JERUSALEM. 
363 
In my rambles about Jerusalem, I passed on several occa¬ 
sions through the quarter of the Lepers. Apart from the in¬ 
terest attached to this unfortunate class of beings (arising from 
the frequent allusion made to them in the Scriptures), there is 
much in their appearance and mode of life to attract atten¬ 
tion and enlist the sympathy of the stranger. Dirt and dis¬ 
ease go revoltingly together here ; gaunt famine stalks through 
the streets; a constant moan of suffering swells upon the dead 
air, and sin broods darkly over the ruin it has wrought in that 
gloomy and ill-fated spot. Wasted forms sit in the doorways; 
faces covered with white scales and sightless eyes are turned 
upward; skeleton arms, distorted and foetid with the ravages 
of leprosy, are outstretched from the foul moving mass ; and a 
low howl is heard, the howl of the stricken for alms ; alms, 
0 stranger, for the love of God ! alms to feed the inexorable 
destroyer ! alms to prolong this dreary and hopeless misery ! 
Look upon it, stranger, you who walk forth in all your pride 
and strength and breathe the fresh air of heaven ; you who 
have never known what it is to be shunned by your fellow- 
man as a thing unclean and accursed ; you who deem your¬ 
self unblest with all the blessings that God has given you upon 
