33G THE HOLY LAND. 
^^^R dome of that building ; that we must look eke- 
' , — ' where for the place of our Saviour's Tomh; 
and that the city never was so limited in its 
extent, towards the north-west, as to admit of a 
wall in that situation. A sepulchre, such as was 
that of the Messiah, being, of all others, the 
least liable to injury, would remain in spite of 
the devouring element. It is, perhaps, not im- 
possible to develope the true cause of the selec- 
tion made by Helena, in fixing upon that spot as 
the place of crucifixion. Persons who have been 
accustomed to compare the manners of different 
countries, must be well aware how general the 
practice is, among all nations, of connecting with 
a Lusus Naturce, or any extraordinary physical 
appearance, some wild and superstitious fantasy. 
Thus in the similitude of a hand in the surface 
of a rock, as at iV«^«re;A ' ; of ^.foot, as at the 
Mount of Olives * ; any remarkable shape in a log 
of wood, as in the Palladium of antient IHum^; 
(1) See Chap. IV. of this vdume, p. 178. 
(2) " There standeth a little Chappell paved with the na- 
turall rocke, which beareth the impression of a footstep; they say of 
our Saviour's." Sandys' Travels, p. 166. Land. 1637. 
(3) The Palladium, like many other of the antient idols of Greece, 
was, according to some authors, nothing more than a piece of wood, of 
an extraordinary form. Heyni, in his Excursus, says that the Paila- 
dium and the Penates were lignea. See also Ovid's account of the. 
preservation of the Palladium by Metellus, when the Capitol was on 
Jive. 
