which still bears the name of Gethsemane,

Gesmaniyeh," where the Redeemer was wont to retire and pray. John xviii. 1, 2. Matt. xxvi. 36. Mark xiv. 32. or, as given by St. Luke, where he frequented "going to the mount of Olives." Now Gethsemane corresponds exactly with the text of St. John, who says that our Lord went over the brook Kidron, to reach the foot of the mount, perhaps across the identical bridge which spans it at the present day. The garden, properly speaking, is on the mount, although at its lower base; so that what St. Luke says is correct, although no mention is made of the garden. The subject seems to admit of no doubt, notwithstanding there are many sites chosen for this, as for other events related in Scripture, by different communisms, whereof many are quite irreconciliable to the tenor of the Scriptures, besides being the antipodes of all that common understanding would suggest. Yet, should we not allow the weight of traditional accounts, we might consider it akin to miraculous, that after so many ages, the memory of this spot is so well preserved.

Gethsemane is now walled in by the Latins, who have also erected a small chapel within the enclosure. Seven old trees are still standing, said to be from the time of our Lord. These trees, which are Olive, may unquestionably claim a great antiquity, for this their appearance fully denotes; the trunks being eaten away with decay, sustain their upright position only from the vacuum having been filled up with stones, a practice not uncommon in the East, as a substitute for the solidity bestowed by nature.

The Olive is well known to be a long lived tree in general; but it is left to the reader's reflection, whether these trees may claim the great antiquity assigned to them, to say nothing of the likelihood of their having escaped the axe of the Romans, when timber was so indispensable during the siege operations, and subsequent slaughter, when authors have expressly stated that there were more bodies to be crucified than wood to be found for crosses. That these trees may, however, be offshoots from roots whose stems flourished in those days, is not perhaps an unreasonable conjecture.

It is to be lamented that the Latins have regardlessly destroyed some of the associations of the place by converting it into a flowergarden, whose walls are bedaubed with tawdry paintings of saints, &c. And what is of a character still more open to animadversion in the eyes of Protestant Christians, is, the monkish fable of the impression sunk into the solid rock by the bodies of those followers of Christ who reposed upon it. Few are ignorant of the latitude in which some churches are prone to indulge in their aim at striking the imagination of the bigoted, and the vulgar, by a secresy which would often seem to rival or be more fitted for the stage. Yet their tendency to detract from and even to subvert all credence in the fundamental parts of Christian truth, renders it withal a thing to be deplored, that the mummeries alluded to cannot be reserved for the exclusive inspection of the ignorant, for whom it is fair to consider they were invented. As it is, they doubtlessly produce in this age greater evil by shocking the minds of the better informed, whether of their own, or other creeds.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Population of Jerusalem-The Armenian Quarter— The Patriarch's Palace-Armenian Costume-The Priests' Headdress-Greek Convents-A Convert and his WifeThe Greek Patriarch-The Latin Patriarch-His Brother --The Pupil of the Diocesan School-The Jewish QuarterSir Moses Montefiore-Mr. Gedaliah-Jewish CostumeChristian Dissensions-Images and Idols-Landed Property -Jewish Agricultural Labourers-The Wailing Place.

THE population of Jerusalem, as formerly observed, consists of such an heterogeneous mass that in seeking to classify its constituents I must acquaint the reader, that, as a whole, they form but a body of strangers to the soil, and strangers to the language of the country.

The Armenian quarter of the town is situated upon mount Zion, extending from the episcopal

Protestant church to Zion or David's gate. It is creditable to this Christian sect that the quarter they inhabit is the cleanest ; and another advantage is that the streets are mostly paved with rough stones. The Armenians, besides being the wealthiest of other communities, enjoy certain privileges as subjects of the Porte which others cannot claim.

A magnificent convent and patriarchate has been lately erected in the European style for their use, and they possess besides a spacious and well cultivated garden, which is planted with many umbrageous trees, besides others for ornament or use, together affording a grateful shade, and half concealing the convent in luxurious verdure.

In this convent or palace the Armenian patriarch resides. Their patriarchs are three in number; the first in dignity resides usually in Armenia proper; of the other two one is in Constantinople and one in Jerusalem. These two latter functionaries of the church are, properly speaking, suffragan bishops under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Armenia.