522 RUINS OF JERUSALEM. 



rity, to dispute the identity of places whose situation has been so 

 ably discussed and so generally admitted, were there not this 

 observation to urge, that the descriptions of Jerusalem since the 

 Crusades have principally issued from men who had no ocular evi- 

 dence concerning the places they describe. Like Thevenot, writ- 

 ing an account of scenes in Asia without ever having quitted 

 Europe, they have proved the possibiliy of giving to a fiction au 

 air of so much reality, that it has been cited, even by historians, 

 as authority. If, as spectators upon the spot, we confessed our- 

 selves dissatisfied with the supposed identity of certain points of 

 observation in Jerusalem, it is because we refused to tradition 

 alone, what appeared contradictory to the evidence of our senses. 

 Of this it will be proper to expiate more fully in the sequel. It is 

 now only necessary to admonish the reader, that he will not find 

 in these pages a renewal of the statements made by Sandys, and 

 Maundrell, and Pococke, with the host of Greek and Latin pil- 

 grims from the age of Phocas down to Breidenbach and Quares- 

 mius. We should no more think of enumerating all the absurdi- 

 ties to which the Franciscan friars direct the attention of travellers, 

 than of copying, like another Cotovic, the whole of (he hymns 

 sung by the pilgrims at every station. Possessing as much enthu- 

 siasm as might be necessary in travellers viewing this hallowed 

 city, we still retain the power of our understandings sufficiently to 

 admire the credulity for which no degree of preposterousness 

 seemed too mighty ; which converted even the parables of our 

 Saviour into existing realities : exhibiting, as holy reliques, the 

 house of Dives, and the dwelling-place of the good Samaritan. 

 There is much to be seen at Jerusalem, independently of its monks 

 and monasteries ; much to repay pilgrims of a very different de. 

 scription from those who usually resort thither, for all the fatigue 

 and danger they must encounter. At the same time, to men 

 interested in tracing, within the walls, antiquities referred to by 

 the documents of Sacred History, no spectacle can be more mor- 

 tifying than the city in its present state. The mistaken piety of 

 the early Christians, in attempting to preserve, either confused or 

 annihilated the memorials it endeavoured to perpetuate. On view- 

 ing the havoc they have made, it may now be regretted that the 

 Holy Land was ever rescued from the dominion of Saracens, far 

 less barbarous than their conquerors. The absurdity of hewing 

 the rocks of Judaea, whether of Mount Calvary or any other 



