VOL. XIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIOK3. 53 



the distance between them, which gives us the width of the gate, 15 feet. But 

 all this is now walled up to the narrow door before-mentioned. 



On entering the court are seen the remains of two rows of marble pillars, 37 

 feet high, with their capitals of most exquisite carved work; of these only 58 

 remaining entire ; but there must have been a great many more, for they appear 

 to have gone quite round the whole court, and to have supported a most spa- 

 cious double piazza or cloister. Of this piazza the walks on the west side, 

 which is opposite to the front of the temple, seem to have exceeded the other 

 in beauty and spaciousness, and at each end are two niches for statues, at their 

 full length, with their pedestals, borders, supporters, and canopies, carved 

 with the greatest art and exactness. The space within this once beautiful 

 enclosure, which is now filled with nothing but the dirty huts of the inhabitants, 

 seems to have been an open court, in the midst of which stands the temple, 

 encompassed with another row of pillars of a different order, and much higher 

 than the former, being above 50 feet high, of which only l6 remain. The 

 whole space, contained within these pillars, is 59 yards in length, and near 28 

 in breadth. In the middle of which space is the temple, extending in length 

 more than 33 yards, and in breadth 13 or 14. It points north and south, with 

 a most magnificent entrance on the west, exactly in the middle of the building, 

 which by the small remains yet to be seen, seems to have been one of the most 

 glorious structures in the world. I never saw vines and clusters of grapes cut 

 in stone so bold, so lively, and so natural, in any place. Just over the door 

 we could just discern part of the wings of a large spread eagle, extending its 

 whole width. Of this temple there is nothing at present but the outward walls 

 standing, in which it is observable, that as the windows were not large, so they 

 were made narrower towards the top than they were below ; but all adorned with 

 excellent carvings. Within the walls the Turks, or more probably the Mama- 

 lukes, have built a roof, which is supported by small pillars and arches, but a 

 great deal lower, as well as in all other respects disproportionate and inferior to 

 what the ancient covering must have been. And they have converted the place 

 into a mosque, having added to the south end new ornaments after their man- 

 ner, with Arabic inscriptions and sentences out of the Alcoran, written in flou- 

 rishes and wreaths, not without art. But at the north end of the building, 

 which is shut out of the mosque, are relics of much greater art and beauty. 

 Thev are beautified with the most curious fret-work and carvings; in the middle 

 of which is a dome or cupola, above 6 feet diameter, and above is of one piece, 

 either hewn out of one entire rock, or made of some artificial composition, 

 strongly hardened by time; in a word, it is a most exquisite piece of workman- 

 ship. 



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