RUINS OP JERUSALEM. 



attentive and scrupulous examination, we could possibly discover* 

 The sides consist of thick slabs of that beautiful breccia, vulgarly 

 called verd- antique marble ; and over the entrance, which is rug- 

 ged and broken, owing to the pieces carried off as, reliques, the 

 sub-tance is of the same nature. All that can therefore now be 

 affirmed with any shadow of reason, is this ; that, if Helena had 

 reason to believe she could identify the spot where the sepulchre 

 was, she took especial care to remove every existing trace of it, in 

 order to introduce the fanciful and modern work which now re. 

 mains. The place may be the same pointed to her ; but not a rem- 

 nant of the original sepulchre can now be ascertained. Yet, with 

 all our sceptical feelings thus awakened, it may prove how power^ 

 ful the effect of sympathy is, if we confess that, when we entered 

 into the sanctum sanctorum, and beheld, by the light of lamps, 

 there continually burning, the venerable figure of an aged monk, 

 with streaming eyes, and a long white beard, pointing to the place 

 where the body of our Lord was, and calling upon us to kneel and 

 experience pardon for our sins we knelt, and participated in 

 the feelings of more credulous pilgrims. Captain Culrerhouse, in 

 whose mind the ideas of religion and of patriotism were inseparable, 

 with firmer emotion, drew from its scabbard the sword he had so 

 often wielded in the defence of his country, and placed it upon the 

 tomb. Humbler comers heaped the memorials of an accomplished 

 pilgrimage ; and while thc'ir sighs alone interrupted the silence of 

 the sanctuary, a solemn service was begun. Thus ended our visit 

 to the sepulchre. 



If the reader has caught a single spark of this enthusiasm, it 

 were perhaps sacrilegious to dissipate the illusion. But much re- 

 mains untold. Every thing beneath this building seems discordant, 

 not only with history, but with common sense. It is altogether 

 such a work as might naturally be conjectured to arise from the 

 infatuated superstition of such an old woman as was Helena, sub- 

 sequently enlarged by ignorant priests. Forty spaces from the 

 repulchre, beneath the roof of the same church, and upon the same 

 level, are shown two rooms, one above the other. Close by the 

 entrance to the lower chamber, or chapel, are the tombs of God. 

 frcy of Boulogne, and of Baldwin, kings of Jerusalem, with in- 

 scriptions in Latin, in the old Gothic character. These have been 

 copied into almost every book of travels, from the time of Sandya 

 to the present day. At the extremity of this chapel they exhibit 



