Land. This last sanctuary is equally celebrated in the Old and in the New Testament. Here David built himself a palace and a tomb; here he kept for three months the Ark of the Covenant; here Christ held his last Passover, and instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist; here he appeared to his disciples on the day of his resurrection; and here the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles. The place hallowed by the last supper was transformed into the first Christian temple the world ever beheld, where St. James the Less was consecrated the first Christian bishop of Jerusalem, and St. Peter held the first council of the church. Finally, it was from this spot that the apostles, in compliance with the injunction to go and teach all nations, departed without purse and without scrip, to seat their religion upon all the thrones of the earth.

Josephus, the historian, has left us a magnificent description of David's palace and tomb. On the subject of the latter, Benjamin of Tudela relates this curious story:

"Jerusalem is encompassed all round with lofty hills; but it is on Mount Sion that the sepulchres of David's family must be situated, though the exact spot is not known. About fifteen years ago, one of the walls of the temple, which, as I have observed, stands on Mount Sion, fell down. Upon this the patriarch ordered a priest to repair it with such stones as were to be procured from the foundation of the walls of ancient Sion. To this end the latter hired about twenty workmen, between two of whom subsisted the closest friendship. One of these took the other home with him one morning to breakfast. Returning after their repast, the overseer enquired why they came so late? They replied that they would make up for it, by working

TOMB OF DAVID.

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an hour over the regular time. Accordingly, while the rest of the men were at dinner, and these were continuing their work as they had promised, they raised a stone which closed the mouth of a cavern, and said to one another, Let's see if there be not some treasure concealed here.' Having entered, they went forward till they came to a palace supported by marble pillars, and covered with plates of gold and silver. Before it was a table, on which lay a crown and sceptre. This was the sepulchre of David, king of Israel; that of Solomon, with similar ornaments, was on the left; as were also the tombs of several other kings of Judah of the family of David, who were interred in this place. They saw likewise chests which were locked up; so that what they contained is not known to this day. The two men were proceeding to enter the palace, when a violent whirlwind, rushing in at the mouth of the cavern, threw them upon the ground, where they remained as if dead till night. Another blast of wind roused them from this situation, and they heard a voice, resembling that of a man, which said to them: Arise, and be gone from this place.' Overcome with terror, they precipitately departed, and related all that had befallen them to the Patriarch, who made them repeat the account in the presence of Abraham of Constantinople, the Pharisee, surnamed the Pious, who then resided at Jerusalem. He had sent for him, to inquire what he thought of the matter; on which he replied that this was the burial-place of the house of David, prepared for the kings of Judah. The following day, the two men were found confined to their beds and very ill in consequence of the fright. They refused to return to the spot for any reward whatever, declaring that it was vain for mortal to

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attempt to penetrate into a place the entrance of which was defended by God himself; so that it was stopped up by the command of the Patriarch, and it has thus been concealed from sight to this day."* Having descended Mount Sion on the east side, we came at its foot to the fountain and pool of Siloe, where Christ restored sight to the blind man. The spring issues from a rock, and runs in a silent stream, according to the testimony of Jeremiah, which is contradicted by a passage of St. Jerome. It has a kind of ebb and flood, sometimes discharg ing its current like the fountain of Vaucluse, at others returning and scarcely suffering it to run at all. The Levites sprinkled the water of Siloe on the altar at the feast of Tabernacles, singing, Haurietis aquas in gaudio de fontibus Salvatoris. Milton mentions this spring, instead of Castalia's fount, in the beautiful invocation with which his poem opens:

Heavenly muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb or of Sinai didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed
In the beginning how the heav'ns and earth

Rose out of chaos: or if Sion hill

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd

Fast by the oracle of God; I thence

Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song.

Lines which M. Delille has thus magnificently rendered :

Toi donc qui, célébrant les merveilles des cieux,
Prends loin de l'Hélicon un vol audacieux;
Soit que te retenant sous ses palmiers antiques,
Sion avec plaisir répète tes cantiques;

This story seems to be a revival of that related by Josephus concerning the same tomb. Herod the Great having attempted to open David's coffin, flames issued from it and prevented the accomplishment of his design.

MOUNT MORIA.

Soit que chantant où Dieu donna sa loi,

Le Sina sous tes pieds tressaille encor d'effroi ;
Soit que près du saint lieu d'où partent tes oracles
Les flots de Siloe te disent ses miracles:

Muse sainte, soutiens mon vol presomptueux!

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Some relate that this spring suddenly issued from the ground to allay the thirst of Isaiah when the prophet was sawed in two with a wooden saw by the command of Manasses; while others assert that it first appeared during the reign of Hezekiah, by whom we have the admirable song beginning: "I said in the cutting off my days I shall go to the gates of the grave."

According to Josephus, this miraculous spring flowed for the army of Titus, and refused its waters to the guilty Jews. The pool, or rather the two pools of the same name, are quite close to the spring. They are still used for washing linen as formerly; and we there saw some women, who ran away abusing us. The water of the spring is brackish, and has a very disagreeable taste; people still bathe their eyes with it, in memory of the miracle performed on the man born blind.

Near this spring is shewn the spot where Isaiah was put to death, in the manner above mentioned. Here you also find a village called Siloan: at the foot of this village is another fountain, denominated in Scripture Rogel. Opposite to this fountain is a third, which receives its name from the Blessed Virgin. It is conjectured that Mary came hither to fetch water, as the daughters of Laban resorted to the well from which Jacob removed the stone. The virgin's fountain mingles its stream with that of the fountain of Siloe.

Here, as St. Jerome remarks, you are at the foot of Mount Moria, under the walls of the Temple, and nearly opposite to the Sterquiline

Gate. We advanced to the eastern angle of the wall of the city, and entered the valley of Jehoshaphat. It runs from north to south between the Mount of Olives and Mount Moria; and the brook Cedron flows through the middle of it. This stream is dry the greatest part of the year, but after storms, or in rainy springs, a current of red colour rolls along its channel.

The valley of Jehoshaphat is also called in Scripture the Valley of Shaveh, the King's Valley, the Valley of Melchisedeck.* It was in the

valley of Melchisedeck that the king of Sodom went to meet Abraham, to congratulate him on his victory over the five kings. Moloch and Beelphegor were worshipped in the same valley. It was afterwards distinguished by the name of Jehoshaphat, because that king caused his tomb to be constructed there. The valley of Jehoshaphat seems to have always served as a burial-place for Jerusalem: there you meet with monuments of the most remote ages, as well as of the most modern times: thither the Jews resort from the four quarters of the globe to die; and a foreigner sells them, at an exorbitant rate, a scanty spot of earth to cover their remains in the land of their forefathers. The cedars that Solomon planted in this valley,† the shadow of the Temple by which it was covered, the stream flowing through the midst of it, the mournful Songs composed

On this subject different opinions are entertained. The King's Valley was probably towards the mountains of Jordan; and that situation would be more consonant with the history of Abraham.

+ Josephus relates that Solomon caused the mountains of Judea to be covered with cedars.

Cedron is a Hebrew word, which signifies darkness and sorrow. It is remarked that there is an error in the Gospel of

St.