proudly conscious of her splendid past, and proudly certain of her glorious future. Like the Jew, her existence is only of interest for what she has been and for what she will be. Her present is but a dreamy, miserable interval between the two periods—a punishment for the past, which will all the more set off the brilliancy of the future.

Jerusalem, though built upon four distinct hills-those of Zion, Moriah, Acra, and Bezetha, which are all more than two thousand feet above the Mediterranean-is surrounded by mountains of a still greater elevation. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth, even for ever." On the south-west of the Holy City is the Mount of Evil Counsel, so called from the counsel taken on it, in the house of Caiaphas the High Priest, to put Jesus to death. The Aceldama is also on this mountain. On the east side of the city are the Mount of Offence, so called on account of the idolatry King Solomon committed on it, and the ever-memorable Mount of Olivet, the view from which embraces the mountains of Moab, the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and the plain of Jericho on the east; the height of Ramah-Samuel, reminding us of Israel's last judge, and Scopus bringing Titus and his battering army to our recollection, on the north; the winding way to Bethlehem, the curiously-shaped Frank mountain, the last retreat of the Crusaders, and Hinnom, the abomination of Manasseh, on the south; whilst to the west, Jerusalem bows her widowed head in the dust, thus forming a panorama of unrivalled These mountains are separated from

interest and attraction.

the town by steep glens: the valley of Hinnom running between the Mount of Evil Counsel and that of Zion; whilst Jehoshaphat divides Moriah from Olivet.

The city is entered by four gates, and is surrounded by a massive stone wall, forty feet high and four broad, built in 1542, by Sultan Suliman, with tower, battlement, and loopholes, and is still in good repair, except on the north-east. Within the walls the streets are deserted, badly paved, very narrow, and very dirty. The houses are either out of repair, or in ruins; whilst inspectors of nuisances and commissioners of sewers, seem to be officials utterly unknown. Bezetha may be considered the Mohammedan quarter; Mount Acra, that of the Christians; and on the eastern side of Mount Zion, opposite Moriah, is the Jewish quarter. This last was the district that most interested me. The Jews were not permitted to settle permanently in the capital of their own country till it was conquered by the Mohammedans; and the quarter in which they reside comprises now only the twentieth part of the town. They form two distinct bodies—the Spanish and the German Jews. The former are the more numerous, and are under the jurisdiction of their own Chief Rabbi. They have four commodious synagogues, and several colleges. The German Jews are those who have emigrated from various parts of Germany, Poland, and other places in Europe, to the Holy Land they enjoy the protection of their respective consuls, and are on that account less oppressed by the local government. These two bodies are again divided into two sects the Perooshim (Pharisees) and Chasidim (Pious), each of which possesses two synagogues and a Chief Rabbi.

As a rule the Jews in Jerusalem are learned men, whose chief occupation consists in studying Jewish literature. Indeed they are maintained for that purpose by their brethren over the whole world,-contributions being sent to Jerusalem from all quarters of the globe, to defray their expenditure and that of

their thirty-six colleges. The result is that only a few of the Jerusalem Jews follow any trade, except those without which the Jewish community could not exist, such as bakers, butchers, grocers, etc.; for I need hardly say that it is one of the chief commands of their law that a Jew can only purchase what he requires to eat or drink from a Hebrew tradesman. The mere touch of a Christian would defile any article of food. I remember, when steaming across the Mediterranean, preventing a bottle of wine which a Hebrew corn-merchant from Odessa was drinking on deck, from falling off the table, which his foot had shaken, by putting out my hand and grasping the bottle. The Israelite politely thanked me for my assistance, but he drank no more from that bottle, but ordered his servant to bring him a fresh one, and to give the contents of the one that I had defiled to the ship-steward. We had a long conversation together, and I found out that he always travelled with his own provisions, which his servant prepared for him, and with his own wine. He also said that strict Jews who had to attend at Christian banquets, were served by their own servants, and with their own food.

The Jews at Jerusalem, having far less care for the things of this world than their more mundane brethren, spend much time in devotional duties. Every midnight they rise to pray. Wrapped in their talith, and with dust upon their foreheads, they prostrate themselves on the ground, commencing their act of devotion by a confession of sins; followed by a chapter from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and five elegies on account of their dispersion, captivity, and the destruction of the Temple and the Holy City. The following is a translation of one of these elegies: