266 
CLARK E S S TRAVELS. 
aed all of them below mediocrity. Egmoni and Hey man . 
mention ao ancieot portrait of our Saviour, brought hither 
from Spain by one of the Fathers, having a Latin inscription, 
purporting that it is “ the true image of Jesus Christ, sent to 
king Abgariis.” # 
The other objects of veneration in Nazareth, at every one 
of which indulgences are sold to travellers, are, I. The 
work shop of Joseph, which is near the convent, and was 
formerly included within its walls; this is now a small chapel, 
perfectly modern, and lately whitewashed. II. The syna¬ 
gogue, where Christ is said to have read the scriptures to 
the Jews,f at present a church III. A precipice without 
the town, where they say the Mesiah leaped down, to escape 
the rage of the Jews, after the offence his speech in the syna¬ 
gogue had occasioned.J Here they show the impression of 
his hand, made as he sprang from the rock. From the de¬ 
scription given by St. Luke, the monks affirm, that, anciently, 
Nazareth stood eastward of its present situation, upon a more 
elevated spot. The words of the evangelist are, however, re¬ 
markably explicit, and prove the situation of the ancient city 
to have been precisely that which is now occupied by the 
modern town. Induced, by the word of the gospel, to exa¬ 
mine the place more attentively than we should have otherwise 
done, we went, as it is written, “ out of the city , unto the brow 
Vera Imago Salvatoris Nostri Domini Jesu Christi, ad Regem Abga- 
rum missa.” (Egmont and Heyman’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 19.) I do not recollect 
seeing this picture, although I have seen copies of it. There is an expression of 
countenance, and a set of features common to almost all the representations of our 
Saviour, with which every one is acquainted,.although we know not whence they were 
derived : nor would the subject have been mentioned, but to state, further, that the 
famous picture by Carlo Dolci bears no resemblance to these features; nor to the 
ordinary appearance presented by the natives of Syria. Carlo Dolci seems to have 
borrowed his notions for that picture from the spurious letter of Publius Lentulus to 
the Roman senate, which is so interesting, that, while we believe it to be false, we 
perhaps wish that it was true: 
“ There appeared in these our days, a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, 
who i9 yet living among us; and of the Gentiles , is accepted for a prophet of truth, 
but his own disciples call him the Son of God. He raiseth the dead, and cureth all 
manner of diseases. A man of stature, somewhat tall and comely, with a very re¬ 
verend countenance, such as the beholders may both love and fear; his hair, the co¬ 
lour of a filbert, full ripe, to his ears, whence downward it is more orient of colour, 
somewhat curling or waving about his shoulders; in the midst of bis head is a seam, 
or partition of his hair, after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead plain and 
delicate; his face without spot or wrinkle, beautified with a comely red* his nose 
and mouth exactly formed; his beard thick, the colour of his hair, not of any great 
length, but forked; his look innocent: his eyes gray, clear and quick; in reproving, 
awful; in admonishing, courteous ; in speaking, very modest and wise; in proportion 
of body, w ell shaped. None have ever seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep* 
A man , for his beauty, surpassing the children of men.” 
| Luke, iv. 16, 
| “ And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with 
wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, aud led him unto the brow of the 
hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he* 
pasaiag through the midst of them, went his way.” Luke, iv. 28,29* 30, 
