THE SHRINE OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. 
Easter is the chief period of pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and the number of pilgrims 
frequently amounts to 20,000. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is opened but on fixed 
days, and on those, at this season, the pressure is enormous. The first aspect of 
the exterior is striking. It is a vast and splendid monument, solemn, imposing, and rich 
for the time at which it was erected. It is true, that it is not the Church built by 
the mother of Constantine; but in its rebuilding by the Christian kings of Jerusalem, 
the ornaments of the Byzantine architecture have been preserved, and, with those of the 
Greek and Eastern, form a noble and most picturesque temple. 
But the multitude offer a vivid and still more picturesque scene. There are 
displayed costumes and countenances from all parts of the world; the splendid robes and 
dark visages of the Asiatic, the powerful features of the Greek, the Italian monk, the 
Syrian mountaineer, the Christian of India, some countenances wild and barbarian, some 
brilliant and civilised; some which give the impression of every sterner practice and 
passion of desert life; others which a Titian or a Raphael might have taken as models 
of the saint or martyr, calm, lofty, and intellectual: a vast congregation gathered by 
one powerful impulse to do homage to the most awful place of recollection on the globe. 
But the gate is at last opened, generally after a delay which produces many a 
murmur, and the multitude, with the rush and roar of a torrent, burst in. On entering 
the vestibule, the keeper of the porch, a Turk, is seen sitting, frequently with a group of 
Turks, on his richly-covered divan, smoking, and with coffee before him. But none pause 
there; the crowd pass on, struggling, pressing, and clamouring. But, at the instant of 
their entering the grand dome, all is hushed ; in front of them lies the “ Stone of Unction,” 
the crowd fling themselves on their knees round it, weep, pray, and attempt to touch it 
with their foreheads; hands are seen everywhere clasped in prayer, or hiding their faces 
as if the object were too sacred to be gazed at; tears are rolling down cheeks, and s6bs 
are heard that seem to come from hearts overwhelmed with reverence and sorrow. 
The Church is a lofty circular building, surmounted with a dome, and surrounded by 
tall square pillars supporting a gallery. The general effect is bold and stately. 
Immediately under the dome stands the shrine, an oblong building, twenty feet long and 
twelve feet high, circular at the back, but square and finished with a platform in front, and 
with a cornice and cupola of marble. The style of this structure is fantastic and poor, the 
work of a nameless builder employed by the Greek monks in 1817. But who can regard 
such trivialities in the midst of such a scene ? That building covers the Holy Sepulchre ! 
It is perfectly known that the site of our Lord’s tomb, of the crucifixion, and all the 
other leading events of his glorious Passion, have formed the topics of learned dispute. 
But into those discussions we have no wish to enter. The heart, and the understanding 
too, may rest fully contented with the fact, that whether within or without this dome, here 
