Part I. 
CHAP. XXXIXi 
Of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
BEfore I leave thefe holy Places, I mufl; (according to my promife) fay 
fomethingof them. This Church is very fpacious, the Nef or Body of 
it is round, and receives no Light but from the top of the Dome above, 
which is much hke the Dome of the Rotmda at Rome. This Dome is on the 
out-fide covered with Lead , withifi it is Wainfcotted with Cedar Wood, 
which St. Helen gZYQ for that ufe when fhe built that Church, becaufe it rots 
not. The opening of the Dome is covered with a Wire Lettice, that hinders 
Birds from coming into the Church. In the middle of this Nef, and jufl: un- 
der the opening of the Dome, is the holy Sepulchre, but before you enter into 
that-fo holy place, you muft pafe over a place raifed a Foot high from the 
Floor of the Church, there being on each fide a Seat or Bank of White Mar- 
ble, about two Foot and a half high, where the Religious that aflift at the 
Celebration of the Mafs of the holy Sepulchre (where none but Latins can Cele- 
brate) fit. From thence you pafs through the-Chappel of the Angel, fo called, 
becaulè in that place the Angel told the three Maries j that our Lord was 
Rifen j it is about fourteen Span long, fix in breadth, and about nine Foot 
high. This Chappel hath not been "cut out of the Rock, as that of the holy 
Sepulchre, but hath been built for Ornament, and joyned to the Chappel of 
the holy Sepulchfe. In this Chappel there is a little Altar, and three little 
Windows, to give light to the place. Before the Door of that Chappel there 
is a Lamp, and feventeen Lamps within it. In the fame Chappel jufc before, 
and within a Foot and a half of the Door of the holy Sepulchre, there is a 
fquare Stone cut out of the Rock, and raifed about a Foot from the Ground, 
it ferved for a fupport to the Stone which ftiut the Sepulchre, and upon that 
Stone the Angel fat, when the three Manes came to look for the Body of our 
Lord. Next to that, you enter into the Chappel of the holy Sepulchre, the 
Door of which is three Foot high, and two Foot wide ; all enter into it bare- 
footed, and it is fo little, thaï it cannot contain but three Men kneeling, and 
four make a great crowd. On the Right Hand as you enter, is the place 
where the Body of our Lord was laid, and not within it, as many believe ; 
for in thofe times the Sepulchres were little Grotts cut in the Rock, wherein 
there was a Table of the fame Rock, on which the Body was laid, and the 
entry into the Grott was fhlit with a great ftone, which was fupported by â 
little Bench cut on the out-ftde of the Rock. This Table is about two Foot 
and a half, raifed from the Floor, taking up one half of the breadth, and the 
whole length of the faid Chappel j it hath been faced with White Marble, 
becaufe all the Chriftians that went thither, ftrove to have forae little bit of 
it. It ferves for an Altar to the Latin Priefls who Celebrate Mafs, none elfe 
being permitted to Celebragp there. This place infpires great Devotion even 
into the moll undevout ; as I found by my felf The Chappel is cut out of 
the Rock, and there are three holes in the Roof of it, through which the 
fraoak of theLamps that burn there does evaporate,there being no other opening 
into this place, but the three holes and Door, fo that it is very hot being in 
it. There are four , and forty Lamps in it, all fent by the Emperours, an4 
the Kings of France and S^ain. This whole place is faced within and without 
with White Marble, and environed on the out-fide by ten lovely Pillars of 
White Marble, and Lamps round about it. It is covered with a Plat-form^ 
in the middle whereof, jufl; over the holes by which the fmoak of the Lamps 
evaporates, there is a little Dome, about fix Foot high covered with Lead, 
and this little Dome Hands upon twelve little Pillars of the colour of Por- 
phyrie, placed two ||d two upon the Plat-form, and fo making fix Arches^ 
under every one of wmch hang three Lamps. When it Rains, the Water falls 
B b 2 through 
