^ERUSALKAX; 
situated. Q,iiUiiag, therefore, the “ garden of Gethse- 
mani,” we descended, a short distance farther toward the 
north, and arrived at the entrance to the “ Virgin’s Sepul¬ 
chre.’^ This, like the tombs where we discovered the in¬ 
scriptions, is also a crypt) or cave, hewn with marvellous skill 
and most surprising labour, in a stratum of hard compact 
limestone. Whatever may have been the real history of its 
origin, there can be no doubt but that it was intended as a 
repository for the dead, and, from all appearance, as the re¬ 
ceptacle of many bodies. It seems also evident, that the per¬ 
sons here interred were held in veneration by the living, from 
the commodious and magnificent descent leading to the in¬ 
terior of the crypt, together with the dome and altar which 
appear within, as for a sanctuary. JSTeiiher Eusebius, Epi¬ 
phanies, nor Jerora, mentions a syllable to authorize even the 
tradition concerning this sepulchre. The earliest notice of ir^ 
as the tomb of the Virgin, occurs in the writings of Adamna- 
nus, the Irish monk and abbot of Iona, who described it from 
the testimony of Areulfosf in the seventh century, according 
to its present situation. Bede gives also, from Adamnanus, a 
similar account.t It is moreover mentioned by John Damas- 
cenus, who lived about the year 720.5 A sepulchre was 
pointed out to Willibald, twenty years afterward, called the 
* 4 Tomb of the Virgin,” in the valley, at the foot of Mount 
Olivet.)] Among the Greeks, Andrew of Crete, in the eighth 
Century, affirmed that the Virgin lived upon Mount Sion, and 
there died.** It is however presumed, by other writers, that 
she retired with St. John to Ephesus. Pococke, upon the an- 
£ On the disputed authenticity cf the tradition concerning the sepulchre, Butler 
rests an opinion, that the virgin ended her earthly career at Jerusalem. “ Tille- 
mont,” says he, “ and some others, conjecture that she died at Ephesusbut some 
think, rather, at Jerusalem; where, in latter ages, mention is made of her sepul¬ 
chre, cut in a rock at Gethsemani.” Butler’s Lives of the Saints, vol. viii. p. 178, 
Edinb. 1799. 
t Sanctorum locorum sedulus frequentat.or sanctus Arculfus Sanct® Marias eccle- 
Siam in valie Josaphat frequentahat; cujiiS chvpiiciter fabricats inferior pars sub ia- 
pideo tabulateb tnirabili rotunda structura est fabricata : in cujus orieutalj parte alta- 
riurn habetur; ad dexteram verb ejus partem, Sauetae Marise inest saxeum cavuna 
tjopulchrum, in quo aiiquanrip sepulta pausavit.” A damn an.- De Loc. Sanct. 
apud Mabillon. Acta. Sanctor. Ord. Benedict. Saec. 3. Bars. 2, p, 507. L. Par. 1672* 
| Beda, ex eo, de Loc. Sanct. p. 502. 
j See Doubdan (Vov. de ia T S. p. 121. Par. 1657.) Also Uuaresmius, who cites 
the patsage (Elucid. T. S. tom. II. p. 248. Arity. 1639.) and candidly states the ar¬ 
guments “ contra veritatern sepulciiri,” which he is unable/ although he endeavours, 
to refute. 
jj “ Et in ill.a valie est Ecclesia Sancts Mariae, et in Ecclesia est sepulchrum ejus. 
.... Et ibi orans adscehdit in Mo'ntem Oliveti, qtii est ibi jiixta vallem in orientali 
plaga.” Vita S. Willibald! apud Mabillon. Acta Sanctor. Ord. Benedict. Saec. *S7 - 
Pats 2. p. 376. L. Par. 1672. 
^TOtat. in Dorsal*. B. M, Butler’s “ Lives of the Satot3,*t®t, viii. p. 179'. , 
