,880 s CfcA&Mfo- TRAVELS;. 
attention of any writer, by whom Bethlehem is ffe^ribed; for 
Qjuaresm'uis,^ who has written a chapter u De Cisterna Beth¬ 
lehem quae cl David mmeupatur” places this upon the road 
to Jerusalem, at a considerable distance from the town. 
The tradition respecting the cave of the nativity seems so 
well authenticated, as hardly to admit of dispute. Having been 
held in veneration from a very early period, the oratory es¬ 
tablished there by the first Christians attracted the notice and 
indignation of the Heathens so early as the time of Adrian,, 
who ordered it to be demolished, and the place to be set apart 
for the rites of Adonis.f The situation of the town upon the 
narrow 7 ridge of a long and lofty hill, surrounded on all sides 
by valleys, is particularly described by the Abbot of Iona,, 
from the account given to him by Arculfus and for a descrip¬ 
tion of the interior of die monaster)', the reader may be refer- 
red to the very recent description given by Mens. He Cha¬ 
teaubriand.§ He considers the church as of high antiquity ; 
being unmindful of the entire destruction of the convent by 
the Moslems, toward the end of the thirteenth, century.|| We 
felt very little disappointment in not seeing it. The degrading 
superstitions maintained by ail the Mon Irish establishments in 
the Holy Land excite pain and disgust. The Turks use the 
monastery, when they travel tins way, as they would a com¬ 
mon caravanserai; making the church, or any other part of 
(he 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 
Elucjdatio Thrr. Sanct. tom. II. p. 814. Antv. 1639. 
t “ Rethleem nunc nostram, et augustissimum orbis locum de quo Psalmist a canit 
TPs. 8'1. 12.) Veritas de terra orta est, lucus inumbrabat Tham us, id est, Adonidis : et 
in specu ubi-quondam Christus parvulus vagiit, Veneris Amasius plangebatur.” 
Hieronymus Epist. ad Paulin, p. 564. 
J, “ Quae civitas non tam situ graadis, sicuti nobis Arculfus retulit, .qui earn fre- 
quentavit, quam fama praedicab-ilis per universarum gentiutu ecclesiam diffamata, in? 
dorso (mentis) sita est angusto undique ex o'mni parte vailibus circumdato. Quod 
\itiq*ue terrae dorsum ab occidentali plaga in orientaiem partem quasi mille passibus 
porrigitur. In cujus campestri planicie superiors humilis sine turribus murus in cir- 
cuitu perejusdem monticuli extreinita-tis supercilium constructs valliculis bine et 
Hide circumjacentibus super eminet: mediaque intercapedine intra muros per lon- 
giorem tramitem habitacula civium sternuntur.” Adamnani deLoc. Sanct; lib. ii. c. 1; 
Vid. Mabiiion. Acta Ord. Bened. Saec. 3. L. Par. 1672. 
§ See Travels in Greece, Egypt, and Palaestine, vol. 1. p. 392. Lond. 1811. 
]j “ Saincte Paule fit bastir ce isonastere pour des religieux, ou le grand saincA 
Jerosme demeura plusieurs annees, mais il fut ruiDe par les Ipfideles Pan 1263.” 
vDoubdan Voy. de la T. S. p. 163. Paris, 1657.) Paula was .a Homan matron, one of 
the first women who, with Marcella, Sophronia, and Principia, professed a mo¬ 
nastic life at Ptome. Marcella had been instigated by Athanasius; but the others 
were instructed by Jerom. Paula and Melania accompanied him to the Holy 
Land: the former of these erected four monasteries, three for women, and one for. 
Aten, where Jerom lived for many years, as be testifies hi his Epitaph of Pavla. 
