WHEN the traveller takes his first survey of Jerusalem from the brow of the Mount of Olives, one object is sure to fix his attention. On the ridge overagainst him, occupying nearly a central position on the noblest platform in the world, stands that circular temple, which Christians have for centuries known under the name of the Mosque of Omar.

And it is not without reason that the eye thus makes its preference. Doubt lurks in the mind of the most believing pilgrim as to many of the sites of the Holy City; but here there is no room for question. The unchangeable landmarks of nature preserve the identity of a spot which history and tradition might in vain have conspired to perpetuate: There is Mount Moriah there is Jehoshaphat with its tombs there is Kedron-and THERE, crowning the one-overlooking the other-watered by the third-may be seen as in the days of Solomon, the area, once the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, on which stood for so many memorable ages the Temple of Jehovah.

But although the eye is sure first to light upon that sacred hill, more than this has not been permitted to Christian pilgrim, since the deluge of the crusades was first violently cast back upon the west. As we read the voluminous accounts of visitors of all ages since that period, however copious their information may be on other points, here they are silent. They gave a cautious glance over the wall-they ventured a survey from the distant hill which overlooks it but the Haram el Scherif, with its circular and oblong mosques, its fountains, terraces, and groves-to which the humblest Moslem pilgrim had free access, and where even the children

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of the Mussulman might be seen disporting amongst its olive and cypresstrees-was closed against their curiosity: they could do no more than hazard a glance, and effect a hasty retreat. Mecca alone, of all Mahometan temples, is guarded from the profanation of the infidel with equal jealousy. The ordinary mosque-even that of St. Sophia-may be freely entered; but the sacred city of Arabia, and the holy metropolis of Palestine-El Kudshave their mysteries approachable by the footsteps of the faithful alone.

Various as the considerations have all along been, which combined to invest the latter thrice-sacred spot with so solemn an interest, we have now presented to us fresh grounds for awe and wonder, calculated, if they stand the test of examination, to concentrate our devotion to group together the towers and pinnacles of the Temple with the fanes of Christianity; and associate within that single enclosure all that is most sublime and affecting in Christian history, with all that is most venerable in Jewish antiquity.

The circumstances under which this new version of sacred topography has been opened to us are as singular as the results may be important. Mr. Catherwood, an American artist, who had visited Jerusalem in the year 1833, for the purpose of making drawings for Burford's Panorama, having fixed his point of view on the top of the governor's house, which directly overlooked the enclosure of the Haram, felt strongly tempted to venture himself within those forbidden precincts. It was represented to him as certain death, as it had proved to many Franks who had made a similar attempt. But he was not to be discouraged; and, taking his Egyptian servant with him, he did

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at last boldly enter in, clad as a Mussulman. Finding that he was permitted to do so much with impunity, he next set himself to sketch what he saw, but was instantly beset by a crowd of the faithful, who would probably have made an end of him on the spot for the glory of Mahomet, had not the governor, with whom he had been on friendly terms, opportunely arrived to his rescue, and strictly forbid that he should be molested in future. Thus protected, he continued his task, and, during six weeks, occupied himself continually in an examination and delineation of these hitherto unvisited adyta; and it is upon the descriptions, drawings, plans, and measurements furnished by this gentleman, that many of the speculations of Professor Robinson and other later writers are based. It will be seen in the end, how strange and unexpected were the revelations of that daring visit-unexpected, even by the visitor himself; for not a suspicion crossed his mind of those theories now deduced from his facts. And this may be considered a circumstance in favour of the present inquiry, that it is grounded on observations made without reference to that inquiry, and therefore so far perfectly trustworthy.

It may be as well, here at the outset, to apprise the reader, that the general impression of the enlightened world seems now to be, that the authenticity of the present site of the Holy Sepulchre is too gravely impeached for men ever to rest satisfied until some more conclusive arguments be brought forward, on the one side or the other, than have ever yet entered into the controversy. More than a century ago, a German traveller named Korten (credulous enough, too, on other points) expressed his doubts as to its genuineness; and ever since, an increasing spirit of distrust has manifested itself in the minds of successive travellers, except, indeed, where they hold those opinions of which Mr. Williams may, on this question, be considered the representative. The scepticism of Clarke, indeed, assumed a wild and visionary form; but Dr. Robinson has taken a more rational view of the matter, and thrown it upon the upholders of the present site to substantiate, by history and common sense. a claim which has tradition, and tradition alone, to support it. The arguments of Robinson will be found well condensed in an article

entitled "Jerusalem," in No. 153 of this Magazine, purporting to be a review of Mr. Williams's book on the "Holy City"—an article which relieves us from the necessity of recapitulating the difficulties, justly said to be "almost insurmountable," of accepting the present Sepulchre as the true one. It is quite clear that there are accumulated grounds for suspicion, at least; and this, therefore, gives a fair open for what neither that reviewer, nor Dr. Robinson, nor any one else, has ever yet attempted, namely, the suggestion of a new site as the actual and genuine one.

Another circumstance is also to be borne in mind in entering on the present inquiry. It being matter of history that Constantine built a church over the spot he had fixed upon as the Holy Sepulchre, all the objections raised to the probability of his having discovered the true place, assume that he built his church on the spot now occupied by the sacred edifice, and are sought to be strengthened by the arguments which go to impugn its authenticity. It will be seen by-and-bye, however, that we must carefully separate the two inquiries-the one being, whether Constantine actually did hit upon the right spot; and the other, whether the spot he fixed upon was that now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Of the numerous authorities to which the students of sacred topography will need to refer, we must content ourselves at present with mentioning but one, that is, the tract of Adamnanus, De Locis Sanctis, composed in the seventh century, of which the history is interesting to us for many reasons. First, because the author was an Irishman ; secondly, from the circumstances under which it was written; and lastly, because it contains the most valuable information that can be had on the subject of the present inquiry. We repeat here briefly what the author of the review in this Magazine already alluded to has given more circumstantially. Adamnanus was abbot of the celebrated monastery of Iona, in the Hebrides. A French bishop, named Arculfus, was cast away upon that island, on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; and, during his stay, gave his venerable entertainer a minute account of the sacred localities at Jerusalem, which the abbot carefully noted down at the time