the soul, which it is much easier to conceive than to describe." * Such are the illusions which the Roman superstition casts over this extraordinary scene. But this is not the whole of the pious show. In another subterraneous chapel, tradition places the sepulchre of "the Innocents." From this, the pilgrim is conducted to the grotto of St. Jerome, where they shew the tomb of that father, (although his relics were translated to Rome,) that of Eusebius, and those of Santa Paula and her son, St. Eustachius.+ This pious Roman lady owes the high distinction of having her tomb in this consecrated place, to having built and endowed several monasteries in the neighbourhood, all of which are now in ruins. St. Jerome passed great part of his life in this place; and in the grotto shewn as his oratory, is said to have translated that version of the Bible which has been adopted by the Church of Rome, and is called the Vulgate. He died at the advanced age of 91, A. D. 422. The village of Bethlehem contains about 300 inhabitants, the greater part of whom gain their livelihood by making beads, carving mother-of-pearl shells with sacred subjects, and manufacturing small tables and crucifixes, all which are eagerly purchased by the pilgrims. The monks of Bethlehem claim also the exclusive privilege of marking the limbs and bodies of the devotees with crosses, stars, and monograms, by means of gunpowder; a practice borrowed from the customs of heathenism, and noticed by Virgil and Pomponius Mela. Pococke says: "It is remarkable * Travels in Greece, Palestine, &c. vol. i. p. 396. + Chateaubriand says, "St. Paula and St. Eustochium, two illustrious Roman ladies." The latter was the son. I Æneid. lib. iv. ver. 146. Pomp. Mela, lib. xxi. that the Christians at Jerusalem, Bethlehem, St. John's, and Nazareth, are worse than any other Christians. I was informed that the women of Bethlehem are very good; whereas those at Jerusalem are worse than the men, who are generally better there than at the other places. This may be occasioned by the great converse which the women have there with those of their own sex who go thither as pilgrims; and I will not venture to say, whether too great a familiarity with those places in which the sacred mysteries of our Redemption were acted, may not be a cause to take off from the reverence and awe which they should have for them, and lessen the influence they ought to have on their conduct." At about an hour's distance to the south of Bethlehem, are the pools of Solomon. They are three in number, of an oblong figure, and are supported by abutments. The antiquity of their appearance entitles them, Dr. Richardson thinks, to be considered as the work of the Jewish monarch: "like every thing Jewish,' ," he says, "they are more remarkable for strength than for beauty." They are situated at the south end of a small valley, and are so disposed on the sloping ground, that the waters of the uppermost may descend into the second, and those of the second into the third. That on the west is nearest the source of the spring, and is about 480 feet long; the second is about 600 feet in length, and the third about 660; the breadth of all three being nearly the same, about 270 feet.* They are lined with a thick coat of plaster, and are capable of containing a great quantity of water, which they discharge into a small aqueduct that conveys it to Jerusalem. This aqueduct is built * Maundrell says, ninety paces broad; their length 160, 200, and 220 paces. - on a foundation of stone: the water runs through round earthen pipes, about ten inches in diameter, which are cased with two stones, hewn out so as to fit them, and they are covered over with rough stones, well cemented together. The whole is so much sunk into the ground on the side of the hills round which it is carved, that in many places nothing is to be seen of it. In time of war, however, this aqueduct could be of no service to Jerusalem, as the communication could be easily cut off. The fountain which supplies these pools, is at about the distance of 140 paces from them. "This," says Maundrell, "the friars will have to be that sealed fountain to which the holy spouse is compared, Cant, iv. 12." And he represents it to have been by no means difficult to seal up these springs, as they rise under ground, and have no other avenue than a little hole "like to the mouth of a narrow well." "Through this hole you descend directly down, but not without some difficulty, for about four yards; and then arrive in a vaulted room fifteen paces long and eight broad. Joining to this, is another room of the same fashion, but somewhat less. Both these rooms are covered with handsome stone arches, very ancient, and perhaps the work of Solomon himself. You find here four places at which the water rises. From these separate sources it is conveyed by little rivulets into a kind of basin, and from thence is carried by a large subterraneous passage down into the pools. In the way, before it arrives at the pools, there is an aqueduct of brick pipes, which receives part of the stream, and carries it by many turnings and windings to Jerusalem. Below the pools, here runs down a narrow rocky valley enclosed on both sides with high mountains. This the friars will have to be "the enclosed garden" alluded to in the same place of the Canticles. As to the pools, it is probable enough they may be the same with Solomon's; there not being the like store of excellent spring-water to be met with any where else throughout Palestine. But, for the gardens, one may safely affirm, that if Solomon made them in the rocky ground which is now assigned for them, he demonstrated greater power and wealth in finishing his design, than wisdom in choosing the place for it."* This is supposed to have been the Etam, Etham, or Epham of the Scriptures. Josephus says, that there were very pleasant gardens, abounding with water, at Etham, about fifty furlongs, or a little more than six miles from Jerusalem, to which Solomon used to resort; and the Talmudists mention that the waters from the fountain of Epham were brought to Jerusalem by Solomon. + Etam is mentioned in connexion with Bethlehem and Tekoa, as one of the cities built by Rehoboam: || it was therefore, doubtless, in this neighbourhood. If any stress could be laid on the monkish traditions, the ruined village on the side of the hill below the aqueduct, still bears the name of the village of Solomon. Altogether, it is highly reasonable to conclude, that this was the site of one of king Solomon's houses of pleasure, where he made him "gardens, and orchards, and pools of water."§ Tekoa is stated by Pococke to be about six miles to the south of Bethlehem. There are considerable ruins, he says, on the top of the hill, which is about half a mile long, and a furlong broad. At the northeast corner are ruins of remains of a large castle, + Josephus, Antiq. lib. viii. cap. 7. * Maundrell. § Eccl. ii. 5, 6. "which some call a church; but that," he says, 66 seems to have been about the middle of the hill. In it there is a deep octagon font of red and white marble: I saw also in several parts, pieces of broken pillars, of the same kind of marble." These remains are possibly as ancient as the time of the Crusades, as tradition has perpetuated the name of the Frankish conquerors in this neighbourhood. The hill affords a view of the Dead Sea to the south-east, of Bethlehem to the north-west, and of the Mount of Bethulia to the west-north-west. Towards the north-west corner of the hill, a little below the top, is a grotto or cave, in which "there is a fountain that never fails." On another elevation, about a mile to the south, are the ruins of a large church," dedicated to St. Pantaleone; 99 and to the east of Tekoa, on the side of another steep hill, Pococke lodged in a ruined castle, to which he gives the name of Creightoun. "A little beyond this place, the valley runs east and west; and on the right hand is a very large grotto, which the Franks call a labyrinth, and the Arabs El Maama, or the hiding-place. The high rocks on the side of the valley are almost perpendicular, and the way to the grotto is by a terrace formed in the rock, which, either by art or nature, is very narrow. The rock is supported by great natural pillars; the top rises in several parts like domes. The grotto is perfectly dry; and there are no petrifactions or stalactites in it. We went along a very narrow passage for a considerable way, but did not find the end. There is a tradition, that the people of the country, to the number of 30,000, retired into this grotto to avoid a bad air; which probably might have been the hot winds that are sometimes very fatal in these countries. This place is so strong, that one would imagine it |