of Edinburgh, Session 1879-80. 
479 
there is a distinct style above the drafted masonry, consisting of 
stones of large and remarkably square proportions without any draft. 
These stones are recognised by architects as belonging to the early 
Byzantine period. In the third place, there is a patchwork of 
smaller masonry, forming the upper part of the ramparts, and com- 
posed of Crusading, Saracenic, and Arab restorations, dating from 
the twelfth century to the present time. 
It is with the two first classes of the masonry that we are at 
present concerned, and more especially with the drafted style. 
The average height of a course of the drafted stones is about 
3 feet 6 inches. The blocks vary considerably in length, the longest 
as yet known being 38 feet 9 inches and the second longest 23 feet 
8 inches. The draft or sunk channel surrounding the four edges of 
the face of each stone is about 3 inches wide. The faces within 
this channel are generally dressed smooth, and project about half an 
inch in the best preserved specimens ; but in the lower courses, where 
the stones were never exposed to view, the boss or raised face within 
the marginal draft is left undressed, and projects in some cases as 
much as 18 inches. The rampart walls are built with a batter or 
sloping face, and the draft allowed of great precision in the alignment 
of the stones even when the boss was left rough, the batter being 
obtained by setting back each course about 2 inches from the face 
of the course on which it stood, the measurement being taken from 
the face of the marginal draft. 
Beyond the fact that this magnificent masonry belongs to the 
ancient Jewish Temple, no definite conclusion has as yet been 
generally accepted respecting its date. Colonel Warren has dis- 
tinguished different classes of the masonry according to the finish 
of the stones, and refers these to different periods of construction. 
He attributes the stones at the foot of the east wall, close to the south- 
east angle, to the time of Solomon, while the unfinished masonry on 
the south-west he refers to Herod the Great. The well-known 
French explorer and architect, the Due du Y ogub, is of opinion, on 
the other hand, that the whole of the drafted masonry at present 
existing is attributable to the time of Herod the Great, and 
although Colonel Warren’s conclusions are generally well worthy of 
attention and singularly shrewd, there appear to me in this case to 
be many indications favouring the opposite view. 
