NAP0L0SE. 311 
Samaria was there any tiling repugnant to the notions we may 
entertain of the appearance presented by the sons of Jacob. 
It was indeed a scene to abstract and to elevate the mind; 
and under emotions so called forth by every circumstance of 
powerful coincidence, a single moment seemed to concentrate 
whole ages of existence. In the calmer moments dedicated 
to the traces of this memorial, the objects referred to are no 
longer behgld; but the impression remains; nor would the 
writer forego its influence for all that cooler philosophy might 
dictate or approve. The few travellers indeed of earlier 
times, who passed through Samaria in their way to Jerusa¬ 
lem, have more stoically related their visit to this sacred spot. 
Generally, satisfied with the guidance of the monks, they 
rapidly enumerate the consecrated places to which they were 
conducted, as if they were employed in making out a catalogue 
of names. The Jews of the twelfth century acknowledged 
that the tomb of Joseph then existed in Sichem, although 
both the city and the tomb were the possession and the boast 
of a people they detested. “ The town, 59 say Rabbi Benja¬ 
min,* “ lies in a vale, between Mount Gerizim and Mount 
Ebal, where there are above a hundred Cuthceans, f who ob¬ 
serve only the law of Moses, whom men call r Samaritans* 
They have priests of the lineage of Aaron,-who rests in peace, 
and those they call Aaronites, who never marry but with 
persons of the sacerdotal family, that they may not he cm- 
founded with the people. Yet these priests of their law offer 
sacrifices and burnt offerings in their congregations, as it is 
written in the law ‘Thou shall put the blessing upon 
Mount Gerizim.’ They therefore affirm that this is the 
house of the sanctuary; and they offer burnt offerings, both 
on the Passover, and on other festivals, on the altar which was 
built on Mount Gerizim, of those stones ■'which -the children 
of Israel set up, after they had passed over Jordan. They 
pretend that they are descended from the tribe of Ephraim ; 
and have among them the sepulchre of Joseph the Just, the son 
of our father Jacob, who rests in peace, according to that say¬ 
ing, § 6 The hones also of Joseph which the children of Israel 
brought up with them onl of Egypt, buried they -in SeckemT 
Maundreii, the only English writer who has visited Napolose, 
# See the translation by Gerrans, p. 69. Land. 1783. 
t The Samaritans were called Cuthaans by Jewish writers ; from SanbaHad, a Cu° 
thUs, who was their founder. See Josephus, Antiq. lib. xi. c. 7.. 
$ Beut, xi. 29. § Josh. xxiv. 32. 
