IX. 
BETHLEHEM. 4I7 
antiquity; being unmindful of the entire de- chap, 
struction of the convent by the Mos/eTns, 
towards the end of the thirteenth century*. We 
felt very little disappointment in not seeing it. 
The degrading superstitions maintained by all 
the Monkish establishments in the Ho/i/ Land 
excite pain and disgust. The Turks resort to 
the monastery when they travel this way, as they 
would to a common caravanserai ; making the 
church, or any other part of the building that 
suits their convenience, both a dormitory and 
a tavern while they remain. Neither is the 
sanctuary more polluted by the presence of 
these Moslems, than by a set of men whose 
grovelling understandings have sunk so low as 
to vilify the sacred name of Christianity by the 
grossest outrages upon human intellect. In 
the pavement of the church, a hole, formerly 
used to carry off water, is exhibited as the 
place where the star fell, and sunk into the 
(4) " Saincte Paule fit bastir ce Monast^re pour des Reliofieux, o\i 
le grand sainct Jerosme demeura plusieurs ann^es, mais il fut ruin^ 
par les Infid^les I'au 1263." (Douhdan Voif. de la T. S. p. 163. Paris, 
1657.) Paula was a Roman matron, one of the first women who, with 
Marcella, SoPHRONlA, and PriNcipia, professed a monastic life at 
Rome. Marcella had been instigated by Athanasius ; but the others 
were instructed by Jerom. Paula and Melama accompanied him to 
the Holi/ Land : the former of these erected four monasteries, three 
for women, and one for men, where Jerom lived for many years, as he 
testifies in his Epitaph of Paula. 
VOL. IV. U D 
