EROM NAPOLOSE TO JERUSALEM* 3-21 
Milder whose protection we travelled; as well as of conse¬ 
quence to our future safety. We therefore consigned ourselves 
to ail the etiquette of our Mahometan masters of ceremony* 
and were marshalled accordingly. Our attendants were or¬ 
dered to fall back in the rear; and it was evident, by the 
manner of placing us, that we were expected to form a proces- 
cession o the governor’s house, and to appear as dependants, 
swelling the train of our Moslem conductors. Our British tars, 
not relishing this, would now and then prance toward the post 
of honour, and were with difficulty restrained from taking the 
lead. As we approached the city, the concourse of people 
became very great, the walls and the road side being covered 
with spectators. An immense multitude, at the same time, ac¬ 
companied us on foot; some of whom, welcoming the proces¬ 
sion with compliments and caresses, cried out u Bon' Inglesi! 
Viva V Ingilterra /” others, cursiifg and reviling, called us a 
set of rascally Christain dogs, and filthy infidels. We could 
never learn wherefore so much curiosity had been excited; 
unless it were, that of late, owing to the turbulent state of 
public affairs, the resort of strangers to Jerusalem had become 
more uncommon ; or that they expected another visit from Sir 
Sidney Smith, who had marched into Jerusalem with colours 
flying and drums beating, at the head of a party of English 
sailors. He protected the Christian guardians of the Holy 
Sepulchre from the tyranny of their .Turkish rulers, by hoist¬ 
ing the British standard upon the walls of their monasteiy. 
Novelty, at any period, produces considerable bustle at Jeru¬ 
salem : the idleness of its inhabitants, and the uniform tenor 
of their lives, rendered more monotonous by the cessation of 
pilgrimage, naturally dispose them to run after a new sight, or 
to listen to new intelligence. The arrival of a Tartar cou¬ 
rier from the Yizier’s army, or the coming of foreigners to the 
city, rouses Christians from their prayers, Jews from their 
traffick, arid even Moslems from their tobacco or their .opium,, 
in search of something new. 
Thus attended, we reached the gate of Damascus about 
seven o’clock in the evening.* Chateaubriand calls this 
Bab el-Ham ond, or Bab el-Cham, the Gate of the Column.^ 
64 When,’ 5 says he, 41 Simon the Cyrenian met Christ, he was 
coming from the gate of Damascus;’ 5 thereby adopting a to¬ 
pography suited to the notions generally entertained of the 
& Thursday, July the 9th. 
f Travels in Greece. Palestine, Src. v6K II p. 88. !8T1 
