrab of marble with architectural ornaments, and a staircase to it with steps of the same material. The walls are incrusted with marble like the great mosque at Damascus, and ornamented with painted tiles. The name of God (Allah!) is written in large characters in several parts of the mosque, as well as the names of Mohammed and his first successors. We believe that if an infidel should walk between the columns they would meet and crush him to death.

On

"The mosque on account of its peculiar sanctity was once the place towards which the mussulmen of north-western Asia were to turn their faces in their prayers; but this commandment was altered by God's especial order, and the Bait Allah (house of God) at Mecca was appointed for the only Kiblah. the sakhra or rock were fixed iron rings, at which to tie the the prophets horses when they came to worship in the mosque. The mosque is called by many names by the Mohammedans to denote its superiority over other temples, as al aksa, the whole world, al masgid al aksa, or al giarmiâ al aksa, templum extre The origin of its importance seems to have been this: the kalif Abd-al-Malik al Merwan was jealous of Abdallah the son of Zobeîr, the ruler of Arabia, and in order to prevent his subjects in Syria from going in pilgrimage to Mecca, and thus enriching his rival; and probably also with a view to attract the profitable concern of receiving pilgrims from other countries to his own capital, he set up this mosque in opposition to that of Mecca. He adorned and beautified it in the year 685 of the

mum.

Christian era, employing the whole revenue of Egypt for nine years for the accomplishment of his design. It is believed on the faith of tradition, that the sakhra or rock is the same from which God spake to the patriarch Jacob, and that the sanctum sanctorum was built where the mosque now stands."

Upon the whole it is impossible to contemplate the holy city in its desolate condition without the deepest interest. Jews, Mahometans, and Christians of all sects and denominations unite in acknowledging the existence of something extraordinary and supernatural about her awful ruins. They raise their heads from the dust, and from among them is heard a voice to warn and instruct mankind, and to proclaim to all ages and nations of the world, THIS HATH GOD DONE.

There is nothing very original, though much that is amusing in M. de Chateaubriand's account of his passage through Egypt. His praise of the French renegadoes, who were left in the country by the army of Egygt, is rather disgusting; and when he proceeds to extol their bravery in that country above that of other nations, we could not help recollecting the answer of the Duke of Marlborough to Marshal Tallard after the battle of Blenheim. M. de Chateaubriand's Abstract of the History of Carthage is very entertaining, though a little too prolix for a mere digression in a book of travels. The account of its ports too, which is one of the three points on which he claims the merit of originality, (see advertisement, p. ix.) may very possibly be correct; but before we read it, we happened to know a little circumstance that called up a smile upon our countenance in every page. M. de Chateaubriand, as we have been informed by an Englishman, who happened to be at Tunis during his residence there, was unfortunately never out of that town till the day before his departure for Europe. He did then take one ride to the ruins of Carthage, and verified by a rapid coup-d'œil what he had previously picked up in conversation at Tunis. Our readers will probably agree with us, that this is a mode of research extremely convenient to valetudinarian travellers.

In taking leave of M. de Chateaubriand, we feel disposed upon the whole to recommend his work to the attention of those who may wish, with little exertion, to obtain a general ideaof the interesting countries through which he passed. We thought the hours spent by us in its first perusal very agreeably employed. Making allowance for national vanity, and the rapidity of his motions and of his ideas, there appears to be no serious or important deviation from truth. His historical researches and quotations from other travellers have been in general made with judgment, and even in those passages where we differ

from his opinions, we are ready to allow him considerable ingenuity. His sense of religion distinguishes him very honourably from many of his countrymen, who, knowing nothing of genuine religion as derived from the scriptures, and judging of it only according to the gross superstitions of their national church, have fallen either into a criminal and pernicious infidelity, or into a state of absolute indifference.

ART. V. Christian Liberty; a Sermon, preached at St. Mary's, before his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Chancellor of the University, and the University of Cambridge, at the Installation, June 30, 1811. By Samuel Butler, D. D. late Fellow of St. John's College, and Head Master of Shrewsbury School. Shrewsbury. Evans, Pall Mall. 1811.

Ir is a characteristic of Christianity that " to the poor the gospel is preached." But indeed preaching may be considered as a means scarcely less revealed than the truths themselves which it is appointed to disseminate. For this instrument of propagating truth is peculiar to the true religion, in its different stages, under the distinct modifications of Judaism and Christianity. A good account may certainly be given why the heathen governments did not employ this organ for establishing their various superstitions. A religion of mere form is best taught by the mere exhibition of the form. They had little to teach but the importance of certain feasts and ceremonies, which were too agreeable to the popular taste to need any extrinsic recommendation. Nor was preaching, by which is meant a public and popular enunciation of the truths of religion by its accredited ministers, better suited to those philosophers, who, abandoning the religion of the state, taught an exoteric creed of their own. Not regarding Not regarding man as an immortal being, the unlettered multitude occupied but a small space in their eyes. Not conceiving that a creed of any kind would affect the condition of man through all eternity, they concerned themselves more with abstract truths than those which respect. our duty On the one hand, therefore, they were little interested in addressing the multitude, and on the other, if they had, the lessons they taught were not such as to excite their attention. Accordingly they suffered the mob to grope on amidst the thick clouds of their own superstition, and taught their particular

VOL. III. NO. V.

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