of some religious ceremony, and we were detained nearly half an hour, till the necessary explanations had taken place. The portal is very massive, and has an air of military importance; but the instant it is unbarred, the delusion vanishes. As there is no British agent at Saida, we were directed to the residence of the French Consul, Signor Ruffini, who received us with the politeness instinctive to the French nation. Lady E. St*****e had for some time established her residence about a day's journey from the coast, when the report of a pestilence compelled her to a temporary retreat several miles further in the interior. Her absence appears to be universally regretted; she has indeed distributed her largesses with such address, as to have acquired a very considerable degree of popularity. "Point d'argent, point de Suisse," is a maxim by no means exclusively applicable to Helvetia; and "Mi laddi”1 is reported to have given very expensive proofs of her conviction, that there is no happiness, even in Arabia, like that which is purchased. 1 Some faint traces are still discoverable of the ancient lustre of Sidon, in the broken columns, and 1 The title by which this lady is distinguished, in the districts adjoining her residence. architectural ornaments, which lie neglected at a little distance from the modern walls; and in one of the neighbouring gardens, there is a reputed relic of antiquity, which the Jews affect to hold in extraordinary veneration. This object of their regard is alleged to be the tomb of Zebulon: the monument, if such it may be called, is extremely simple, consisting solely of two stones, which are supposed to have been placed at each extremity of the body;-a conjecture, by the bye, which is somewhat extravagant, unless the patriarch was of gigantic stature, for the blocks are more than three yards distant from each other. Pliny attributes the invention of glass, or at least the original manufacture of it, to the artisans of this city, as it was here only that the sand brought from the coast of Tyre was believed to be susceptible of fusion. The modern proprietors have either lost the art, or do not any longer find it a lucrative branch of trade. The possessions of the tribe of Ashur, as enumerated by Joshua,2 comprised Zidon in their limits. We were now, therefore, entering on the confines of THE HOLY LAND. 1 Nat. Hist. cap. xix. lib. 5. Sidon artifex vitri. The house in which the French Consul resides is extremely spacious, but in the arrangements of Signor Ruffini there does not appear to have been any provision for a casual visitor; we were therefore reduced to the necessity of sleeping sub dio in one of the outer courts. We arose very early the next morning, and after a ride of ten hours arrived within the walls of Tyre. Our route for the most part was on the sands of the sea-shore, where there are few objects, either natural or artificial, calculated in any degree to interest the attention of the traveller, or to arrest his progress. About half a mile from the coast, and at four hours' distance from Sidon, a village hangs near the summit of the hills, which it is conjectured was the ancient Zarephath, or Sarepta, celebrated in the sacred writings as the residence of the prophet Elijah, and as the scene of his miraculous restoration of the widow's son. Our guides wished us very much to avoid Tyre, and strongly recommended our passing the night under a large tree at a small village a few miles to the east; but we were too desirous of visiting the ruins of a city, whose fortunes occupy so important a page in the history of nations, to listen an instant to their suggestions. The modern town became visible at a considerable distance, from one of the elevated points beyond Sidon, and as the declining sun threw his beams over the lofty turrets of the citadel, they appeared clothed with a radiance, which exceeded the most splendid illumination. In these precincts the sacred writings are the best vade mecum: I make no apology, therefore, for extracting the following passages, as descriptive of Tyrian magnificence. "O thou that art situate at the entrance of the sea, a merchant of the people for many isles, thus "saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am "of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of "the waters, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. "They have made all thy shipboards of fir-trees of "Senir; they have taken cedars of Lebanon to make masts for thee of the oaks of Bashan have they "made thine oars: the company of the Ashurites have "made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles "of Chittim. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadedst forth to be thy "sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elisha was "that which covered thee.-The inhabitants of Zidon "and Arvad were thy mariners-all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy " merchandize. When thy wares went forth out of "the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich "the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy "riches and of thy merchandize. 66 "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering; the sardius, "topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and "the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the car"buncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets "and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day "that thou wast created. "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, "thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy "brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will "lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. By the multitude of thy merchandize they have "filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast 66 sinned-therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of "the mountain of God: I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire."(Ezek. chap. 27, 28.) Of this once powerful mistress of the ocean there now exist scarcely any traces. Some miserable cabins, |