294 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAR Men entitled to the highest consideration, unto 
VII. , *^ 
' — V ' whose authority even reverence is due', have 
written for its illustration ; and some of the 
ablest modern geographers, quitting more ex- 
tensive investigations, have applied all their 
ingenuity, talents, and information, to the to- 
pography of Jerusalem^. It might therefore 
seem like wanton temerity, 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 
accounts of Jerusalem since the Crusades have 
been principally written by men who did not 
themselves view the places they describe. If, 
as spectators upon the spot, we confessed 
ourselves dissatisfied with the supposed identity 
of certain points of observation in Jerusalem, it 
is because we refused to tradition alone, that 
which was contradicted by the evidence of our 
senses. This will be made manifest in the 
sequel. It is now only expedient to acknow- 
ledge, that the Reader will not find in these pages 
a renewal of the statements made by Sandys, 
and Maundrell, and Pococke, and by a host of 
Greek and Latin pilgrims from the age oi Phocas 
(1) Eusebms, Epiplutn'ms. Hieroriymus, &c. 
(2) See particularly the Dissertation of D' /Inville, in the yJppendi.c 
to Mons. Chateaubriand's interesting account of his Travels, vol. II. 
p. 309, of the edition by Frederic Scholerl. Lond. 1811. 
